Why are local forums/clubs struggling?

[ca1ore]

I tend to think of these kinds of things as the 'effort exceeds the benefits'. I do still go to a local frag swap or two, but local club meeting simply aren't worth the effort. OK, there may be a 'know it all' there, but they're easily ignored; the bigger problem for me is that there is no real gain. There's nothing to learn that I cannot get from place like R2R or RC. If I need some muscle I just have my son text some of his football buddies. If I need to borrow something esoteric, I have a few local reefers on text ... or I can post on the local reef pages here.

 

[Antics]

I'd take it a step further and say with R2R being what it is you might as well use it as the club forum. I really can't think of a reason for a club today to require it's own site and forum. It's completely inconvenient and counter intuitive.

 

[Humblefish]

As unpopular of an opinion as it may be, I feel R2R and that other site, are very much indirectly responsible for the downfall of local reef clubs.

I disagree, as I believe they can be symbiotic. I've recruited many new LARC members through R2R and vice versa. R2R is great, but I still crave the "home flavor" of my local forum.

 

[Antics]

I disagree, as I believe they can be symbiotic. I've recruited many new LARC members through R2R and vice versa. R2R is great, but I still crave the "home flavor" of my local forum.

I like my local forum, but the truth is they (members) are all way more active on R2R and even easier to contact here. To me, a stand alone forum is basically equivalent to having a group private message. It feels more intimate but really everything being discussed could be discussed in a club area on R2R.

 

[Amoo]

I disagree, as I believe they can be symbiotic. I've recruited many new LARC members through R2R and vice versa. R2R is great, but I still crave the "home flavor" of my local forum.

darn you found the one place I don't think I put "local" in quotations. I really think population density has a TON to do with it.

 

[jda]

I have met a lot of people in our local club, but it struggles to get 6-10 posts a day on the forum. There are a lot of people in town who know a lot, are good reefers and need nothing except to PM and trade some stuff. People only show up for the free stuff and to sell their gear with very little help for anybody else. The meetings do well, but they are always on the weekends and I cannot attend since I am nearly always coaching.

Call me old school, but I still like personal face-to-face stuff where people are more likely to be reasonable since everybody is a tough guy on the internet and nearly nobody is in person. I like that I can invite people over to see stuff in action, borrow extra equipment or just chat.

Our local club has a few members that help place tanks in schools, libraries, and other public-service locations... this is fantastic and could not exist on a world-wide forum since you need boots on the ground.

 

[rossco]

Our club is all about hanging out with like minded people for an evening. It gives us a chance to be “fishie people” as my wife says - even though we are mostly more about the coral than the fish.

Backing up corals is a huge benefit of a local club. Most of us are very generous with sharing what we have with each other, both for cameradere and the practical value of keeping backups of our hard sought out corals in qualified reef keepers systems. I have personally received back corals that I lost, and have quite a few ready for one member as soon as his tank stabilizes from a recent event.

As many others have stated, the club has probably 6-8 long term core members, with others attending occasionally.

 

[Bfaxi]

I used to be a member of an aquarium club. I had to quit because I was young, single, and female so some of the guys thought I was there to find dates. Too many guys hitting on me at the meetings and I really quit enjoying it.

Now my local reef club (I am a member) meet over an hour from my house so I don't usually go. I'm active on the site and use that to find someone to borrow stuff from or buy frags from.

This happens to me too. Annoying.

 

[Muttley000]

My local club is Buckeye Reef. We were born from a cliquey club with some questionable finance games going on. I’m the guy with a quarter of all the posts on the site because I’m one that welcomes everyone every time and makes sure every thread gets some kind of response. Even though we have surpassed 2000 members in a few years of operation there is a small core who keep it going. The site owner is also very committed to it being a friendly space. We have a great expo in March to get together, but maybe only a couple other meets a year which I never make. Great collection of tools and lots of club owned corals that are always getting spread out. We also have members who are only there to take just like everyone else. Somehow it still works but at a greatly reduced participation as just a year or two ago. Facebook is the root of all evil, including local forum decline IMO. I love this place, but the local connection is important to me also.

 

[Forsaken77]

I have tried to find a club in my area, Long Island NY. The only club I found has a site that seems dead and I don't even know if it's a thing anymore. I signed up on their site, but never received 1 email in over 2 years.

Personally, I HATE FB with a passion. It's so fake, people put up a front of what they want you to think their life is like. You have people living on it, like their whole life has become virtual.

People have lost social skills because of FB.

I check my FB account maybe twice a year. I really wish society would get back into socializing. I just turned 40 and I'm gonna have to join a senior citizens group for human interaction because they're the only group that isn't glued to their phone (because they don't know how to use it ).

But yea, back to clubs... I don't think clubs are thriving because people enter and exit the hobby so quickly.

 

[ReefWithCare]

Funny how we love R2R and BRS so much - yet them and other places (and Amazon & FB) like them have shut down a lot of the local scene [emoji849]

 

[vetteguy53081]

It is a combination of social media destruction, lack of events and members living a distance from any activities that occur with the club. I am fortunate to belong to the Wisconsin Reef Society who has seen a n increase annually. We have many events such as annual bus trip to various Chicago pet stores, Summer BBQ with great prizes and Xmas gathering at one of the members' mini mansion with large tank displays and meetings with food & prizes or auctions at a given members house.

Activities that are of interest, low but supportive dues are essential for survival as are sponsors in the industry

 

[Flippers4pups]

I do think the way I perceive things club wise is old school. Maybe outdated.

There is a couple FB groups here, but they are nothing but buy/sell trade groups. Nothing of value as learning and sharing on there. Just, I'm out of the hobby and the tank and everything in it needs to go!

There is something to be said about the generation now a days, they are impatient and little attention spans. There is little room for personal interaction.

I do my best to make sure we here eat dinner all together at the dinner table together as a family. If I didnt, it would be chaos.

 

[Humblefish]

Funny how we love R2R and BRS so much - yet them and other places (and Amazon & FB) like them have shut down a lot of the local scene [emoji849]

Cuz price reigns supreme.

 

[jda]

It is all them big-box national Superboards killing the local Mom & Pop Main Street boards.

 

[norfolkgarden]

Back in the day the local club filled all needs.

Nowadays R2R, BRS TV and the internet in general fill the information needs.

Your friends might not have your passion for salt water, but they can at least help you move a tank once or twice.

Hands on viewing of your tank issues can be delt with skype or facetime.
Not nearly as well, or with the same feeling of being there, but often enough.

The main part missing is the "in the flesh" friends you make.
[emoji53]

 

[Todvod]

My local club is Buckeye Reef. We were born from a cliquey club with some questionable finance games going on. I’m the guy with a quarter of all the posts on the site because I’m one that welcomes everyone every time and makes sure every thread gets some kind of response. Even though we have surpassed 2000 members in a few years of operation there is a small core who keep it going. The site owner is also very committed to it being a friendly space. We have a great expo in March to get together, but maybe only a couple other meets a year which I never make. Great collection of tools and lots of club owned corals that are always getting spread out. We also have members who are only there to take just like everyone else. Somehow it still works but at a greatly reduced participation as just a year or two ago. Facebook is the root of all evil, including local forum decline IMO. I love this place, but the local connection is important to me also.

Is this a central Ohio club? O - H!
I’m a newbie and need to find a local club.

 

[MrJay]

I was a member of a cichlid club before I got into reefing. Great group. Great meetings. Amazing times. Didn’t really think to get involved in a reef club till this last year. Attempted to create account on website (first step to becoming a member). My account was never approved. Waited and waited. Sent multiple emails to the website contact box. No response. Joined the FB club page. Posted about the issue with signing up to the forum. No response. Sent message to FB club page. No response. Posted in FB group again about issues. Post was deleted by an admin. Finally sent a message one last time to the website contact box with some passive aggressive behavior...something along the lines of “why would I waste my time and money on a group that can’t even respond to messages “. Finally a reply that they were aware of my issue signing up and they even discussed it a their Board of Directors meeting or something like that. They would definitely be in touch with me and have some kind of solution ... annnnnnnd nothing. Still waiting about 6 months later. So if the local club to me treats potential members the way I was they can struggle without my help

 

[Jordan Prather]

I didnt read through this whole forum but I dont think it's that groups are dying so much as their not adapting. I am on a local reef club on Facebook during peak time of year ie winter we have group meeting at local stores that sponsor the pages our admin who is great puts together raffles drawing and free giveaways for members that want to get rid of a tank or extra equipment most of which you have to go to that person house and pick it up in person. Not to mention every day you can get help from knowledgeable people and I can not tell you how may times a week I see people go out of their way to help out another member be it salt mix because the store was out of their brand or even this week I saw people giving away filter socks that were no longer needed with their new sump and someone gave away a like new rodi because they got a higher rated one. So I can say the club I'm in is amazing and growing daily because of facebook

 

[Rakie]

darn you found the one place I don't think I put "local" in quotations. I really think population density has a TON to do with it.

Agreed on saturation. Although many people tend to believe there's nothing to be gained from clubs in general.

My club is probably one of the smaller ones, but we have excellent people come by and talk with us. From deep sea divers who collect fish using helium tanks in the twilight zone and touched coelacanth, to scientists from major manufacturers who come talk about their products. Vertex has several members in my club as well.

We probably have the most saturated reefing community in the US, as the majority of wholesalers and importers are in the LA area -- And even with all that, I would say we "only" have about 100 active members, of which there's a core 25-30 members that make it all happen.

If it were just saturation, we should have probably a thousand members lol