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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

Suggestions requested.

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04 Nov 2017 22:03 #1 by JohnH (John)
Can we please have any suggestions from Forum members on how we might increase activity on our Forum?

Please add any here.

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.

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04 Nov 2017 23:49 #2 by alan 64 (alan)
I think posters are a good way to go, or if any of the sponsors are helpfull, like for instance now everyone knows in seahorse the staff are so busy in there explaining to new fish keepers the ins and outs of starting up a tank, cycling it, plant care, tank inhabitants ect ect, it takes up hours of there time, well if they were to direct people to the wealth of knowledge that exists on our forum surley it would be benificial to there time consumption with customers that are clogging there time up with awnsers they can easily and quickly get on this forum, its a win win for the forum and for the busiest shop in the country so maybee that could be suggetsed to them that if they advertise to new fishkeepers about the forum and whats it about it might actualy shorten there waiting ques which i for one find annoying

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05 Nov 2017 09:15 - 05 Nov 2017 09:16 #3 by gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered)
Excellent idea Alan...

I mean how often have all of us stood in a shop and listened to new fish keepers being bamboozled by Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle science etc etc and then in passing youve ended up trying to explain to them in 5 minutes what actually needs days of proper research before diving in head first......

The only problem I see with fish stores directing people towards us is the fact they might be afraid it will affect sales....

The truth is if you told every new fish keeper that you need to change 50/60/70 % of the water in their tanks weekly along with gravel vaccing and other maintenance etc etc they are just gonna walk back out the door of the store....

Most people who walk into a fish store want a Nemo in a bowl and no hassle....The shops are businesses and hence they give the customer the Nemo in the bowl....No matter how good you think a store is at the end of the day they are a business and in business you give the customer what he/she wants...In turn you make a profit...

But having said all this encouraging all the great shops around Dublin/Ireland to direct their customers towards us is still an excellent idea...
Last edit: 05 Nov 2017 09:16 by gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered).

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07 Nov 2017 22:02 #4 by paulcavan (Paul Gileoold)
This actually seems like a great idea guys I’d love to get involved. Maybe I’m not doing it right but I’ve actually never performed a 50/60 or 70% water change in a week never and I’ve kept everything from guppies to discus to frontosa and and Shrimp. But the one thing I’ve found to be true about keepings fish for more than 18 years is that there is not one correct answer but many ways of doing it right in your own way. If there was only one piece of advice that I could give anyone interested in becoming a fish keeper it would be to not over feed

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07 Nov 2017 23:43 #5 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
What about getting some more shows up and running again I was at one when I first joined the forum and it was great to see people's fish on display.


And of course meeting like minded fish keepers.


Just to add on the YouTube channel idea.


Each month well to start off see of we could get enough people interested.

Each month some one is selected or volunteers to be spotlighted or a guest on the channel shows off what tanks they may have What fish they keep what's their favourite fish and any tips they could give about starting in the hobbie but also to maintaining tanks the weekly monthly by monthly up keep of their tanks.


If that took off then do specialized videos on installing co2 , discus keeping,African cichlid keeping ,
Marine fish ect ect the list could go on great potential to be informative and also hilighting members and hilighting the forum itself.


Regards
Craig

at the end of the day it becomes nite

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08 Nov 2017 11:07 #6 by JohnH (John)
Replied by JohnH (John) on topic Suggestions requested.
A great suggestion here, but unfortunately there seems to no longer be the desire within the Club to hold more Shows after the last one which saw them losing money on the event.

Organising and running a Fish Show requires a huge input in terms of both manpower and cost.

Without that input of both a project like this can - sadly - not get off the ground.

I think a small diversion here is necessary - originally there was just the ITFS and when the 'internet age' happened Darragh set up this website and Forum to supplement it.
Now - from albeit a much reduced Forum membership (of those 'active' anyway) there is only, to the best of my knowledge, one person here who is a Club member (although I suppose I am a 'token' member myself).

It would be good if people from the Forum were to join up to the Club and attend the monthly meetings.

With an influx of new members it might be possible to rekindle enthusiasm for things like Shows and Auctions.

So becoming a member of the ITFS is well worth considering. An added bonus being that Club members can receive a discount (normally 10%) off their purchases in the designated Sponsors' shops upon display of their current membership card.

Watch out for Andrew's notification posts - the next meeting is next Tuesday (the second Tuesday of each month)..

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.

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10 Nov 2017 23:12 #7 by robert (robert carter)
When i started going to the monthly meeting i couldnt believe how few attended 5 or 6 most months , it hasnt improved in the last two years and its always the same faces. Maybe if we could get more to attend and plug the forum for a follow up on anything talked about at the meetings . For anyone that hasnt attended i find them very informative and a bit of fun , all aspects of the hobby do be covered ,and of coarse the world is put to right each month . The next meeting is next tuesday at 8.30 pm in the spawell bar in tempouge .

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