Suggestion Box

[Minanora]

Please, please, let dark mode work again. It's so hard to do this on my phone at night. I have to invert color and it's miserable for winding down.

Oh and my new personal phone doesn't even do invert color. 🫣

[keddre]

Two forum suggestions: Can we add a "Builds" forum and an "Experiments" forum?

[Cory]

On 3/28/2022 at 8:25 AM, keddre said:

Two forum suggestions: Can we add a "Builds" forum and an "Experiments" forum?

I've added an experiments build. The Builds forum sounds like what is supposed to be going on in journals, unless i'm misunderstanding?

[drewzero1]

On 3/14/2022 at 1:03 AM, Minanora said:

Please, please, let dark mode work again. It's so hard to do this on my phone at night. I have to invert color and it's miserable for winding down.

Oh and my new personal phone doesn't even do invert color. 🫣

I use an extension called Dark Reader, it can be set to turn everything dark mode or on/off for certain sites.

https://darkreader.org/

[keddre]

On 3/30/2022 at 10:56 PM, Cory said:

I've added an experiments build. The Builds forum sounds like what is supposed to be going on in journals, unless i'm misunderstanding?

It is, and thank you. I was just being tunnel-blind for the word "builds"

[Minanora]

On 3/30/2022 at 8:39 PM, drewzero1 said:

I use an extension called Dark Reader, it can be set to turn everything dark mode or on/off for certain sites.

https://darkreader.org/

Oh. My. GOODNESS! This is so much better. Bless you. I don't know why I never thought to use an extension/addin. Durp.

[Hobbit]

Ohhh now we have an experiments forum!

…I feel like 90% of what I post I should go there. 😅

 

[Nyssa]

Is there a way to have a poll function? I feel like that might be a fun way to ask a quick question and get a lot of information. I've seen this on other forums where you can still comment below the poll like a normal thread as well.

I'm not a programmer so I'm not sure if that's possible, but it might be a fun idea! 😅

[Streetwise]

@Nyssa, there is a poll option, but once a poll is posted, neither the original poster, or moderators, can edit the poll. We have have had some previous polls which included demographic questions, such as age, which we didn’t feel comfortable with for member privacy.

If you have a brilliant poll idea, a moderator could post it, but otherwise it is better to have a thread with a conversation.

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/9/2021 at 8:04 PM, Fish Folk said:

would there be a way to set up a "trading floor" where the Forum provides a quasi "aquabid-like" context for members . . . or established breeders to operate from? It just seems like there's room for something .

Trent Weldon from @Wel-Don Tanksdid have a program he was setting up. I know he moved and has a lot of stuff going on.  The concept was for people who literally didn't have a local fish store to be able to send / buy fish from.

I totally agree about Aquabid and how it's such an old website. It's difficult to use, it's hard to navigate, it's visually difficult to see. It works, but anyone who has a motivation for HTML or for website design could update that thing and bring it ahead 20 years, it would make it a much more trustworthy site, just from that aspect.

[Wel-Don Tanks]

I did at one point have a online fish store I called it.  Goal was to purchase fish from hobbyists and then transition them to others at a low cost.  Be the middle man for those who did not have a local store or club.  Ultimately I ended up moving states to eventually move back to my home state.  I also found that it became difficult to house all the fish and then I ended up offending a few people when I literally did not have the cash flow to purchase fish at times.  Add on the cost of shipping and supplies and not everyone wants 1000 guppies.  I enjoyed it while I did it but needed some major tuning to get it right.  I would argue that it would be “easier” to establish a new website that is Aquabid 2.0, but with my extremely limited knowledge I also see the cost of running that site and then the marketing to drive that site would be near impossible.  I would say this forum is one of the best ways to trade fish.  You see what others are working on and can strike up conversations with them and see if you can find a deal. 

[Hobbit]

Technically we’re not allowed to sell or give away fish on this site. It doesn’t mention trading though, so perhaps trading is okay? (I know we have a “Trader Feedback” feature but last I heard there weren’t plans to utilize it any time soon.)

[Cory]

Technically trading isn't allowed out in the open. Selling definitely isn't allowed. Basically I'd like to facilitate a way to allow the exchange of fish. However to do that, I need to create a system where aquarium co-op doesn't get bad reviews because party X, doesn't like the way party Y handled a fish transaction. 

This means most likely there will need to be a way to limit who has access to such a system. Random person off the internet is likely to feel taken advantage of, or take advantage of someone.

We'll need some disclaimers, and where they should go instead of hitting up our customer service with a problem etc.

This is being worked on slowly. As recent as last week I had an inquiry with the devs of the forum to help with integrating members/store accounts to the website. If they can accomplish this for like $2,000 I'll have them move forward and that would be the first step to rolling it out.

[CT_]

On 4/11/2022 at 11:09 AM, Cory said:

Technically trading isn't allowed out in the open. Selling definitely isn't allowed. Basically I'd like to facilitate a way to allow the exchange of fish. However to do that, I need to create a system where aquarium co-op doesn't get bad reviews because party X, doesn't like the way party Y handled a fish transaction. 

This means most likely there will need to be a way to limit who has access to such a system. Random person off the internet is likely to feel taken advantage of, or take advantage of someone.

We'll need some disclaimers, and where they should go instead of hitting up our customer service with a problem etc.

This is being worked on slowly. As recent as last week I had an inquiry with the devs of the forum to help with integrating members/store accounts to the website. If they can accomplish this for like $2,000 I'll have them move forward and that would be the first step to rolling it out.

Wow this is actually more than I thought would ever happen (not that I read this as a promise)!  Thanks for looking into this Cory.  And I for one would love a way to trade/give fish to others here. 

[Hobbit]

^ Yes, thank you!!

[Streetwise]

I can’t speak to the trust required for member transactions, but it does need a baseline.

I can comment on spam. @Candi deals with fast spam on YouTube. Forum moderators deal with slow spam. Spammers will often comment on a few old threads, before dropping links. Member reports really help!

[JettsPapa]

On 4/11/2022 at 6:36 PM, Streetwise said:

I can’t speak to the trust required for member transactions, but it does need a baseline.

I can comment on spam. @Candi deals with fast spam on YouTube. Forum moderators deal with slow spam. Spammers will often comment on a few old threads, before dropping links. Member reports really help!

Maybe something like having that be it's own section in the forum, and users would need a certain number of posts to get access to it?

[Guppysnail]

I would not be opposed to a membership fee to be part of that buying/selling format to help support the format and make certain it’s serious dedicated nerms only.  I’m not normally an exclusive type person just the opposite I’m very inclusive but for my fish babies…that’s serious stuff to me. 

On 4/11/2022 at 2:09 PM, Cory said:

This means most likely there will need to be a way to limit who has access to such a system.

 

[Cory]

If we were going to do a membership thing, the youtube membership needs to be integrated. It wouldn't make sense to people to have 2 different memberships. This is the route I'm taking first, can we integrate the website/youtube into the forum in a seamless way. If yes, we can go with an option like that. If not, it'll have to be different qualifications. Is there an app process? is it just posts, etc. We need people to oversee the process. Everything has to be designed around bad actors unfortunately.

[CT_]

On 4/12/2022 at 10:33 AM, Cory said:

If we were going to do a membership thing, the youtube membership needs to be integrated. It wouldn't make sense to people to have 2 different memberships. This is the route I'm taking first, can we integrate the website/youtube into the forum in a seamless way. If yes, we can go with an option like that. If not, it'll have to be different qualifications. Is there an app process? is it just posts, etc. We need people to oversee the process. Everything has to be designed around bad actors unfortunately.

What the internet gives the internet takes away. 😂😭

I honestly don't know what the internet ethics are around this but perhaps aquabid or ebay history could be connected too?  The process would have to be something like start an auction with your member ID in the text so a computer can verify its you and then take the auction down.  You'd just have to make sure that no one would buy the item.  like a 100$ paperclip or something (I'd happily ship a 100$ paperclip if someone did bid).

 

[Streetwise]

The forum software has an available feature where forum members can automatically get upgraded to a different role based on post count, reactions, etc. That role could grant access to a specific sub forum.

I’m just mentioning this as a possible component.

If the developers can also link to ACO and/or YouTube accounts, all those things could be used to control the threshold for access.

Maybe you need to have an ACO account, a YT subscription, and also X number of posts, and Y number of reactions.

I’m just thinking out loud.

[nabokovfan87]

Can we get a category for fish food?

[nabokovfan87]

Maybe one for Aquascaping specific questions as well?  (A lot of these end up as journals, but I know there's people with actual knowledge that can help with some of the less intense questions).

Example: I want to ask about botanicals, not sure if I put this in breeding or in my journal or just in general.  Feels like it's it's own thing.

[Cory]

The goal is to keep fewer forums. The more forums you add, the less they get used. I get that some people want to have somewhere to file ever different topic. That in the past, just creates dead forums people don't use. If a big need arises for a forum, it'll be pretty easy to spot.

[Minanora]

On 4/20/2022 at 11:30 AM, Cory said:

The goal is to keep fewer forums.

Meanwhile, two new sections pop up in the span of a week. At least it feels like it's only been a week, I guess it's been several. 🤣

Depending on the search tool, subsections for certain things like aquascaping, dealing with algae, plant identification... Etc. Could be useful. I feel like the search tool could be better in general though. I imagine it doesn't get used much, but I try to use it to find information before I start question threads. If you could search "only in this section" for a smaller population of topics it could be more useful since there are so many common words in many posts.

Edited April 21, 2022 by Minanora
Added context