Hi Shelli--
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by shellisland:
ok, so I dont know a whole lot about computers...How did this BB get started? Did someone out of the goodness of their heart see the need for us computer bound reefers to have a resource to get info? How old is this?
The Reef Central message board started out with some free software that anyone can obtain for the asking in Sept. of last year. (I started to post a link to the old board, but I see they finally deleted it--it was at boardhost.com). We switched over to this software (Infopop's UBB) on October 4th, 1999.
Three of us--myself, MIKE (Mike Andrews) and HCS3 (Henry Schultz) were frequent Aqualink posters. We started this board because we grew disillusioned with the atmosphere at AL.
We parted company shorty after start-up.
Could it ever 'go out of business'? Are sponsors the only ones that pay for it?
How the board is supported is a long story. To get it up and running, Mike and I put up the money. After startup, I paid to keep it going out of my own pocket for a while. Then, traffic got heavy and the el-cheapo hosting company we had started to have problems keeping us running. We switched hosts three times in the first few months. After doing some research I came to the conclusion that we needed our own server. This was going to cost some serious dollars. I started to recruit sponsors, and IceCap took the bait. About the time we were ready to switch to the new hosting company, ctenophore (one of the administrators here) came forward with a very sweet offer from his place of employment, to host our board. So thanks to ctenephore, and IceCap, we are here today running smoothly!!If our "sweet deal" ever changes, or IceCap decides we are no longer worthy, we may be scrambling for some cash to support the board.
Seriously, that's part of the story that often doesn't get told. Those two bailed us out--there is no way I could have supported the current hardware that we use on my own.
As for whether it goes out of business or not.....sure, it could happen. I'm the owner of the board, but there are three of us with the same access codes, passwords, etc: myself, JohnL, and ctenophore. If something happened to me or I decided to get out of the hobby (not likely, I didn't have much luck the last time I tried ;) ) I would hope the other two would keep RC going. I don't see the board going anywhere, anytime soon.
How do you get to be a moderator-what does a moderator do (I know, I know, MODERATE!! :) But what does that mean specifically? )
I pick the moderators, sometimes I will seek input from the other moderators and administrators here. Actually, the last thing I look for in a moderator is a moderator. ;) The name doesn't fit the position, IMO. I want someone who wants to help others, primarily. The "crowd control" part of the job description is a minor thing. Helper is a better description. I pick people who's postings I am familiar with. If I see someone who frequents the board, has some good knowledge about the hobby, likes to help out others....then that person is a good candidate. I try to rotate the moderators fairly often to keep things fresh and give everyone a chance to help others out. I think our moderators are very proud of the position they have, and really, really, enjoy helping out others. And, I think they do an excellent job, better than any other message board on the internet.
When I first found the different bb's, it seems like they all LOOK the same, as in the same general format. (of course this one is much more fun :D ) Did the same people start all of the other ones?
None of the popular boards you see--Aqualink, Aquaria Central (which may be down for good :( ), reefs.org, Saltwater Guide, The Reef Tank or Reef Central--are connected, at least not to my knowledge. We all use the same software because it is the most user-friendly message board software that exists, at least for now. Our traffic jumped about 1000% once we made the shift from the old board software to this one.
I recently started another message board, Reef Stores.com (http://63.75.34.139/ubbcgi/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro&BypassCookie=true), but as far as I know the others are not connected.
This is keeping me up at night...what does it all mean :D
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It means we're all crazy!! :D And hopefully you can sleep better now. ;)
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Larry M
Visit Reef Stores.com (http://63.75.34.139/ubbcgi/Ultimate.cgi?) The liaison between hobbyists and on-line retailers.
See my tanks at Northern Reef (http://www.reefcentral.com/northernreef/index.htm)