(Sorry for the novel, like Ghosty I type fast and apparently have a bit to say before exiting stage right)
First of all I would like to thank all those who made this MASC experience a great one for a good amount of time. I have made some friends who I will keep in touch with and you probably know who you are!
Second of all, I am absolutely astounded by what has transpired over the past few days apparently culminating in today’s drama. Sadly, I was out in a full on blizzard from 7am til late, negotiating a homicide suspect out of an apartment. If that wasn’t physically and emotionally taxing enough, I come home after one of the longest days ever to this. THIS was my breaking point. I don’t have time for piddly high-school drama in a hobby any longer when all I deal with is drama, every day.
As many of you know, I created a feedback thread in a “FEEDBACK FORUM” last week. Thinking I was actually doing the people I respect in this community a service after being grossly wronged by a vendor. I was quickly contacted by the Vice President of the club, outside of the forum after posting. I was told what I had done was tasteless and tacky over me simply “disagreeing” with the vendor. (which was NOT just a disagreement) It was then added that because MASC is putting a show on in June requiring sponsorship from the outside that it looked bad like we were drama queens. Then was finished off with him telling me he had nothing but great experiences with this vendor. Hmmm
I was completely shocked and taken off-guard by this. First, because I believed this person to be a friend of mine in the community. Secondly, because of the position he holds, it was completely out of line.
I apologized for my “conspiracy” theory when things were brought up with the issues in the feedback thread. I believed things had been “edited/sterilized” from what they originally were. (I added an “edit” to my post…but did NOT delete the original verbiage as I have nothing to hide when I make a mistake) Why would I even consider the conspiracy? Simple really, I knew first hand that the vendor’s thread had been edited by the VP because of things brought up about my career, in hindsight actually further making the vendor look ridiculous. I had always attempted to keep my career on the low between people I trusted. Oh well, it’s out now. I initially told the VP to do something about what was said regarding my employment. TWO minutes later, I retracted that saying to disregard my request because I didn’t believe that was the right thing to do. It was edited regardless, and it should be noted that at the bottom of the post nothing signifies that it had been, which it always does when edited with a timestamp. That started me down the road wondering how something gets edited but doesn’t show that it’s been altered.
On to today’s happenings. The same VP contacted me outside the forum and told me he “sure hoped it wasn’t my ad” regarding a Craigslist ad he found. Then I find on the forum when I finally got home that things blew up regarding this. And again, I was COMPLETELY astounded by the verbiage and behavior of the VP, when considering his position in the community. If it was a member who simply had an opinion, whatever, but not from the VP of the club!!
The final “kicker” to this for me is how after an apology was made, the original verbiage which was ridiculous, was edited/deleted out of the posts. THEN it was deleted using the same moderator’s “power” from another persons post (kmellon) and someone else’s post was also edited. These edits were made by the very person who made the poorly spoken statements. I sure wish I had the power to go into other peoples posts who quoted something I shouldn’t have said, to edit them!!! As for calling me a scammer and whatever else was said (in the now deleted post), the VP knows that my reputation here has been solid since day one. There isn’t a single person from this community that would put me anywhere in the league of a scammer.
SO, lets put this to bed…hell I’m leaving anyhow and this shows me why. YES, the Craigslist ad is mine.
I WON an item in a raffle. I NEVER expected to win the item and threw in $40 toward it. I specifically asked Adam before I bought the raffle tickets from him if the money went directly to the club and he told me it did. The way I look at raffles is as a way of paying mine and Selina’s membership “dues”. Though I’ve always made enough meetings to stay a member I also like to contribute. Winning the tank would’ve just been icing on the cake but I did not expect to win.
We already have the exact same tank setup in the house and love it. I am breaking down my big tank as most know and truly believed I was going to set this up as a dedicated anemone nano if, in the off chance we won it. However, all of my sunbursts fit into a 29g I had recently purchased and the remaining nems went into my other nanos.
There is ABSOLUTELY no reason whatsoever that I should be explaining myself or should have to…but I am willing out of the respect for those who took issue with this. I am all about transparency anyhow. I already had the tank up for “trade” on here and nobody seemed to have an issue with that? At least that they spoke up about. So how is this for transparency….I already had decided to start downsizing and I’m going to be selling one of our other nanos as well. This whole ordeal over the last week just set me down the road of nearly getting out of the hobby altogether. However, out of respect for my better half and her enjoyment of the nanos, I was keeping two out of four we have set up. I decided just the other day that I would use the money from the Nuvo to buy the dimmable LED to go on our current Nuvo as an upgrade to what we are keeping. Is that wrong?
I am still at a loss even philosophically, barring all the other circumstances I mentioned, that it is somehow “wrong” to sell this tank?? So if you play a game of chance and win something with other peoples risk involved, they somehow have a say in how you handle your winnings?? I hope nobody that disagrees with this goes to casinos or plays lotto!
Honestly blows my mind. Aquamart (Dave) is my favorite sponsor/LFS and I think I’ve made that clear on the forum and by word of mouth. If I thought for a second that somehow this would be disrespectful toward Dave I would not do it. It was a donation that raised a good amount of money for the club, which is/was the purpose (I thought). I had PLANNED on setting this up, but plans change. Do they never change for any of you who disagree with this? Is there a specific span of time I had to use or set the tank up for before I would ever be able to sell it? This is absurd. HOWEVER, if Dave would be in the least bit offended by this, I’ll freely give the tank back to him or whatever he wants. This just isn’t worth all this non-sense and has already been the straw that broke my back.
So again, for all those who have made this an enjoyable experience I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Please keep in touch. I’ll be on infrequently for a bit longer just to keep up with prior commitments and such. To those BOD members who I consider friends even outside the community, know that I support you guys and thank you for your friendship as well. I’ll keep in touch.
First of all I would like to thank all those who made this MASC experience a great one for a good amount of time. I have made some friends who I will keep in touch with and you probably know who you are!
Second of all, I am absolutely astounded by what has transpired over the past few days apparently culminating in today’s drama. Sadly, I was out in a full on blizzard from 7am til late, negotiating a homicide suspect out of an apartment. If that wasn’t physically and emotionally taxing enough, I come home after one of the longest days ever to this. THIS was my breaking point. I don’t have time for piddly high-school drama in a hobby any longer when all I deal with is drama, every day.
As many of you know, I created a feedback thread in a “FEEDBACK FORUM” last week. Thinking I was actually doing the people I respect in this community a service after being grossly wronged by a vendor. I was quickly contacted by the Vice President of the club, outside of the forum after posting. I was told what I had done was tasteless and tacky over me simply “disagreeing” with the vendor. (which was NOT just a disagreement) It was then added that because MASC is putting a show on in June requiring sponsorship from the outside that it looked bad like we were drama queens. Then was finished off with him telling me he had nothing but great experiences with this vendor. Hmmm
I was completely shocked and taken off-guard by this. First, because I believed this person to be a friend of mine in the community. Secondly, because of the position he holds, it was completely out of line.
I apologized for my “conspiracy” theory when things were brought up with the issues in the feedback thread. I believed things had been “edited/sterilized” from what they originally were. (I added an “edit” to my post…but did NOT delete the original verbiage as I have nothing to hide when I make a mistake) Why would I even consider the conspiracy? Simple really, I knew first hand that the vendor’s thread had been edited by the VP because of things brought up about my career, in hindsight actually further making the vendor look ridiculous. I had always attempted to keep my career on the low between people I trusted. Oh well, it’s out now. I initially told the VP to do something about what was said regarding my employment. TWO minutes later, I retracted that saying to disregard my request because I didn’t believe that was the right thing to do. It was edited regardless, and it should be noted that at the bottom of the post nothing signifies that it had been, which it always does when edited with a timestamp. That started me down the road wondering how something gets edited but doesn’t show that it’s been altered.
On to today’s happenings. The same VP contacted me outside the forum and told me he “sure hoped it wasn’t my ad” regarding a Craigslist ad he found. Then I find on the forum when I finally got home that things blew up regarding this. And again, I was COMPLETELY astounded by the verbiage and behavior of the VP, when considering his position in the community. If it was a member who simply had an opinion, whatever, but not from the VP of the club!!
The final “kicker” to this for me is how after an apology was made, the original verbiage which was ridiculous, was edited/deleted out of the posts. THEN it was deleted using the same moderator’s “power” from another persons post (kmellon) and someone else’s post was also edited. These edits were made by the very person who made the poorly spoken statements. I sure wish I had the power to go into other peoples posts who quoted something I shouldn’t have said, to edit them!!! As for calling me a scammer and whatever else was said (in the now deleted post), the VP knows that my reputation here has been solid since day one. There isn’t a single person from this community that would put me anywhere in the league of a scammer.
SO, lets put this to bed…hell I’m leaving anyhow and this shows me why. YES, the Craigslist ad is mine.
I WON an item in a raffle. I NEVER expected to win the item and threw in $40 toward it. I specifically asked Adam before I bought the raffle tickets from him if the money went directly to the club and he told me it did. The way I look at raffles is as a way of paying mine and Selina’s membership “dues”. Though I’ve always made enough meetings to stay a member I also like to contribute. Winning the tank would’ve just been icing on the cake but I did not expect to win.
We already have the exact same tank setup in the house and love it. I am breaking down my big tank as most know and truly believed I was going to set this up as a dedicated anemone nano if, in the off chance we won it. However, all of my sunbursts fit into a 29g I had recently purchased and the remaining nems went into my other nanos.
There is ABSOLUTELY no reason whatsoever that I should be explaining myself or should have to…but I am willing out of the respect for those who took issue with this. I am all about transparency anyhow. I already had the tank up for “trade” on here and nobody seemed to have an issue with that? At least that they spoke up about. So how is this for transparency….I already had decided to start downsizing and I’m going to be selling one of our other nanos as well. This whole ordeal over the last week just set me down the road of nearly getting out of the hobby altogether. However, out of respect for my better half and her enjoyment of the nanos, I was keeping two out of four we have set up. I decided just the other day that I would use the money from the Nuvo to buy the dimmable LED to go on our current Nuvo as an upgrade to what we are keeping. Is that wrong?
I am still at a loss even philosophically, barring all the other circumstances I mentioned, that it is somehow “wrong” to sell this tank?? So if you play a game of chance and win something with other peoples risk involved, they somehow have a say in how you handle your winnings?? I hope nobody that disagrees with this goes to casinos or plays lotto!
Honestly blows my mind. Aquamart (Dave) is my favorite sponsor/LFS and I think I’ve made that clear on the forum and by word of mouth. If I thought for a second that somehow this would be disrespectful toward Dave I would not do it. It was a donation that raised a good amount of money for the club, which is/was the purpose (I thought). I had PLANNED on setting this up, but plans change. Do they never change for any of you who disagree with this? Is there a specific span of time I had to use or set the tank up for before I would ever be able to sell it? This is absurd. HOWEVER, if Dave would be in the least bit offended by this, I’ll freely give the tank back to him or whatever he wants. This just isn’t worth all this non-sense and has already been the straw that broke my back.
So again, for all those who have made this an enjoyable experience I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Please keep in touch. I’ll be on infrequently for a bit longer just to keep up with prior commitments and such. To those BOD members who I consider friends even outside the community, know that I support you guys and thank you for your friendship as well. I’ll keep in touch.
