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

punctuation??

sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
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18 Oct 2012 02:16 #31 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)

Replied by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie) on topic punctuation??

Agreed totally with you Kev, ok there are times i'm guilty of running away with myself while replying, but i try not to what i really hate as you pointed out in an earlier post is the "dis dat" etc. i also have a huge bug-bear re: text talk "l8r" etc.

Punctuation i can understand is fustrating and surely the problem caused by dropping education standards, i have in the past edited peoples posts due to wrong spelling and the like, but as Kev has said we simply as mods / admins dont have the time to go through each post and correct things.

Trying to enforce this would definately be a no go and i personally think it would be like a teacher trying to correct a pupil from a mod / admin behalf which could only alienate users.

I would humbly ask users to write what they want to write, spell check it which will also correct grammer, re read it then post. this should solve all the issues

Seamus

Fishkeeping the Only way to get wet and wild

currently 25 tanks, and breeding is the aim of everything i keep
location:Limerick

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JohnH (John)
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18 Oct 2012 11:23 #32 by JohnH (John)

Replied by JohnH (John) on topic punctuation??

I think that Davey's original point is rather getting lost here.
A long string of words without punctuation is VERY hard to follow most of the time - even for people with English as their primary language, imagine how hard it must be to follow for people from places where English isn't spoken, who are having to try to learn it, yet are still wanting to read items on the Forum.

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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jwm (sean sean)
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Senior Member

18 Oct 2012 13:40 #33 by jwm (sean sean)

Replied by jwm (sean sean) on topic punctuation??

I have read this thread and i do agree that it is difficult to read some posts. This is a site for fish keeping advice, tips and showing off. From the 5litre shrimp tank to the monster tanks everybody is on a par and share the common interest in fish keeping. I would not like any member on this site to point out spelling mistakes to me or correct me on misuse of grammer, we use this site as an extension of our hobby therefore it should be enjoyed, and shared among all of us from the multi poster to the lad that slips in and out occasionally. The rules of the site are there and mostly adhered too, plain and simple if you find it difficult or annoying to read a post stop, go to the top of your page click home and forget all about it. Nobody goes out of there way to type or spell incorrectly, life is far too short to worry about punctuation and bad spillin on a fishy forum.... (e)

John

A person who surrenders when he is WRONG, is HONEST. A person who SURRENDERS when not SURE, is WISE. A person who surrenders even if he is RIGHT, is a HUSBAND.

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18 Oct 2012 15:49 #34 by anglecichlid (ciaran hogan)

Replied by anglecichlid (ciaran hogan) on topic punctuation??

Well said!

Anyone with a aquarium can keep fish,
But it takes real skill to be a fish keeper,

And it's spongeBob,
SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the sea
BLANCHARDSTOWN

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davey_c (dave clarke)
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18 Oct 2012 16:31 #35 by davey_c (dave clarke)

Replied by davey_c (dave clarke) on topic punctuation??

well life's too short for having to put up your location or being shafted for posting pm sent yet it is perfectly fine for certain others to put up unnecessary posts and yet were asked not to waste forum space.... :evil:

.... what shouldn't be necessary are for members to avoid a post because its just a load of sentences without even a full stop. if some don't give a crap then that's fair enough but its just a simple reminder to spare a bit of thought for those who find it hard to read these posts, anybody can misspell but there are different ways to separate sentences and if anyone without reason couldn't be bothered using them then maybe we should all jump on the same bandwagon i suppose!!

this topic has run its course in my eyes so instead of it going any further off track or turning the wrong way it may be best to lock it.
thanks to all who have taken the time to voice their opinions