My Beef With the New BOD (1 Viewer)

[AquaNerd]

I have debated even bringing this up, but after stewing about it for several days, I have to get it off my chest. I was contacted by the BOD and told that my status as a forum moderator was being revoked due to a perceived conflict of interest. There wasn't any detail associated with the message, just a blunt statement. At first I didn't think much of it. Just curious as to why. After all, this is a virtual community and it has no weight in my daily life other than a place to kill a little time and interact with other aquarium keepers. But after thinking about it more and more, I got more irritated and the lack of answers wasn't helping. So, I began to inquire as to why the BOD was doing this to me, and honestly I was a little shocked about the answer.

Apparently, one brand new member of your BOD had a problem with me asking the MARSH community if anyone was interested in writing for my blog (http://blog.aquanerd.com). I only offered the opportunity to write for the site because I thought it would be a great chance for whoever participated to share their knowledge with another community and potentially get paid or receive free aquarium equipment to review in return. Despite this, the unnamed BOD member thought there was a conflict of interest (not exactly sure how or where), and whined about it to the other members of the board. They then voted (I'm assuming) to remove my moderator abilities, which are powers that I never ever abused or caused any problems with. But, whatever. Let the BOD do whatever it wants to do right? I guess it's ok to post about job opportunities elsewhere but when a moderator does it once it's a big issue.

I began to think about the situation a litte more and again became frustrated, so I dug a little deeper. The other thing I found out was that the BOD member in question had a problem with my site not having a link back to MARSH. Really?!?!? That's where your beef lies? He argued that I had a link in my signature to my website, but not one on my site back to MARSH. Honestly, I understand why someone would question me not having a link on my site back to MARSH, but nobody on here ever asked me to host one and I certainly never thought it would lead to my status being revoked. The BOD members who you trust to be in charge of advertising and getting sponsors never once contacted me about hosting a link, and I would have gladly given it to them had they asked. All of the links on my website are in place intentionally, and not just for anyone. I have special agreements with each of those companies/websites that have a link on my page and I only link to what I consider reputable sources. I'm not saying MARSH isn't reputable, but again nobody asked for a link back so, I never did it.

If this link drama really is a problem for the BOD, then this club has bigger issues. First of all, there isn't a conflict of interest. There would be one if I were a moderator of the MARSH forum and associated with a company that was a commercial sponsor, or even a commercial non-sponsor. But all I do is run a blog. That's it! By the way, there are other moderators on this site that moderate for other forum sites. And guess what, previous presidents, vice presidents, and other moderators had blog sites as well. So, why am I being singled out?

At one point in my assocation with this club, I was a member of the board of directors. After one year of service, I announced to the BOD that I would volutarily stepped down to pursue some outside opportunities that would be a direct conflict of interest with being a board member, but those have completely fallen through and the BOD at the time allowed me to retain the moderator status. I enjoyed being a moderator on the site, even though it only meant more work for me, but I didn't mind at all. During my membership here, I worked hard for this club and even got new sponsors to join. I've been a paid member for many consecutive years, despite the fact that I never ask for anything in return. I show up to some events, take photos and share them, rub elbows with a few people here and there, and I don't stir up trouble (until now perhaps). Now, if one BOD member has a problem with me, then be a man and confront me about it to my face, or at least to my PM box...especially since I've been an active member of this club for far longer and have contributed far more. Don't run around and try to stab me in the back because you have an issue with something that's really a non-issue. If you have a problem with me posting links to my site and you want to be forum-Nazi's like the guys at ReefCentral, then you have to do it to everyone and not just me. A lot of people post links to other sites and blogs on a regular basis, and I do it once in a blue moon. At this point, I don't even want to be a moderator anymore. You've ruined my experience with the club. I was even willing to give presentations at club meetings about topics that I've learned a lot about and have experience with. In fact, I even started building a PowerPoint presentation in preparation of a speaking engagement that hasn't even been offered to me yet. That's how excited I was to share what I know about this great hobby with the rest of you. But now that this has happened, I'm have strong doubts that the presentation will ever take place.

So that's my peace. Do whatever you want to with it. Delete it, edit it, ban me, I don't care. But just know that what you are doing is not only wrong, but hurtful to the community you promised to serve.

 

[fishboyt]

Don't worry about it. If that's the BOD wants to be, let them be. I'm sorry this happened to you out of many people.

We would still like to hear you speak. I can tell from your blog that you have a lot to teach others about this hobby.

 

[doubletap4311]

You know Brandon, I've been away for almost two years. When I came back as a non member for one week and asked questions as to why I cannot post used equipment on the marsh site, I felt like I was starting trouble by asking. I have always been a supporting paid member. I feel that the wrong people may be setting some difficult rules. I wanted to give marsh the first chance at my left over reef equipment instead of just posting it on cl. Alot of things have changed in two years. I feel for the worst. I am with you or your situation. With your knowledge and experience it's ashamed someone would be jealous of you. Atleast that's how I see it. Someone gained some pencil power and decided to throw some weight around. This site is not the same. Everyone is chomping at the chance to throw someone under the bus instead of helping each other like it used to be. Just my thoughts.

 

[RR-MAN]

Nothing against you but man that is conflict of interest. You are advertising your blog here and at the same time you are on marsh board.

GL<

 

[fishboyt]

Nothing against you but man that is conflict of interest. You are advertising your blog here and at the same time you are on marsh board.

GL<

How is that a bad thing? I am a member of a few reef forums, so should I have my MARSH membership revoked?

 

[AquaNerd]

Nothing against you but man that is conflict of interest. You are advertising your blog here and at the same time you are on marsh board.

GL<

Well I'm not on the board. I was simply a moderator. And there are no rules for posting links on this forum. This isn't RC and I wasn't doing it for advertising purposes. I get plenty of traffic to the site without the help of MARSH. In fact, I rarely ever post a link to my site in these forums. It's done occasionally, but never abused.

 

[doubletap4311]

I disagree with RR. He is completely wrong

 

[RocketSurgeon]

Nothing against you but man that is conflict of interest. You are advertising your blog here and at the same time you are on marsh board.

GL<

Because he advertises his blog? Hello, for starters...ever heard of asking him to remove the advertisement?

I'm all for rules and regulations. I'm also for respect and tact.

Unfortunately, this may be, "it's not what you said, but how you said it.", sounds to me.

On RC, when you post something...you get an infraction or warning. Was there a warning or statement that said..."Your advertisement constitutes conflict of interest."?

I have a huge opinion, but I would like to hear the other side of the story.

 

[doubletap4311]

Hey Brandon. You have been causing a conflict of interest for atleast a couple of years. Your link has never been an issue till now???????

 

[RR-MAN]

I disagree with RR. He is completely wrong

That's your opinion.

Do You know what "conflict of interest" means?

 

[doubletap4311]

Yes I do. Its obvious you don't. I see a lot of members not renewing membership if this continues.

 

[Andy]

I think you should be flogged & jailed!

 

[jdeveaux]

Brandon,

Since you choose to air your laundry here instead of returning my call to discuss this on Saturday I will instead go into detail here.

Yes I pulled the moderator rights until I had a chance to get done with work to discuss because this with you.

There have been multiple people over the last 2 years that have questioned me about your intentions. While you sound sincere in that your only in this as a hobbyist out to enjoy it for the joy of writing you leave too much to question. You constantly plug your site to get traffic, you have lots of sponsor relationships that you profit from, you stated directly in your request for authors that you were trying to grow it to get more sponsors; that is the part that truly raised my eyebrows and left me with no room to argue your position.

From the most recent post which reads like a marketing pitch to get more traffic: Orgional Thread

-Eventually, we would like to pay authors for their contributions. We aren't quite at that point yet, but as we gain more advertisers and increases in traffic, this could easily become a possibility.

I was the one that raised the questions about the reciprical link when I started to argue that we only allow our sister clubs in texas to post events on MARSH but then I was told, and I could infact not find, a recipricol link back to MARSH. You have a link that goes to Clubs but it just takes you to another blog page of running artles of which some have information that take you to the club sites.

The only links you do offer are those for your sponsors.

The rules for MARSH do not allow the listing of sponsor links in signatures for non-sponsors but we've never said anything because we felt your intentions were in the right place but again once you stated that you're trying to boost traffic so you can start paying people; you just left too many questions.

MOD access gives you access to all areas of MARSH with exception of the BOD forum so thank you for stating the information you have in this post since now I have to questin whether the other BODs are to be trusted since they are the only people I've discussed this with so only they could have talked to you.

You yourself PM'd me back that you had been sick and would call so I left it in your court to call me back.

I got your call earlier. I was in bed with a killer migraine and nausea so I didn't answer. Like I was saying though, I don't care what the BOD decides to do, but it is what it is. I will try to call you laterthia evening when I get back home and we can talk about it then if you'd like, but I honestly don't think theres much to discuss other than the why behind it in my opinion.

Honestly if you had just called me like I had asked none of this would have been an issue. I'm especially disturbed given that I have come to bat for you in the past and all I asked you for was patience while I looked into the matter.

BTW - not counting your signature the aquanerd.com site is linked 2547 times throughout the MARSH forums. I've never had an issue with it up until I was asked why you were soliciting MARSHians to write for you, and even at that point it was because of another unrelated issue that was brought to my attention.

 

[AquaNerd]

John,

I sent you multie PM's after the missed call on Saturday. I never got a response (preferred it in writing) so I did what I had to do. And if you read what I posted in my search for authors I stated that my site doesn't generate enough revenue from advertisers to pay people to write for me, but that eventually I hoped we would get to that point. It was simply a potential perk I was throwing out there and only for the MARSH community. I'm not trying to get more traffic from MARSH, nor am I into blogging for the money. In fact, the "advertisers" on my site are companies that sent us a single product to review. After the review, we give away (not sell) everything thy was sent to us. Just take a look at all of the giveaways we've hosted on the site and look at my selling record on here and RC. Never once have I sold anything that was given to the site. And come to think of it, you were the winner of a set of Ecoxotic stunner strips that I tested per Ecoxotics request and gave away in a random drawing. Even when the winner is out of state, I eat the shipping just so I can send their prize to them.

Because people like to get paid for their work (ie writing for the site) and I don't have the means to do it currently, I would like to actually bring a paying sponsor to my site for those reasons alone. I am not into blogging to make money. In fact, the site has been operating I'm the red since day one. I am in it to write and be an influence in the national aquarium community and better myself as an aquarium keeper. Believe it or not, I really could care less.

As for improving the site, I would love to get more traffic to the site. Who wouldn't want to see what they put so much hard work and effort and energy into be more successful? You put in time and energy here, but you don't get paid. Why else would you do it? To see the site grow. You want more members right or do you want to shrink the club? I have almost 6000 post on MARSH and I didn't do it for the glory. I did it because I enjoyed writing and helping people. In fact I was more active on MARSH than just about anyone else for a very long time. The only reason why I'm not as active is because I'm not happy with the direction this club is/was going and I just don't have the time.

So take it however you want, but I know my intentions. And I have a long and thorough history with MARSH that proves it.

By the way, you never answered why a reciprocal link was never asked for. Had it been a problem or had y'all asked, I would have gladly put it on my site.

As for the 2000+ links from MARSH to AquaNerd, just look in my post history. I rarely posted links to my blog from here and I've certainly not posted over 2000. They show up in my signature and because other people posted links here and there.

 

[Hurdicuss]

Brandon, Will, et al...
There are several issues/problems surrounding this organization preventing me from renewing my membership the last few years. I had thought about posting something up here on several occasions but figured it would shortly get locked, deleted, etc. much like I feel this thread will. I thought this was an online forum where you could freely discuss ideas, thoughts, opinions in a mature, intelligent and respectful manner even if differences occur?? I don't really want to use too much of my time articulating all the issues I have come across or disagree with but how about a few for food for thought?...

Where is my incentive for becoming a paid member? It's not like we have an annual event like DFWMAS or anything. I have gone to Next Wave the last 3 years because they offer a very organized, quality event with awesome vendors, guest speakers and raffle... why don't we have anything like that? Why is there all this talk and effort to update the website?... it's a forum, what more do you need from it? WHY NO ANNUAL EVENT?! Aside from hosting MACNA years ago, this is all we have to offer in this light... Should I pay to receive 10-15% off from the sponsor stores? Please, there is not any sponsor store that keeps me walking through it's doors on a regular basis... Should I pay for the ability to vote for tank of the month or to be able to post things for sale?... Craigslist is free, has much more exposure and all of you look there too so essentially the same people will see it!
To recap, MARSH offers the crawfish boil, the Flower Gardens trip (if that is even still happening), weekend BBQ's & frag swaps and inconsistent "monthly" meetings... Boy, a big annual event sure would look nice here and would help to draw in new members. Side note, I thought it was funny how all the recent BOD's profiles noted that they "promised to bring in more members"... I'm curious, just how do you plan to do that?

Sure, let's revisit b/s/t although the rest of you are screaming "not again!?" I do not understand why the BOD thinks it is a better idea to require that people pay $30 to utilize the b/s/t forum when craigslist is free and offers more exposure. Yes, I realize there was a problem with fly-by-nighters looking to sell equipment and not further contribute to the organization. My counter offer, and one that I feel is equally effective if not more, is to model after Reef Central; require that a account holder be a part of MARSH for a minimum of 90 days AND have a minimum post count of 50. This is not difficult to achieve. Had there been more time open to the recent poll about changing the current rules, I would have thrown my vote in the hat along with my previous comments. But I noticed the poll was closed quickly (not sure if it even lasted 24 hours) and after something like 40-50 votes??... I mean, how many members do you have exactly? I would think to get a majority, you would want feedback from a majority of your members? Strange...

The whole local collecting thing baffles me. Here's why... this is taken directly from the website's home page:
"MARSH is a group of individuals in the greater Houston area interested in the husbandry of marine ornamentals and saltwater aquariums.

Our Purposes:

-To exchange information within the group to share cumulative experiences and to ensure successful husbandry of our members' aquaria;
-To participate in education within the club through speakers, Internet presence, outreach, newsletters, and interaction with the trade;
-To promote captive propagation and breeding; and
-To promote conservation both within and without the hobby."

Can someone explain to me how teaching new hobbyists how to rape the local ecosystem of native critters to put into captive systems can be labeled as "promoting conservation"?! Moreover, why in the world would you want to go to the trouble of designing and investing in a tropical system only to go out and put local specimens in the tank that could potentially infect your tropical species with parasites and pathogens that they are not typically exposed to? I don't get it. It's one thing if you want to have a Gulf-dedicated system, but I would NEVER want to put anything in my Indo-Pacific biotope from Galveston Bay or estuaries. By the way, how about that one guy's post from a couple month's ago who reported collecting at rollover pass and came back with 30-something sragassum anglers, butt load of peppermint shrimp and other stuff. What's more sad about that post than the original poster's lack of conservation is how other members, including recent BOD members, rode this guy's coattails on a good day of collecting. A couple people made comments like "should we move the collection spot, lol?" SHAME on those who approve of that kind of practice and SHAME on the BOD and president for not correcting that practice!! That is definitely NOT responsible reef keeping.

I digress... During my ~6 year ride with MARSH I have seen many "old school" faces come and go. I now occasionally frequent the boards peeking around at used equipment and just to see how things are going. I realize when running a community the size of MARSH that things do not go the way one might like 100% of the time, but currently I see no reasons for me to renew my membership. If some of the above changes occur then I may consider it, but I will say that if MARSH wants to strive to offer a big annual event (much like Next Wave) then I am on board and will gladly volunteer my help (where I can) to make it happen. Hopefully my ideas expressed here will be read and considered, that is all one can ask for. For such a vast and successful economic area, one would think the Houston area would have one heck of a bang-a-rang marine and reefing society??

 

[fishboyt]

Brandon, Will, et al...
There are several issues/problems surrounding this organization preventing me from renewing my membership the last few years. I had thought about posting something up here on several occasions but figured it would shortly get locked, deleted, etc. much like I feel this thread will. I thought this was an online forum where you could freely discuss ideas, thoughts, opinions in a mature, intelligent and respectful manner even if differences occur?? I don't really want to use too much of my time articulating all the issues I have come across or disagree with but how about a few for food for thought?...

Where is my incentive for becoming a paid member? It's not like we have an annual event like DFWMAS or anything. I have gone to Next Wave the last 3 years because they offer a very organized, quality event with awesome vendors, guest speakers and raffle... why don't we have anything like that? Why is there all this talk and effort to update the website?... it's a forum, what more do you need from it? WHY NO ANNUAL EVENT?! Aside from hosting MACNA years ago, this is all we have to offer in this light... Should I pay to receive 10-15% off from the sponsor stores? Please, there is not any sponsor store that keeps me walking through it's doors on a regular basis... Should I pay for the ability to vote for tank of the month or to be able to post things for sale?... Craigslist is free, has much more exposure and all of you look there too so essentially the same people will see it!
To recap, MARSH offers the crawfish boil, the Flower Gardens trip (if that is even still happening), weekend BBQ's & frag swaps and inconsistent "monthly" meetings... Boy, a big annual event sure would look nice here and would help to draw in new members. Side note, I thought it was funny how all the recent BOD's profiles noted that they "promised to bring in more members"... I'm curious, just how do you plan to do that?

Sure, let's revisit b/s/t although the rest of you are screaming "not again!?" I do not understand why the BOD thinks it is a better idea to require that people pay $30 to utilize the b/s/t forum when craigslist is free and offers more exposure. Yes, I realize there was a problem with fly-by-nighters looking to sell equipment and not further contribute to the organization. My counter offer, and one that I feel is equally effective if not more, is to model after Reef Central; require that a account holder be a part of MARSH for a minimum of 90 days AND have a minimum post count of 50. This is not difficult to achieve. Had there been more time open to the recent poll about changing the current rules, I would have thrown my vote in the hat along with my previous comments. But I noticed the poll was closed quickly (not sure if it even lasted 24 hours) and after something like 40-50 votes??... I mean, how many members do you have exactly? I would think to get a majority, you would want feedback from a majority of your members? Strange...

The whole local collecting thing baffles me. Here's why... this is taken directly from the website's home page:
"MARSH is a group of individuals in the greater Houston area interested in the husbandry of marine ornamentals and saltwater aquariums.

Our Purposes:

-To exchange information within the group to share cumulative experiences and to ensure successful husbandry of our members' aquaria;
-To participate in education within the club through speakers, Internet presence, outreach, newsletters, and interaction with the trade;
-To promote captive propagation and breeding; and
-To promote conservation both within and without the hobby."

Can someone explain to me how teaching new hobbyists how to rape the local ecosystem of native critters to put into captive systems can be labeled as "promoting conservation"?! Moreover, why in the world would you want to go to the trouble of designing and investing in a tropical system only to go out and put local specimens in the tank that could potentially infect your tropical species with parasites and pathogens that they are not typically exposed to? I don't get it. It's one thing if you want to have a Gulf-dedicated system, but I would NEVER want to put anything in my Indo-Pacific biotope from Galveston Bay or estuaries. By the way, how about that one guy's post from a couple month's ago who reported collecting at rollover pass and came back with 30-something sragassum anglers, butt load of peppermint shrimp and other stuff. What's more sad about that post than the original poster's lack of conservation is how other members, including recent BOD members, rode this guy's coattails on a good day of collecting. A couple people made comments like "should we move the collection spot, lol?" SHAME on those who approve of that kind of practice and SHAME on the BOD and president for not correcting that practice!! That is definitely NOT responsible reef keeping.

I digress... During my ~6 year ride with MARSH I have seen many "old school" faces come and go. I now occasionally frequent the boards peeking around at used equipment and just to see how things are going. I realize when running a community the size of MARSH that things do not go the way one might like 100% of the time, but currently I see no reasons for me to renew my membership. If some of the above changes occur then I may consider it, but I will say that if MARSH wants to strive to offer a big annual event (much like Next Wave) then I am on board and will gladly volunteer my help (where I can) to make it happen. Hopefully my ideas expressed here will be read and considered, that is all one can ask for. For such a vast and successful economic area, one would think the Houston area would have one heck of a bang-a-rang marine and reefing society??

Very good points, but I hate to tell you that the BOD will come up with some :bs: excuse as to why it is the way it is and why it can't be changed. Being the only reef forum in the 4th largest city in the U.S., you would think that we would try to set a good example. I guess not.

On a side note; Did anyone see my post about how our oceans will die in the next 60-100 years if we keep up with whatever is killing it? It would be really cool if the MARSH community could devise a plan to reverse the problem. Say by banning collecting from coral reefs. And I'm not saying that just the BOD or the members should come up with a solution, both parties should.

I realize this whole thread has just switched topics very rapidly, but there are issues that have been addressed multiple times within the last month, and "Nothing can be done" about them.

 

[fishboyt]

And question: why is it that this guy can post links to games on the forum? http://www.marshreef.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=profile&mode=viewprofile&u=4931

Here is a post taken from the "BeanAnimal coast to coast instal DIY" thread (this post was made by the same user who's profile is in the link above):

"believe it or not, that glass is not that dark, you can see through it with light. they had it in stock when i got mine, must have ran out and had to order more for your dimensions.

yep rubbing alcohol is the bomb, plus if you dip your finger in it then run your finger along the seams, you will get a smooth finnish with the sillicone. just don't go over the same bead twice. it will look horrible. I speak from experience.

Good luck with the build, keep us updated.

RIVER goes by!WIND runs by!BABY you~pass by without why!
Cheap Maplestory Mesos
RS Gold
Buy WoW Gold"

This is one of only two posts he has made, and his last visit was on the same day he joined.

 

[crvz]

I am unilaterally (meaning taking it upon myself without discussing it with any of the mods or BOD) choosing to close this thread. I'm doing this for a few reasons; first, I don't see any value in perpetual commentary on this topic in an open forum. Second, I think time will best suit everyone in terms of deciding how to handle it. Maybe I'll get over-ruled and it will be opened again.

I'm choosing not to move the thread out of public view for a few reasons, as well. First, I have no desire to cover up an issue that very well may spurn some good changes in the club, and I don't want to give the impression that we need to sweep the issue under the rug. And second, I want the BOD to make a decision on what to do with it.

So all the bystanders chill out for a bit, let's collect our thoughts, and bring them back when it's appropriate.

 

[jdeveaux]

crvz - Thank You but I am going to go ahead and leave this unlocked. As long as it stays civil and folks want to hash this out in more detail then it is what is and we as a community need to have these discussions.

This is going to be long winded but a number of questions concerns have come up and some have been split off into a new thread so I will try not to beat the dead horse.

First off - Brandon. I received two PMs from you.

One on Friday the 11th at 7:03PM following up on your text message.
The other as quoted earlier on Saturday after I left you a voice mail. Neither of which said or lead me to believe you were wanting a written reason.

I personal took the whole situation to be: Given a long history I wanted to verbally discuss it with you so there was no confusion and get your feedback. At the time I was perfectly fine with retracting the decision as I had told you in my PM it was just temporary while I looked into it in more detail.

Brandon,

I've been asked and I am in agreement that we need to take you off the moderator list due to the perceived conflict of interest. Since PM's are not the best medium to discuss it I'm going to pull you off the mod group but I would like to set up a time to discuss the why. Today is going to be a busy day for me but if you would like we can chat after 6PM.

you can text or call me at 713-202-5033

Regards,

So as for your written explination.

Your post soliciting writers was perceived as a move in the direction of increasing traffic to your site for the purpose of increasing revenue. MARSH in no way exist to make money aka profit from our existance. In fact that would be in complete contradiction to our 501.3 c (f) status. With that in-mind it was viewed as a conflict of interest that a moderator of the site or even any representative of MARSH persuing financial gain should not be in a position to control the clubs direction or others discussions. This in no way removes your ability to still participate and work with the club. This also in now way removes your ability to vote like any paid member of the club. The only thing this changed was your ability to see into the vendor discussion areas, the ability to remove posts, the ability to edit posts of other members, ect. This was not just a dicision the BOD made. The question was raised by paying members of the club and it has been raised more than once. I was trying to peacfully remove what I preceived to be objections that I felt would distract from your intentions. I'm human and just as capable of being wrong so if in this case I was wrong I appoligize.

It is also worth noting that I was going to ask for a review of all moderators by the moderators and board to see if we have enough or too many or if any that are on the current list are no longer active; purely as a goal of house cleaning.

There are going to be a number of things happening in the next few months that will all be matters of cleaning up the website while we prepare for the upgrade; I will touch on that later but we have a members discussion area for the website that should be readable by all paid members and guests and is open to comment by paid members.

Regarding the Stunner Strips - Yes I did win those through following your blog and participating when I could, and not that it matters but now that it is out there I feel it is important to note; I have never used them on my tank - in fact I have loaned them out to a number of MARSH members to help when they needed lights for their tank while their existing fixture was broken. No its never advertised but I don't need pats on the back for trying to help people out but since it seems important to a few people then so be it 'yes I won something' but yes I've also paid my dues to MARSH every year going on 10 years now and I can promise you I've put more than the due in through dollars and good old fasion elbow grease.

Hopefully this satifies your request and we can move on. If not then please let me/us know.

Moving on ~~~~~~~ Try and catch all issues raised thus far

Collecting - I'll leave it alone since it has taken on a life of its own as a new thread.
Membership - This always comes up at least once a quarter and while we do try and come up with things that make being a member unique I still believe it should be about helping the club and not about "What do I get out of it"

What you get out of it should be the community and being able to vote, have a voice and make a difference if you want to. I don't want MARSH to become a private club where you have to buy your way in to gain access to the knowelege and people available through the club. This is why we've only ever limited view access to the few MEMBERS only area where MEMBERS can share information they don't want publicly accessible to just anybody.

BIG EVENT - This has come up a few times and each time I've said the same thing. I have no problem with sponsoring a next wave event or even MACNA but I don't have the time to champion/run the event and we most certainly need more than one or two members asking for it to step up and take ownership of it. To that end: Great thanks needs to go out to Ray(superray) and Jason(reddevil3443) for starting to lay a strong foundation that will allow us to move towards a hosted event. Implementation of the volunteer program, securing some solid meeting locations, helping to establish a better storage facility so that we can purchase and store more equipment to facilitate events are just a few of the things they've accomplished in a short time. This carries over into brief segway regarding the next question of the website upgrade.

WebSite - While I agree the site is currently just a forum; it is a broken one. The gallery doesn't work, notifications are limited, no chat options exist, the Calendar is very limited.... the list goes on and this weekend I hope to complete a posting of what things we plan to accomplish with the upgrade including the integration of the tools we feel are necessary to get MARSH re-engaged with the community.

BIG EVENT - part 2 I still stand behind the statement that I will gladly assist and enable any event the members of this club want to hold as long as there is leadership and people to make it happen. This is why we don't have what DFW has every year. They have about 15 people that pour a lot of time and effort into making those events happen and I do keep up with what their club is doing looking for ways to improve our club but at the end of the day it comes down to member participation.

B/S/T Lock Down - The statement that it was only up for 24 hours couldn't be further from the truth. The initial discussion back in 2009 went on for 9 months then was listed for vote for 60 days. 78% of the members wanted it. The recent re-vote was left up for 14 days after 10 days of discussion and yes the participation in that vote was low but it was still a 65% majority to leave it alone. Voting is a privilage of being a paid member since it is the members dollars that even keep MARSH around it will always be that way.

Regular Events - Sorry but it may not be NEXT WAVE but the picnic has been a regular event for 4 years now. The back stage tours a Moody Gardens 2 years now. The Christmas Party Every year that I can recall. Collection trips every year since MARSH came into existance. These may not seem like much to some but try volunteering for them and putting the work in to make them happen and they are not cheap. Neither is the work or cost of maintaining the web site.


I do not believe I have EVER done anything unilaterally and without member input and or BOD approval and I always push for member input before the BOD even makes a decision on things. We are not here to do all of the work we volunteer for this job because we care and want to enable things to happen. Even the website committee has been open for public involvement as we do for any event or change we take on. I've had 3 members step up to state they would help with the website and zero members or guests(Ray and Jason aside) have stepped up to say they have the time and would take on the work needed to make a major event possible. What I hear are a lot of people with opinions and no actions to back them up. Even when i put the call out and reminders for positions on the board those that often complain went silent and it wasn't until the new board was in place that people once again wanted to sit in their Monday night recliner and tell us how we are screwing it up and not doing a good job.

We/I/Nobody will ever please everybody so all we can do is try our best to do the right thing. If the members wish for me to go away then I shall I know I could do without all the headaches and stress. FYI - we don't need a government politics forum we have too many of our own internal political issues to sort through first

 

[jdeveaux]

And question: why is it that this guy can post links to games on the forum? http://www.marshreef.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=profile&mode=viewprofile&u=4931

Here is a post taken from the "BeanAnimal coast to coast instal DIY" thread (this post was made by the same user who's profile is in the link above):

"believe it or not, that glass is not that dark, you can see through it with light. they had it in stock when i got mine, must have ran out and had to order more for your dimensions.

yep rubbing alcohol is the bomb, plus if you dip your finger in it then run your finger along the seams, you will get a smooth finnish with the sillicone. just don't go over the same bead twice. it will look horrible. I speak from experience.

Good luck with the build, keep us updated.

RIVER goes by!WIND runs by!BABY you~pass by without why!
Cheap Maplestory Mesos
RS Gold
Buy WoW Gold"

This is one of only two posts he has made, and his last visit was on the same day he joined.

The simple answer to this is that I personally try and leave the moderation to the moderators and I know having been one that you can't catch every post. You are correct that it should go and I will remove it. It helps when members bring these things to our attention. We are also in need of more moderators to replace people that don't have the time for it right now.