Musings for the New Year - Good Bye To Reef Central.
Today marks both the new year, and the beginning of my life post - ReefCentral, an electronic bulletin board devoted to the coral reef aquarium hobby where I have been a regular "Expert" forum moderator for the last five years.
Unfortunately, over the couple of years, the "flavor" and atmosphere of the BBS changed as it was taken over by some aggressive individuals who flaunted fraudulent credentials to discredit people who had different ideas. Largely, this was ignorable until a flap that occurred on Christmas Eve when one of the more unstable and immature moderators encountered a problem because one of them more aggressive of the frauds posted images of illegally obtained corals on the BBS. This post was deleted by one of the other experts. When the moderator saw this, he went ballistic and banned the expert, as the fraud who posted the article was one of his good friends. In the ensuing commotion, most of the BBS' expert moderators decided that the "used male bovine extract" had gotten too deep, and as of yesterday, we all left the BBS.
I suspect we will be back someplace else, relatively soon. And, I will keep you posted here.
posted by Ron @ 12:57
37 Comments:
Happy New Year, Dr. Ron!
Happy New Year!
Dr Ron,
I'm glad to find a place where you are... Hope all is well and you find a great place on the web.
Your advice on RC will be missed (in fact we are already missing it!) but I'm sure this is the right decision for you, it's been clear for some time that the forum has been burdensome to you.
I do hope you find a way to offer online courses and advice again, but this time in a way the fits your schedule better.
Here's hoping for a speedy recovery from surgery as well!
Nice spin on things.. Now how about the truth, considering you also know that as well..
Thanks for the explanation DR. RON, I myself have had a run in with a few of the more Spiteful Mods at the mentioned site. I just can't believe all the expert advise people go there to get, was ruined due to an ego trip.
Good luck
and keep us posted.
Kris and Bree
Thanks for your help over at RC .. you will be missed
You will be missed on reefcentral Ron, there are many other forums that can use your advice though.
Happy New Year Dr Ron,
I always enjoy seeing and reading your articles.
As one of the volunteers from MACNA,
and on behalf of the entire membership, we'd like to invite you to stop by our friendly forum here at WAMAS.
http://www.wamas.org/forums/index.php?
I've taken the liberty to create a "Welcome Dr. Ron" topic.
We hope to have you visit with us soon.
flowerseller
Very sorry to hear about your troubles at RC. Over the past 2 years, I have always appreciated your comments and dedication to the scientific aspects of the hobby. When you do settle on a new 'home', I hope that you will let people know so that we can join with you.
Dr. Ron,
Thanks for the help that yourself and Anthony have given all of us over the years. If you are ever looking for a user friendly and less egotistical, mod happy, place to visit come on over to Reefmonkey.com. You would be more than welcome.
Regards
Walter
Ron, I just wanted to personally thank you for your years of dedicated service to RC and to the reefkeeping community as a whole. Best of life,love, and health to you and your wife in the coming year.
Dr. Ron, thanks for all the help you've provided on RC. But you need to get your facts straight about Eric being banned, as that never happened.
Thank you for taking the time to educate the masses. I won't say 'try' because in one case you have had at least limited success - me.
I'm sad to see you go but mostly sad that Anthony is likely going with you. He's one of my fav authors!
However, I dont think that any of the show was entirely moderator fault. I think a LOT more egos got in the way other than just the RC mods.
I think you are all going about this quite childishly and quite expected from what I consistently see.
If you are going to go away angry, go away. Dont puff up about it and post everywhere. It makes one look like a poor sport and negates any benevolence.
Good Luck in your endeavors.
Sorry to see you have had problems on RC. If you are ever surfing the net and are bored visit us at www.reefescape.ca . I know the members there would love to have the experience and knowledge that someone like you could bring.
Scott
Sorry to see you go. As you can see all the mods are childish and think they rule the world. I hope you find a new home and cripple that commericalized website. check out this post. Here is immaturity at it's best.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=740256
Thanks for all your help and please let us know where all of you land.
Dr Ron,
I am glad I have found you. I have read many of your posts on RC and you had offered to ID some snails for me if I mailed them to you. Is that offer still good?
Things are really in an uproar over at RC. I hope they can get their act togther. I have gotten a lot of good information there.
Gary
www.ohioreef.com
Dr Ron,
Happy New Year! I will sorely miss our conversations on RC, you inspired me to be a much more detailed and thoughtful reefer than I was. I'm looking forward to welcoming you to your new home whereever that may be.
Until then enjoy the freedom and the reprieve from all my silly questions :)
Brian
It's a sad thing when a brilliant voice is silenced by such nonsense. If you have not "found a home" yet, feel free to check out our site. You'll be more than welcome, and it's a very friendly environment, even when discussing "hot topics" and nonsense is not tolerated. Hope to speak to you again soon, your voice will be missed.
Kieron Dodds
Administrator
Tropical Resources
TFH Magazine's Official Web Forum
Dr. Ron,
Good luck in your future endeavors. I'm sure your expertise would be welcome ANYWHERE. In fact I posted such an invitation on our very modest (by today's standards) forum of the Nassau County Aquarium Society.
Dr. Ron,
Thank you for your time and efforts on RC. I've always appreciated your 'highly paid' position there. You will be missed.
Please let the rest of us supporters know where're you'll be taking up residence so that we can all join you there.
Russ
Thank you for all the sound advice you have provided for many of us in the hobby over the years on Reef Central. Best of luck to you and yours, and I hope you have a happy new year.
Dr. Ron,
It was such a sad day to see you go. You, Eric, and Anthony will be missed by many. I realized a year ago that ReefCentral was not a place I wanted to be. I only "lurked" there for the expert forums. Now that has gone to hell in a handbasket, thanks to some idiots. One with false credentials and all his stupid minions.
The moderation at that site is not dispensed evenly or fairly. Most of the moderators really suck at their duties and should be replaced. Most notably, beerguy (hows that name for a family friendly site), Anemone, Gregt (obvious assoc with Mr. Fake credentials) and DgenR8. These are the rudest of all the mods. There are others that should be replaced but those 4 above named are a detriment to the site.
Now the commericializm is horrible also. It's ridiculous that you have to "pay" before you can use the search feature. With you, Anthony and Eric gone. There's no reason for me to even attempt to use the search feature, that is only accessible in the wee hrs of the morning, and sometimes not even then.
I shall close my remarks with good wishes for you and with hopes that you will let us all know the BB where you eventually decided to settle in at.
"it was taken over by some aggressive individuals"
I totally agree, you'll be missed but I understand.
-Shoestring Reefer
You are warmly welcome at our small community http://www.sloreef.com/ ;) :D
Hehehe ;)
You are missed already Ron.
Your contributions have always been both fascinating and informative for me and RC just won't be the same without you and the other depatrted experts.
Happy New Year and many good tidings to you and yours. Please keep us all up to date on where you land.
"Unfortunately, over the couple of years, the "flavor" and atmosphere of the BBS changed as it was taken over by some aggressive individuals who flaunted fraudulent credentials to discredit people who had different ideas."
Why are you so afraid of different ideas? Why are credentials so important to you? Perhaps you are too insecure to allow others to express their opinions if they don't support yours? Perhaps credentials are all you really have to make you a big shot? Well, here's news for you. Not everybody with a degree feels the need to Lord it over everyone else to feel superiour. That doesn't mean they are a fraud. It means they aren't an egomaniac.
"...them more aggressive of the frauds posted images of illegally obtained corals on the BBS. This post was deleted by one of the other experts."
Flat out lie. Everyone knows that isn't why the thread was deleted. If so, it wouldn't have been the whole thread, but only the offending post. The thread was deleted because Erics posts on that thread made him look like an ass. Everyone but you can see that. It's plan as day. Nice try though.
"When the moderator saw this, he went ballistic and banned the expert,"
Another flat out lie. Eric was never banned.
All in all I think you've done a wonderful job of showing who you really are. A person so insecure that someone you feel is a "fraud" can threaten your ego so bad that you break several laws and then quit and run like a baby. If this person was really a fraud as you claim then a bigshot PHD like you should have been able to prove him wrong very easily. The fact that you couldn't do so makes you look even worse, IMO.
"One with false credentials and all his stupid minions."
Where's the proof of the false credentials?
Dr. Ron, personally, I think your an idiot and I'm glad you decided to leave. I am also glad Eric is gone. Unfortunately, Anthony was collateral damage, and it is unfortunate that he is gone as well.
Is this not just a hobby, why bother bring credential flashing into this?
Happy new year nonetheless. Sad to see Anthony leave.
Dr Ron,
Thanks for all of the help you gave me on RC.
I dont know exactly what is going on as just got wind of all of this.
We are all afraid to comment about anything on RC or we will be given a time out or banned. Most of the stuff we do post is apparently deleted.
Will miss your forum very much
It's sad to see all you "old timers" go... but also, not too surprising. RC has been smoldering for some time, and it finally burst into a full force blaze... I'm glad you all got out alive. Hey, if you get a chance, you and the other experts should stop by www.nano-reef.com, and take a walk on the wild side of tiny tanks with us nano-reefers!
Good luck, and Happy new year!
[QUOTE]Where's the proof of the false credentials? [/QUOTE]
Try and get a clue why don't you. You're a fine one to be calling a distinguished gentleman like Dr. Ron an idiot.
"Try and get a clue why don't you. You're a fine one to be calling a distinguished gentleman like Dr. Ron an idiot."
Dr. Ron is a closed minded person who hangs on to DSB's like a security blanket. DSB's are a sink and he knows it, but him coming clean would mean lost money and credibility.
I could give a rat's ass about Dr. Ron's credentials. It is the claim of a certain person being a fraud (you know, the one with all his minions) but no proof to back that up. That's the proof I want.
If you don't agree with Dr. Ron, you are nothing.
It's a shame some Hardcore RC people actually have to chase you down to spout more BS....
I'll miss all three of you...
Looking forward to you popping us somewhere soon...
"Flat out lie. Everyone knows that isn't why the thread was deleted. ..... Everyone but you can see that. It's plan as day. Nice try though."
Everyone?... sorry wrong you are oh flamethrower... nice try though
HAHA! Great to see RC getting what they so richly deserve. The folks with crednetials leaving will hurt them the most. The mods have been rude to the 'little guys' for so long now it's commonplace. Some of those moderators egos are way out of check. The fact that you can no longer do a search there without paying them money which they are not using to upgrade the site's hardware is also absurd.
Good riddance RC. Don't let the door hit ya' where the good Lord split ya'.
In the past I have had the utmost respect for Ron and especially Eric and Anthony. That being said I too see that ego pertaining to credentials as the root of this disagreement. The bottom line is that this is a hobby (like photography or fishing); take it with a grain of salt. It is meant to relax the mind not aggravate it. I do take exception to Eric dropping the dime on Bomber about the corals. I feel like this move only makes more apparent the egotism involved with this situation.
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