Jump to content


Photo

Hi there. New guy with a bit of a rant.


11 replies to this topic

#1 Michmass

Michmass
  • NANFA Guest
  • Grass Lake MI

Posted 31 May 2019 - 11:01 PM

I've been keeping fish off and on for around 30 years now and just recently decided to give natives a try.  Like many others, I sifted, sorted, and stumbled my way around the internet until I found this forum.  So little information about keeping our own beautiful fish available that it's almost embarrassing. In fact, I know more about a red listed "soda cichlid" than I do about all of the shiners, minnows, darters, etc. that live down the street from me.  Then I found this seemingly wonderful place.  So full of information that I've spent the better part of six weeks reading and searching and reading some more.  It has been great.

 

However, like so many forums, it seems that some contributors feel the need to flex their intellectual and keyboard muscles.  As stated above, it took me some time to find this and in twenty minutes of looking around, I had more information than I'd found in a week of poorly worded searches on google.  For many, this is the only source of native species info they have.  I know the there are field guides.  I'm 50 and own several.  My generation seems to love books and I'm firmly in that camp.  Books are awesome, however books and water don't really get along very well.  Today's mobile devices seem to be much better with the wet stuff than books.  For me, I'd much rather drop my phone in the water than my books. Fiscal responsibility be damned!  I digress but am found of doing so and likely will again.  The point of all of that was that the younger users are far less likely to grab a book to find something out than they are to google it. I have 4 kids, 22, 20, 18, and 16 who could find the answer to just about any question via the web faster than they could find a book on the subject in a library.  So when I see a request for help identifying something answered with "go get the book" I see someone being potentially driven from this hobby.  I'm sure that isn't the goal but I've seen similar behavior end other associations.  The old guard ran out of people to berate and that was that. 

 

I believe, again brand new here, that any call for help should be met with exactly that, help.  Don't want to give an ID from a pic in a home aquarium, don't.  In my life, I've often found doing nothing is much easier than doing something just to do it.  But we Marines are known for an unusual level of creative laziness and that may be why I feel that way.  Of course it may also be something about nice or nothing.  Who knows?

 

I read, with interest, a thread regarding increasing membership.  Just a thought, but going back to the generational thing, why not offer a choice of either a subscription to AC, a t-shirt, or a hat with a paid membership?  If you break down the cost of the magazine, $ 7.50 per issue may seem a bit high when compared to an app but you can't wear an app.  Also hats and tees get worn out in public while very few people actually walk around with a magazine all day.  If I decide to take the leap and actually become a member, I'd take the mag but I am old. 

 

So, I look forward to digging more information out of these threads and slowly adding natives to my planted and finally cycled 75.  Thanks for your time and sufferance.


Truths are mutable, facts are not.  Unless of course we're talking about the definition of mutable, then the fact is in fact mutable.


#2 Michael Wolfe

Michael Wolfe
  • Board of Directors
  • North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 01 June 2019 - 12:07 PM

Welcome. Please keep sharing your thoughts and experiences.
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#3 CowBoYReX

CowBoYReX
  • NANFA Guest
  • Trenton, FL

Posted 01 June 2019 - 10:46 PM

I would love to own and wear shirts and hats with the nanfa logo

Sent from my LM-Q710(FGN) using Tapatalk

#4 dsuperman

dsuperman
  • NANFA Guest

Posted 01 June 2019 - 11:31 PM

Welcome,  i agree ,i wore a NANFA t-shirt today and got some inquiries [eat a peach,GA.]  I thought Herbert Axlerod knew what he was taliking about in the 60s, turns out his info was questionable. But whaddya want fer nuttin? ,a rubber biscuit?https://youtu.be/Hz0UvIZw-Y0



#5 Michael Wolfe

Michael Wolfe
  • Board of Directors
  • North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 01 June 2019 - 11:52 PM

I would love to own and wear shirts and hats with the nanfa logo

Sent from my LM-Q710(FGN) using Tapatalk


http://www.nanfa.org...l#NANFAofficial
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#6 CowBoYReX

CowBoYReX
  • NANFA Guest
  • Trenton, FL

Posted 02 June 2019 - 12:30 AM

http://www.nanfa.org...l#NANFAofficial

Thank you, Im buying a house right now, but in the next few months i plan to pay dues and will be buying some of those.

Sent from my LM-Q710(FGN) using Tapatalk

#7 Chasmodes

Chasmodes
  • NANFA Member
  • Central Maryland

Posted 04 June 2019 - 07:55 AM

Welcome to the forum!

 

IMHO, having AC is worth the membership, along with being part of something special.  The good thing about having a membership and having access to AC, is that, if you have a smart phone, you can bring your electronic version of American Currents with you, if you so choose.  You don't need to bring the hard copy and get it wet.  Maybe an ebook version of a field guide is a good thing too for phone users.  Personally, I would be paranoid about losing my phone to the creek in some way.  My case is supposedly near waterproof, but, I can't take the chance.

 

I've found that the NANFA members and forum guests are very helpful, but there are reasons that we don't ID fish brought home to an aquarium.  From what I've seen since I've been on this forum, is that requests for field IDs, or of fish were released and pics taken, were answered here by our members.  The thing is that if you can't ID a fish in the field, then you could be breaking the law by bringing it home, if it is a protected species.  You can take a pic, get the fish in the pic ID'd here, then go back next time and try to catch it.  Whether or not one is a NANFA member or not really doesn't matter, the risk and/or harm to the environment is the same.

 

Also, there is a Pictorial ID Key of Known Fishes section of the forum is helpful.  Maybe phone users can use that to help ID a fish in the field prior to taking a fish home.  I browsed this section many times, and recently have noticed that some pics are no longer showing up for me.  Perhaps we (forum members along with the mods) can figure out a way to add new pics to those old threads and keep that section of the forum up to date?

 

Still, you bring up some good points about perhaps ways to boost membership.  Membership is pretty cheap, I think, so if we were to include a shirt or something like that, the cost would go up.  But, perhaps there could be some sort of premium membership that would include a shirt at a higher price TBD?


Kevin Wilson


#8 Dustin

Dustin
  • Forum Staff

Posted 04 June 2019 - 08:18 AM

Kevin,

 

Everything you said is exactly what we are saying.  Thanks for taking the time to type it out.

 

As for the photo library, this was a project of a member that is not active any longer.  I felt like at the time of its creation that it was an essential part of what NANFA could offer and believe strongly that it still could be.  Hopefully, someone can take this project on and get it rebooted.

 

In the meantime, Jonahs Aquarium has a nice species pictorial library that can be used to supplement the forum here:

 

http://www.jonahsaqu.../picgallery.htm


Dustin Smith
At the convergence of the Broad, Saluda and Congaree
Lexington, SC


#9 olaf

olaf
  • NANFA Member

Posted 04 June 2019 - 11:33 AM

The idea of offering members a choice of AC or a shirt/hat is interesting. As is the idea of a premium membership with both AC and a shirt/hat. In all my thinking about how to enhance NANFA's operation and boost recruitment, it never occurred to me that members would receive any physical object other than AC.

Maybe membership could include AC and provide a solid discount on a shirt or hat. 

 

Michmass, I hope you will decide to join and keep ranting (within reason, of course). Any organization always needs more people who are fired up and have ideas.


Redhorse ID downloads and more: http://moxostoma.com

#10 Michmass

Michmass
  • NANFA Guest
  • Grass Lake MI

Posted 04 June 2019 - 05:11 PM

The idea of offering members a choice of AC or a shirt/hat is interesting. As is the idea of a premium membership with both AC and a shirt/hat. In all my thinking about how to enhance NANFA's operation and boost recruitment, it never occurred to me that members would receive any physical object other than AC.

Maybe membership could include AC and provide a solid discount on a shirt or hat. 

 

Michmass, I hope you will decide to join and keep ranting (within reason, of course). Any organization always needs more people who are fired up and have ideas.

 

 

Thank you and ideas I'm full of as well as bovine excrement according to my wife.  Here's another one to consider: open the classifieds up to the public as a view only.  In other words, everybody can see it but only members can use it to post for sale/trade/free or whatever.  Being able to see something but not use it can trigger an individual to join the group for that reason alone.


Truths are mutable, facts are not.  Unless of course we're talking about the definition of mutable, then the fact is in fact mutable.


#11 johnnymax

johnnymax
  • NANFA Guest
  • Buna, Texas

Posted 13 June 2019 - 08:55 AM

First post, and I chose this thread. I found NANFA yesterday while searching for information about native fish aquariums.

I have looked at the cost of joining. I may someday, but with all the things we have to pay for, every thing I buy is put in a que and rated by need.

I agree that a shirt would move it up in the que to justify the expense.

I still plan to join, but it is not high on priorities. I do feel it is worth it.


"I work so I can buy things, give things & do things"


#12 Fleendar the Magnificent

Fleendar the Magnificent
  • NANFA Guest
  • Ohio

Posted 13 June 2019 - 02:25 PM

Welcome to NANFA, Johnnymax. LOTS of great people and information here!





Reply to this topic



  


0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users