Fish Of The Month

[xxBarneyxx]

I don't think you can really do a truly fair competition that covers such a broad area.

No but to be honest a tank that is stripped down for a specific species of fish (Ie Rays) is not the type of tank that would be featured. Yes I think they are pretty special and I'm sure the people that keep them think they are as well but you cant really call a tank that is stripped down to a few inchs of sand a TOTM. Doesnt mean there is anything wrong with them and like you say they are practical but thats not really the point of this sort of thing. By the same token I wouldnt expect to see a tank with pink gravel and bubbling skulls to be TOTM either. Again I'm sure the owners love them but they just dont fit into the catergory. If people dont like it they dont have to view it and if they feel that bad about not having a tank that would be featured then thats their problem.

I would love to see a TOTM (I agree it should not be limited to planted tank or marine tanks only. There are some really nice setup's without plants or salt anywhere to be seen ). I dont think having a prize would be a good idea and I do think it should just be one that the mods pick (if they want the extra hassle).

The only problem I can see is where they get the candidates from. The marine and planted journal sections are the obvious source for people with marine or planted tanks but there are no journal sections in the betta or cichlid sections for example. Maybe they could just look mainly in the Member's Aquarium and Fish Pictures and the two journal forums?

I would say if people dont like it or the way its set up they dont have to take part in it or view it. They aren't going to lose anything from it being up there so have no reason to complain. I would like to see it mainly because I love looking at other peoples tanks and reading about how they where setup. The first section I go to in PFK is the members tank section and the journal sections on these forums are the ones I view the most. It would be cool to have one of the extra special tanks singled out each month (and there are many on this forum) and have lots of pictures and details about it to really "showcase" the tank.

With regards to poor photos I would have to be harsh again and say tough luck. Again the idea of a TOTM style thing is to really showcase the selected tank. You cant really do that with a bunch of blurry photos taken with a camera phone.

I'm not holding my breath that this will happen and wont be overly fussed if it doesn't. It would be a shame though if it didnt happen just because of one or two people.

(Fish of the month would be a nightmare to set up due to the huge number of fish pictures that are put on here everyday ).

 

[CAC]

I think a fish of the month contest (not fish photo) would elliminate 'most' problems which choosing a tank has. The members could vote on a persons fish, which could have multiple photos posted of it, and see how it goes. I also feel that there are almost an equal number of people on the forum who would vote for the 'prettiest' fish as there are people who would vote for the more predatory, sometimes drab kinds of fish which would make it a bit more interesting. I think we should have a go of some kind of OTM competition, be it on the tank, the fish or a photo and if any major issues arise then it can be stopped.

 

[Inchworm]

I can't speak for all but I'm a senior moderator on another popular fish site ...

I see.........., a "senior moderator somewhere." Do you think that entitles you to come over here and tell us how we should run our forum?

IMHO, you forgot the good manners that most mods would show when visiting another forum.

 

[OohFeeshy]

There are some really nice setup's without plants or salt anywhere to be seen

Yeah, the big colourful Malawi tanks. Those seem to be the only three categories of tank that would win...

 

[Arfie]

I can't speak for all but I'm a senior moderator on another popular fish site ...

IMHO, you forgot the good manners that most mods would show when visiting another forum.

I don't see anywhere where Darkstar was bad mannered Inch I also don't see you being told what to do

Heaven forbid someone should mention something in the suggestions area of TFF . Personally I would have thought that a suggestion would have to be related to something that isn't being done on here otherwise there would be no suggestion to be made . Or does the fact that Darkstar moderates on another forum exclude them from stating their opinion in an open thread?

But sadly if the mods aren't willing or capable of running it, it can't happen even though many other forums both smaller and considerably larger than TFF being capable of running similar competitiions without the issues TFF supposedly has/had.

Perhaps the members aren't the problem after all

Arfie

 

[steelhealr]

But sadly if the mods aren't willing or capable of running it, it can't happen even though many other forums both smaller and considerably larger than TFF being capable of running similar competitiions without the issues TFF supposedly has/had.

Perhaps the members aren't the problem after all

Whoa..slow down Arfie. The reason this discussion is here is to RE=EVALUATE this. Honestly...there has been a LOT OF negativity lately in your posts. I understand that you have issues here. Some of us DO listen and DO try to make this a better place. I noted Darkstars comments and see where he is coming from.

More positivity and less negativity if always helpful. I will start his as a formal discussion with the mods. FYI Arfie, this was brought up recently as a way to perk things up a bit in our mod section.

SH

 

[Darkstar]

edited to add: I only noticed you replied Arfie after I posted my response. In short, thanks, I agree whole heartedly.

I would also apologise to Steelhealr for my comments below which are no doubt detracting from the subject at hand.

I can't speak for all but I'm a senior moderator on another popular fish site ...

I see.........., a "senior moderator somewhere." Do you think that entitles you to come over here and tell us how we should run our forum?

lol....no it doesn't 'entitle me' but being a member here like anyone else does allow me to voice an opinion(otherwise this wouldn't be an open forum or the thread would have been shut when us mere members started voicing our opinion). You might notice and also take into account that I didn't just sign up today and go straight into this forum to leave my comments either, I've been a member here a while so to single me out for 'your special attention' says more about you and your moderating skills than it does me.

And since you have stated

you to come over here and tell us how we should run our forum?

Does being a moderator on another forum, as quite a few people are here, lessen my membership as you imply. I can only assume that becoming a member here allows you to state it's 'our forum' which you have written and which is inclusive and yet because I moderate on another forum that either means my membership here doesn't allow me to state it's 'our forum' inclusive of myself and I should infact only ever state 'your forum...I'm only a guest with the word member in each of his posts' or I'm not actually a member here at all and I've imagined it all for the last few months.
On reflection maybe you mean only moderators are allowed to say it's 'our forum' which doesn't include any members at all. You'll have to enlighten me on the correct terminology, I am after all only a guest at best apparently, even if my profile does state I'm a member.

Back on track though, I answered the following comment left by steelhealr, which by the way was not aimed at you so didn't need replying by you, although I do agree you are as entitled to reply as anyone else:

I don't believe that most other sites offer up the decision process to the members. I believe they are selected by editors, etc. Correct me if I am wrong.

Now if you read the last bit very carefully you might notice the comment was left open for replies...I did, and at the same time left a factual comment which in other words states that I havent' just seen it somewhere, I actually help run the comps somewhere else so I know it's possible and workable.
Many times I've seen people mention that they help moderate on other sites yet this is the first time I've seen you single them out. Perhaps there's some alterior motive for this post that you've made to me eh?

IMHO, you forgot the good manners that most mods would show when visiting another forum.

Would that be the same manners you've used in your post to me? Or the same ones that you appear to be renowned for by some members? Sorry, I forgot they often appear to be one and the same.
I also think you'll find my good manners are that I abide by the forum rules stated here. You have no other, more specific rules for members who are mods on other fish forums and if you do then please pm them to me and I shall make sure to read them. You might also want to create a thread to find anymore 'subversive members' who might not appear to be what they state...

I'd much rather you'd just sent me a pm saying "I hate you, you ******* go the **** away" at least it would have been honest and not so weakly disguised as it is in this thread. It would have saved you a lot time no doubt too...

Darkstar.

 

[andywg]

I whole heartedly agree with arfie and darkstar.

Inchworm, why did you feel it necessary to suddenly get personal with someone relating their own current experiences of running these competitions and replying to a question asked by another mod?

 

[backtotropical]

This seems to be turning into another 'members v mods' thread which i don't want to be involved in.

I just think it's a shame that another potentially good idea probably won't be implemented because some members /mods feel the need to turn it into an arguement.

 

[blue acara]

Yes lets get back to the original topic. Personally I would love to see a TOTM and a FOTM. Mods choosing the winners is the only fair way of doing it. Planted and reef tanks usually look the best, but that doesn't mean that they are the best. Mods should take other factors into consideration i.e fish quality, fish choice, quality of write up, cleaver use of equipment ect ect.
I agree a big bare bottom tank with aros and other large predators doesnt look the best- but a lot of the time the fish do. So adding a fotm and totm would solve this.

This would mean more work for our lovely mods but Im sure their up to the task

 

[Inchworm]

I just think it's a shame that another potentially good idea probably won't be implemented because some members /mods feel the need to turn it into an arguement.

Don't hold your breath on this one, backtotropical, but that's not the reason why it probably won't happen again.

This would mean more work for our lovely mods but Im sure their up to the task

Not necessarily, blue acara. It was a tremendous amount of work, in addition to his other responsibilities, for the moderator in charge of the last one. The final straw just happened to be when someone posted a tank that wasn't his own. The nasty posts that resulted from it made us give up on the whole idea.

Please understand that we very much wanted to do it, but it just became too much. Unless one of the mods volunteers to take this responsibility on every month............

 

[The-Wolf]

This seems to be turning into another 'members v mods' thread which i don't want to be involved in.

I agree, however since I'm in it now....

TOTM and all the other Xotm's will, IMHO, never return to TFF.
William is the one who, ultimately, has the decision to make and I can't see him
agreeing to reinstate any Xotms' (given what has happened in the past),
in fact I'm surprised that POTM is still allowed to run here as cheating still happens in that one.

 

[xingumike]

I have the ability to receive pm's of that i am certain.

I assume from other fora i go on (although i have never tried it) that i can set up a thread with a poll in it?

therefore do we need Admin/Mod approval to actually run one of these?

Or will it be deleted if i run ''Xingu's POTM/FOTM/TOTM contest''?

 

[steelhealr]

xing....I understand your enthusiasm for doing this, but, taking it on yourself may be more difficult than you think and also may open you up to some criticism from other members. I understand Inchie's comments here re: the amount of work that this all involves. I have posted a thread on this in the mod section to try and help defuse some of this mod vs member stuff. I don't like it either. I don't forget where I came from. However, Inchworm was one of the first mods to post to my newb threads and she actually helped get my first tank off the ground almost 4 years ago. I have a lot of respect for her.

To darkstar.....I think it's great that you are a mod on another site and that doesn't lessen your importance of being a member here. In fact, it makes OUR site stronger. I agree that our site needs a few more dashes of hot sauce to perk things up...we're on this.

SH

 

[Darkstar]

Hot sauce definitely sounds good lol.

To bring the subject back on track though...

I think there are several ways setting up a competition which may or may not work here;

1. Set up tank specific comps. ie one month have a sw nano competition and the next a general fish comp, or a plec tank competition etc etc...perhaps the mods relevant to that particular forum could run it for that particular month.

2. I know of another fish forum where members themselves cannot put forward their own pictures but instead can only vote for other people pictures to be put forward. It takes two individual members to vote for a picture for it to be entered into the comp. This seems to work quite well although I have no idea how well it works from a mods point of view as I'm not a mod there. It may be too much work keeping track of voted pictures on a forum this size. Although members linking to a nominations thread may help resolve that..

Perhaps the last one might help against people putting forward pictures which aren't their own too...

Point is there are several ways of achieving this assuming the mods and members are in agreement that they want it to happen.
As Bignose stated in the third post in this thread, this is the second most common suggestion put foward by members, so it's obviously wanted by quite a few people. I also think forums work like businesses in that the only thing stopping people from going elsewhere is by providing the services people would want to use.
If it's tried again here and doesn't work then so be it, you mods tried, we members tried and unfortunately a few spoiled it for all. I think we could all accept that if that was the case. But as I said yesterday, to constantly deny the possibility of it happening is annoying from a members point of view when we're constantly being told 'no' due to a few members actions a long long time ago.

While were at it, I'd really like to see a gallery here. One where each user has their own place to put their pictures. It could be just a small amount of server space which if you wanted it increased would cost you a small fee, which in turn could be put towards the running costs.

I guess in short, the knowledge here by the average member is excellent and that in itself is a good enough reason to be a member. However I'd still like to see more internal promotion of the site from it's mods and admins to try and increase the interaction of it's members. Competitions for fun are a good way to do that imo.

Just a few thoughts anyway.

Cheers
Darkstar