severum mama
Aquarium Advice Addict
Recently, the site staff here at AA has been noticing an increase in posts that end up driving some of our members away from posting on the forum. Often, it is clear that the offending posts are meant as helpful advice, but because of the way they are worded, any helpful advice is overshadowed by negativity. We want AA to be a community where new and old members of all experience levels can feel welcome.
Disagreements are going to happen, and that’s just part of posting on a forum where members have diverse opinions on how to do things. It is perfectly acceptable to disagree with another member; however, it is important to take into consideration the “tone” of a post, and how it might be perceived by others. It can be difficult for others to infer tone from a post on a computer screen, so please bear this in mind as you are writing up your post. Sometimes a little explanation goes a long way toward avoiding conflict. For example:
“Your tank is totally overstocked and your fish are going to die”
Comes across quite harsh as opposed to something like
“I’d like to bring up some possible stocking and compatibility issues with your tank. Species X may be aggressive toward Species Y, and Species Z may eventually outgrow your tank… “ (go on to explain why you feel this way).
Here’s another one we see a lot. Someone joins the site and doesn’t know about cycling, and asks why their fish are dying. All too often, we see something like
“OMG it is horrible to cycle your tank with fish. Return your fish or you’re being cruel to them!”
The person gets attacked right off the bat, probably doesn’t want to come back to the site, and definitely does not feel welcome here. A much more diplomatic response would have been to offer an explanation of the cycling process, or point them to the articles section.
A final note: Sometimes we can’t help being frustrated by the choices that certain individuals might make- as a community of hobbyists who are passionate about aquaria, this is bound to happen. If you find yourself in that situation, it is best to just bow out of the thread. If you’re really aggravated, there is always the option for you to make use of your Ignore List via User CP. Our community rules are quite clear regarding acceptable posting standards. When in doubt, please review them HERE before hitting the Post Reply button.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post and review our Community Rules.
Disagreements are going to happen, and that’s just part of posting on a forum where members have diverse opinions on how to do things. It is perfectly acceptable to disagree with another member; however, it is important to take into consideration the “tone” of a post, and how it might be perceived by others. It can be difficult for others to infer tone from a post on a computer screen, so please bear this in mind as you are writing up your post. Sometimes a little explanation goes a long way toward avoiding conflict. For example:
“Your tank is totally overstocked and your fish are going to die”
Comes across quite harsh as opposed to something like
“I’d like to bring up some possible stocking and compatibility issues with your tank. Species X may be aggressive toward Species Y, and Species Z may eventually outgrow your tank… “ (go on to explain why you feel this way).
Here’s another one we see a lot. Someone joins the site and doesn’t know about cycling, and asks why their fish are dying. All too often, we see something like
“OMG it is horrible to cycle your tank with fish. Return your fish or you’re being cruel to them!”
The person gets attacked right off the bat, probably doesn’t want to come back to the site, and definitely does not feel welcome here. A much more diplomatic response would have been to offer an explanation of the cycling process, or point them to the articles section.
A final note: Sometimes we can’t help being frustrated by the choices that certain individuals might make- as a community of hobbyists who are passionate about aquaria, this is bound to happen. If you find yourself in that situation, it is best to just bow out of the thread. If you’re really aggravated, there is always the option for you to make use of your Ignore List via User CP. Our community rules are quite clear regarding acceptable posting standards. When in doubt, please review them HERE before hitting the Post Reply button.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post and review our Community Rules.