Topic: MBRK rejuvenation

Discussion Of Local Group Meetings For the Baldwin County and Mobile Area

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Fishfood
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Re: Topic: MBRK rejuvenation

Post by Fishfood »

You remember this one scott...

So I met scott through RC or saltwaterfish.com and set up a meeting in pensacola with a guy named Martin. Now I'm in Pensacola, Scott mobile and Martin is in Panama City. I'm acting as a middle man to try to tell scott what Martin has. I remember he was trying to unload a few clams. So we all meet at Waterworld that sunday. I think another guy named Joey came as well. He worked at the old Reefers Aquatics that was in downtown Pensacola. This was before this site was started or the mobile club formed. I remember I got an e-mail to check it out. Anyway it was just an odd meeting because I don't think I met scott in person before that day and I know I didn't meet Martin before that. After that day I drove to PC a few times to get stuff from martin and I also made a few trips to Mobile to see Scotts tank. Joey moved a few years laters becuase he was in the military and lost most of his stuff trying to move it to NC. He had a 300 gal tank that he moved. About a year ago I got an e-mail on RC from Joey and he was stationed in Hawaii and was back in the hobby. Just a few short months ago I got an e-mail from martin that he wanted to move all of his fish stuff that had been sitting in storage for the last 3 or 4 years. He too refound me on RC, even though I haven't posted on there in a long time.
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opiy
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Re: Topic: MBRK rejuvenation

Post by opiy »

I spend most of my time on Reefcentral.com. I never really came to this site because it didn't seem active enough but I did pop in to see what was posted. I lived in Birmingham when I got into the hobby back some years ago and their meetings that I know of are successful. I don't think they charge any dues and the meeting are hosted at someones house, and sometimes it was at a store. It was hard for me to make it to a meeting because back then I worked 6 days a week and the meetings were almost always 1 hour drive away. I took a day off work just to go to a meeting once. Local meetings seem to be hard to get a steady following so maybe someone can see what the north bama people are doing to keep some people interested. I know some of them have been in the hobby for over 4 years. Funny thing to me was the meeting were usually held much north of birmingham which is the largest city but bham could never get anything going, and at the time there was a store with a huge selection of livestock.

I know I didn't add much to this thread but I just thought I would put that out there :D
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Fishfood
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Re: Topic: MBRK rejuvenation

Post by Fishfood »

Many people around these parts also started on RC. It seems like a lot of them just do not like the atmosphere on there all the time and hosting a local club forum on there isn't that easy(restrictions, inability to have a nice setup like this one)

How many people were going to those meetings in North Alabama and where is there club forum at, or do they just mingle on RC in the Alabama forum? I know the panhandle group started at peoples homes but ended up getting too many people. I think they have had 40+ people a few times at meetings.

It seems like people log on here but why don't they post anything. I think Andy hit it on the head... I bet the majority come to just see whats for sale. Look at the date on the last post on that forum vs the date of the last post on the other forums. Some go back 4 and 5 yrs.
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Re: Topic: MBRK rejuvenation

Post by snoopdog »

I started out on Reef Central also.

The holier than thou attitude just pissed me off.
"When they was no meat we ate fowl, when there was no fowl we ate crawdad. And when there was no crawdad to be found, we ate sand."--Cellmate
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Scott
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Re: Topic: MBRK rejuvenation

Post by Scott »

Fishfood wrote:You remember this one scott...
I sure do. I think it was saltwaterfish.com.
snoopdog wrote:I started out on Reef Central also.

The holier than thou attitude just pissed me off.
And if you post something it can easily get buried under all the other posts. The selling forums were good for a while but then the search stopped working (unless you were a premium member). I rejoined recently and at least the search works better. I couldn't remember my old password and it had an old email address. The emails that I sent trying to get my new email address on the account went unanswered. Now I don't even see a sale forum but I have only posted once so there may be a minimum post count before you can access it.
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Fishfood
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Re: Topic: MBRK rejuvenation

Post by Fishfood »

I think the minimum post count is 50, but I don't know if you can or can not see it below that count.
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andy4499
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Re: Topic: MBRK rejuvenation

Post by andy4499 »

Well I don’t remember how I found this site, I am sure someone told me about it and then I joined. I did not find out about Reef Central until after I joined MBRK first. I still go on RC, but don’t post much mainly because not many are local on that site. Most of the people that do post from Alabama are north of here. I have made so many new friends from this site and I would have to thank everyone that started this site up from the beginning. I would also like to thank Kevin personally for keeping it up and running all these years. I know at times it has gotten very slow on the posting and not many people were using it and he almost closed the site. I am very glad that he did not.
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Re: Topic: MBRK rejuvenation

Post by snoopdog »

Hackers like to keep me on my toes.

This place gives me practice.
"When they was no meat we ate fowl, when there was no fowl we ate crawdad. And when there was no crawdad to be found, we ate sand."--Cellmate
"You ate what?"--H.I.
"We ate sand."--Cellmate
"You ate sand?"--H.I.
"That's right."--Cellmate
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Amphiprion
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Re: Topic: MBRK rejuvenation

Post by Amphiprion »

I remember first hearing about the site from Liz. I was still working at B & B at the time. She came in, we began talking about something, and she mentioned that I should join this new club site. So I thought, "Hey, that's cool that we have a local site." She wrote it down on a card that summarily lost and even more summarily forgot about (if you know me, you know that I suffer from CRS). It wasn't until maybe a year later that I finally managed to stumble back on it and I just lurked for a close to another year until I finally joined. I just remember a lot of folks talk about the site in the meantime and would often bring it up to me at work.

On another note, I am very glad this site is still around, especially with RC's decline as of late. I can't deny there are many, many more members than before, but the quality of the information on many of the forums (with some notable exceptions) has gone downhill. I had been very active on there years ago, but I find that the atmosphere has gotten worse, in addition to the decline in quality information. It's sad, seeing as how RC once stood as the place for good information and it has the biggest potential out there. I've noticed more info comes from local club forums and smaller outlying forums than anywhere else, nowadays, which is all the more reason to stay intact.
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Scott
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Re: Topic: MBRK rejuvenation

Post by Scott »

That CRS is bad stuff. Luckily I only have selective CRS.

The large sites like RC do serve a purpose but I agree that locals can help more. If I had a problem that I couldn't solve or that I didn't understand I guarantee that someone would come to my house and help. It's happened before and if there are enough members that are active it is more likely to happen again.

I met Snoop, Salt'n'Lime and Wtrhed on RC, Drew on Saltwaterfish.com, Liz on Reefs.org. Those are just a few that I remember right off. IMO, that is the way to 'recruit' new MBRK members. Look on the forums, even if it's just one, and if you see someone from somewhere close send them a PM of email just telling them about this place. It can't hurt, that was the way that this organization started and I think that is one way that we can start the rejuvenation.
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opiy
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Re: Topic: MBRK rejuvenation

Post by opiy »

Fishfood wrote:Many people around these parts also started on RC. It seems like a lot of them just do not like the atmosphere on there all the time and hosting a local club forum on there isn't that easy(restrictions, inability to have a nice setup like this one)

How many people were going to those meetings in North Alabama and where is there club forum at, or do they just mingle on RC in the Alabama forum? I know the panhandle group started at peoples homes but ended up getting too many people. I think they have had 40+ people a few times at meetings.

That I know of they post it in the Alabama Reefers section. I think that goes for north alabama and montgomery but I may be wrong. If a meeting comes up here someone could post there and link the the details on this site. The two I went to, one was at a persons home but in their frag shed, and the other was in a business.

It seems like people log on here but why don't they post anything. I think Andy hit it on the head... I bet the majority come to just see whats for sale. Look at the date on the last post on that forum vs the date of the last post on the other forums. Some go back 4 and 5 yrs.

I do that on new forums, if the posting dates aren't active enough I likey would not stick around. I stay in RC mainly but I do check on here to see if something pops up.
I don't rely on forums entirely. I do get books for reference and read websites. Forums are a great source to steal ideas from also.
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My build thread http://tiny.cc/JYzXJ
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Phisher
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Re: Topic: MBRK rejuvenation

Post by Phisher »

$.02

I think a local store participating or sponsoring the first meeting(s) would make this much easier. I am sure a lot of people have apprehension about letting complete strangers into their homes or going to someone else home. I would never have come to meetings had I not met John and Terry and had them drag me all over. I am guessing most of us do not know each other here anymore.

The mood was very relaxed in the past, more of a party. Which is fine but I think having people get too "lively" at others homes was the beginning of the downfall of the meets. The Louisiana club (LARC) seems to have a very strong member base that's gone on for years. I know they have a bit of structure to their meeting and positions (treasurer, president, etc.) but still maintain a fun atmosphere. I remember one of our first meets where such things were brought up and quickly shot down. I think longevity depends on putting some structure in place.
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Re: Topic: MBRK rejuvenation

Post by Scott »

Glad to see that at least you still check here Phisher. Do you still have a tank?

Structure may work but there is a lot of other things involved with implementing that type of structure to a club. I am not sure if this organization will be here next week much less next year so would it be worth all the effort just to have structure?

I may be speaking out of place. I am only speaking from what I remembered from some of the previous conversations we had about electing 'officials', like registering as a NPO. If anyone has any input please feel free to express it.
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pheonixsoul25
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Re: Topic: MBRK rejuvenation

Post by pheonixsoul25 »

structure could be a good thing "if you get the people to follow through with there postions jobs. and the lfs sponsoring the meeting would be a very good thing since im sure a few employes im sure work at b&b.... and may help give the store a boost as well.
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Phisher
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Re: Topic: MBRK rejuvenation

Post by Phisher »

Yea I still check here from time to time.

I do have a small tank set up, and am in process of setting up a high tech 75 that's stalled out on some "issues" that I have not been motivated to resolve.
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