Thanks everyone. Very interesting.
My personal feelings are that the online planted aquarium conversation continues to evolve. And, that's perfectly natural. I'm confident that people will continue to find ways to learn, share and form communities as our interconnected world continues to digest new technologies.
I think we look for three things online as planted aquarium enthusiasts -
- information to help us learn or solve a problem,
- inspiration, and
- community.
Exchange of information
AI (AI slop) is now disrupting those social media platforms that focused on quick exchange of information as the basis for interaction. It can scour the entire Internet to pull answer(s) for your question. Much better than humans on Facebook or Reddit can.
Facebook, for example, is very transactional. I post a question and I can get a multitude of answers quickly. Then the interaction disappears into the nether. If that is all one cares about, then I would think that AI platforms will take over from Facebook and we will see a decrease in its importance for the planted aquarium hobby.
Now, this works for questions that have a straightforward answer. AI is good with that and will be much better very soon. I'm grateful for that. How easy is it to ask AI this question and get a quick answer,
"How much KNO3 do I need to add to my 10 gallon tank to reach a NO3 level of 10?"
However, most true learning goes hand in hand with experience. The data must be applied to a context and, sometimes, some critical thinking or guess work is involved. The question may be something like,
"Has anyone dealt with AquaSoil's ability to soak up PO4 when you are trying to grow blood vomit in the foreground and getting a blanket of BGA?"
This type of question is much better answered by people with the shared experience. Those that can help solve a problem using experiential knowledge and, sometimes, wisdom. AI is not good at that.
To me, forums excel at the latter question. We share our experiences and knowledge in context and are able to give much richer answers to these more complex questions.
Inspiration
We all need eye candy to get inspiration for what we want to do. Heck, most of us are in this hoppy because we came across some amazing aquascape, likely online or in a book, and we were hooked. It's an important part of our hobby that I don't think we appreciate as much as we should.
I was just at the Lisbon Oceanario to see Takashi Amano's exhibit. I can honestly say it inspired (re-inspired) my love for the nature aquarium concept. I think we all need some of this from time to time.
Certainly, we can ask AI to pull up aquascaping pictures. Certainly, scrolling through Instagram can be inspiring. There are beautiful aquascapes on Facebook and, even, Reddit.
They don't really convey the raw authenticity that I get from going through the Journals on this site. It's different when I look at the beauty of
@GreggZ or
@Naturescapes_Rocco's tanks.
@Dennis Wong's amazing tanks. Why? Because I feel I know them more than some unknown poster on other platforms. To me, forums can also be inspirational with that additional level of personal touch.
Community
Lastly, I don't think there is a better platform to build and be part of a community than forums. Forums are designed to encourage genuine and deep human connection. When you add information sharing and inspiration, they do seem to have all three things that I think are so important for you to get the most out of your hobby.
The one area that I believe is missing, at least formally, is the ability for forum members to create decentralized (or centralized, depending on your point of view) smaller groups. Similar to what
@Dennis Wong mentions above regarding smaller Facebook groups that are regional focused.
Why are smaller, regional groups important?
I think because we are humans that crave some things that technology can't give us. AI, Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, and even, ScapeCrunch, cannot make you feel the same way you feel when you are awed with a walk through a forest. None can make you feel like nature makes you feel. You have to go into nature to feel it.
Similarly, chatting with all of you via the threads, or even through a one-on-one message, is great. I feel I have friends all over the world. It's wonderful. However, as a human, I would also really like the experience of sharing a couple of cold or warm beverages with you and talk in person about our aquariums. Post COVID, we've all learned the true benefits of meeting in person. Technology cannot replace that.
Smaller groups facilitate the in person connections that we sometimes crave. This is why I asked the question about ScapeCrunch turning on the social group feature. Imagine the Southern Illinois ScapeCrunch Members having a section of ScapeCrunch where they can trade locally or plan a gathering on a weekend. Or, those that keep rainbowfish, or Bucephalandra or even those that keep shrimp?
I know we voted the feature down for now. But I think it's an important one.
