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
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- JohnH (John)
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However...this is not for entries - we still require those sent to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
I hope that's clear enough? (Must be, even I can follow it)

John
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We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
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It's a long way to Tipperary.
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- DJK (David Kinsella)
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The competition should be good though.
Dave
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- JohnH (John)
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Still, let's see how it works out - unless we try these things we will never know.
It is a bit disappointing to have only had one entry though, from the initial responses we had when it was first 'mooted' I really thought we would have been inundated.
Anyway, there are another thirteen days to go, so who knows?
John
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I'd send it in somewhere to be fixed but I fear that it would be a waste of time or else that it might cost a lot to repair
I'd fix it or buy a new one but I'm broke as a joke lately and simply can't afford it
I'll see if I can get a loan of one and enter a Video to competition...
Des
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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Kev.
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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The option for entrants to make a new anonymous YouTube account is fine....but once we have one winner, then that name is then known to everyone else, and you'd have then go and set-up yet another gmail e-mail account for a new YouTube account.
Yep, my YouTube username is the same as my username here.....we're all a very un-original bunch us internet users.

ian
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- JohnH (John)
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This really is - as said before - by way of a 'trial' to see whether it will be worth going to the trouble, as things are progressing it's fairly plain this will only be a 'one off' experiment.
Still, we can but give these things a try, can't we?
John
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- JohnH (John)
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Maybe, and this is going to be a very popular suggestion for JohnH, the entrant posts the video on YouTube or other sharing network....e-mails JohnH the location and JohnH then downloads the video and plonks it up on a special YouTube ITFS forum account.
The option for entrants to make a new anonymous YouTube account is fine....but once we have one winner, then that name is then known to everyone else, and you'd have then go and set-up yet another gmail e-mail account for a new YouTube account.
Yep, my YouTube username is the same as my username here.....we're all a very un-original bunch us internet users.
ian
Beat me to it Ian.
John
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Kev.
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- Puddlefish (Colin McCourt)
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John you may withdraw my video and start a fresh, only this time make sure the rules are in place before inviting entrants.
This could and should be a good topical competition but if all the rules and regs are not in place from the outset then it has the potential of developing into a farce
C
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- Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)
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Anonymity is going to be difficult but is should not matter, particularly as this is being judged by a sponsor. It's the video that is being judged not the poster.
Not sure how setting up an ITFS account on YouTube would help as everyone would need to have access to it to upload their video.
Daragh
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- Valerie (Valerie)
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Not sure how setting up an ITFS account on YouTube would help as everyone would need to have access to it to upload their video.
Daragh
I was looking into this this afternoon. I think it can work as submissions can be sent directly to a Youtube account by email.
Watch this space

Valerie
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- Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)
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- JohnH (John)
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Again...this should have all been thrashed out long before the event was even started not when certain things spring to light.
John you may withdraw my video and start a fresh, only this time make sure the rules are in place before inviting entrants.
This could and should be a good topical competition but if all the rules and regs are not in place from the outset then it has the potential of developing into a farce
C
Colin, your entry has been removed as requested - the very entry you submitted knowing full well that this was (as are all our Competitions) a 'fun' thing with a token prize for the winner - and that the rules were being established as and when they needed to be - this was stated in the introduction, well before you submitted your video!
However, with attitude being shown like yours, this will be the first and last Video Competition we hold.
John
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- Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)
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Windows comes with a basic video editing package already included and it is pretty easy to use.
Daragh
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- derek (Derek Doyle)
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30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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There may be some technical problems rather than rule problems.
Maybe to help people with any technical problems, it would be worthwhile having a few tech-tips. Some compact cameras produce movie files in a format not supported by all software (and won't easily upload to YouTube).
BUT, a good converter is Clone2Go (the free version)...it will even convert Nikons awkward 1080p MOV format to an mpeg for uploading.
Nearly all technical problems can be sorted one way or another, and I'm sure anyone having any technical problems could call upon others on the forum for help and advice.
ian
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- Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)
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Anyone with editing, uploading issues or whatever post here and someone will get back to you to sort it out.
It is hard to say exactly how to do it because as Ian says there are different formats from different cameras and different editors etc, but if you post the problem here someone will be able to help. It's really no more difficult than posting a photograph, it just takes a bit longer

Daragh
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