2008 M.A.R.S. Frag Swap

[pbetito]

First off we welcome all BAR members and would love to have them participate

Marine Aquarists Roundtable of Sacramento would like to cordially invite any members of a reef club to our 2008 Frag Swap. We are planning on holding the frag swap in West Sacramento, pending confirmation of a location, on the 9th of February at 11:30.

The swap will be 9 dollars prepaid (via paypal) and 12 dollars (cash) at the door per adult. Included in the price will be a delicious lunch and all you can drink water, juice, and soda. We wholeheartedly invite you to bring children and they may eat free of charge. Spouses are welcome with their own paid admission and are welcomed to participate in the swap (or pick for you) as long as they meet the requirements (bring 3 frags).

The frag swap will require three frags per person looking to participate. The picking order that one is selected for will be at random. The order of selection will be done in forward/reverse order...12345-54321 ect.. There is no buy in but we as a club would greatly recommend stopping by one of our LFS as they can set you up for 3 frags for 30 dollars at the most

As usual, there will be a rare/exceptional category for what are called bonus picks. The way this works is that if you bring 2 approved corals that are rare or exceptional you will get an extra first round pick. This pick will be made before any of the picking groups gets their chance to select a coral. Therefore the better you bring the more you get This is also a way for the swap to get more quality corals put out on the table.

There will be a second round for bonus picks put at the beginning of the third round as well.

For those who don't have a lot of rare frags you can earn bonus picks by bringing a large quantity of frags instead.

For every 2 rare/10 normal frags you bring you will get a bonus pick. 2 rare/10 normal gets you a first round pick and 4 rare/20 normal gets you a third round bonus selection.

Finally 6 rare/30 normal gets you a bonus 2nd round pick as well. We would like to encourage people not to bring more than 10 corals of the same type. We ask that so that there are not people picking in all of the bonus rounds who donated 30 frags of brown zoo's. If you want to bring more than 10 of something of quality then please just get prior permission.

All corals should be put into proper containers,( no ziplock bags) and should be identified by name of the coral and the name of the donor.

Petes97, Mr. Mike B, and myself will be judging rare/ exceptional pieces and we will attempt to be fairly liberal in our choosing. This is not a perfect science but we will certainly do our best and in the case we are unsure we will ask the proper authorities. Bring on the eye candy

There will be a wonderful raffle and an amazing 60 gallon cube with tank, stand, canopy, lighting, and pumps for the taking.

If anyone has any further questions, ideas, or reccomendations please feel free to ask them as your input is greatly appreciated. The BOD of M.A.R.S. look forward to seeing you there and having a wonderful day among fellow enthusiasts.

[Mr. Ugly]

Thanks for the invite, but February 9th is the date of the BAR swap at ASAP!

[sfsuphysics]

Thought that date looked familiar, ouch.

[-=Zepplock=-]

Please Feb 9th come faster ;-)

[pbetito]

We actually thought that you guys were having yours on the 2nd

Although we blew it there seemed to be some people who were bummed they missed the requirements to get in. They are welcome to come to ours. We will be EXTRA careful to make sure we don't do this at the next swap as we really like having our BAR brothers and sisters at events and will surely miss their company!

[Mr. Ugly]

BAR meetings(general or BOD) are always the 2nd Saturday of every month.

[Ebn]

Too bad they're on the same date.

[bookfish]

Originally posted by pbetito
We actually thought that you guys were having yours on the 2nd

Although we blew it there seemed to be some people who were bummed they missed the requirements to get in. They are welcome to come to ours. We will be EXTRA careful to make sure we don't do this at the next swap as we really like having our BAR brothers and sisters at events and will surely miss their company!

That's weak. MARS should reschedule.

[Thales]

Originally posted by pbetito
We actually thought that you guys were having yours on the 2nd

Although we blew it there seemed to be some people who were bummed they missed the requirements to get in. They are welcome to come to ours. We will be EXTRA careful to make sure we don't do this at the next swap as we really like having our BAR brothers and sisters at events and will surely miss their company!

How did you come up with the 2nd?
Honestly, this mistake makes me feel awkward about brotherhood/sisterhood given the lengths all the local clubs have gone to, until now, in order to not double book days with events. And, your second paragraph makes me feel like the scheduling wasn't really an accident.
I don't know if any of that is actually the case, but that is how it makes me feel.

[bookfish]

Exactly!

[corals b 4 bills]

Are you saying that they knowing planned there swap to be on the same day as ours?

[Marko9]

C'mon guys. That is pretty crazy. I was not at any of the planning meetings so I can not speak for the committee, but C'mon.

I can see how Pauls response could be construed in the way you guys are thinking, but I do not believe they got together and said, "Let's have our frag swap the same day as theirs". That seems a little too immature, even for reefers

[dots]

It's all part of our master plan for world coral domination you see, first BAR, then were going after SoCal.........In the words of Lord Vader "join us or die"

Coral Rumble '08........be there.

Rules are: fragging shears and projectiles made of hardened epoxy only. No knives, guns, or brass knuckles. No hitting below the belt and no pinching or scratching, and especially no hair pulling.


I am sure something can be worked out...........I think its cool that it would matter to you guys and would want the oportunity to go to both and so that each swap has as many attendees as possible.

On second thought, nope........my frags will go bad if they aren't traded that day........

But seriously, I can't speak for anyone else or the organizers of the swap, but I am sure we can be flexible. I met people from NVR at our last one that I was pleased to meet and always want to meet you Bay Area guys.

[pbetito]

We are looking into changing the date if possible. Please don't start the "how dare they posts" as I ASSURE YOU it was an accident. We were encouraged that we may be able to get extra attendance because some were unable to attend the BAR swap but we really want to have everyone possible at our event. I have the utmost respect for BAR and will do all that I can. We are looking into seeing if a change is possible.

I am going to ask that you realize that if we are unable to change the mistake was made in good faith. It would be a MAJOR bummer to lose the hard core BAR members. I have been to past BAR swaps and we would be losing a lot of awesome reefers if this happens. I hope to fix the issue and will gladly answer any and all questions.

Thales, I understand how you feel... All I can do is to apologize again and ask that you consider that MARS has no gain by keeping you out. We WANT you to come. So much so we are trying to change the date. There were three of us on the commitee and we just blew it datewise. I am VERY SORRY. We will do our best. Please give us the benefit of the doubt

[dots]

I don't know about you guys........but I feel like a hug!!!

Well said Paul!!!

[Thales]

Originally posted by pbetito
We are looking into changing the date if possible. Please don't start the "how dare they posts" as I ASSURE YOU it was an accident. We were encouraged that we may be able to get extra attendance because some were unable to attend the BAR swap but we really want to have everyone possible at our event. I have the utmost respect for BAR and will do all that I can. We are looking into seeing if a change is possible.

SNIP....

Thales, I understand how you feel... All I can do is to apologize again and ask that you consider that MARS has no gain by keeping you out. We WANT you to come. So much so we are trying to change the date. There were three of us on the commitee and we just blew it datewise. I am VERY SORRY. We will do our best. Please give us the benefit of the doubt

I didn't say you did it on purpose, I said that is how it made me feel. And some of the comments about MARS/BAR in the MARS forum lately helped me to feel that way.
It appears that you didn't actually ask about posting your event in another clubs forum - which is something that has traditionally been done to avoid exactly the kind of situation we are now in.

Your post helps a bunch. BOD's need to communicate, especially when promoting events in each others forums.

[pbetito]

Originally posted by Thales
I didn't say you did it on purpose, I said that is how it made me feel. And some of the comments about MARS/BAR in the MARS forum lately helped me to feel that way.
It appears that you didn't actually ask about posting your event in another clubs forum - which is something that has traditionally been done to avoid exactly the kind of situation we are now in.

Your post helps a bunch. BOD's need to communicate, especially when promoting events in each others forums.

Sadly, the post was my attempt at an invitation. Hopefully we can fix this and make it into that again Thanks for listening.

-Paul

[Mr. Ugly]

Originally posted by pbetito
We are looking into changing the date if possible.

[...]

Please give us the benefit of the doubt

Thanks Paul. Much appreciated.

[GreshamH]

This is the first time BAR closed the doors on this event, which up till now has been a REGIONAL club swap. Maybe the new BOD will rethink the value of closing this swap and what it might do to BAR's relations with other clubs, and the clubs bottom line (swap raffle tradionallty is the largest portion of BAR's revenue).

[Marko9]

Originally posted by GreshamH
This is the first time BAR closed the doors on this event, which up till now has been a REGIONAL club swap. Maybe the new BOD will rethink the value of closing this swap and what it might do to BAR's relations with other clubs, and the clubs bottom line (swap raffle tradionallty is the largest portion of BAR's revenue).

I was going to frag 1 of everything I have and bring it to the swap. Oh well

[Thales]

Originally posted by GreshamH
[B]This is the first time BAR closed the doors on this event, which up till now has been a REGIONAL club swap.

Not quite true. There was similar concern when BAR had any of its BAR only frag events or its recent BAR only frag swap, as well as concern when the timing of the regional swap was moved.

Maybe the new BOD will rethink the value of closing this swap and what it might do to BAR's relations with other clubs, and the clubs bottom line (swap raffle tradionallty is the largest portion of BAR's revenue).

This was discussed at length at the last BOD meeting, and is on the schedule to be discussed again at the next BOD meeting. I am actually confident that the regional swap will return, and am happy the BOD is taking time in order to avoid a rash decision.

FWIW, the regional swap was getting so big that venue and safety and security were becoming real issues. It is important to note that the BAR BOD decided to take a break from hosting a regional swap, not to forever discontinue it. Many alternatives have been thrown about, so like I say, I am confident that it will return.


Point of information: I don't think there is any bad blood here. I think there was a scheduling issue and for various reasons it got hashed out publicly instead of behind the scenes, which is both illuminating and slightly unfortunate. I think everyone got to say what they thought and felt in a constructive, non aggressive, non confrontational way.

[Marko9]

I agree that the swaps have gotten a little out of control. I have always though that a maximum of people and a maximum of corals might be a good thing.

I did like that BAR put a date on the event and that you had to be an active member by that date.

[GreshamH]

Originally posted by Thales
Not quite true. There was similar concern when BAR had any of its BAR only frag events or its recent BAR only frag swap, as well as concern when the timing of the regional swap was moved.

Huh? For the past three years BAR has heald a regional(open to otehr clubs) swap on the second saturday of Feb. What are you talking about? When did we move the timing of the regional swap, or are you talking about now (moved to a time unknown in the future)

[Thales]

In 2005 it was in July. In 2006 it was it moved to Feb.

[GreshamH]

That's right. I got the canopy in the summer that year. It was a regional swap then as well though