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
Trading Section - Rules
- Shane (Shane Faulkner)
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- Mike53 (Michael)
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Are most people selling items not fellow fish keepers even if they are not regular posters ?
By increasing the posts are we not cutting our noses off so to speak, I mean you don't have to buy off people with limited posts, you can just ignore, it's not like we're inundated with for sale items from non members...or are we?

Mike
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- Jim (Jim Lawlor)
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I understand where some people are concerned that its too restrictive, but the forum is often quiet enough and could easily be overrun with little more than "for sale" posts from people who only register to sell.
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- Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)
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Some way of preventing the posts from being added before the criteria are met would be very useful and no need for members to feel like they need to police this.
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- davey_c (dave clarke)
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Its quite simple for some of us with half a notion... when needed fully delete the offending thread from public sight and send the offender a pm explaining what was wrong (at least thats how its done on any other forum I'm on anyways)!!
What do you gain from just editing the thread with your words or is it just to show you can because we all know you can... its not as if this sort of thing happens often enough to warrant an example made of the person. Maybe then others mightn't feel like getting involved where they honestly shouldn't imo!!
Its a public forum pal so to gain respect ye must give it 1st so a bit of discretion wouldn't go a miss or is that too much to ask for?
Maybe then the rules wouldn't need to be changed.
Below tank is for sale
my plywood tank build.
www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/forum...k-build-diary#137768
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- JohnH (John)
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Sorry you are taking offence where there is none but that's your prerogative.
You are obviously discontented with the way we are running the Forum, sorry about that as well.
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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- davey_c (dave clarke)
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Below tank is for sale
my plywood tank build.
www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/forum...k-build-diary#137768
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- LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
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I think 10 to 15 posts and a month member ship would do.
Some way of preventing the posts from being added before the criteria are met would be very useful and no need for members to feel like they need to police this.
I think this strikes a decent balance. Someone wanting a quick sale won't wait a month but an interested newbie would not mind at all
"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."
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- CrustyCrab (Peter Biddulph)
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I think 10 to 15 posts and a month member ship would do.
Some way of preventing the posts from being added before the criteria are met would be very useful and no need for members to feel like they need to police this.
I think this strikes a decent balance. Someone wanting a quick sale won't wait a month but an interested newbie would not mind at all
Sounds good to me too.
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- JohnH (John)
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If anyone hasn't has a say on the matter - this stays valid until midnight tonight. Sorry again that the Poll function failed us.
It would, therefore, be nice if anyone else who has an opinion on the subject, and wants to share that opinion, does so during the remainder of today.
Thereafter the posts will be collated and any changes made as a result will be made known.
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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- christyg (Chris Geraghty)
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I think 10 to 15 posts and a month member ship would do.
Some way of preventing the posts from being added before the criteria are met would be very useful and no need for members to feel like they need to police this.
I think this strikes a decent balance. Someone wanting a quick sale won't wait a month but an interested newbie would not mind at all
Sounds good to me too.
Me three.
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- sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
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I think 10 to 15 posts and a month member ship would do.
Some way of preventing the posts from being added before the criteria are met would be very useful and no need for members to feel like they need to police this.
I think this strikes a decent balance. Someone wanting a quick sale won't wait a month but an interested newbie would not mind at all
Sounds good to me too.
Me three.
me four
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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Also, we have the same amount wishing for between 10-15 posts with two opting for things to be left unchanged.
So, since the limit is now 10 we feel a rise in it to 15 shouldn't make anyone too unhappy.
Those who expressed an opinion regarding a time frame of 'probationary' Forum membership before which time new members would not be able to use the Trading Section would appear to be wanting anything between a month and three months with the first figure being in the majority.
This will all have to be monitored 'manually' for the moment, although perhaps when the new provider is set we may be able to bring some filters into play which will circumvent this.
As to contributions to the Forum for its upkeep costs, these suggestions have been pointed out to the Owner and he will doubtless reply at some point.
The Rules and Guidelines will be amended to reflect these changes and we will do our best to maintain a degree of vigilance but, please, if anyone does spot anything we miss please contact us via the 'report to moderator' function at the bottom of the page. This will be preferable to a direct answer post since then the matter can be (hopefully) dealt with by PM rather than a potential 'slanging match' on the Forum pages.
We have tried as best we can to be democratic here but anticipate not everyone will be in full agreement with these changes, but to any dissenters we can only say 'we tried'...
John (and Admin Team).
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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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- davey_c (dave clarke)
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Just an observational question though because I can't remember myself, I presume the post count required to send a pm is 15 or over? Just asking because if it wasn't then the interested buyer could contact the seller directly by pm within their probationary period.... does that mean they won't be able to send pm's within the 1st 3 months of being a member incase their buying/selling or is it which ever comes 1st?
FYI... trying to be helpful here for a change

Below tank is for sale
my plywood tank build.
www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/forum...k-build-diary#137768
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- LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
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"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."
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- JohnH (John)
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I acknowledge this but the question comes up as to where we draw the line?
There is no physical way to curtail PMs with this set-up, maybe when the new server is activated we can revisit this.
And - thinking about it - theoretically, at least, a seller could be the arbiter of this and refuse to sell to a 'probationary' member. But no-one is likely to refuse the opportunity to sell to an interested buyer so this mightn't get off the ground although I would like to think there are members here who would.
Let's give it a go and see how it works out.
Thanks for your input.
John (not forgetting 'the Others').
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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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- davey_c (dave clarke)
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Below tank is for sale
my plywood tank build.
www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/forum...k-build-diary#137768
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- JohnH (John)
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There's an admin TEAM?
Oh yes, I'm just the most vociferous (I almost put 'The Most Active' but that wouldn't be too appropriate)

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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