I think we should advise members the best places to buy fish.
your thoughts are correct in that advice should be offered, but it should not be stated as emphatically as
If I was starting a tank from scratch I would only buy fish from Live Aquaria Divers Den…
that seems a bit extreme. sort of like, ya know, way too adamant, and inflexible, bordering on dogmatic and know-it-all-ism.
you call it know-it-all-ism…I call it been there done that…
[quote=“rbu1, post:20, topic:3348”]
[quote=“Marchingbandjs, post:19, topic:3348”]
Just to chime in here real quick, do we not have online sponsors who sell live animals online? Do we think we should ward against buying from sponsors?[/quote]
I think we should advise members the best places to buy fish. Don’t really care if a sponsor gets upset. This club is for members correct?
If I was starting a tank from scratch I would only buy fish from Live Aquaria Divers Den…[/quote]
not real sure how much of this board would exist without numerous sponsors… hope not too many see these kind of comments
[quote=“TimH07”]
I don’t think sponsors should be members[/quote]
the reason why, tim? just curious?
[quote=“TimH07”]
I don’t think sponsors should be members[/quote]
Really? And I am assuming we are still using the rule of thumb that employees of sponsors are sponsors as well?
How successful do you think this club would be without the likes of Bill, Myself, Jon, Andy, BJ, Jared, Tom, the other Tom, and probably 10 more I’m forgetting?
The sponsors are what make this web site possible. And they are empirically entitled to be members - without them we wouldn’t be able to only charge you $10 to be a member.
[quote=“TimH07”]
Same principal here, pay some minimal amount to be a sponsor than say “My store is better than the other because we paid to be a member and we get free posts because we don’t pay member dues but have sponsor payments out there” while the competition has no say…[/quote]
But that IS the benefit of being a sponsor. Having a means to contact, communicate with, and pitch to an isolated group of potential customers. If the competition wants the same benefit then they can pay the same sponsorship rates as our other sponsors.
Why would a sponsor continue to give us money if we don’t allow them to communicate with our members?
Advertising 101
Saying “we have 20 snails for $20” is hard contrast to saying “NJ aquatics is toilet paper compared to us at VA aquatics”
I’ve never gotten that impression from any of our sponsors. For the most part I’ve always found them to be very biased, provide good information, and deal fairly. This is an incredibly small industry and I think that most of our sponsors know and genuinely respect each other.
But I have to say - every car dealership I have ever set foot in to has told me how much better their brand is then the guy down the street. Hell Chevy and Ford even make those “I P*ss on Ford/Chevy” stickers.
mods would catch and understand the difference between “come on in and see our new corals at great prices” and “that piece of crap store down the road is full of disease” and make sure that non-thinking customers would not get suckered into that argument, seems to me. we need stores to help inform us what’s in, and they need us to make use of that info. i really doubt any of the stores that regularly post here are underhanded and lie about their competitors in a manner that customers don’t see through.
This has been argued a million times over… i make sure, as do all of the sponsors/employees on this forum, are very careful no to say anything negative about anyone else. I want to see one single post where this has happened.
matter of fact, i have had plenty of conversations with other lfs owners and such, talking business and exchanging ideas. Even got invited to lunch with one if i was ever in the area. So im not real sure where the accusations come from. All i said was, maybe being crappy about the local sponsors was kind of ignorant. Especially from someone (or two) that are very clear about their feelings toward some of the stores around here.
Those r facts… not biased opinions.
[quote=“TimH07”]
To clarify I don’t believe the owner of a club sponsor should be able to influence the sway of the purchases of club members. That’s conflict of Interest.[/quote]
??? How is that a conflict?? Companies pay millions of dollars to run a 30 second ad during the superbowl to reach potential customers, our sponsors do the same for much less. I for one like having them here, if I can’t get to the store I can send a quick message to them and get an answer.
[quote=“TimH07”]
My friends wife works for Dupont corain department and they offered her a free kitchen (probably worth $30,000) at no charge to get some free advertising and she turned it down due the the fact it would be conflict of interest.[/quote]
Also not a conflict, and most likely not true. I’ve worked for DuPont for years, and they DO NOT offer things like that. It would hurt employee moral and cause workeplace strife because they picked employee “A” over “B”
[quote=“TimH07”]
Same principal here, pay some minimal amount to be a sponsor than say “My store is better than the other because we paid to be a member and we get free posts because we don’t pay member dues but have sponsor payments out there” while the competition has no say…[/quote]
I have read most of the posts here and don’t recall any sponsor saying anything like that. I have however seen many members post that sponsor “X” sucks because of “Y”. Can you point me to somewhere that a sponsor said that??
I like to deal with the LFS for fish, you get a chance to see the fish first, and most of our sponsors (lfs) sell fish for close to, or cheaper then internet plus the hefty shipping fee. another example why i like my lfs… i tried to buy a sixline wrasse from Charlie at DPA a couple months back, he had two in the tank, and wouldnt sell them yet because 6 came in that order earlier that morning, 2 were doa, and 2 died during acclimation. the one i was going to buy, didnt make it through the night, i appreciated the honesty, and it saved me from a dead fish in my tank. And most lfs will order something in for you if they don’t have it.
And a lot of our sponsors are fellow hobbyists, and excellent sources of information… i think they just want to enjoy the club too. i’ve only been around for a bit now, but i’ve never seen them post anything negative, if they were bashing others or saying they’re better than so n so, that would be diff.
“not real sure how much of this board would exist without numerous sponsors… hope not too many see these kind of comments”
sorry for the obscure means of quoting, but we do read the postings and I try to read into what is being said. People are going to shop where they want, and I am sure some members do not really care who else other then themselves pay to support the club, Their membership fees buy them the right to express their opinoins as much as my sponsership buys me the right to read them, and I respect the rights of other to express themselves, so that being said. Let them preach and offer their insight, as well as sharing their previous experience. Take it with a grain of salt. but don’t try to take away my rights to read and respond.
Oh also the lunch offer still stands,
thanks for reading my rant
I personally appreciate the open dialogue afforded to our DRC sponsors on the forums. I also try my best to support our LFS stores as much as possible. I have had an extremely good survival rate from purchasing my fish locally, from trusted vendors.
It was a dumb thing to say, I really shouldn’t drink and post.
:BEER
[quote=“TimH07, post:35, topic:3348”]
It was a dumb thing to say, I really shouldn’t drink and post.
:BEER[/quote]
Great -so do we need to install a breathalizer on your keyboard now??
“Enter-Key Interlock System”?
;D
[quote=“Cdangel0, post:36, topic:3348”]
[quote=“TimH07, post:35, topic:3348”]
It was a dumb thing to say, I really shouldn’t drink and post.
:BEER[/quote]
Great -so do we need to install a breathalizer on your keyboard now??
“Enter-Key Interlock System”?
;D[/quote]
That’s not a half bad idea!
Only issue with that is we would never see Ken again. He posts 5 times as often when he is vodka dosing.