RE: entry fee for AGA Contest (fwd)

["James Purchase" <jppurchase@rogers.com>]

Erik wrote:

"But on the other
hand, it's forums like Robert's that got a lot of the word out on the
first year.  We tend to think that the APD is the be-all & end-all of
aquatic plant folks, but there's a whole bunch of little nooks and
crannies, some bigger than others (though I won't go into the value of
posting at petswarehouse.infopop.cc).  It'd be nice if these guys realized
that we're losing major money on the event, and putting in lots of hours
of our own time (taken away from our own aquariums), and just entered
because of that."

Whatever you ultimately decide to do with suggestions such as this, I hope
you realize that there will ALWAYS be people who think that they deserve a
"special break", or something for nothing. A point comes when you have to
decide just how far you are willing to bend and kiss *** in order to please
the "cheap seats". The amount of time and energy put into this event over
the years by a small handfull of people will never be enough to satisfy
_some_ people and they will continue to look for discounts on an already
paltry entry fee or special consideration that others cannot get.

It is great that forums other than the APD exist and help promote both the
hobby and the Contest, and their help is certainly appreciated but I fail to
see why the AGA ought to be expected to shoulder even more of a financial
burden to keep people expecting such largess happy. I DON'T see members of
those forums jumping forward to volunteer their time or energy to pull off
events such as this (or for that matter, coming up with viable
alternatives).

A nicely worded response might thank them for their interest and their
continued support, but also point out how much it costs to host such an
event, both in time and money and to consider the entry fee as a very minor
donation to help defray SOME of the costs associated with it.

Again, only _my_ opinion.......

James

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