Our Forum is Growing to Fast...

The thing with social media is that it inflates egos. You can see the number of followers on instagram or the number of likes on a Facebook post and it feels rewarding. It's a mad rush to get noticed as it's so easy to post your catches these days. You get crazy poses, wannabe pro staff and hot chicks with fish all trying to compete for attention. Everyone has such easy access to social media and check it everyday so there is high traffic leading to to inflated egos. Then there are the extreme cases like Mr. Windsor who thinks he's the shit and immediately attacks everyone who criticises him by calling them jealous.

It's just so much easier to feel rewarded on social media. I will admit I am guilty of this to a certain degree as I post for attention as well. It's not a crime to post for attention but don't let it go to your head.

This is wht I feel CFF will be safer with invite only but even without invite it can't be as bad as Facebook (or at least not as much). There is pretty well established culture here that it's more serious, less internet traffic helps. It's harder to show off like on social media. It's relatively peaceful here (also good job Ernie).

 

Nothing wrong with some hot babes holding fish

 

Conversation is starting to turn....Ernie, we need the forum to grow...but only with more hot babes that fish. Please work your magic!

 

I am trying to turn it off Sat to Tues, no offence to CFF but there are many better things to do.

 

^^^^^^ Nailed it.^^^^^^

 

Could we get this thread back on the right track please. If you guys would like to continue this social media talk please start a new thread for it.

 

I also do more lurking than posting and need to work on that. That being said I have met many on the board and really appreciate reading the comments..

Great board Ernie and it sounds like you have some tough decisions ahead of you. hopefully I can stick around and contribute more.

Cheers

 

For me, I love this forum. I know to this point that I haven't contributed a whole lot but since I have joined I have really enjoyed reading and learing from what others are willing to share. So far this winter I've been super busy with school and haven't spent nearly as much time as I would like on the ice so far. That's going to change soon and I intend on writing reports following my more successful trips. Since a lot of people above are giving a bit of personal information and I think it will maybe help to give this place a bit more of a community feel when discussing topics with each other, here is a bit about me. I am a 21 year old student at the university of Manitoba and I chose my username as my last name and first initial because that's the user name that you're assigned for all university accounts and I like to keep all of my usernames and passwords the same so I can keep track lol. As far as my fishing background, I am relatively new to being as passionate about fishing as I am right now. Nobody in my family was super into fishing growing up so for the most part the only fishing I ever did before the last five years would be casting spoons for hammerhandle pike at my grandparents cabin on a small river. This changed when I bought my kayak. I explored many new bodies of water and taught myself a lot about fishing for not only pike but walleye, bass, panfish and catfish. Most of the stuff I now know about fishing I learned from watching youtube videos and visiting various forums. Last summer I think I really upped my game by purchasing a 16' aluminum boat and outboard and now I don't waste three quarters of my trips paddling to different spots. I obviously still have so much more to learn and that is why I love this forum so much. Honestly, since joining a couple months ago, I have learned so much for both open and hard water and I am so excited to try some of the new open water tactics/ideas that have been shared on here once the season rolls around.

Now on to the main concern of this thread. I agree with the suggestions above that it's not necessarily a bad thing for more people to be joining, it's just important that the members are the right kind of fisherman who have respect for the resource, are willing to put in time/effort to find their own fishing spots instead of demanding/expecting that this will be given to them and those who genuinley love to fish. As others have mentioned, it would be quite easy to weed out the real hardcore googans with a simple quiz/survey containing questions about regulations/limits, however it would be a lot harder to detect the clowns who know all the rules and enough about fishing and yet are only concerned about filling their freezers. Usually they have no respect for fellow fisherman or the resource. The thing with this forum is that except for the most well known community spots, most of the time 'hotspots' aren't disclosed. This is a good thing imo. Most of the talk on the forum is about techniques, equipment, fish movement, technical skills which then must be applied to a given water body. Most of these guys won't be interested in this since it requires work. I think this may deter some of these guys. In terms of too many lurkers, I don't think it's a huge deal. I'm sure a lot of them just love reading about and thinking about fishing and aren't necessarily just lurking to try to find the next hotspot to fill their freezer at. I know that's the case for me as well as watching way too many YouTube fishing videos.

 

Excellent post!!!

 

I don't know if this is way off, but here it goes, everyone thinks the forum is great right now the way it is, it's a wealth of information currently. We have a great make up of members here right now. New to the sport, and very seasoned in the sport, and everything in between. Great questions with great answers, good discussions on all fishing related topics. So could it not just stay the way it is? Why does the forum need more members ? Obviously if some of the names you mention in the op want to join, then the choice is clear. But what would be wrong with keeping things as they are, then down the road if you want it to grow again, open it back up? Just my two cents! My knowledge in the forum world is limited. I was only a member of mmf a short time before it crashed, so this is my first time being part of a living breathing working forum

 

I like the idea of an invite only but I have a sneaking suspicion that it's to late for that. I'm not sure what can be done to help keep the dumb dumbs from making there way over here.

 

In the morning to all the boots on the ground, fish in the water, lures flying through the air, and all the Master Anglers out there.

Well, seems like there is now a notice at log-in pretty much implying we NEED to post on this thread. I was going to just stay out of this one and maintain my active membership by posting in other threads. So, here goes with some not so original thoughts...

For our own reasons, some of us would like to remain semi-anonymous, and it sometimes has nothing to do with being a "troll". Some who know us and our online handles can respect that, and respect our privacy. Those who don't know use personally will get to know us by our posts... and hopefully we'll meet on the water. I see some guys at times will "out" someone who does not register in their name, and does not sign off with their name. Then some Internet cowboy responds to the guy's post with at "great job John!" If John wanted his name on stuff he would put it his name right there for everybody to see. The privacy aspect is one very good reason some of us do not post very much, and thereby look like a "lurker".

Regarding a possible "invite-only" membership arrangement, I'm not for that. I don't know many of you guys, and I would consider myself an avid fisherman for the last 3 years or so. If I waited for one of you dudes in the "in crowd" to invite me to be a member, I would probably be on the outside looking in for a long time. I hope to meet lots of you fine folks in the future, but I don't know you now.

That being said, as a prior post indicated, perhaps a "probationary" type period for new users, and monitoring the nature of their posts would be a way to go. Not sure how one would determine who is, and at what point in time, someone becomes an "acceptable" member, and one of the fold, but that's the subjective aspect of all this. So far, so good... [Wait to go Ernie. I ran a BBS about 25 years ago before the Internet was a thing, so I know the work you're putting in. I'd be happy to take you out fishing one day as my 'thank you'.]

As far as sharing tips and knowledge, I really don't know very much about fishing, fish biology, ecosystems, baitfish explosions and die-offs, what commercial fishermen are complaining about or throwing on the ice to waste, who litters too much, who picks it up (yeah, I pick up other people's garbage too), how I got skunked again, how I slaughtered them one day out of 10, etc. So I tend not to spew off at the keyboard trying to pretend that I know more than I really do. Most of what I do know, I've learned by reading books, reading lots of articles on the Internet, watching online videos, DVD's, etc. I think it's a little weird if I turn around and post all that knowledge in a post on here, for example, making out like I'm some kind of expert when I am not. As a result, I don't post much, and would therefore fall more into the "lurker" category. I'm watching and learning. That's me. I'm more of a wall flower in real life, and I'm the same online.

I'm not alone in the lurker department, and I'm sure there's a lot of "new" fishermen (and women), and young folks just discovering this addiction, that also feel they don't have much to post yet. This will reduce my number of posts per month, but I'll pipe up when I actually feel like I can add something useful for the crowd. Maybe I have too strong of a filter, and should just open up and spill my guts and let you guys sort out what's crap and what's not. Again, that's not me. I know I'm not a bigmouth and not an expert. So, I'll sit in the peanut gallery and pipe up once in a while. I'll try to work on the quality, rather than quantity side of the equation.

I don't want to be internet/Facebook famous. I don't want to be pro-staff something or other. I won't be posting bikini pictures on the Internet. I don't fill my freezer, but take home about 10 fish per year, and they return to the water as bait. I don't need folks on here thinking I'm an expert at this thing to validate myself in any way. I just want to go fishing with some good folks, catch a few fun fish, enjoy the beauty of nature we have around us in my way, and sit around afterwards lying about the big ones that got away. Kinda like the rest of you I suppose.

Rant and gut-spilling over. Gonna go tie some flies and sort out a bunch of new lures I had no reason buying... but really hoping to get out there and punch some fish in the mouth... (Sorry about that last bit... I don't actually punch fish in the mouth, but there's probably 2 people who smiled at my podcast reference there. To those two... thanks for your courage!)

 

i dont always have time to go fishing but enjoy reading about others trips.

 

I would fall into this category big time in the winter, I suppose during the winter months I would be classed as a lurker, in the summer I will gadly share my outings even though they may not appeal to the masses as I often just sit on a bank chasing carp but I will be less of a lurker in the summer months.

As for the invite only type of forum I have no real firm side that I would take. I used to really like the old TFL site and this one also has that close community feel. Though I have not met many members personally I do feel that I know who many are and vice versa and thats pretty cool.
Lockport 1850 makes a good point about being on the outside waiting to get in though, I was fortunate enough to have stumbled into this from word of mouth but it may not have been that way and though I may not get out on the water as much as some others I bet my addiction to fishing is equally as strong maybe even worse as I need to work 2 jobs , one to live and one to buy fishing gear (which doesnt get used enough)

One of Mike's comments also was a good point and keeping it closed would make this matter ring true as well, as mentioned about sharing tips more freely on this type of forum and not having to worry as much I would have to agree and it certainly would be nice to keep it a tighter community than other forums have ended up.

It is pretty cool to see the likes of Mike, Craig, Ben and others sharing stories, been a while. Wheres Brownie, and topcat

Anyways, fun on here so far Ernie so I'm sure whatever direction is chosen it will still be a treat to log on and see whats biting.

I wish I could answer the topic at hand better but I do agree that the hardcore lurkers (members for years with one post type thing) do not need to be here.

I was a member of a torrent site that recently parked my account due to inactivity, in parked mode I cant really see much other than the home page, maybe something like that would work

 

Oh ya almost forgot, hot babes with fish......... mmmmmmmm. The UK has some hot carp anglers

 

this please Ernie. if this thread is a vote, this is my vote and take a waiting list like the Jets to replace anyone you drop out the back end.

 

Invite only? Really? No offense but it's a fishing forum. Some people choose to be active while others do not, same as Facebook or instagram etc and those are a tiny bit successful..
If people aren't actively contributing by posting what does that hurt? It adds membership numbers which attracts sponsors or advertisers if that's an options and pros would want their message heard by say 1000 people versus 1 person . Lets not take fishing and these forums too seriously.

 

Invite only works for me.
Btw Ernie your doing a great job

 

Like others have said the invitation only method could be a good thing to keep the numbers of member down but I don't know anybody that could invite me.
A "referred by" space in the application form could help you make decision of who to accept or not.
I do not contribute a lot for different reasons,
I am not a very experienced angler
Have a 2 year old daughter that is keeping me busy on the weekend

One thing is I sure like reading about fishing.

What ever direction you decide to go, good luck and I will try my best to be more active.

 

Wow.
There sure are a lot of differing opinions on what should be done. Amazing. People have different opinions!
It's your forum to do with as you please, but that's all this is - a website. Fantasy world.
Sometimes a lurker is just someone who likes to read, and keeps his mouth shut on things he or she is not an "expert" about. This is a big difference between a member who is here for info for the freezer filling vs the member who keeps quiet knowing his drivel won't add anything that hasn't already been said in "x" thread.

That would include me.