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Which new subforums would you post in?

  • left blank on purpose.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

Petitions for new 'advanced' sub-forums: Come vote!

8K views 52 replies 18 participants last post by  djembekah 
#1 ·
This idea has been brought up before, but we want to know if there is enough demand to warrant them.

Feel free to post reccomendations, ideas, and thoughts here, but please only vote if you would visit/post in them with some regularity.
 
#3 ·
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#4 ·
He is talking I think about Dirt bottom tanks, CEC (Cation Exchange Capacity), possibly CO2 planted tanks as opposed to Low Light which is the most common on this Forum.
Something that "beginner" fish keeper may have NO experience with or beyond a basic planted tank.
(To me that also means Sand as opposed to Gravel as I have not made the move up to Sand, let alone a Dirt bottom tank.)

Make sense? Does that help?
 
#6 · (Edited)
We have not had discussions yet as to how it would be set up yet and where the different topics would go... the Admin will help us decide how to format placement... we're more concerned first with what topics are people interested in. We'll sort the rest out later. We could get any number of suggestions for this... or no response possibly.
 
#7 ·
I like the scientific debate idea, or even just a 'debate' section, although I'm not sure how often I would visit it (which is why I didn't vote for it), but it's an interesting idea and keeps some of the more heated discussions out of the main section. And threads that get de-railed by arguments could be moved there, as long as they aren't getting too nasty.

Just an idea :)
 
#10 ·
I've seen this type of debate section on other forums... Regular members don't post threads to it, but if an individual thread gets a bit heated or is on a potentially controversial topic (as an example, the pit bull thread over in the betta fish section comes to mind), it is moved by a mod to the controversial section where people can debate to their heart's content and the general population doesn't have to worry about accidentally stumbling into a heated debate. It seems to work fairly well where I've seen it, but I'm admittedly not active in those forums.
 
#9 ·
I love the two votes for "left blank on purpose." :lols:

Anyways, I'd actually say there are too many sub forums. A lot get little, if any use. With more forums, you risk fragmenting the community. What I mean by that is spread people out too thin.

For example there are 4 forums for photos/videos (plus more I'm sure in the Betta section). I don't think freshwater keepers would be adverse to seeing people's saltwater tanks and vice versa. Not unless there were a bunch of new threads daily/weekly.

I'm not saying some new forums may not be warranted, I'd just also consider consolidated some of the lesser used forums to make 'room' for new.
 
#14 ·
Salutations:
How would scientific debate differ from reference material??
What would be considered a scientific fact (with references) as vs. opinion (with references). Will these advanced sub-forums be just another case of
CLEVER HANS who always knew the answer.
pop
 
#15 ·
We've all seen people come up with different conclusions using the same references, just as we've seen people use different references to debate a point. Some folks just enjoy a good debate; however, they only become educational when there is a willingness to accept that you could be wrong when the weight of evidence supports a different idea. I don't need or like to debate but, I can see some folks are chomping at the bit for one. That's OK by me.
 
#16 ·
Hello:
Why do we have to have a debate where one wins or loses? Would a friendly exchange of ideas be acceptable it is not necessary that all of us come to the same conclusions, we could all agree that disagreeing will not imply a sense of right or wrong. We all know that there is more than one way to view the world.
pop
 
#18 ·
That sounds good to me, Pop. Just saying there are people who love to debate. Maybe a special niche will lessen the amount that appears on "normal" threads, especially if the Mods bump them to that niche. Most of us who have been members for a little while have seen these "debates", for lack of a better term, erupt on some of the most innocent threads. It gets to the point where the OP and their question are pushed far into the background. I always continue to subscribe to those threads just to see how nasty things get. Sick, I know. Perhaps placing high level, heated debates in their own place will have the impact of decreasing the amount of intimidation experienced by the novices. I sure wouldn't post a question about my first 10 gallon after reading some of these threads.
 
#17 ·
I loe the idea of a forum where fishkeepers would not only give their opinion on something, but would have to back it up with cold hard facts. It might not end up a posting hotspot, but I cam definitly see it as a frequent hang out for lurkers.

When it comes to plants and such, we have to consider the fat that we already have a plant forum. However, advanced tecniques in planting need a separate place and advanced stickies for themselves. So, I would like to propose the following. Keep the original plant forum (perhaps renamingit something like Plants and Substrates or Plants: Low Tech or just Planted ) with lots of low tech and for beginners stickies with perhaps a section on the different types of substrate with their strengths and weaknesses and a list list of good beginner plants with their pH and hardness preferances. Then create a second forum entitled Advanced Planted Tanks with stickies on CO2, enriched substrates, rare and expert level plants, fertilizing, and so on. That way, the forum could target both high tech and NPT and group together people with an advanced interest in planted tanks. Many of these areas overlap, so I can see the 2 groups being of great help to each other. :)
 
#37 ·
I loe the idea of a forum where fishkeepers would not only give their opinion on something, but would have to back it up with cold hard facts. It might not end up a posting hotspot, but I cam definitly see it as a frequent hang out for lurkers.

When it comes to plants and such, we have to consider the fat that we already have a plant forum. However, advanced tecniques in planting need a separate place and advanced stickies for themselves. So, I would like to propose the following. Keep the original plant forum (perhaps renamingit something like Plants and Substrates or Plants: Low Tech or just Planted ) with lots of low tech and for beginners stickies with perhaps a section on the different types of substrate with their strengths and weaknesses and a list list of good beginner plants with their pH and hardness preferances. Then create a second forum entitled Advanced Planted Tanks with stickies on CO2, enriched substrates, rare and expert level plants, fertilizing, and so on. That way, the forum could target both high tech and NPT and group together people with an advanced interest in planted tanks. Many of these areas overlap, so I can see the 2 groups being of great help to each other. :)
I like this idea.
Planted tank forum's here in U.S. (with few exception's),are light year's behind other planted tank forum's outside U.S. with respect to the many differing way's to achieve desired result's.
Should also note that many planted tank folk's aren't alway's as concerned with fishes health as they are with plant health.And what may work well with plant only tank's,,could maybe be not so helpful, or beneficial to fishes ,invert's.
Discussion's ,more info,can only bring more knowledge.
 
#22 · (Edited)
I can't help but giggle as I watch something resembling the beginnings of a debate forming around the very thought of adding debate board - and why/how to properly debate on one! You're totally right, Fish - we TFKians will debate almost anything - we get so distracted sometimes. . . ^.^

I'm so happy to see you guys in here offering your suggestions - it's really nice hearing everyone's point of view on these subjects! Keep voting, guys. . . if enough members would use it, we'll open an area to get into all of this - and more! :)
 
#23 ·
I like the idea of being able to 'rip out' the debate so to speak, and move it into it's own thread, and let it kind of 'rage' on. I don't mind debate and honestly it is quite enlightening, but it can get very off track from the original question, and they can honestly get quite scary, especially to a new-comer. I'm pretty sure like 4 other people already said this but I just wanted to get that out there.

Speaking of new-comers, what about a section or just a simplified sticky for total newbies? Something with a 'checklist' so to speak of what's needed to start/maintain a tank, and a simplified version of the cycle with a link to the more scientific article. Just something to give people baby steps. And a good mention on the benefits/necessity of water changes, the uses of a filter, the importance of suitable water parameters, etc. There are articles for these things but they're kind of all over the place, and I find that I have to repeat myself a lot and link to lots of different things. It would be nice to be able to refer people to something that encompasses all the basics, with links to each topic more in depth.



I also love the idea of splitting the Plant forum, although I would do it three ways. High tech, Low tech, and NPT (soil based). I suppose soil and low tech could be combined, but the NPTs always seem to get 'lost' among the other threads and can be difficult to find.

And it would be really nice to consolidate some of the topics, there are a lot. Especially for pictures and photography, not quite sure why there are two topics for that? Just wondering.
I like keeping the salt water on their side of the forum though, similar to how the betta forum is over on it's own side. Just personal opinion but I'd rather not have the bettas/salt forum get tangled in with TFK, but I'm not sure how the technical aspect works.
 
#24 ·
I love your idea for the newbie foum jent. I know on other forums I'm a member of, they require you to post in an interoduce yourself forum before you can post on the rest of the site. I wonder if that would be possible for us to do here so we could funnel the newbies to all the wonderful beginner articles as well as make their first post here a positive experiance. What do yall think?
 
#27 ·
I like the idea of a beginner forum and an advanced section, just so the 'newbie' questions don't get lost in the sea of more advanced stuff. And the stickies in the beginner area would be simplified step-by-step instructions, checklists, etc.

I know when I first started out I was absolutely overwhelmed by the information I needed to process, and some of it could be difficult to wrap my head around (ie the cycling process).

Speaking of cycling, if we do have a beginner sticky/forum, somewhere it should mention the benefits of live plants, and the basics of how to do a planted tank (or a link to an article on it, but something a bit simpler, maybe.)

I'm not saying the articles we have now are insufficient, they're just a bit advanced imo for someone just starting out.
 
#28 ·
I'm not saying the articles we have now are insufficient, they're just a bit advanced imo for someone just starting out.
I still wouldn't look ;-)
 
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#29 ·
i really think some of the subforums could be condensed before new subforums are added. like, what's with having "freshwater shrimp" AND "invertebrates"? why isnt the shrimp a subforum of inverts? that confuses me.


this was probably already mentioned, so i apologize if it was. but TFK is preeettty cluttered, not gonna lie.
 
#30 · (Edited)
I think you're right DJ. Inverts and shrimp Should be combined. Your comment also got me to thinking about how else the forums could be adjusted so I did a few hours of looking to see what I would change if I could.

All the pags viewed was via tropicalfishkeeping.com

1. We have too many photogrphy forums. Either pond, freshwater, and saltwater photos need to be combined with Aquarium Photography or Aquarium Photogrphy should be removed

2. Meet the Community needs to be updated. Maybe change the tame to Welcome to TFK: Introduce yourself o the community and view articles specifically written for new aquatists. Add lots of simply written stickie for newbies including cycling (fish in and fishless), beginner plants (list of good ones and their benifits), common Q & A, intro to water chemistry (hardness, pH, amonia...), good beginner fish (for soft, hard, acidic, basic, and saltwater), and a simple explination of substrates.
 
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#31 ·
*I accadentally hit submit and then ran out of time to edit my last post

3. Plant foru should be split into beginner and advanced forums
a) Beginner would have stickies on easy care plants, basics substrates, easy ferts, different types of plants (floating, column feeding, root...), and common plant issues, problems, and diseases.
b) Advanced would have stickies on CO2, substrates/soils and ferts in detail, rare and difficult care plants, NPT, aquascaping, and so on.

4. DIY needs a sticky on aquarium safe products and materials such as silicon

5. Tropical Fish Diseases should have some of its stickies merdged, edited, and expanded to accomodate emergancies that may happen during low trafic times

6. Article Forums are a bit messy
a) Merdge saltwater article forums
b) Perhaps change name of disease article forum to include saltwater
c) Merdge Betta, freshwater plants, and freshwater general

7. Under Freshwater and Troical Fish...
a) Inverts and Shrimp should be merdged
b) Betta can stand alone because of high trafic
c) Why do we need 5 forums that cover puffer fish? Would it be possible to make a forum titled puffer fish and place all the current forums i it like we did for bettas?

8. Make a new forum for posting the latest scientic articles and engadging in scholarly debate
 
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#32 ·
Just so you know, the issues mentioned in the last three posts are being looked into right now. I won't go into specifics because we are working through all this, but most if not all of the points raised are under discussion.:)
 
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