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Re: [AGA SC] Another perspective on the AGA "Forum" proposal
WEll first of all let me say the DFWAPC list hasn't died
down -- it's comatose! Maye 2 messages per week and those
jsut annoucements or the forums are broken so "so posting
this here." They died when the forums started. The the
forums and mail list broke for a few weeks, and the half
dozen tht wrote everyday seemed to be gone. I think the
forum is back, but the mail list essentially dead. I still
don't do forums, so I pretty much should have kept my $5
this year.
Funny. I've been hearing that the APD is dieing for as long
as I've been on it. Possibly I am slow poison. Apparently
very slow. ;-)
I'd like to get some outside views -- and by "outside" I
mean outside of DFWAPC. I think that, for some reason, it
irks the hell out of the DFWAPC folks that AB is so
successful. They realize that their local club isn't likely
to beat AB, but surely someone can beat that rascal AB! And
so they look to us. Maybe that's not it. Maybe th world is
waiting for AGA to launch the forums. If we build it they
will come.
Do the San Fran folks think the same way -- although last I
heard, the club was melting?
sh
--- Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com> wrote:
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Thu, 08 Apr 2004 15:30:24 +0000
> From: Bailin Shaw <bailin_shaw@hotmail.com>
> To: erik@thekrib.com
> Subject: RE: [AGA Member] Re:Re:Aquabotanic Aquascaping
> Contest--or Taking
> Notice of how things Ad up
>
> Hi Erik,
>
> Thanks for the feedback. I'll outline a proposal to you
> at the bottom of
> this email about how we can manage something of this
> nature.
> >
> >James Hofteizer proposed this to us just after the
> convention. His thesis
> >seemed to be that with the AGA name on it, it could be
> "the" forum for
> >aquatic plant discussion. He had a friend who would
> give a discount on
> >the cost for the first year of connectivity. However,
> in discussion we
> >were a little iffy on letting someone run something on
> the AGA name, who
> >really wasn't even an AGA member until a month before
> the convention.
> >Aside from that, he didn't really have good answers on
> who would moderate
> >and run the thing aside from himself. We also didn't
> want to provide yet
> >another competing forum with AB *and* our own e-mail
> lists. And, of
> >course, everyone on the board is fans of e-mail lists &
> doesn't use forums
> >at all, so we don't really have an appropriate bias to
> approve this yet.
> >
> James' idea was a good one and one that's echoed by
> numerous members in the
> AGA. This is based on the conversations I've had with
> various people on the
> internet and at the conventions. The APD has lost its
> strength with more
> and more newbies posting and the drain of experience to
> Robert's board has
> been VERY evident. I think that disturbs me more than
> anything. The people
> who post on his board are well respected members of the
> AGA and their
> combined experience is invaluable to the AGA. Seeing
> this move away from
> the organization and in support of someone's commercial
> entity is troubling.
> You certainly have two schools of though on the message
> boards - one in
> favor of the email list and one in favor of the forums.
> Maintenance of the
> email list is minimal in my eperience, but the moderation
> and maintenance of
> the forum takes a little more time. As for competing
> forums, I think if the
> AGA members felt like there was a place for them to get
> together and discuss
> various aspects of the hobby, there wouldn't be an issue
> of competition.
> Each person gets what they want out of the forum. Heck,
> I visit 4-5 in a
> day just to see what's going on and post when I feel like
> it. Most of the
> time, I'm just a lurker and pick up information here and
> there to increase
> my knowledge base. I think you'd see the same thing
> here.
>
> >Funding... things are pretty rocky, though we are
> starting to balance
> >things out at last with TAG, with a move to a new
> printer, so convention
> >income should be usable for new projects like this. I
> would think,
> >though, that the money askpect is the last problem to
> worry about for
> >setting up a forum. Isn't it more a matter of of having
> the people to
> >keep it running? I mean, I could go grab an open source
> BBS program, slap
> >it on the AGA site, and there we are!
> >
> That's where the main issues lies. For the forum to be
> sucessful, you need
> someone to manage the site and moderators to keep track
> of what's posted.
> I'd be willing to bet that if you posted a "help wanted"
> email to find
> someone to manage the board, you'd get more than enough
> interest. Also, I
> think you'd find there are many people who would welcome
> the opportunity to
> help this organization and act as moderators in the
> forum. Again, it's not
> even about competing sites, but someone where members can
> feel like they're
> part of a community. And it all comes down to that.
> People who are members
> of the AGA don't feel like they gain much value from
> being members aside
> from the quarterly TAG and attendance at the convention.
> On the other hand,
> Robert's forum allows them a place to gather and discuss
> everything about
> the hobby and it's friendly to both the beginners and
> experts. Many
> beginner planted tank hobbyist feel like the AGA is too
> exclusive for them
> and don't join. I encourage them whenever I can, but
> their arguments are
> pretty compelling sometimes.
>
> >So let me ask you.. DFWAPC just started a forum a few
> months back to
> >replace their e-mail list. I didn't register (again,
> crochety old
> >throwback me), but I am very curious how it's working
> out. Are you guys
> >getting more participation this way?
> >
> Our email list and forums have died down some. We've had
> a recent surge in
> membership, but since our membership is so limited,
> participation is often
> very sparse. Even our email list has slowed
> trememdously. Part of this is
> the need for the leadership to push topics and another
> part is the fact our
> club is made up of numerous beginners who would rather
> lurk than
> participate. I do my best to foster conversations, but
> it's hard sometimes.
> I think with a larger audience, you're more like to be
> able to maintain a
> forum that's active and dynamic.
>
> Anyways, food for though. :-)
>
> Bailin
>
>
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