Why are local forums/clubs struggling?

[Flippers4pups]

Also all the local members of the local club are BIG time RC fans from long ago. Still are and the one of them is a Mod over there. Need I say more? A little slanted and very opinionated group. I can see how that's driven away members and not being family focused alienates them.

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

Also all the local members of the local club are BIG time RC fans from long ago. Still are and the one of them is a Mod over there. Need I say more? A little slanted and very opinionated group. I can see how that's driven away members and not being family focused alienates them.

RC?

 

[Flippers4pups]

RC?

Saint Louis.

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

Saint Louis.

What does the RC mean?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Social media is making people anti-social.

edit
I did not mean this as hit and run humor.

The next time you are sitting in a restaurant look around and see how many tables have people staring at their phones instead of looking at and speaking to each other.
Saw a party of 8 doing this last week.
It is ingrained into people now.
My own kids and their spouses do it.

It’s this.

 

[Coastie Reefer]

What does the RC mean?

think initials... and reef forum...

 

[Flippers4pups]

What does the RC mean?

The other forum.

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

Reef Central.

AH, I can't even get onto that forum. I tried to register, and its kinda broken. Either way, this forum is awesome, so I'm good.

 

[dragon99]

For me, I'm ~1.5hrs away from 2 different clubs, but that makes it far more convenient to "hang out" on R2R and talk. I was a member of one group for a couple years, but after only making 2 events in 2 years, I didn't see the point. Borrowing the par meter?, nah it's easier to just buy one when I have to spend almost $100 in gas just to borrow it once.

 

[alton]

This is a sad thread but so true. Our local club MAAST which stands for Marine Aquarist Association of South Texas, now could stand for Minh Alton And Sierra Bravo of Texas, because we are most times the only ones that post on MAAST. And yes we all are members here as well.

 

[PapaWhisky]

THIS. The attitudes of folks in hobbies, not just this one, can drive away new folks. People get shamed for making mistakes, and it becomes less about support for a newbie, and more about ego stroking and being correct about something. Now, I can't speak about any group, but while a shared hobby can bring folks together, different skill levels and personalities can certainly drive them apart. Just my 2 cents.

+1 Went to my local club's meeting once. Was there for an hour and couldn't get anyone to talk to me. Everyone was huddle up into their "groups". I had even brought cookies!

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

think initials... and reef forum...

I'm still new to this side of the hobby

 

[MTBake]

Changing of the times. Social media makes it too easy to converse with people while sitting at home.

 

[erk]

I would also attribute the decline as a failure to evolve. If you know people prefer the online interaction, then why not host Skype meetings or stream a meeting on Twitch? People don't have much time to meet with full time jobs, kids, etc. We can complain about how things have changed OR we can accept it and adapt. You know people will show up for frags and such, then make once or twice a year meetups. Make connecting on FB and the local forum easy. Post what is going on with the local forum on FB like what R2R does. We need to get out of this idea that change is bad. Accept that change is happening and adapt to it.

I personally was interested in my local clubs, but then I went to a couple local frag swaps and didn't like the atmosphere. There is a stiff resistance to new methods and ideas. Too many people think that to successfully run a reef tank you need GFO, Carbon, filter socks, and tons of rock. I don't find this with younger reefers, its more of the older ones. I meet plenty of young reefers at random LFSs and they enjoy talking and sharing.

 

[pdiehm]

i can't speak for anyone else, but there was a local club here. I signed up but the meetings took place sometimes in excess of 2 hours away, and on sunday afternoons, I'm not driving an hour, let alone 2 hours. I felt like the odd ball, as I was the only one in the 30 minute radius of my house. Before I set my tank back up, when I asked for help and have someone come down and physically help vs just typing stuff on a screen, I got told, for $50/hour, they would come down. I declined and immediately got trashed by members saying that I really didn't want their help.

As for people only doing it for free or cheap stuff, the club I belonged to didn't ever offer anything like that, I did get 1 digitata frag that promptly died. I got told that since I couldn't keep an easy digitata alive, that no one would ever help me out with small frags again to get started.

I promptly left the club, and as I have always done it, am doing things on my own with help from various people on here, and on youtube. So...yeah, my experience wasn't great.

 

[squampton]

I for one could never go to aquarium club meetings as they were always in the evenings when I was at work, otherwise I would have gone.

The more regional forums where I am are mostly dead, surprised really they are still being paid for to be up, few sponsors left and even fewer posts, the only section that is somewhat popular is the buy and sell. Big difference between now and just 10 years ago when it was busy with a lot of sponsors.

I also dont know how healthy the hobby is overall, we have 1 viable saltwater store left, there were a handful 10 years ago. Checking craigslist there are not many used saltwater aquariums anymore where a few years ago it was a pretty good place to used equipment.

FB regional group is a little busy, but only 800 members but nowhere near 800 posting on a regular basis.


The hobby itself also changed a lot in 10 years, 2008 you could get premium wild live rock, now its either real reef rock and what stores call live rock which appears to be dead rock they placed into water, no real visible life on it, nothing like 10 years ago.

If the hobby isnt healthy locally or regionally then local groups will suffer even more.

So many variables involved and likely no one simple answer or reason.

 

[reefwiser]

Plus you can get information here!

You think you are getting information here you are just getting a little bit of what is shared by being in a club. I could not tell you how many hobbyist I have helped down thru the years save their aquariums by going to their home an showing them in person what they are doing wrong.
What the main problem is people have so much work and family commitments they can barely handle having a hobby in the first place. I get it I have to work 21 days in a row then get one day off.
Out club has an active facebook group and I try to hold meetings September thru May. I have never worried about a ton of people coming out to the meeting as I have been involved with many other types of support groups and see that attendance is low for any type of interest group. Thoses that are turely into the social and hobby will come out and enjoy. Those less serious and not very social just don't come out there is always an excuse.

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

+1 Went to my local club's meeting once. Was there for an hour and couldn't get anyone to talk to me. Everyone was huddle up into their "groups". I had even brought cookies!

Even cookies couldn't break the ice. That's pretty unwelcoming. Behaviour like that is why they are vanishing. We all remember the "good ol' days", but fail to account for how much people can suck, and how hard groups can make it for new people.

 

[biecacka]

We have this discussion at our local club yearly!
I think it’s a combination of things, some good some bad. Yes there are some cliques and no it alls- really bummer for new members or existing members that don’t attend all the meetings.
Hard to schedule meetings that work for everyone, some ppl work weekends, some don’t, etc.
Family, kids, other obligations all take away attendance.
Here are a few things we do to try to help everyone: we went to every other month meetings, tried to make them more interactive (we make frozen food sometimes, have been considering making algae reactors) things like this bring ppl out and they are fun. We have a Christmas party and do a cookout in the summer in addition to our frag swap. We make sure the members know these events are kid friendly and they are welcome to bring spouse and children as well as ohers who might be interested in the hobby.

It has worked okay for us, we have gotten an increase in our attendance at some meetings.
Trying to keep up with the changing times is the hard part!

Corey

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

You think you are getting information here you are just getting a little bit of what is shared by being in a club. I could not tell you how many hobbyist I have helped down thru the years save their aquariums by going to their home an showing them in person what they are doing wrong.
What the main problem is people have so much work and family commitments they can barely handle having a hobby in the first place. I get it I have to work 21 days in a row then get one day off.
Out club has an active facebook group and I try to hold meetings September thru May. I have never worried about a ton of people coming out to the meeting as I have been involved with many other types of support groups and see that attendance is low for any type of interest group. Thoses that are turely into the social and hobby will come out and enjoy. Those less serious and not very social just don't come out there is always an excuse.

Never limit yourself to one source of information. Take the time to bring in multiple sources, and weigh them yourself. See what makes sense. However, having someone take the time to come over and SHOW you is pretty dang awesome, but I'm not sure i could find that type of support in my area. I'm pretty much on my own here, other than the online support, and I'm ok with that.