# Experienced hobbyists - could you write more?



## Dan Crawford (8 Apr 2009)

After some points were made on another thread, it appears that a hand full of people would prefer for some of the more experienced hobbyists to offer more help or enthusiasm....

I do what i can and for me, thats a lot. I, like most have a full time job and many other commitments. 

I run five tanks and this in it's self puts a strain on my life. A lot of stuff goes on behind the scenes at UKAPS and this also restricts our public posting time, if this wasn't done then there would be no forum to contribute to. 

I'm not suggesting that we are the only experienced members here but i can only comment on my/our situation. We have a great number of experienced members who are willing to take time out of their own busy lives to post where necessary and because of this there are very few posts left un-touched.

 I understand that when a "newbie" has some encouragement from an experienced member it can be very beneficial, god knows i love it when i get comments from respected members but i also love it when the same comments are made by less experienced members. SInce this has been brought to my attention, i personally will make a conscious effort to post more where applicable. 

If anyone does have an issue with the way things are done here, please let us know, preferably in a PM and the we can discuss it's resolution and if we feel it's necessary we'll put it to the public and try and resolve it as quickly as possible.

Cheers, Dan


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## GreenNeedle (8 Apr 2009)

I am trying to post a little more now.  I am as guilty as many of ignoring anything but that which interests me recently but will try my best 

AC


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## Garuf (8 Apr 2009)

Give me a day, drop me some PM's and I'll try and write up some articles or help out on some threads. 
All the best.


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## Dan Crawford (8 Apr 2009)

Garuf said:
			
		

> Give me a day, drop me some PM's and I'll try and write up some articles or help out on some threads.
> All the best.


That's very kind mate, just positive advice and critism should sufice but if you have an article in mind then send it over and we'll check it out, we're always after new stuff!


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## Garuf (8 Apr 2009)

Anything to help mate, I'm not at uni anymore (long story) so I'm always on the look out for things to do with my time.


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## Dan Crawford (8 Apr 2009)

Garuf said:
			
		

> I'm not at uni anymore (long story)


Sorry to hear that, i won't ask!
Have a think about what you know best and send us a draft, we can work it out. There's a song in there somewhere LOL


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## Ed Seeley (8 Apr 2009)

I have to say that I agree with a lot of what Dave said on the other thread.  There is a wealth of info on here in stickies, the Tutorials section and just other older threads that answers lots of questions but people don't seem to search or read them but just post a question.  I understand that sometime as someone new to planted tanks and this site they can be a little daunting but if you've read them and don't understand and need to ask then everyone will be totally cool with that and will help out as much as needed.  It's a big difference to someone just posting something because they can't be bothered to do the searching themselves.

While I agree it's great to get guys posting on your thread please remember we use this forum as part of our release from daily life too!  Personally most nights I have no more time than to simply look at the titles in the journals section and check in on a few journals that catch my attention.  Sometimes that's because of who's tank it is but often it's down to the fish in the tank or if it's particularly huge!  I guess others may have similar priorities?

I tend to spend more time looking at the sections further down where I might be able to answer a few questions!  And then I do tend to not answer if those people haven't at least tried to look for the info themselves.  If they have and are still stumped I'll try and help if I can but sometimes I just want to tell them to go and look at the stuff here already but feel that would be rude.  I don't know what people's opinions are on that but that's how I feel after a long day at work!

Do we make it too hard to find new information?  
Do we make it clear enough on how to search for the information already here?  
Should we have stickies in each section relating to each topic?
e.g. the top post in the Algae section could be general advice for what the different types of algae look like and what to do when you get them, the CO2 section could be about using CO2 effectively or otherwise known as "No you don't have enough CO2 - I know you think you do but you don't!   " etc.


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## Thomas McMillan (8 Apr 2009)

in regards to the above, I agree that it can be quite daunting when people first enter the planted tank side of things, let alone join a new forum where everyone seems to know everything there is to know. That's not to say they haven't already searched for what they want to know, just because they haven't said so. There might be similar threads that they've looked through, but they might not have understood or they want to ask more.

I think having more sticky topics is a good idea, but only if they're in the form of articles. It gets a bit messy and even more confusing if each member comments, adding a little more information of their own as they go. It needs to be clear and consice, written by one person who knows what they're talking about. 

We also have a scarce articles section on the main site, why not get that a little more full? I know how busy everyone is on this forum, but if anyone has a bit of spare time then I'm sure there's something each and every one of us can contribute to that section in the form of articles, whether it be from the most simple of things such as pruining techniques to breeding the most difficult of fish - it's all benificial.


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## Dave Spencer (8 Apr 2009)

SuperColey1 said:
			
		

> I am trying to post a little more now.
> 
> AC



You have posted over 1600 times.


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## Superman (9 Apr 2009)

Whilst I'm prob inbetween the "experience hobbyist" and a newbie, I'm a bit like Ed in a way. Sometimes I just want to relax on an evening and have a flick through a few journals but have a quick look at if there's anyone with a burning question that needs to be helped.

Maybe something like a ukapswiki where people can post their experiances about algae, plants etc?

I'm at that stage where I like to try something out of my comfort zone and need help planning things, for example, how are those new plants from AE doing in people's tanks?

It's difficult to balance the personal side of things on the forum for people to ask things but also be a fountain of knowledge of others.

Granted we're miles away from the endless questions of "I've got a 3ft plec in a 12" tank" but as the forum user count grows, it would help to document experiances somewhere a bit more formal in a wiki type of environment?

There could also be the possiblity of the "ukaps geek of the year" where there is like Â£(?) plant voucher up for grabs to the person who gets the most "thanks for the help votes" on the wiki?

Thats just my ideas, they might be rubbish but thought I'd throw them in.


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## a1Matt (9 Apr 2009)

nice idea on the wiki.  I can see how that could be quite effective.


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## aquaticmaniac (9 Apr 2009)

a1Matt said:
			
		

> nice idea on the wiki.  I can see how that could be quite effective.



I tried a fishwiki, of sorts. Didn't go _that_ well, but I'd imagine it would be quite useful on a bigger, popular site like ukaps.


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## Steve Smith (9 Apr 2009)

I think the problem with a wiki is the information has been covered many times on many sites.  Perhaps pooling all of what we would deem to be relevant might be of use but to a certain extent it might be like re-inventing the wheel, albeit a slight sleaker, more rounded wheel


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## Superman (13 Apr 2009)

Without documenting things somewhere then after a while posts will revolve around and be the same set of questions.


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