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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

Hi i'm gonna float this idea

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14 Mar 2013 23:03 #1 by newbejkjimk (damien kelly)
Hi all,
I wonder if the sponsors would jump on this idea?
Which is if they supplied products to forum members and they then review the products on the site now it would have to be an honest review of their experience using the product now i'm sure it would spark debate and discussion. In my opinion it would be best if the people reviewing the products would be experienced fish keepers i.e clown loach and above maybe admin could get the products and not tell the reviewer until after the review has been published who supplied the product?
your view on this idea are welcome?
jim

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15 Mar 2013 13:01 #2 by JohnH (John)
Jim,
The big problem here is to manage to get contributions for review from the Sponsors, in these less-than-affluent-times they mostly aren't able to afford to be giving out freebies themselves.

The better chance might be for those Sponsors to ask their supplier(s) for 'samples' which could then be passed along - either through the Forum, or to well-trusted regular customers - for an unbiased review.

So, it's over to the Sponsors and their suppliers...do any of you want to provide items to be 'road tested' by Forum members?

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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15 Mar 2013 13:10 - 15 Mar 2013 13:12 #3 by bmcg38 (Brian McGrath)
its a good idea ... basically a nice bit of free marketing for any shop willing to take part . If I ran or owned one of these shops I would look to be doing this type of thing on top of the standard advertsing / offers as this place IS the taget market
Last edit: 15 Mar 2013 13:12 by bmcg38 (Brian McGrath).

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15 Mar 2013 21:34 #4 by newbejkjimk (damien kelly)
hi
I hear what your saying john however i honestly think it would boost sales therefor would help the struggling shops and i'm sure there suppliers would get involved if orders went up i'm with bmcg on this one great marketing and a useful tool for us to learn about new products that we may have just passed by when in our lfs.
jim

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15 Mar 2013 22:09 #5 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
In all honesty, knowing how tight retail trade at the moment is, i know there is little to no chance of retailers and shop owners being in a position to to offer free products even if it would benefit them in the long run!!!

However, maybe a discount could be given so products can be more accessible to the purchaser (testing consumer)
Think of a 100 euro product, 20% discount means the retailer can still make possibly a small profit, and 80 euro is alot easier to come up with these days than 100.......

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15 Mar 2013 22:22 #6 by davey_c (dave clarke)
isn't it true that seahorse reward buyers for writing reviews on their purchased item on the website?... there doesn't seem to be many availing of this offer so maybe if there was a way to reflect these saving at the time of purchase on the agreement that a substantially honest review would be submitted? personally i think they could run it in conjunction with the products review section of the forum because i no i don't bother with the sponsor websites, and i'm sure i'm not the only 1, so it would be good to have the reviews on the forum also for those who would be here but not there if ye get me :)

Below tank is for sale

my plywood tank build.

www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/forum...k-build-diary#137768

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15 Mar 2013 22:50 #7 by newbejkjimk (damien kelly)
I agree davey 100% it seems short sighted imho not to get products into the place where people actually read and participate.
jim

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