goldfish population

[Waterbug]

To be honest, I really like your posts but sometimes I think they're too technical, deep or long and need to be tailored to the recipient. Sarcasm aside, did you think that that was what a first time poster expected to hear?

Heck no!

First, I'm pretty sure they're going to get all the standard 10 word or less standard responses posted thousands of times over and over. "My pond is green"..."Add plants.". So if that's what they're looking for it's covered.

I've been in pond forums off and on for 20 years. Based on that experience, in this type of pond forum, about 50% of first time posters never even read any reply at all. 90% never post back. 99% post only because they don't want to be bothered to use Google. There was a post here once where the person asked someone to add up a couple of numbers because "they weren't near a calculator". That sounded silly but I later learned that people today post questions because they're using cell phones and reading Google results is difficult. So they ask other people to do the search for them, read the research and post the cliff notes. Taking self centered to new levels.

And these days I also assume many one time posts are made by bots. Bots are the future. Not saying bots are used here, but many forum owners use bots to post questions to make a forum more active, which generates more money. The easiest bot post is the one time thread starting post, and you never hear from them again because bots can barely carry on a conversation...but the expensive ones are getting better.

I just like to think about ponds so I basically talk to myself. Writing a post is a good way to compose my thoughts. Like a blog but I hate blog software.

Most people reading these forums never register or post. They're doing research and find my posts via Google. Those are the people I'm talking to. Some of them contact me via email and we have a nice discussion about their pond issues or design of a new pond. Most of these people are the type of people willing to do research, like details, like science, data, etc. They're serious about fixing a pond or building one using the best known techniques. It's a more interesting discussion for me, plus it sometimes leads to fees. Talking about ponds is fun, getting paid for it is gravy.

 

[VanDiesil]

I would much rather read a more technical post which explains why something should be done than a short post saying "no don't do it" etc.

I am the same when it comes to fishing tackle and carp angling baits. Get too technical for most people and they ask me to dumb it down a lot so they can understand it.

Luckily I can understand Waterbug's posts, but keeping & breeding tropical fish in the past helps!!!

 

[Waterbug]

One poster, here I think, got pretty mad and demanded I tell him (had to be a him) an answer in 25 words or less. Took him more than 25 words to make the demand.

A long, long time ago I tried to explain stuff to people who really didn't have the interest. It's pointless. So I don't any more, unless someone asks a question. But for people looking to dump a box of salt into their pond to "fix" something, I don't want really want to watch that train wreck unfold. 1,374 times was about my limit. There's really nothing that can be done to stop it, they're going to do it and a dozen other "fixes" people tell them to do.

 

[VanDiesil]

Keep up the technical and GOOD advice, Waterbug. I enjoy reading your posts as they get you actually thinking about the things you want to know.