Simple ... Okay, Not Really

["David VanderWall" <dvanderwall@uswest.net>]

Hi,

It seems that a consensus is being reached, somewhat.  I'm not going to put
in a bunch of quotes from other emails, rather I'll just state what I think
about this so far.

Although focusing the discussion is necessary, I may include a few things
that are not yet on the floor.  If they are worthy topics, then we can
discuss them in time.  You don't have to respond to every point right now.
(Take it easy, James! :-)

I think the cart may be going before the horse here, and we are starting to
realize it with the last few posts I've read.  Is the AGA sponsoring this?
I know that a proposal has to be put together.  And maybe everyone is taking
it for granted, but the proposal must obviously be sound to the sponsor.
Last time I checked (snide remark here, please excuse me) AGA stood for
Aquatic Gardeners Association (I'll be really embarrassed if I'm wrong on
that -- no, I'm not a member).  I don't see how the AGA could logically
sponsor a competition where an entry contained absolutely no plant life (is
this even possible?).  If algae counts, then great.  I don't know if the AGA
is about keeping certain kinds of algae.  What I'm trying to say is that you
must set some rules.  The entry will have to have some plants.  Now, if
someone wants to submit a Zen garden with duckweed floating on the top,
that's fine.  The duckweed should have to be there (remember I'm talking
about the contest here, I'll get to the showcase part).  If there is a
single plant on one side offsetting a collection of rocks and driftwood,
that's fine.  If the plant is offsetting a pile of rot and rubbish with
absolutely no fish, that's fine.  The entries all contain some plant life
and are housed in a container that contains fresh water.  Is this so hard?
If you want to include brackish water, that would be all right.  Does the
AGA "endorse" growing plants in brackish water?  Do AGA members have
paludariums?  Hey, how about, "Does the AGA have any members that actively
attempt to grow plantlife in a marine environment?"  I know we don't want to
go there.  Do we know what the AGA thinks?  I heard some talk of contacting
some folks, but have not seen anything since.  I think, for the sake of
simplicity and agreement right now, we should limit it to freshwater,
planted aquariums.

I'm trying to illustrate the point that the AGA (as well as James and the
rest of us) is the "horse" (don't read into that at all, I'm not making any
comments about an organization or individuals of which I know next to
nothing about), and the cart is this idea for a contest that is in tow.  We
need to consider that entity which will ultimately end up stamping their
moniker on the contest.  I think I may even agree that we've all been
staring at the little pixels that precede each message, "AGA CONTEST," for
too long.  Maybe the AGA is not the best idea for a sponsor?  It probably is
if we can agree that some display of aquatic gardening is required for all
entrants.  If not we should probably think of another sponsor and attempt to
craft the contest around whatever it stands for.  The rift may be between
plants and "aquascaping."  Are there any aquascaping organizations around?
Should we start one and kick it off with a competition that does not exclude
non-planted tanks?  I'm not too interested in going that route.

Now, do we have the resources to make this a showcase?  Heck, I don't know.
Probably?  I'll send a box of CDs to Erik.  He's offering the disk space,
right?  The judges will be judging the contest entrants and we can post
anything else that gets submitted, too.  Maybe have a few honorable mentions
for creative works that were not qualified to compete.  We should probably
limit the works that are actually sent on CD to judges to entries that meet
contest guidelines.  This could also depend on how many entrants there are.

If I haven't got around to stating it yet, I _would_ like to have a contest,
you know, with judges.  I think a showcase is swell, too.  I think we would
have a showcase of all the entrants that did not win the contest, so a showc
ase will happen anyway.  Are we going to showcase a tank full of algae that
did not win?  Okay by me.  Maybe we can learn a little about _why_ it didn't
win.  Maybe we will be surprised when it takes an honorable mention.

Just a couple more things to add.  I have a roommate that has a 20 gal. tank
with plastic plants.  He looks at me and my CO2 tank, and light timers, and
test kits, and fertilizer, etc., like I have a hole in my head.  He thinks
my tank is pretty cool, but he doesn't want to participate in this strange
behavior himself.  That is fine.  I don't think many people with plastic
plants are going to be interested in competing in a planted, aquascaped
aquarium contest _or_ a showcase.  The ones that do are welcome, but the
contest should promote the AGA, or whomever the sponsor is.

All of this goes hand-in-hand with the judging.  You'll have to set some
criteria.  You have to exclude some things from winning.  I wouldn't win a
figure skating competition on roller skates.  Even if I could enter, I
wouldn't stand a chance.  If you enter a planted aquarium competition with
plastic plants, you probably won't win.  Man, it seems like we shouldn't
even have to tell people that.

Okay, enough ranting.  I'm gonna give James what I think he's looking for:

1 and 2.  Because if you are going to have judges, you kind of _have_ to
have a contest, I agree with what you all have boiled this down to:  there
is no reason we cannot have both a showcase and a contest.  Everything is
going to be showcased, so it's just a matter of deciding to enter the
contest.  If an entrant does not meet the qualifications, he/she could still
be allowed to enter but would not win.  This doesn't seem debatable as
judges would have to have criteria with which to judge.  A judge in a court,
strictly speaking, cannot judge something without the context of law.  Same
diff.  I don't get away with murder because I did it "artfully," nor do I
win a planted tank contest with fishing line and little submerged paper
umbrellas just because they are tastefully arranged (and I've managed to
keep the paper on them!).  That is an entry for another contest.  An entry
like that could certainly be showcased.  (Hmmm...)

2 and 1.  I think much of this post has been about this second point, or was
that the first?  I think, for the contest, plants should be a requirement.
I think aquascaping _will_ be a requirement, but an intangible one.  We
won't learn what the judges think about aquascaping until after the contest!
One should set requirements on the material that is allowed to enter, then
the contest takes over and we find out what the judges think about how that
material is arranged.  If we allow tanks with no plantlife whatsoever, then
we should probably find a new sponsor, cause the AGA ain't gonna sponsor it
if AGA stands for what I think it stands for.  Or, if they do, that's weird,
IMHO.

Maybe I made up those agenda points.  I'm sorry I can't seem to break this
down without knowing a little bit about where were going to end up.  I hope
you see what I'm getting at.


Sincerely,

Dave VanderWall...
not an AGA member...
in Minneapolis...
Minnesota...
and so on.

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