# Wow New Site



## mamatriad

Hey thanks for the link, that site is FANTASTIC!!


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## Gatekeeper

So let me get this straight, they can read your "private messages"? That should be *bolded *so people know that.



> As owner/moderators, we have access to transcripts of all communications on the site. if you do not want us to read it......you probably shouldn't write it.


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## redman88

gmccreedy said:


> So let me get this straight, they can read your "private messages"? That should be *bolded *so people know that.


i am sure they can do that here as well


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## Gatekeeper

redman88 said:


> i am sure they can do that here as well


I can assure you that the moderation staff DOES NOT have access and I highly doubt that Kyle would really have access as well, nor would I think he would even want to.


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## redman88

never said that i thought that they did just that i am sure they could


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## chaznsc

n-seine said:


> new site has opened up just a couple days ago.. It has a lot of features and Is really HOT looking... forums, chat, personal pages, maps, games, etc.. auctions will be loaded and operational in a week or so... check it out
> 
> http://www..com


Hot looking? Are you kidding? You must be a mod or an investor there.



> Temporary removal from the site will not be public. No one will know unless the person that was removed tells.


How would one removed tell?




> However, if we permanently remove a member, their profile will contain full disclosure as to why they were removed. If we get forced to play judge and jury....rest assured.....we will publicly explain our ruling.


Gestopo Nation! 

And is that someone fishing on the main page? Looks like a fishing line in a pool of water to me!


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## Gatekeeper

Going to parse it and provide a link from here to that thread. Seems to have some similar discussion since it is regarding the aforementioned sites ability to read PM's and such.

Working on it now.

_*You can find further discussion regarding the Vbulletin Programing discussion here*_


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## fshfanatic

GMC, that would be great. Separate the two.

Just don't read my PM's!


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## Gatekeeper

LMAO. Your all set... see link in my last post.


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## Wö£fëñxXx

The site looks very adolescent, may be a decent place for kids to get
some experience, not sure if it would be the right experience, but
experience no less.

Come on guys, a place filled with hyperactive puberty, if they want to
peep on PM's good luck with that, can you imagine having to sift through
that drivel? :hihi:


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## fshfanatic

Wolf I was thinking the same thing, very adolescent. Reading the "Terms of Service" was quit painful. I thought it was funny they they defined "visitor" and "member" and think that their TOS can actually be binding to a person that doesnt have an account.


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## aquaticmaniac

Meh, it looks alright, but pretty generic.

And that bug fly thing in fshfanatic's signature confused me for a long time.


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## rich815

aquaticmaniac said:


> Meh, it looks alright, but pretty generic.
> 
> And that bug fly thing in fshfanatic's signature confused me for a long time.


^^^ Yeah, my feelings as well. Seems like another site promising to be all things to all people though. Which never seems to work. Or the site become clique-ish and a small contigent kind of takes over in a bad-boy kind of way and if you're not part of the intelligensia you're kind of ignored. 

It's one thing to put up a web tool that CAN work a community. It's quite another to enable/build a good community, like here.


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## Sounguru

Wow the front page looks like a collage my kids would make cluttered, unorganized, and way to chaotic for me to even want to see what else there maybe on the site. 

Remember first impressions are the most important and in this site fails that.

Clean it up and adrress the other issues and it might fly.


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## fshfanatic

Looks like they made a slight change to the front page. Now it is almost impossible to read the center part of the portal with the light text and image background..


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## Guest

aquaticmaniac said:


> And that bug fly thing in fshfanatic's signature confused me for a long time.


lmfao it just got me last night as well when I was looking at the thread. I thought I had a damn bug on my screen.


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## Sounguru

Get rid of the image and the red background distracting and does nothing for the site.


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## aquaticmaniac

As the OP seems to be the owner of the site, I don't wanna be too harsh  It could do with some visual appeal though. The new background isn't that bad, but not the best quality pic either.

Some other suggestions I have...
TOS page - a better background pic is needed. Your images say a lot about what you have to offer.

Forum Cats- As much as it's said, no one really _does_ like to be called a newby.

Grammar/syntax- If you want to be taken seriously, that may not be the purpose of your site, then you should probably use better grammar, wording, punctuation, and capitalization.

I'd also like to suggest www.chatango.com for a slightly better chat, IMO.

No harm meant by anything, just my ideas on your forum


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## Guest

aquaticmaniac said:


> As the OP seems to be the owner of the site, I don't wanna be too harsh  It could do with some visual appeal though. The new background isn't that bad, but not the best quality pic either.


Its better to be harsh and speak what you feel then hide your feelings and have them think its great when its really not.



aquaticmaniac said:


> Some other suggestions I have...
> TOS page - a better background pic is needed. Your images say a lot about what you have to offer.


I would have to say they have nothing to do with it. Quality content is the key not images.



IMO I would have to say the site dont look right at all. I am on a widescreen lcd and it looks flat out terrible.

When you click on a topic you cant read it everything is pushed to the right side. The background images have to go as well.

IMO once again the only thing that looks ok from my stand point is the navigaton bar on the left side.


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## aquaticmaniac

Definitely agree on content, but most everyone pointed out the wording and other problems


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## Guest

Yeah I am not sure if its cause im widescreen or not that it looks so bad. I just looked at it from both IE and Firefox wow big time difference. I can read post on IE on firefox I cant see them.


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## fshfanatic

I am on an Ultrasharp HD Widesrceen and yes, looks horrible here as well.. IE is more forgiving when it comes down to coding errors. 


The designer definitely needs to run a spell check. In the forum descriptions I noticed quite a few misspelled words.. IMO the color scheme is way to dark. But that is just personal opinion. When I maximize my browser, the entire site shifts to the left side and is not centered. This would be a coding issue. 

I would also suggest losing the "cartoony" clipart. Might be appealing to the younger crowd, but to me looks unprofessional. If you want to be taken seriously you need to make the site look professional. 

As for the TOS page. Break up the Paragraphs with a line brake and lose the indents and sub-indents..

If it were my site I would type it up in a word processor and run spell and grammar checks then copy it into whatever it is you are using as your CMS (Content Management System). It will look better. 

Please dont take this as an attack on you or your site. I am just trying to help you out.


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## sick lid

fshfanatic said:


> The designer definitely needs to run a spell check. In the forum descriptions I noticed quite a few misspelled words..
> 
> As for the TOS page. Break up the Paragraphs with a line brake and lose the indents and sub-indents..
> 
> Please dont take this as an attack on you or your site. I am just trying to help you out.


*snicker*:icon_wink


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## Gatekeeper

Lets give it its fair chance folks and let this forum launch unscathed on our behalf. If you don't like it, that is fine, but lets not bash all the faults. Some new forums (and even old) all have flaws and bumps along the way. Let the admins do their thing and give them a chance to make right on the product they have created. If their members do not find appeal to some things, I am sure they will adjust accordingly and improve.

Some people from this forum may like it and find it appealing to their needs. We should not be one to judge what others may find a home.


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## Lnb

gmccreedy said:


> Lets give it its fair chance folks and let this forum launch unscathed on our behalf. If you don't like it, that is fine, but lets not bash all the faults. Some new forums (and even old) all have flaws and bumps along the way. Let the admins do their thing and give them a chance to make right on the product they have created. If their members do not find appeal to some things, I am sure they will adjust accordingly and improve.
> 
> Some people from this forum may like it and find it appealing to their needs. We should not be one to judge what others may find a home.


Glenn is right! 

How does that saying go? *"There's a seat for every a**" *

Sorry, I just couldn't resist. :flick:


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## fshfanatic

gmccreedy said:


> Lets give it its fair chance folks and let this forum launch unscathed on our behalf. If you don't like it, that is fine, but lets not bash all the faults. Some new forums (and even old) all have flaws and bumps along the way. Let the admins do their thing and give them a chance to make right on the product they have created. If their members do not find appeal to some things, I am sure they will adjust accordingly and improve.
> 
> Some people from this forum may like it and find it appealing to their needs. We should not be one to judge what others may find a home.


Sorry, I was just trying to be helpful.


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## spiralin

Some people from this forum may like it and find it appealing to their needs. We should not be one to judge what others may find a home. 

LOL ~ I agree 

(ps) I am Not a member .... LMAO~


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## Guest

gmccreedy said:


> Lets give it its fair chance folks and let this forum launch unscathed on our behalf. If you don't like it, that is fine, but lets not bash all the faults. Some new forums (and even old) all have flaws and bumps along the way. Let the admins do their thing and give them a chance to make right on the product they have created. If their members do not find appeal to some things, I am sure they will adjust accordingly and improve.
> 
> Some people from this forum may like it and find it appealing to their needs. We should not be one to judge what others may find a home.



I dont think any of the comments were ment to bash them or there site but more so to help them in setting it up and let them know what is wrong. You never know someday it could be a good site but as of right now its one I cant read cause I cant see a single post.


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## mamatriad

Well, I am going to go ahead and jump in here. I was one of the first members of aquariumnation.com (the 3rd actually) and I have been right there with the creators since its inception. This is a very very new site, 10 days open to be exact. The guy coding the site just learned to do it in the last 2 months, so I think it looks pretty damn good. There are quirks, patches to be made, GRAMMAR to be sure, but show me a brand new site that is perfect from the get-go. I think your criticism is harsh and inconsiderate. Why not help a FELLOW MEMBER of this site and offer CONSTRUCTIVE critcism rather than rude and unhelpful comments. 

*The idea to create AquariumNation actually came from some of the mistakes that we saw occurring on other sites. *​This statement on the front page says alot. Ken and Russ, the owners, would NEVER bash another site like I have seen in this thread. Nor would they sit idly by and watch their members do the same thing. ​If you have a HELPFUL hint or suggestion to make aquarium nation a better site, email me, please. I would love to get it incorporated. Otherwise, lets have some manners and consideration people. ​


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## mamatriad

fshfanatic said:


> The designer definitely needs to run a spell check. In the forum descriptions I noticed quite a few misspelled words..
> 
> As for the TOS page. Break up the Paragraphs with a *line brake* and lose the indents and sub-indents..
> 
> If it were my site I would type it up in a word processor and run spell and grammar checks then copy it into whatever it is you are using as your CMS (Content Management System). It will look better.


Those who live in glass houses..........


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## n-seine

Hey guys I appreciate all of the comments.. I would ask that the old timers here harken back to the first couple weeks of TPT and maybe temper some folks a bit.. I am sorry some people do not like some things.. and yes I will agree there are some definite bugs to work out... yes and some "gramatical "errors... When you stop and and know a little bit more-- I am a college graduate with several degrees and I am quite adept at the english language. However I feel far more at home when I am being my most hospitable southern self.. so Y'all does come out at times.. Sorry 'bout that. 

the clip-art and coding.. ok.. I don't have enough money top pay someone to do something I thought needed to be done... I work hard everyday building my own fish room, my own stands, etc.. So Gee guess i should have done nothing and wondered when some Big Rich folk were gonna do What I thought needed to be done.. As my personal expertise increases it will get more perfect.. but I would challenge most of you downing my coding ability to start from scratch and get there without a few coding problems..

I am not upset I am mildly insulted by the actual lack of empathy that has been displayed.. Yes Private messages can be read... With my experience that is important... Read for some comprehension rather than assumption, Please.. " They can be read".. does not in any way mean they will be read... And as the only administrator that knows how to do such a thing allow me to reassure all of y'all the only time they would be read is when there is a dispute and it is needed to find the culprit of the dispute.. and trust me.. They can do it at any site you go to.. They just were smarter than me--- They didn't tell you that they could.. not sure yet how that makes 'em better but I will continue to think on that... and you might want to give me a long time to think as I am southern and I am running close to 200 tanks at the same time . LOL...

sorry I have to do it-- fishfanatic said "Break up the Paragraphs with a line brake and lose the indents and sub-indents.." spell check is not a magic wizard.. reading back for content might help some too-- "brake" should be " break" I think!!!


OK... I am sorry if I seem upset but SOME of the comments were just Mean and without much thought and they bothered me... I have listened to much of it when said in a decent manner but the nasty comments have not gotten much serious attention.. Sorry...

It is a project in the work... I apologize to all of you that do not understand that There is a'lot to do when starting a new site and working with 200 or so tanks and a Job ta' boot .. ( do all of you [I like y'all better] hate Mark Twain too... ' cause he used a'lot of southern stuff with commas and apostophe as well???) 
I apologize if I seem to tightly wound, it is taking a toll to be coding all night, working tanks, and other animals, managing my restaurant and discussing this with folks that have no sense of politeness ... or cannot give *CONSTRUCTIVE* criticism without being scathing... I have a great deal to offer in the realms of hard data and emperical data , but a site is much more made by its members... there are some great fish folks on there now and more soon I am sure... so no pressure, join if you wish do not if you wish. I will not allow anyone to bash TPT for anything like has happened here... As it is not in the interest of community or sharing of knowledge.. But I have new knowledge now!!!! And, I will choose to keep it to myself to avoid any chance of being considered unpleasant to another site or " clique"

Ken


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## Guest

Good luck with your site. IMHO its a public forum weather you like there comments or not the bottom line is in the end it will help you build a better site.

If you cant code get dreamweaver or any other program to look over your code. The fact is they were trying to help you weather you like it or not. 

Personally I wouldnt ever make a site public that you cant use on all browsers. Take a look at your forum in firefox and tell me you dont have problems infact here ill post a screen shot you tell me what you think..


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## n-seine

and I checked out the forums and found 1 yes *1* mis-spelled word.. OMG that is horrible!!!!! Really , I should be so ashamed!! But now it is fixed... of course there are some phrases using " 'em" Such as -- If they give live birth then this is where to discuss 'em --- I like a more sitting around the living room feel than around microscopes with lab coats on all the time... ever done that??? I spent years with a lab coat on and even the lab coats like to sit around a living room and discuss things without the bright lights and smell of sterilizing agents...
I am using firefox as well and have not see that nor has anyone mentioned it to me... I will see what I can find out as to why that is happening.. very odd and has me a bit stumped at this second but I will figure it out...
I wish I could have about 6 computers each with every browser available and each with its own version of windows... I am using XP with firefox mostly but I am aslo testing with netscape, chrome, and IE have not had any real problems after first couple days... but I have one puter.. I have gotten a number of folks to test for me as that gives me access to a number of windows versions and browsers as well but apparently your combo did not get tested and I apologize... will start on the hunt to find problem you are having...




Ken


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## n-seine

what is your combo ( windows version and browser) Dementedminz... I have checked what I see with a number of folks and seems to be consistent .. a Not saying there is something you are doing that is wrong it would just help me to know where to start testing to figure out the problem... here are 2 screen shots from me.. ignore the backgrounds changes as that is the way it is set up there are 6 backgrounds that are somewhat randomized...

and on that thought.. I would love to use members pics in background with credits given of course... I am a halfway decent photographer-- LOL-- but my equipment, time and ability is somewhat limited...


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## Guest

Right now I am on windows 7 and its like that but on vista it looked the same. I am going to look at your code later if I have some free time and throw it in dreamweaver to see why its doing it. I think it could be im on a widescreen and you might have it hard coded for only a fixed width.

To be honest I wouldnt run a background image it only bloats the page loading times. You want to keep in mind no matter what you do there is still members out there on dialup and that causes them major lag.


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## n-seine

am in back woods Alabama here... trust me I know about dialup.. lol my phone lines are laying in the ditch beside the red clay road.. literally.. and up until a couple weeks ago I was on dial up as well.. dial up load time has been about 3.7 seconds... using a widescreen here too.. I am always willing to listen and always appreciate any help.. again I have learned all my coding in last 3 months... so I am not gonna act like I know it all... lol not by a long shot and thanks for any potential help you give...
Ken


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## fshfanatic

mamatriad said:


> Those who live in glass houses..........


Oh wow, I misspelled a work in a comment on a forum. HUGE difference.



mamatriad said:


> Well, I am going to go ahead and jump in here. I was one of the first members of aquariumnation.com (the 3rd actually) and I have been right there with the creators since its inception. This is a very very new site, 10 days open to be exact. The guy coding the site just learned to do it in the last 2 months, so I think it looks pretty damn good. There are quirks, patches to be made, GRAMMAR to be sure, but show me a brand new site that is perfect from the get-go. I think your criticism is harsh and inconsiderate. Why not help a FELLOW MEMBER of this site and offer CONSTRUCTIVE critcism rather than rude and unhelpful comments.
> 
> *The idea to create AquariumNation actually came from some of the mistakes that we saw occurring on other sites. *
> 
> This statement on the front page says alot. Ken and Russ, the owners, would NEVER bash another site like I have seen in this thread. Nor would they sit idly by and watch their members do the same thing.
> 
> If you have a HELPFUL hint or suggestion to make aquarium nation a better site, email me, please. I would love to get it incorporated. Otherwise, lets have some manners and consideration people. ​


I can only speak for myself when I say that none of the comments I made were done so in a hurtful manner. I was only TRYING to point out things that I thought should be changed IN ORDER TO IMPROVE the site as a whole. If you or the owners of said site took it that way I am sorry, that is not what I intended.


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## fshfanatic

n-seine said:


> sorry I have to do it-- fishfanatic said "Break up the Paragraphs with a line brake and lose the indents and sub-indents.." spell check is not a magic wizard.. reading back for content might help some too-- "brake" should be " break" I think!!!
> 
> Ken


I am sorry you took my posts as an attack on you and your site. They were meant to help you out. It is always nice to have extra eyes look at the work. I know when my site went live a long time ago, i missed many things and I would have never seen them had they not been pointed out to me. 

However, a member misspelling a word in a post is not the same thing as grammatical errors in the actual site. 

My main problem is I am very straight forward and sometimes my comments can be taken as an attack. I am sorry, I don't mean them to come across that way.


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## n-seine

I am frustrated and ohh so very tired.. lol.. I am not sure I follow your points completely... I have found the mis-spell error on forums and fixed... The grammatical problems I am not finding.. did I mis-conjugate a verb??? leave dangling participles??? I suspect I may have some dangling participles.. I want to make sure it is not the a'ints, y'alls and 'ems that has you up in arms... If you read the magazine-- where it needs to be clear and readable, you will find my use of the English language decent... Otherwise I would prefer to write as I talk which is as a very laid back easy going character... I am not taking myself wayy to seriously. I have a'lot of info.+ and if you choose to judge me by my southern calloquialisms you may be taking yourself a bit too seriously.. and honestly that was not meant nasty or snide... just honest... do not always judge folks by a fast first impression... I say fast cause if you peruse the site a bit longer you ( a general you not specific) would realize that there are multiple images that are randomized as backgrounds ... To say that the image on the is page is horrible is to look as if you spent 3 minutes then left... 3 minutes is not enough time to truly judge anything... a Critic should find something good to say as well and if there is nothing good to say then they should state that fact else they look like a high school student that wrote the book report on War and Peace by reading 20 pages then buying the cliff notes ( well maybe not a great analogy as there were no cliff notes acquired in this case)

Maybe my Southern sensibilities get the best of me... For that, I will apologize.
but if you read back and place your own site in place of AN you might see why I felt like some comments were rather harsh... I am listening... and I will be working to make improvements daily... but a word of encouragement might get a stronger point across at times... 

Finally I have figured out the comment about a dude fishing... that is a pic of Wild sailfin mollies in their natural habitat.. No fishing going on unless you include the dip net that is off camera at that moment... lol


Honestly and Sincerely

Ken


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## mmarnold

I too could only look at it about 3 mins!It is very busy and confusing.Does not seem at all to be user friendly.I must admitt I am also somewhat annoyed by the cheesy fake post touting his as a hot site.If it seemed more user friendly and self explanitory I may use it.Good luck working out the bugs.


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## fshfanatic

I can appreciate your frustration. Again, I am sorry if I came across rude. That was not my intention.

Too alleviate any future misunderstandings I will refrain from posting any more comments about your site and at this time wish you luck and success. 

Mike


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## n-seine

what a shame... I am trying to get info and now you wish to not speak.. but when it came to general lambasting it was a free for all... I will not post anymore either... my intention is not to be argumentative but if I am to take seriously I sometimes need more specificity.. be that as it may.. i am sorry it was more than you could stand for 3 minutes mmarnold... My heartfelt apologies... I will apologize to everyone for a number of things..

1) for not being great at as many things as I should be great at...

2) for thinking I would have anything to say that anyone might be interested in hearing or discussing with me

3) for what is called a cheesey post.. my apologies... wording was poor.. I think it has a decent look.. but apparently again what do I know??? not much!!!

and 4) for acting as though I had done anything worth being at all proud of... It is just a p-ss-poor site among a bunch of other sites .. I should have left well enough alone and let the BIG DOGS do it all... cause what could a little Man like me have to offer ???

My most sincere and heartfelt apologies to every one for wasting their time or hurting their eyes or both...

Ken


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## mmarnold

1) Simply work on the site and make it better.
2) lose the distracting background.
3) refuse to just take your ball and go home!


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## Guest

n-seine if you have any cash your best bet might be to go with vbulletin for a forum that out of the box is great and dont need much work. If you cant afford that try phpbb but expect to do alot of updates and patches cause its free and you get what you pay for.

I ran phpnuke, phpbb and vbulletin as well as many others and there is only one I will go back to and thats vbulletin.


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## Guest

mmarnold said:


> 1) Simply work on the site and make it better.
> 2) lose the distracting background.
> 3) refuse to just take your ball and go home!


Have to give you two :thumbsup::thumbsup:. If you are happy doing it then stick with it. But if you dont have that much free time then use something that is easier for you instead of pissing you off when going to work on it or look at it.


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## mamatriad

fshfanatic said:


> Oh wow, I misspelled a work in a comment on a forum. HUGE difference.
> 
> I can only speak for myself when I say that none of the comments I made were done so in a hurtful manner. I was only TRYING to point out things that I thought should be changed IN ORDER TO IMPROVE the site as a whole. If you or the owners of said site took it that way I am sorry, that is not what I intended.


It is not a HUGE difference, you misspelled one word, he misspelled one word, which happened to be Cambomba, which MOST spell checks wouldn't catch anyway. Nitpicky.....

The reason I, and many others in private messages sent to me, thought the general direction of the majority of this thread was rude and condesending is that NOT ONE person posting had anything nice to say. If you (generally speaking) are going to be picking someone's work apart, try offsetting it with something that was done right. You catch more flies with honey.....



mmarnold said:


> I too could only look at it about 3 mins!It is very busy and confusing.Does not seem at all to be user friendly.I must admitt I am also somewhat annoyed by the cheesy fake post touting his as a hot site.If it seemed more user friendly and self explanitory I may use it.Good luck working out the bugs.


Where was the cheesy fake post?? Nowhere in the OP do I see him claiming to be anyone or anything that he isn't?? He signed the OP with his name and it is perfectly clear on the front page of aquariumnation that he is the owner of the site. As for your 3 minutes, how can you possibly form an opinion on an entire sites user friendliness in 3 minutes?? Did you browse the forums? Read the Magazine? Check out the chatroom? See the personal galleries? The arcade? Honestly, I am glad that the members of aquariumnation understand that it is a very VERY young site and that ALL constructive comments are taken into consideration and usually implemented. By all means, when the site is up to your standards, we will still welcome you as a member. 

Tina 
PROUD member of AquariumNation


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## Gatekeeper

First and foremost... I can vouch for all the content shown here from our members that the intent was not malicious. I deleted anything "questionable". 

If you still have issues with any of the above PM me.

Second. I applaud your intent for launching a new site! However, this discussion should be continued on YOUR site. Defending your site here is not doing you any good.

If you still have issues with any of the above PM me.

Third. This thread is now closed. 

If you still have issues with any of the above PM me.

And last. I stand behind all the members here and assure you that their intent is a good one. If you don't like it, I can't stop that.

If you still have issues with any of the above PM me.

Good luck with your site.


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