What to do with all the "for sale" threads?

[JimD]

A: Delete them all for the benefit of the club.
B: Leave them alone because everyone is entitled to an opinion.
C: Negotiate a logical solution between members and the BOD.
D: Bann ALL offenders
E: Have a no holds barred tag-team wrestling match between the bod, charters and webbies.

Please respond with a light heart and a heavy smile...

[captexas]

LOL, I like E, but add in having to wear those inflatable sumo-wrestler costumes. That with some BBQ and cold beer sounds like a fun group outing!

[Richard]

F.) Allow members to only post a link to their add on craigslist but no further posts on the thread. Negotiations, questions, complaints etc. can be done via craigslist. Let craigslist do what craigslist does so maast can focus on what it is supposed to be about...

Our Purpose:

1. Encourage the growth of the marine aquarium hobby in South Texas;

2. Educate and inform members and the public about care, keeping and propagation of marine invertebrates and fish;

3. Prevent abuse to marine animals in general, and to conserve the marine environment by promoting intelligent, planned reef management systems;

4. Promote higher standards of health and care provided by local commercial outlets;

5. Organize workshops, seminars and discussions related to all aspects of the hobby;
6. Raise and generate funds and create financial resources to meet these goals

7. Coordinate with and support similar societies devoted to like-minded interests.

[kaiser]

Just leave them alone. The contracts with the sponsors just need be written in such a language that there is no conflict. As I recall there is a thread in the vendor experiences about a store having a big sale that is not a sponsor of the club.

[ClownReef®]

F.) Allow members to only post a link to their add on craigslist but no further posts on the thread. Negotiations, questions, complaints etc. can be done via craigslist. Let craigslist do what craigslist does so maast can focus on what it is supposed to be about...

Couldnt agree more..

Giving MAAST What's MAAST's, And Craigslist What is Craigslist's...

[JimD]

Ok, there is no F, do you see an F on the list? No, please make another selecton. Dont turn this thread into another opinionated hack-a-thon.

[captexas]

As for the new option "F" idea, I like having it all in one spot. I'm not a fan of Craig's List myself, but that's just me.

Really we need a combination of option B & C to make things work. Unfortunately there will always be one or two people here or there that push the rules and refuse to participate in a peaceful/positive manner. WE as club members cannot allow things to get so bad that it comes to doing away with sections of OUR website or allow for anyone to quash the openess of it either. I think that the real issue with these outbreaks lately is not the original act, but how certain people responded inappropriately to them. There always have been and there always will be arguments here. We just need to find a better way to deal with each other, especially with the club taking on a huge undertaking such as MACNA. There are going to be a lot of different ideas and opinions on everything that comes with that as well. I remember when we first started talking about MACNA years ago, there was a club that basically disentigrated because of all their internal problems from hosting it. We are better than that, but we need to find a way to work things out and apply that fairly to everyone here.

Overall, I think the BOD needs to come up with a plan on how to better deal with critisism. Too often it is taken as a threat and they become defensive, responding in ways that tend to make the matter worse. I would suggest a plan to where only 1 designated BOD (really should be Pres or VP), instead of the mob, responds to the issue while they discuss how to officially respond with the appropriate solution. That person needs to be able to respond in a professional manner instead of some of the 10 year old responses that have been used lately.

In addition, I think there needs to be a better method for allowing club members to question BOD/moderator actions and to allow for club member suggestions and opinions on issues. This should be a public forum, not kept to secret PM's. I would also like to see it open to ALL website users as some non-paying members are more active than charter members and because it would allow for the continued input of new/fresh ideas.

Sorry Jim if that ruined your light hearted thread, but as everything else has been LOCKED, I had to put it somewhere!

[caferacermike]

Jim I don't think you are implying that you wish to start a debate about how to handle the actual for sale section, as some of the answers would imply.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe you are asking what to do with all the great opinions in the lounge section in regards to people's comments about the current situation. I do believe that an open line of communication is a great idea, as it always has been. I also believe that unfortunately when you accept a position of authority to moderate this or any forum, that you no longer represent yourself but the entire community with your responses. I think that our current BOD may wish to back step and rethink their decisions to openly blast away. I found BB's comments about the site feeling a conflict of interest to be appropriate but way to late. Should not have taken until about page 6 of open bickering. I think that his response would have been great right of the bat and then lock the thread. This shows us all that the BOD is in charge of the site. This shows that they have made an honest case against a persons current methods of selling. This shows that since they are already "on it" that the site does not need to handle the situation by arguing openly amongst themselves. A simple "we here on the BOD are discussing matters similar to what is being said and we will update when a decision is made" can help squash an argument before it happens. As soon as someone complains on the site about people being to cheap, trying to be sneaky using PM's (um why wouldn't you PM a for sale to confirm your intentions?), complaining about people not wanting to sell outside their "buddy community" etc, being that is the only point of the thread, lock it and kill it before the arguing ensues.

Our current mods need to understand that when they speak their mind that they imply we all feel the same way. I realize the disbelief at the idea that I moderate a large world wide fish forum but trust me I have to do it completely different than I post on other forums. I had to realize that I can't speak my mind openly. I cannot chastise members for being dumb. I cannot chastise members for for knowingly giving bad advice or lamenting other members. Instead I must immediately remove their replies from the forum, copy/paste that reply into a PM explaining my position and decision to remove their post. It's a completely different version of myself. I found that I rarely, if ever, participated as a member once I became a moderator due to people feeling that I was picking on them and/or that my moderator status made my replies better or more accurate than others. What did end up doing was creating another account so I could just be myself and answer/argue/clash/laugh etc.. as I saw fit. I have found that you cannot allow the arguing to continue unchecked. I found that complaints, as they will come in, were fine. It was our forums policy to allow such threads to continue. As soon as a reply coming in insulted another member or the forum it was shut down and the offending post was removed. It created a friendly forum discussion that allowed people to make suggestions/complaints without fear of harassment from other members. As soon as everyone figured out we were serious about our methods and policies,, folks began to respect those guidelines. Our BOD would immediately suspend a moderators functions if they ever disrespected another member, be it whether the member deserved it or not.

Now don't ever tell me "if you don't like the way it is run here join the BOD and volunteer your time" as it was offered to me and then killed in BOD discussions. I was offered a place on the team, I accepted, but it was decided I would not be an acceptable member of our community. I'm fine with as I do like to speak my mind but nobody, nobody had ever tell me that if I don't like it to participate more.

[JimD]

Is the concept of choosing A, B, C, D or E really that challenging? There is no 'other' there is no 'voice your opinion', there is no 'whats on your mind', its simply A, B, C, D, or E and possibly a brief explaination why, thats it. One more outburst like that and Im shuttin her down!

[captexas]

LMAO, I remember on tests in school it was when in doubt, go with C.