When it comes to hobbies, it seems that there is always an ebb and flow when it comes to interest. I remember when I first joined this community, there was a ton of activity and I learned quite a bit from most of the active members.
The last couple of years I just haven't had time after putting in 12-13 hours a day behind my computer and on the phone for my job. After 6pm, trying to get a workout in, the last thing I want to do is sit behind a screen. So sometimes life gets in the way for most people when it comes to hobbies.
I'm sure the story is the same for most people on here, and have been on here for years. Some of the most active people are rarely active today. I'm sure that's partially due to life's obligations, as well as losing interest. For me, it's a mixture of both. While I do try to lurk, and do my best to help moderate, I just don't have the time to sit on here all day chatting.
One of the worst things was seeing how after the whole drama filled departure of other members, we did our best to keep members interested, hosting get togethers at local LFS, and aside from a few regulars, the turnout was pretty poor despite having giveaways to get people to come.
I would be more than happy to help organize POTM or TOTM if people are interested in that, and if Goat would like for that to happen. I just can't commit to being here all day on chat lol.
Part of what drew me into keeping a reef was how great it was to keep a miniature reef in my home after having been bored out of my mind by freshwater, as well as planted. The comment I've quoted below was what I came to learn about a sect within the reefing community that was pretty bothersome as it seemed to be extremely elitist. One of the corals that really piqued my interest in reefing is Xenia believe it or not. After coming here, and seeing people bash on the coral, as well as members who liked it, it became apparent that people were focused on reefing for all of the wrong reasons. We saw a substantial part of that group leave a couple years back, ultimately resulting in a change in ownership here, which wound up being better for the community, except for what I've mentioned above...that people seemed to lose interest in reefing.
I guess my question is for those who feel that the admin and mods were not active, what exactly were you missing? Because when I was on here, I'd see people complaining about over moderation. I guess that's the part that I don't get is what exactly were people missing? Most other forums I'm a member of, the mods just moderate, and really don't get involved where they don't need to. That's sort of the tact I've taken, where I only get involved when something crosses a line between members (breaks a rule). This isn't a criticism so much as it is a question. There have been several people that repeatedly break the rules, and then when they get moderated, they start crying about the first amendment. The rules really aren't that difficult to follow, and quite honestly are pretty straightforward. Whenever a use reported a thread, comment, whatever, anytime I logged in after getting a notification, usually within a minute, I'd find that one of the other mods had already gotten to it.
I do miss reefing, even though my tank is still up, and hopefully I can make time soon to start stocking it with some stuff that I like.
Specifically what Goat is asking is how do we boost activity on this board, so POTM, TOTM, as well as get togethers are all great ideas. The thing is, how do you get people who were really interested and into reefing, back into reefing or at least being interested in it again? That's sort of the boat I'm in, with the addition of a lack of time, even though I still have a tank up. I believe that's the chasm that needs to be crossed. Over the last couple of years I've seen interest wane in reefing, because this forum did almost run itself due to the owner prior to Josh literally doing nothing and there was a ton of activity. All of those mods left and started their own forum, but that one has far less activity so it's not the result of anything but a lack of interest. It just seems that people aren't as interested in the same numbers as they used to be.
This place use to be active as hell when I joined. There used to be meets all the time, even at peoples houses then some drama bullshit happened and a lot of the very active knowledgeable reefers left and started there own site. Which is also lacking. It seems like if you don't have a high end system packed with sps you are no body and no one cares about your tank problem. If people ask questions about some BS coral your not getting an answer because its not a Jo mammas Walt Disney.
