Buy/Sell/Trade Reminder

Travis, what you just described happens to all of us. I recently posted about my future tank, my plans, and any advice people could share. Hardly any response.

So yeah it has nothing to do with your status of the club.

This is strictly about the BST forums and iits rule set that we have been very lax in enforcing. Not about why someone should or should not be a member of the club. There are reasons for having these guidelines and with the club growing daily, we need to be a little more active in enforcing them. Trust me you would not like the alternative to us enforcing this particular rule set which would be much easier for the board but not as favorable to the clubs members or non members.

 

If you were to look at my post history it would be obvious that I primarily use the site for the buying/selling features. I hadn't yet paid my dues, but did just now so I can continue to do so and support the site.

 

mthomp did you ever get your new tank set up?

 

Welcome Skurius


Thank you very much for your support.

 

Skurius make sure to join your regional group. Good place to post with stuff for sale. I mean how much do you make a year from the business you garner here? Seriously, it's a no brainer. Welcome!

 

I'd like a 125 tank stand and canopy but don't want to spend a arm and leg. I'd like to combine my 75 and 90.

 

lets stay on topic here

 

i will be 100% honest and say that the club has seemed to blow up this last yr and ive seen a lot of new people come in and make the club better. i hate feeling like a bum and mooching off of others but ive never had a real reason to join. ive considered joining just because of the deals at acc and places but ive only made it up there once in a year and a half... if i had the extra dough id throw down and have my own fancy badge under my name but, ive been reduced to selling my dream tank to pay payments on a totaled jeep and rising property taxes... just life keepsbkicking me in the nuts and not letting me catch a damn break.

 

So what about the other way around- What if you're NOT a paid member but you're here buying stuff from paid members? Isn't that helping out a bit? I've bought things off this site several times, but not sure I've ever sold anything......

If I need to pony up $20 I guess I understand, and will, but if you only keep a single salt tank and thousands of gallons of fresh then there's probably not gonna be much benefit in paying that fee aside from being able to continue to browse the classifieds.

Either way, I do appreciate the site, but can honestly say aside from caring for my 4 eels, there's no plans for any salt/reef stuff in the future, but there will always be fish in my house.

Thoughts?

 

i think this thread was aimed at the people who abuse the buy/sell forum. the average visitor who occasionally buys or sells their own personal items are not the target. its the people who use this as a means to soley make money to their benefit

 

Yep agree~

 

I love Dead Fish also! By the way I still have your coffee cup. lol

 

Since about July of last year we have had a metting every month.

 

Yes,


If every post you have made on GIRS is about selling something, you may be in trouble. If you comment in other threads, start other threads besides selling, you dont have ANYTHING to worry about. Yes we would like you to be a member, if you dont want to, or dont have the money, fine. All that is being asked is that you dont use GIRS as your personal classifieds only.

 

This thread is definitely been split. The original idea seems to be that if you come here and most or all of your posts are just to sell things and you are not a paid member, then you will get locked out.

It morphed into "people should pay $20 because being a member is cool, and a lot of us spend a lot of time making it cool" (not putting myself into that "us" group).

Then turned into people wanting more responses to their posts or inquiries if they are a paid member.

Then it circled back around to the main point of not abusing the Buy/Sell/Trade section.

My comments on this are that I am a member of a lot of different online communities, some that have 100% free access, some that have free and paid memberships. The B/S/T sections on all of them are open to anyone (free), but the sponsor deals sections are for paid members only. On some they have a "trade rating" where you need to get enough feedback points to regular discussion topics in order to post something for sale, but you have the option to buy what you want. There are other gimmicks too that try to prevent people from taking advantage, but most of them are relatively easy to get around and just muck things up. Let's keep it simple and make it known in the B/S/T area that you need to be here for more than just hocking wares. That seems to be the intent of this thread and I agree with it 100%.

Now, I don't mean to ruffle feathers, but community leaders should never let the general population get them to the point of ever saying that they work hard for this community and others should pay for their services. It just comes across wrong. I know it isn't the intent and I met so many of you at the Fall Fest (although I am sure that I was just another nobody because I am new here), and the passion that the BoD, Trustees, and many of the members have about this hobby is great. Don't let some heated discussion make you post something out of anger. I know that I probably would have wanted to post some of the comments too if I was on the BoD or a Trustee. Those of us that understand how communities work KNOW that you are all working hard to make this place a great one. You are probably just spinning your wheels to convince some of these other people. The ones that don't get it, may never get it. They want all of the services for free.

As for the more traffic comment, I can say (without saying names) that some people already have picked up a bad name for themselves on the forums here. They are the ones that go around posting over and over that they want something for cheap or free, are looking for handouts, etc and that is the bulk of their contribution. While I know that money can be tight for people, maybe this isn't a hobby that someone should be looking into if they don't have the funds to pay an asking price or make a reasonable offer. If you can't do that, how can one expect to pay for the ongoing maintenance of saltwater anything? While that may seem harsh, it is a piece of friendly financial advice. I mean, I would love to get into semi-pro racing, but I know that I can't afford it so I just let it go despite any strong desire to make it happen.

So I support the decision here. I wonder how it would have impacted my 120 gallon purchase. I picked up a couple of items from both members here and one non-member whose only post was in the B/S/T and while it was that non-member's post that made it financially possible for me to jump back in instead of building up equipment over time, it was that somewhat unknown non-member who sold me what I consider now to be known damaged goods and had a "tough luck for you" kind of attitude. I now focus my B/S/T stuff with paid members only now. While it doesn't guarantee that I can't get screwed in a deal, it is one more level of "trust" that is already built up.

Last note, I am a paid member here, in a "reef" community, but I have no plans to ever have corals. This site caters to the coral lovers out there, and I knew that coming in, but even if I never go to a frag swap at someone's house, or even the holiday party (which I am trying to make happen for me still), my $20 a year membership is still 100% worth it.