Oh my, I am humbled.
Thank you, Rob and whoever it was that brought this to light. If I may borrow the soap box for a minute...
I join every fish related forum that comes along and there are many. Mainly to "reserve" my on line user name, Amphibious. I'll spend an hour or so reading threads that interest me. I might even respond to a couple that first visit. Then I put the forum into my "favorites" file under Fish Forums. Some, I've never visited again and recently was reminded of that when an e-mail came in from an obscure fish forum announcing some changes. Not even remembering that particular forum, I went to the site and tried to log on. The message I got back went something like this,
"You can not log on due to inactivity". WOW! They banned me because of "inactivity". Hmmm, that's pretty astonishing to me. So I checked the Membership list. Sure enough, I was on it. Joined date - June of '03. Number of posts - 0. They had me dead to rights! So I wrote the Admin, as suggested, and asked to be re-instated since they chose to include me in their mailing. We'll see what happens.
Some forums are more a place to get battered than to get or give information and I avoid those, now. Who needs to be flamed for a personal view of a topic being discussed or, ridiculed because a "newbie" has a "dumb" question? I don't visit that forum any more, either.
And then along came
Talking Reef. Hmmm, funny name, I thought. What interest could I possibly have for a "
Talking Reef". Reefs don't talk. But, I joined because, that's what Amphibious does. And, I lurked for a bit, not wanting to "talk" just yet. Then I began to realize, there wasn't any flaming, bashing, ridiculing or any other demeaning practice. So, I gave a first, short, response to a thread and I got the usual "welcome" too TR. Then I became bolder and started offering advise based on my extensive experience. I've had no formal education in marine aquariums but tons of practical, hands on, "school of hard knocks" kind of education. I don't "know it all" but I know what works for me and if applied correctly will work for others. I found that I was accepted on TR. People thanked me, encouraged me to speak out. And now, today they can't silence me even if they wanted too. At least not for "inactivity".
I remember a great debate we had on a TR thread that pitted two great aquarists with two different theories on one subject, at opposite ends from each other. The debate got a bit heated and included input from many of you. In the end, it was decided, by default, that both methods worked and it was a matter of choice, individually, which method was "best". The best thing about this debate, while heated at times, is that the other main character and I remain friends, in fact better friends now than before. We both learned, I think, to respect each other's diversity and embrace each other's differing knowledge and experience. This could have sunk into a flame throwing, bashing thread on a different site, not TR!!!
This
"Talking Reef" thing that Rob created is addicting, as many of you have expressed. I concur! I have one piece of advice for anyone lurking on the site, post something so you don't get banned for
"inactivity".
Just one more thing, recognition is one of the most powerful motivators known to mankind. Recognize achievments
however great or small in your children. It will motivate them to do even more.
So, how do you get me to stop talking on
Talking Reef??? You jerk the soapbox out from under me, that's how.
Thanks again, Rob.
