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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)
Hi,
John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.
I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.
With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.
I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.
If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.
I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.
I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.
Thank you
Darragh Sherwin
There's more to this Forum than buying and selling
25 May 2011 18:42 #3
by andrewo (andrew)
Replied by andrewo (andrew) on topic Re: There's more to this Forum than buying and selling
This is a very difficult issue to solve. The buy and sell column is itself an attraction for new members; many have bought something here at a bargain and then became avid forum members.
So to curtail/put in any restrictions might be counter productive. Kevins idea is good but people can still choose to wait or ask their friends to post on their behalf. Put simply; if people want to abuse it they can unless we have tighter rules regarding posting.
Dont fix something that aint broke
Me personally ; i just hate for adverts with little/insufficient information or whose seller wont even update or reply to posts/pm....
Just my 2c
So to curtail/put in any restrictions might be counter productive. Kevins idea is good but people can still choose to wait or ask their friends to post on their behalf. Put simply; if people want to abuse it they can unless we have tighter rules regarding posting.
Dont fix something that aint broke
Me personally ; i just hate for adverts with little/insufficient information or whose seller wont even update or reply to posts/pm....
Just my 2c
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27 May 2011 13:32 #16
by joey (joe watson)
Location: Portlaoise, Midlands
Replied by joey (joe watson) on topic Re: There's more to this Forum than buying and selling
cheers dave 
the only way to fix the lack of info problem with the for sale items is to have it like a form rather than a post ie required fields to fill regarding item, all set in drop down lists. but this is complicated to set up and far too much to expect admin to deal with. unfortunately all we can really do is grin and bear it
the only way to fix the lack of info problem with the for sale items is to have it like a form rather than a post ie required fields to fill regarding item, all set in drop down lists. but this is complicated to set up and far too much to expect admin to deal with. unfortunately all we can really do is grin and bear it
Location: Portlaoise, Midlands
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28 May 2011 11:08 #18
by JohnH (John)
So from this I assume you're happy with this Forum descending into a Fish-orientated 'Buy and Sell' or 'Done Deal' - or whatever else - at the expense of the real purpose of the Forum? I think not.
Being a reasonably long-standing member of the Forum I have watched it deteriorate into what it has become and it grieves me a lot.
Enough is enough - decide for yourselves if this is the way you all want the Forum to continue its deterioration...there have actually been some constructive suggestions in this thread too but the highlighted comment at the start isn't one of them!
John
Location:
N. Tipp
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
ITFS member.
It's a long way to Tipperary.
Replied by JohnH (John) on topic Re: There's more to this Forum than buying and selling
This is a very difficult issue to solve. The buy and sell column is itself an attraction for new members; many have bought something here at a bargain and then became avid forum members.
So to curtail/put in any restrictions might be counter productive. Kevins idea is good but people can still choose to wait or ask their friends to post on their behalf. Put simply; if people want to abuse it they can unless we have tighter rules regarding posting.
Dont fix something that aint broke
Me personally ; i just hate for adverts with little/insufficient information or whose seller wont even update or reply to posts/pm....
Just my 2c
Don't fix something that aint broke
So from this I assume you're happy with this Forum descending into a Fish-orientated 'Buy and Sell' or 'Done Deal' - or whatever else - at the expense of the real purpose of the Forum? I think not.
Being a reasonably long-standing member of the Forum I have watched it deteriorate into what it has become and it grieves me a lot.
Enough is enough - decide for yourselves if this is the way you all want the Forum to continue its deterioration...there have actually been some constructive suggestions in this thread too but the highlighted comment at the start isn't one of them!
IT IS 'BROKE' - AND NEEDS FIXING BEFORE IT GETS EVEN WORSE!!!
John
Location:
N. Tipp
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
ITFS member.
It's a long way to Tipperary.
Please Log in to join the conversation.
28 May 2011 13:49 #21
by Valerie (Valerie)
Replied by Valerie (Valerie) on topic Re: There's more to this Forum than buying and selling
Thank you guys and gals for the suggestions.
I think the Buy and Sell section on the forum is a good facility : enabling the exchange/sale of equipment/fish amongst us at realistic prices.
I find that if someone registers solely to sell their equipment, the advertised price is generally quite unrealistic, probably trying to sell stuff at the price they paid for it.
I think we should keep the original rules of at least having been registered 2 weeks on the forum and posted 10 'constructive' posts on the discussion forum and also take the suggestion of introducing yourself before posting in the "For Sale" section on board.
I have made a few changes to the settings of the forum :
Thank you again for your input.
Valerie
I think the Buy and Sell section on the forum is a good facility : enabling the exchange/sale of equipment/fish amongst us at realistic prices.
I find that if someone registers solely to sell their equipment, the advertised price is generally quite unrealistic, probably trying to sell stuff at the price they paid for it.
I think we should keep the original rules of at least having been registered 2 weeks on the forum and posted 10 'constructive' posts on the discussion forum and also take the suggestion of introducing yourself before posting in the "For Sale" section on board.
I have made a few changes to the settings of the forum :
- Added "PS - If you are registering to sell fish keeping equipment, please make sure to read the "Read before posting" sticky in the "For Sale" section." to the registration email received by any new users,
- The For Sale and Wanted sections are now only showing to logged in users,
- Added to the rules in the "Read before posting" sticky of the "For Sale" section the fact that new users must present themselves in the "Introduce themselves" category.
Thank you again for your input.
Valerie
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28 May 2011 17:48 #24
by andrewo (andrew)
Replied by andrewo (andrew) on topic Re: There's more to this Forum than buying and selling
I have seen many new forum users over the last few months; and am really happy to see it grow till an extend where we can truly claim to be representing the 'fishkeepers'; of course i dont want people who just drop by the site and grab a bargain/freebie or sells something and then is never heard of again.
I was going on the belief that for every 10 new forum users hopefully we have another 2 or 3 Kevs in there
; the site really seems to be growing stronger.
When i made the highlighted statement by John; i meant the rules which Valerie put in place few days back is i feel more than enough to regulate the Buy and Sell section; to make it any more stringent would be defeating the overall good (i.e. section only used by selected few? whom decides this? unfair on admins/moderators to spend so much more time on this?)
Nevetheless John; if i ruffled a few feathers of yours; it was not done intentionally
Regards;
andrew
I was going on the belief that for every 10 new forum users hopefully we have another 2 or 3 Kevs in there
; the site really seems to be growing stronger.When i made the highlighted statement by John; i meant the rules which Valerie put in place few days back is i feel more than enough to regulate the Buy and Sell section; to make it any more stringent would be defeating the overall good (i.e. section only used by selected few? whom decides this? unfair on admins/moderators to spend so much more time on this?)
Nevetheless John; if i ruffled a few feathers of yours; it was not done intentionally
Regards;
andrew
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28 May 2011 20:09 #27
by Valerie (Valerie)
Not really Les, it would work fine if the IP addresses were static, but, a lot of ISPs, these days, unfortunately use dynamic IP addresses (change every time you log on).
Anyhow, I think we have tightened the rules enough for now in order to limit the occurences of one post users and the Admins will monitor this for now.
We'll review the situation in a while.
Thanks again for your help - Valerie
Replied by Valerie (Valerie) on topic Re: There's more to this Forum than buying and selling
... Can be done through the computers IP address ...
les
Not really Les, it would work fine if the IP addresses were static, but, a lot of ISPs, these days, unfortunately use dynamic IP addresses (change every time you log on).
Anyhow, I think we have tightened the rules enough for now in order to limit the occurences of one post users and the Admins will monitor this for now.
We'll review the situation in a while.
Thanks again for your help - Valerie
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29 May 2011 10:55 #30
by JohnH (John)
Just to affirm that these rules apply equally to the 'Wanted' portion of the 'For Sale and Wanted' section.
John
Location:
N. Tipp
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
ITFS member.
It's a long way to Tipperary.
Replied by JohnH (John) on topic Re: There's more to this Forum than buying and selling
Thank you guys and gals for the suggestions.
I think the Buy and Sell section on the forum is a good facility : enabling the exchange/sale of equipment/fish amongst us at realistic prices.
I find that if someone registers solely to sell their equipment, the advertised price is generally quite unrealistic, probably trying to sell stuff at the price they paid for it.
I think we should keep the original rules of at least having been registered 2 weeks on the forum and posted 10 'constructive' posts on the discussion forum and also take the suggestion of introducing yourself before posting in the "For Sale" section on board.
I have made a few changes to the settings of the forum :We'll keep monitoring the posts and see how it goes.
- Added "PS - If you are registering to sell fish keeping equipment, please make sure to read the "Read before posting" sticky in the "For Sale" section." to the registration email received by any new users,
- The For Sale and Wanted sections are now only showing to logged in users,
- Added to the rules in the "Read before posting" sticky of the "For Sale" section the fact that new users must present themselves in the "Introduce themselves" category.
Thank you again for your input.
Valerie
Just to affirm that these rules apply equally to the 'Wanted' portion of the 'For Sale and Wanted' section.
John
Location:
N. Tipp
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
ITFS member.
It's a long way to Tipperary.
Please Log in to join the conversation.
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