new board

[Richard B]

what do you think of having a separate board/forum, that covers our trips out where we report what we've seen. This would keep all of these together in a single area enabling easier searching for anyone looking through to see if specific species had been encountered, as opposed to trawling through "speak easy" & others?

Of course this depends on what techno-stuff is required & the work involved & what Jools thinks

[Jools]

I'd be OK with it, but always a bit nervous with these ones. The worry is when someone posts something negative and we don't know if its either perfectly valid or slanderous. It'd need tight moderation for that, but as a general thing I think it'd be OK. Of course, then you would want people having one for the UK, one for the USA and so on.

If we can avoid that fragementation then I am OK with it perhaps as a subforum off either the for sale/wanted or speak easy? I don't think it warrants top level status however.

Thoughts?

Jools

[Richard B]

Hey it's only a suggestion so i'd be interested to hear peoples thoughts - i think the subforum might be the way forward if Jools approves

[Carp37]

The worry is when someone posts something negative and we don't know if its either perfectly valid or slanderous. It'd need tight moderation for that, but as a general thing I think it'd be OK.

My local club has a "What's in the Shops" section, but the problem is that we have to be so careful not to upset sponsors (several local shops sponsor us) or post an opinion that could be considered slanderous that it's of little use in identifying shops that are doing a better job than others- as a result I think that board gets moderated more than any other. It is useful for identifying where something unusual comes in, though.

[MatsP]

The rules should probably be that you report on good things, and be very cautious about negative things.

I'm not sure how you'd deal with proper criticism - there is a shop near where I live that I haven't been to for some time, but they have garish (pink, red, blue) gravel in every tank [which in itself isn't WRONG, but it shows a certain level of "poor attitude"] and usually dead/dying fish in most of their tanks - so much so that when my wife met an old friend that worked for the local council, he told them to shape up, or he'd report them to the RSPCA.

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Mats

[Jools]

I think this would need someone who is willing to do a lot of moderation. How about starting a topic per region and if it takes off (several posts/month) then I will add a forum?

Jools