Do we have a 'real' group here?

Post by **snoopdog** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 12:05 pm

I agree on the avatar issue, I will fix this since I personally know the people.

HAMsmith · Post by **HAMsmith** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 2:25 pm

To me a fix for the "party" problem would be to essentially have two events per meeting. First you have your meeting at a members house or LFS. Then after the meeting those that wanted could either meet at a bar or whatever for the "party" part.

As far as not knowing people, meetings would be exactly the way to fix that problem.

Melissakins · Post by **Melissakins** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 2:57 pm

The meeting/party used to coincide with one another....it was still very loosely organized, which was fine.

What Brandon was saying was that the old timers (like us) have quit coming to the meetings/parties and now we have a lot of new folks who weren't coming to meetings when they were regularly scheduled and it just kinda fizzled out. We've been posting here for over 3 years now

It would be a good idea to have some sort of direction rather than it just being a party. Have an organized meeting (minus minutes and political mumbo jumbo) where the host could say for instance...

This is my tank, it's xxx gallons, I use xx water, these additives, my corals are blah blah blah, I frag using these techniques (maybe demonstrating) and my fish are yadda yadda...I'm having problems with such and so - other people can pipe in, ask questions, learn something or impart some sort of knowledge from their own personal experiences or from a book they read or from someone else who told them what THEY did in the situation....

Then if you had brought some frags to sell/swap and other people did the same, then you'd carry on about that...THEN socialize (aka party)

However, because there is no structure, it's kinda like having a frat party where stuff gets destroyed at the home of the person having the get together so people are reluctant to host a meeting at their home. And we're all kinda burned out and have gotten busy in other endeavors.

I'm not saying have no structure....just have structure that is loose enough to not intimidate someone or bore someone to tears with rules, regulations, you owe this that/fees, blah blah blah....

Brandon · Post by **Brandon** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 3:16 pm

I guess I wasn't clear, I mean have regular meetings, etc where you accomplish stuff, setup frag swap dates with local clubs, arrange for field trips to aquariums, manufacturers, etc.. that kind of stuff, and then have an occasional party, which is what we're doing now, but schedule the parties in a more formal way. Example, we have an annual spring barbeque / frag swap, I am sure these kinds of things would accumulate over the years, you don't just decide one day you will have a party every quarter and what the theme will be. They would accumulate and become traditions.

I think everyone got at least a little burned out on monthly parties, I miss the parties, but monthly was getting insane. We don't have to "throw down" every month, maybe every qtr

Where we can anticipate them a little better and it doesn't become a drudgery.

And I was getting bored with them because we never accompished anything other than drinking. I know not everyone feels this way, but hey just my thoughts, I'd be more willing to participate if anyone was interested in doing anything.... Like lets all have a fieldtrip day to the Aquarium of Americas in New Orleans .. see if we can get a behind the scenes look at the filtration, etc.. that kinda thing. What do you think?

Brandon's 2 cents as usual..

Bkndsdl · Post by **Bkndsdl** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 6:15 pm

Woah, everyone, hold up - I did not start this thread to start a 'new' reef club to replace whatever it is we have here. If you look at the title, I asked if we even had a group, because I haven't heard anything about one, only meetings (which really sound like drunkfests to me) that ended in a bunch of drunk people, no agenda or anything.

MBRK - the clubs name Mobile Bay Reef Keepers had been voted on at that time.

No one that I have asked - and there have been many - told me that MBRK was a club - for all I have seen, it was merely a website that a very dedicated reefer kept going. There is nothing anywhere about a MBRK club on this website. The title says this is a forum.....I'm sorry, I wasn't there when the 'club' name was voted on, that's why I asked.......

AmyJoe, I'm sorry to admit I am a bit taken aback.....

I simply asked what we had, and I got response from your husband saying he didn't know what we had, and several others expressing interest in a getting some 'meetings' going again; therefore, I proposed to organize something, anything. I didn't intend to step on anyone's toes; I just wanted to know if there was a group, then offered to help revitalize it if there was one, and if there wasn't a group, start one........I'm confused. I've met your husband, he's a nice guy, gave me some cool frags and good information, and keeps this website going which I and most other members appreciate very much. I honestly, truly didn't mean to offend, harry, vex, grate, or otherwise pee off anyone...........I just want to be a member of a group of people, in club form - however you take that to mean - who share a common interest in reef keeping.

So to be frank with you- All of the stuff being suggested has/had been suggested and tried before.

I'm confused; so all of us newbies should just give up on having a group?

We had the LAST MBRK meeting we are going to host due to the lack of respect of our home, property and our time

As far as property being broken -Like I said, I don't drink. I am truly apalled that someone actually would get drunk at a person's house - I can't even fathom someone doing drugs - and damage property. I have to say I'd be very, very dissapointed as I'm sure you were, and would probably drop out of the group altogether, website and all. That is why I offered to have meetings at a local restaurant, so no one has to put up with that kind of crap. We can have tank viewings, where you go to a members house to look at their setup, but ONLY a visit. No meetings......

What would you do with dues? Just curious. or with the money you'd make with fund raisers?

First off, I don't know if we need dues, but it's something we should at least entertain. The club would have to be a business if we did, but that's not as difficult as it sounds like it would be. As far as what to do with the $$$, how about pay for Kevin's website expenses? How about to pay for the T-Shirts you mentioned? How about the club purchase a gift certificate each month from a local vendor to give away as a door prize at the meetings? How about an end-of-the-year party for the members? How about pay for a trip - if just gas - to a gulf coast aquarium? How about even help pay for a needy marine biology student's tuition? There are many, many things a club could contribute to.......

PLEASE - don't take anything I've said as an attack on anyone here; I simply would like to get a group going, and if there's already a group, get it going again. If a group of interested people get together and decide to have a group, no matter what its name is, that's what I want. I'm sorry for babbling, I'm just so not understanding what I've said to get the kind of response this post has gotten.....

Like SuziQ said, it only takes one person.......that's all I was hoping to do.

Bkndsdl · Post by **Bkndsdl** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 6:17 pm

If someone want to rekindle the club and give it a fresh start then by all means do it

I mean have regular meetings, etc where you accomplish stuff, setup frag swap dates with local clubs, arrange for field trips to aquariums, manufacturers, etc.. that kind of stuff

Kevin, Brandon, that's exactly what I meant by starting this post......

mykpoz · Post by **mykpoz** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 7:12 pm

I dont think they took you for stiring anything up....

I think there were some feelings that needed to come out, and you just provided the way for it to come out.

Bkndsdl · Post by **Bkndsdl** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 7:14 pm

Poz, I sincerely hope so......if that's the case, I apologize for taking it the wrong way.......

Post by **snoopdog** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 7:51 pm

I was actually being sincere.

Bkndsdl · Post by **Bkndsdl** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 8:29 pm

sincere about what?

Amyjoe · Post by **Amyjoe** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 8:31 pm

I apologize for being ugly this morning.

The original notion of the post started out civil enough but then seemed to change to a direct affront to something we had worked really hard for and it rubbed me the wrong way especially at 5:45 in the morning before work. It isn't your fault that you didn't know the nature of how things started and with so few of the original people still being around that isn't your fault.

Honestly- we originally started out almost exactly how and what you were suggesting- we began things and for those who hadn't been to the "meeting" where we did accomplish things it is hard to describe. Like Melissa said we kept the in home thing so that people could show off there tanks and talk about the hobby but it just got out of hand and old. Not saying at all that re-vamping things isn't a bad idea- that is something that should stay open for discussion.

We also have done the publicity stuff also most of the local vendors were not interested.

Bkndsdl · Post by **Bkndsdl** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 9:10 pm

<Large Sigh for big relief>........Apology accepted, AmyJoe, and I offer an apology too. I truly did not mean to offend.....

So, how about having a meeting? I guess it's going to be at Andy's house? I'm truly looking forward to it.

Post by **snoopdog** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 9:17 pm

We also had a field trip to "Ocea" aquariums before they went belly up. That was a fun field trip, Reeferpuffer originally set that up for us through a contact he had.

Buzz · Post by **Buzz** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 9:30 pm

How about talking about meeting topics. Nothing formal, just a thread to remind us about things we want to talk about while we are all together.

Field Trip....cool idea. Familys or not?

Buzz

andy4499 · Post by **andy4499** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:02 pm

Wow this post sure has stirred some things up.

I have not been here since the beginning but I have been here for a while, and every meeting that I have been to has been like a big party. I think one of the reasons that the meetings have lost interest is because the meetings have gotten to where when people show up they find someone they know and stay by them the whole night and they don’t get to meet all the new people.

I have noticed at a few of the meetings that the host will get up in front of the group and tell a little about themselves and how they got into the hobby or what ever they feel they would like to say. This was a good thing for the meetings because people get to know who the host was.

My suggestion is to not only have the host tell about themselves, but everyone gets up and tells something about themselves, how they got into the hobby, about their aquarium, and anything else they would like to say. This way every one gets to know a little more about everyone, not just the host.

Do we have a 'real' group here?

WOA!

Whew....

Informal meeting topics....