Should the HCA include a "Special Marine Hermie Forum?&

[Guest]

Hello

I want to say that I feel like a lot of energy will go towards trying to setup a forum about marine hermit crabs over trying to help newbies with their LHC problems. Essentially then, I feel that such energy will be wasted. I think that the Marine Hermit Crab forum will distract a lot of people because of the fact that there isn't an overload of information that is required to care for MHCs. On top of these points, I just don't feel that there is an overwhelming amount of people who are interested in MHCs... in other words, this is just more justification that building such a forum will be wasted energy. I think that there are a couples factors that need to be assessed before jumping right into it.

a) how many people actually have MHCs that are significantly interested in learning more about them? This is vital because it will help us consider how many people will actually come to the forum. I personally agree with Mrbonzai211 on the fact that aquatic forums are more specialized on the topic area than we are. This brings us to the second factor

b)how many people on this forum are actually experts or have overwhelming knowledge on MHCs? This factor is very important as well, because if we are trying to setup a forum about MHCs then we're gonna want to make sure that its going to be successful and (the key word) ACCURATE. Otherwise, I think its going to fail.

My major points here are that

1)I think there will be a lot of wasted energy distracting us from our main focus on LHCs.

2)I think that if we attract people to this MHC forum and they see that the information within the threads are faulty then they are likely to think of the information on the LHC forum as wrong as well.

and

3)There may be quite a few people who are interested in MHCs but how many are there on this forum who are actually teachers on the subject? I will be creating a poll to determine how many people can accurately contribute to the MHC forum, because if there aren't many then its going to be harder to have a successful forum.


My biggest reason, however, is that this forum is dedicated to LHCs and I don't want the information within these threads to dwindle at the expense of creating a MHC forum. I'm just nervous that the MHC forum will take a lot away from the LHC forum.

[mrbonzai211]

I agree. If there's no experts (like a Kathy, Crabber, or Tropo) then there's no knowledge, and if there's no knowledge then the forum would be futile at best. I would be more comfortable if it was owners that brought up this issue rather then people with a curiosity.

[Guest]

I want to add... you might say that in order to create teachers/experts then we can research BUTTTTTTTTT how far does research go in comparison to actual experience? If you are researching something but have no REAL experience with MHCs then how do you, for certain, know that what you're teaching is completely accurate?

For instance... in regards to LHCs I can say that they like to burrow but I am absolutely certain that they burrow when I see them actually burrowing.

There is a huge acceptance of the fact that if you are just researching all the care sheets that stores or other bad sites offer you about LHCs, then your information is not always accurate. The reason we (the members here) know that LHC care sheets are not always correct is because of the experience we have gained from owning LHCs and taking care of them ourselves. In other words, we know that many care sheets are detrimental to the health of hermit crabs because of the information that we have absorbed from our own personal experience and from trusting others who have personal experience. What I draw from this is that if we are just researching what we find on the web then we're not really going to know if its accurate...unless we get our information from successful marine hermit crab forums, which have people who actually own marine hermit crabs. The other way of being completely informed is if we have MHCs ourselves.

What I'm trying to say is that people are more accepting of information if they know that the person who is telling them that information has direct experience with it. There are many examples that I can use to support this but I know you can think of them on your own.

Anyways, just wanted to add that.

In saying all this...I'm not going to be MAD if a MHC forum is created, I just think that its really not something that should be developed...

[Guest]

POLLS:

DO YOU HAVE KNOWLEDGE OR EXPERIENCE ON HERMIT CRABS?
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... highlight=



DO YOU HAVE HERMIT CRABS?
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... highlight=

[OIF_VET]

Again I want to say no. I wish I could keep voting that way over and over just for the simple fact that hermit crabs are NEVER the center and main focus of salt water tank. They are cleaners and add ons. No one buys a salt water aquarium specifically to have aquatic hermit crabs. Marine hermit crabs are not a specialty on this forum. If you are serious about this issue you would be best served to go to an aquarium forum because they have more of a specialiality. If you want to talk about marine hermit crabs I can point you to another forum (http://www.fishforums.net/ under the marine inverts section), but I honestly don't think this topic is appropriate to the forum because they are an aquarium topic and not a crabitat topic.

MrBonzai211, You are WRONG In that assumption!
It was my Interest in MHCs and "Catching" them from the Local Beaches that I definately Set up a "Marine" Tank specifically for Marine Hermies.
It wasnt until about a Year Later that I discovered "LHCs" and I Started a Terrestrial Environment for LHCs. It was also at that Point (Actually about a week Later) That I found HCA and Became an Active Member.

[Tidytourniquet]

I don't see how making a sub forum that at the very least will teach people who want to learn more about the MHC will be wasted energy, nor do I feel like it will be taking time away from the LHC. If you don't want to learn about the MHC then you don't have to ever go to that part of the forum but for people who want to learn or for people that own them and want to share their experiences I think it will be great. Just because no one that is a member right now isn't an "expert" doesn't mean that people here don't know anything about them or that people won't join that do know about them.

What does it matter that hermit crabs aren't the center or main focus of a salt water tank? I don't understand what you mean by that, MrBonzai211. I have snails, lots of snails that are not only in tanks with fish but I also have a tank set up just for them. To me they are not just cleaners or add on, they are my pets that I want to do everything I can for them which includes talking about them online with other people who own and care about them and even making them their own homemade food.

[Christa]

With no reference to Tidy's post, which was perfectly fine...

This thread is getting a little lively and you all need to tone it down. Polite disagreement is fine, but ganging up on others is definitely not. Ramming your opinion down someone's throat is not going to convince them of your point, it is going to convince them that you're a jerk (or worse!). With polite disagreement you can at least part friends.

That said, it would take me approximately 10 minutes to set up a MHC forum, complete with subforums.

As for the amount of knowledge out there, keep in mind that there are over 800 species of MHC's in the world and as a result there are hundreds of crustacean scientists who know loads everything there is to know about marine hermies. It's nothing like the LHC specialists, of which there are maybe 20 (if that) in the whole world. So we would not be suffering a deficit of information. All one would have to do is pick up any number of books on Pagurus species and there you have it!

Here is what we have as far as the HCA's history regarding marine crab care:

One poll that ended on June 16, 2001:

Question

Shall we change the name of the Land Hermit Crab Owners Association so that, in the future, we can possibly serve both land and marine hermit crabs, as well as vendors, owners, publishers, and whoever else?
Choices Votes
No, let's keep the LHCOA name. 1
Yes, let's change it to The Hermit Crab Association. 10


When I did a search in the archives in the old Yahoo group, I pulled up 15 messages related to marine hermies, one of which was from a person interested only in marine hermies who wanted to join our group.

hc!
Christa

[Guest]

I'd like to agree with Christa here. Her site was the one that lead me here, after all.

We're the "Hermit Crab Association", which sort of implies that we're full service here not specialized towards any one area. If I get on Yahoo! or Google and start frantically looking for websites about hermit crabs, I'll probably end up here whether I have land hermies or marine hermies anyway.

If we were setup like landhermitcrabs.com's boards, that'd be a different story. It has "Land" right in the name, so we could expect people to infer we didn't cater to anyone with marine hermies.

Bottom line is that people are going to end up here whichever type of crabby they have. It would be nice to be able to help them by directing them to specific areas of the site where knowledgeable people will be watching for posts and able to respond. Think about how frantic some of us get trying to find answers, do you really want to put someone else through that just because they own a marine hermie instead of a PP or Rug?

[Guest]

everyone here came because they wanted to learn about their land hermit crabs and help them. i would not be surprised if this site stayed as mainly a LHC forum. if a separate section is added for marine hermit crabs, people looking up info on them can join. sure, there may not be as many problems to discuss about MHC as there are LHC, but isnt it just nice to talk about your pets in a place where others will understand? marine hermies are just as amusing as the land ones. given that only a few people have bothered to ask if this is a MHC site as well, does not take into consideration all the people who have been looking for such a place, found this one, saw it was just about LHC and promply left to continue their search. maybe there has only been a few, maybe there has been a lot. and yes, maybe an aquarium site would be better prepared for such a thing, but the HCA has a vibe that no other place does. we are a good group and i think that alone will draw people in. the experts here did not get to be so soley through research, or soley through experience. it was a combination, mixed with sharing ideas at a place like this. don't forget that the current members here will not be the only ones carrying on the MHC section, i'm sure new knowledgeable people will come along and carry their weight.

[Guest]

I think if the board is sure we can provide quality information and service to a MHC forum and not loose any of the quality of the LHC forum, I see no reason to exclude MHC.

[Guest]

I think if the board is sure we can provide quality information and service to a MHC forum and not loose any of the quality of the LHC forum, I see no reason to exclude MHC.

agreeed. plus, we do have a chit-chat secion in which we talk about other things besides LHCs and that doesn't take away from the other sections. After thinking about it I don't see anything wrong with the MHC forum.

[Guest]

A little levity here... I did a double-take when I saw this topic. So my first thought was "What do hermit crabs have to do with the Marines?".

Personally I think crabs in all branches of the military should be represented

(If someone finds these remarks annoying or offensive, I apologize in advance. The baby is teething and I got no sleep last night )

[Christa]

<singing> from the shine of polished turbos to the shores of eco earth </singing>

Ooops... did I post that?

--- beats a hasty retreat --

U.S. Marines: When It Absolutely 100% Has To Be Destroyed Overnight!

[OIF_VET]

LMBO! OH MY LOL!

U folks are funny!

The Sad thig Christa, I recognised the "Tune"!!!!!!!!!


For now I want to just keep a watch on this Thread. I, or any other Mod/BOD, who feels that this thread is getting to "Hot" Can and will "LOCK" this Thread.
My Intent for this Poll was to see if there was enough support from "Our General Membership" to validate whether or not, and if Possible, to Create a SubForum for those Members who do Own and Care for Marine Hermits.
I Know I enjoy the Striking Colors of these wonderful critters and Just enjoy them in general.
I have had a Couple Members PM me and showed their support and I really do appreciate it. Personally, I do not know how to create a "Seperate Forum" nor do I desire creating one. I "DONT WANT" That responsibility.

I have said enough. Folks know my Opinions and how I feel and I will leave it at that.

Thank You all, though, for Voting AND posting your Opinions! They are all Valued and Valid!
Thanks.
OIF_VET

[Guest]

im waiting for my youngest to be less destructive and then im def getting a marine tank with hermies