Don't people buy books anymore?

[fishysteve]

So many of the questions polluting this forum should be in the "New to the hobby" forum. Or could be easily answered with simply opening a good book.

I'm sorry, I'm having a bad day.

[corals b 4 bills]

Well this fourum has become more of a place of social interaction with reef questions included. (It is for me, you know talking with like minded people).

[Creade]

Reefers can read?


No, seriously, I think with the internet so readily available, many people find books to be too much work.


My wife is a 7th grade teacher.
She recently had her students writing research papers.
Out of 22 students, 2 had books on their works cited page.
18, had WIKIPEDIA as their only Source!!!

She then spent an entire day proving to her students how wrong and/or incomplete Wikipedia can be.

Its sad..

[Mr_Jarhead]

I second that to some extent - think of how often the info in books is way out of date or considered wrong now. The internet is a great resource of up to date info.

The real solution is easy:

People need to use the search function more. I rarely post since most everything has been posted before. I can find anything using a simple search. I think it boils down to a lack of computer skills or in some cases they are just plain lazy and want everything spoon fed to them.

[SDguy]

Originally posted by fishysteve
So many of the questions polluting this forum...

Funny, I've been thinking the same thing lately about threads that just complain about other threads.

[omni2226]

Want some cheese to go with the whine?

[HBtank]

Books are expensive and become dated very quickly IMO. The web is current and offers multiple opinions on a subject, not just one (no matter how good it is) on a subject.

There are very few I would purchase, and all would be regarding livestock only.

[fishysteve]

omni2226-- Why yes I would. Thank you.

[gman0526]

Originally posted by SDguy
Funny, I've been thinking the same thing lately about threads that just complain about other threads.

+1 I guess some forget what the purpose of an open discussion forum is. Also if you don't feel like answering or reading a member's thread because it has been discussed to death, just don't.

And... No, people don't read anymore.

[Frick-n-Frags]

Originally posted by SDguy
Funny, I've been thinking the same thing lately about threads that just complain about other threads.

DOH!, there goes my wisecrack idea



aside from that, I love rolling through the books. I have accumulated a righteous stack and I enjoy them.

I need to get myself some comprehensive pacific ocean macroalgae books now that some of the players have had a couple years to get it together.

Some day I also want to get a tabletop "angelfish of the world" book if anyone makes one. big full-page national geographic looking pictures


so to me its more like missing out than lazing out not having the books.

[Criminal#58369]

I have subscribed to tfhmagazine i read, but still don't answer all my questions, i come here also because of the quick responses in case of emergency... etc...

[clekchau]

it's always been like that, in fact your post has probably been reposted several times, people don't like to search or unable to

[SDguy]

Originally posted by Frick-n-Frags


Some day I also want to get a tabletop "angelfish of the world" book if anyone makes one. big full-page national geographic looking pictures

Oooo, that would be so nice. Fish geeks in collaboration with photography geeks. I'd so be in line for first edition of that

[GreshamH]

Originally posted by SDguy
Oooo, that would be so nice. Fish geeks in collaboration with photography geeks. I'd so be in line for first edition of that

Most MO hobby books have photos from photography geeks, ie. S. Michael, Steene, Kuiter, Debelius, Allen, etc. Don't let their fish geek appearance fool you into thinking they are not photography geeks

[SDguy]

Originally posted by GreshamH
Most MO hobby books have photos from photography geeks, ie. S. Michael, Steene, Kuiter, Debelius, Allen, etc. Don't let their fish geek appearance fool you into thinking they are not photography geeks

No offense to those mentioned, but NG photographs are in a class of their own, IMO.

[hogben]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book

Interesting thing this "Book" ...

[Dholmblad]

Why would I buy a book when I can get the answers here for free?...

[r0bin]

This is the 3rd post in 3 days about others peoples post. I mean is it really that hard for you guys to ignore post you think are repetitive and unnecessary but...... are important to others?

[Sepeku]

I purchased Bob Fenner's book "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" because I like WetWebMedia...

[davenia7]

What's a book?
Signed,
A gen-xer.

[jgln]

Originally posted by fishysteve
So many of the questions polluting this forum should be in the "New to the hobby" forum. Or could be easily answered with simply opening a good book.

I'm sorry, I'm having a bad day.

True, but there is a beginners and advanced forum and this one seems to be in the middle/neutral and doesn't claim to be either of the other. I've noticed a lot of the questions brought up in the beginners forum are answered by beginners and can provide bad advice, thats why I usually post here now and out of respect keep out of the advanced for the most part. Sometimes I see beginners questions posted in the advanced (???). I guess they are too new to know the difference.

[cnordstrom]

People need to use the search function more. I rarely post since most everything has been posted before. I can find anything using a simple search. I think it boils down to a lack of computer skills or in some cases they are just plain lazy and want everything spoon fed to them.

Ah, and there's the rub... there was a bit of a debate going on a couple of weeks ago about how the search function doesn't work unless you're a paying member. While I think it's worth paying a couple of bucks a month to be part of this community, I also agree that the search functionality desperately needs to be improved. Being able to search when you want regardless of whether you've paid or not would eliminate virtually all of the double-posts, and would clean up the site dramatically.

As for these mystical things you call "books", the problem with 'em is that most of the people on here are looking for identification or some obscure piece of knowledge that most mass publishings can't cover. If I had a hitchhiker that I needed to identify, for example, which is the best option: a) go to Borders and buy a half dozen books, one of which MAY cover what you need to know, b) go to the library and check out a half dozen books, again, hoping to find that needle in a haystack, or c) sign up to a website like this and ask hundreds of fellow reefers simultaneously if they've ever seen this thing?

Give me the good ol' interweb any time!

[uscharalph]

I have a couple of books on this hobby which I depend on very much. I love to hear fresh ideas on the internet.

[joekr]

I hate to bring this up since I should have supported RC before now, but about 80% time I go to search for something, the engine is not available. If the management would take into account the number of duplicate threads vs. allowing the search to work, it wouldn't surprise me if it was a break even in terms of both server utilization and bandwidth...

However, most people aren't used to searching since a majority don't contribute to RC..hence redundant/duplicate posts..

[joekr]

woops, cnordstrom beat me to the punch regarding searching...