Me asking a planted aquarium question on Facebook

[Art]

I know it's just my opinion, but this is how I feel when asking a planted aquarium question on Facebook...

You have 98 answers in about 10 minutes.

What's fascinating is that everyone from the newbie that is clueless to the seasoned veterans answer. Then they start fighting with each other. Then scrolling and keeping track of answers becomes crazy.

Most people give up and hope that the right answer was caught by the OP. It's a very transactional relationship very typical of social media. Not much depth possible in such fast paced information sharing.

I don't mean to knock it. It has its purpose and it's very clear that you don't expect or want more in-depth answers. I get it so I don't mean to sound like a grouchy old man.

My point is that while social media platforms like Facebook and Facebook Groups have their place. They make it very easy to share and stay at a very casual level. It is also important to preserve those platforms, like our ScapeCrunch, that curates quality information and allows for deeper relationships and discussions.

Used together is the best of both worlds.

 

[Art]

OK so stepping off my soap box now.

Have a great weekend everybody!

 

[Hanuman]

Used together is the best of both worlds.

I would say, don't use facebook is even better. That place is filled with non-sens despite there being people with knowledge. If you want quality information, forums and videos on youtube are the way to go. Facebook is just a place for people to show who's got the biggest... It is also a place with loads of disinhibition where you get very easily insulted for no apparent reason. I have caught more than once even respected people venture in that game. Facebook is no place to fetch solid and reliable information IMO.

 

[Krandall]

Got to be really careful of YouTube though. There are some good ones… Dennis Wong comes to mind. But there is SO much poor information put out by people with good video skills it can be very hard for people who are not experienced to know the difference.

 

[Pepere]

Got to be really careful of YouTube though. There are some good ones… Dennis Wong comes to mind. But there is SO much poor information put out by people with good video skills it can be very hard for people who are not experienced to know the difference.

That is where I was… Confronted with conflicting information..But then I started looking at what sort of results people got. I had enough results similar to what I saw on some presenters sites and decided to follow advice from people who had tanks that looked the way I wanted mine to…

I still have a lot to learn, but my tanks look so much better than they did…,

 

[Krandall]

If you have time to do that, it’s great. Unfortunately, some people just settle on the first person who sounds good. Also be careful of those who sound “sciency”. Again, some like Dennis get it right. Others are woefully inaccurate.

 

[ElleDee]

I like (curated) Facebook groups because it's neat seeing what people around the world are up to, and there are a few people of note in the hobby who participate who otherwise are not active online and I appreciate hearing their current thinking on things. (Also, I'm specifically grateful for the woman who shared a picture of the 90 120 cm tank I'm setting up - I hadn't considered that it would work, but for my purposes it'll be great.)

But yeah, there's a lot of nonsense. And what I would give for a way to screen out all of the AI tank images that have cropped up in my feed in the last few months. I can see that those fish are just silver smudges! Ugh.

Also be careful of those who sound “sciency”.

This is so true, unfortunately. I would much rather hear from people who take an artistic approach (and there are many!) and just accurately describe their process and the outcome without appealing to science and just being wrong. Along those lines, there's a world of difference between "this is what I did" and "this is what you should do," and the pool of people with the knowledge and experience to pull off the latter on YouTube is pretty small.

 

[Krandall]

Unfortunately, however, if the newer people in the hobby don't learn the (real) science, there is nothing to build on, and nowhere to go. I am all for the art part of the hobby too. If I weren't, I would not have been involved in aquascaping contests since their inception. but it is all just flower arranging without a solid understanding of the science behind it.

 

[Art]

but it is all just flower arranging without a solid understanding of the science behind it.

Love this. I'm going to steal it, Karen, if I may.

 

[Krandall]

Feel free! LOL! I am nothing if not practical about this stuff!

 

[GreggZ]

That is where I was… Confronted with conflicting information..But then I started looking at what sort of results people got. I had enough results similar to what I saw on some presenters sites and decided to follow advice from people who had tanks that looked the way I wanted mine to…

This is the key and something I have been saying for years.

The best path to success is to seek out tanks that demonstrate success in a style you would like to emulate. Then study their methods, and even reach out and ask questions. I have found the vast majority of the successful people in the hobby are glad to share their thoughts and are generous with their time.

It's one of the things I love about the hobby and community. People genuinely want to see others succeed.

The mistake on FB is that people take advice from people when they have no idea whether they have had any success at all. Most will just say "My plants are growing great" but never post even a single picture.

So the bottom line is be careful who you listen to. On FB for all you know you might be seeking weight lifting advice from the weakest guy in the gym.

 

[Art]

On FB for all you know you might be seeking weight lifting advice from the weakest guy in the gym.

Here is another gem I'm going to have to steal!

 

[Hanuman]

On FB for all you know you might be seeking weight lifting advice from the weakest guy in the gym.

Unfortunately that does not correlate well with tanks. Being myself an advanced weightlifter, the strongest and biggest guy in your local gym is often not the most knowlgeable one about what he does at the gym. There's plenty of gym bro-science out there and in some instances I would rather follow a weak guy which is doing things the right way than a hulk which has little understanding about biomechanics.

 

[shopaquariumfish.com]

Art this is why I don't comment or post on any FB groups lol. Also, like Karen said, one has to be careful with YT. Father Fish comes to mind. Not only with plant advice but fish as well.

 

[HarryL]

If you want quality information, forums and videos on youtube are the way to go

Most people asking random questions directly on Facebook are also people who are not willing to do the most basic research first.. they just ask and hope to receive a simple answer that solves every problem they have

 

[CMooner]

Forums have always been the premium place for solid advice no matter the subject. The social media sites are a joke.

Cheers

 

[Tim Harrison]

Missed this thread first time around, but since it's been resurrected...

I found Facebook. to be a mine of misinformation, and after that conflict. It has its place, I initially found it useful for forum promotion purposes. But that sometimes has its drawbacks.

 

[Count Krunk]

Facebook for good information?

 

[Yugang]

I wrote this about FB a while ago

Thread 'Facebook and planted tank forums.'

Nov 16, 2024

I think more and more people are starting to value the balance that frequenting Facebook AND forums brings.

Fortunately forums built up an impressive knowledge base, and user base before Facebook became really popular. Forums are a great tool for learning, or for more experienced hobbyists sharing experience and experiments, collectively trying to make some progress.

I started using FB perhaps a year ago, and I do like a lot of what I see there on some good planted tank groups. But what gets posted today, will be lost a month from now. There are no threads, no structure, no...

• Yugang

• 

Occasionally, I can’t resist joining a Facebook post. I usually do so when I still hope we can learn from new information and make progress in our hobby. Some Facebook users may have seen me posting a few days ago, and the mostly irrelevant replies, so they’ll understand why I consider it a waste of time and effort. Anyway, what is posted now, will be forgotten in a few weeks from now and be replaced by new stuff that will disappear as well.

Facebook has become the dominant social media platform, and it will continue to influence the hobby as it fulfils a need. The disadvantage is that new hobbyists risk losing reliable reference materials such as paper books used before the advent of the internet, or online fora after that. In contrast, experienced hobbyists, explorers, and innovators used to rely on forums for information sharing and robust discussions, which won't work on FB as well due to it's lack of structure and attention span.

A decade ago, or more recently, there were great books, educational tank journals, and respected hobbyists leading discussions and helping beginners. Will we see more of this in the future, even better, and what will it look like? Is FB the answer, and if not what is the vision from the leaders in this hobby?

 

[Art]

it will continue to influence the hobby as it fulfils a need

May I ask what you believe that need is?

Will we see more of this in the future, even better, and what will it look like? Is FB the answer, and if not what is the vision from the leaders in this hobby?

I'm not sure I'm a leader but do have some opinions on this.

I think someone that has made the transition from casual aquarium owner to freshwater aquarium hobbyist needs and is looking for:

• trustworthy knowledge sharing from more knowledgeable and experienced people;
• eye-candy to continue to create inspiration and motivation;
• an outlet for their need to talk about the hobby with others;
• a way to get quick answers to questions when they need it;
• a place to read longer articles going deep into areas of interest; and
• a place where they feel community among other people with similar interests, where they feel people care about them and are glad they shared information.

I think the above used to met by local clubs, originally. Then forums became online clubs.

As we all have limited time, the draw of social media caused everyone's available time to be drawn into them. As a result, hobbyists created a place in social media since everyone is there. Essentially, the Facebook Groups tried to recreate a club or forum's benefits for the hobbyists that were already on Facebook. Build it where people are already. Makes sense.

Unfortunately, Facebook wasn't built to fulfill all of the above items because, by its very nature, it is designed for casual conversations and sharing. Its business model needs to show adds so it moves information along quickly. I don't know about you but it is clear to me that social media is more and more a distribution channel for retails rather than a social platform.

This then begs the question, is there something better than forums and social media that hobbyists can turn to now?

I think there will be a slow return to forums. However, forums must evolve to take on some of the benefits that social media has that forums don't.

For example, the current forum structure is great for organizing and archiving large amounts of data. However, that doesn't lend itself well to casual connections and sharing. Discovery isn't easy. Heck, the simple act of hanging out online and chatting (e.g., Discord) isn't easy on forums.

The good news is there is work being done on the forum side to improve all of these issues. And, there are sites like ours that do not have a profit motive which encourages leading with the hobbyists best interests when making changes and taking decisions.

Oof! Long rant. Sorry. Back to talking plants and aquariums.