We Have Made Some Changes To Aquarists Online Social

We have made some changes have been made to the Social aspect of Aquarists Online.

Actually there is one change and two additions!

Prior to having Aquarists Online Social we had a community forum on the site and whilst it did well and was growing it felt cold (if you know what I mean). People came on asking and answering questions. Some people returned and others did not - yet it did not feel like a community. Aquarists Online Social was created so that we could build a community. An area where aquarists of all skill levels could come hang out, share pictures, movies, articles etc etc. We also wanted this to be an area which anyone could visit and read the content and view the other areas of the site. We chose to make uploads etc to the site for members only so that we could combat the various types of spam attacks which do appear to come out of nowhere.

The forum area is still available as we felt that there was some good content in there with some good discussions and we do appreciate that there are many people who will still prefer to use a community forum.

The one area that we wanted to accomodate was for people to have the ability to be able to do all of this and for it not be hard. We believe that our Social area does accomodate for the above but there was something missing - well two actually and that is why we have two new additions.

Before that though I will cover the small change made.

On the home page there is a members login box. This has been changed so that existing members can easily log in and new members can easily sign up. Only a small change but one that makes it easier for both new and existing members.

On to the additions.

The new additions to the site are an auction area and a news/article area.

Addition One

The first addition is the inclusion of an auction area. This area is basically like E-Bay but is designed specifically for the aquarium hobby. E-Bay is a huge site with thousands of items listed and for this reason it is sometimes hard to find the items you are looking for. One big difference is that E-Bay charges for items to be listed as well as pictures etc. We are not going to charge for items listed on this area of the site. The only time we may implement a charge to this area is if it becomes popular and we need help in funding the website hosting costs (we only have a certain amount of traffic our current hosting allows and as with anything if you need more you have to pay for it!) - if this happens it will not be a lot and nowhere like E-Bay charges.

Anyone can view this aspect of the website, however in order to sell an item, purchase an item, ask the seller a question you do need to be logged in as a member.

There is a huge amount of functionality available in this addition - to much to list here in this post so why not pop over to the auction area and have a look. For oobvious reasons it is quiet at the moment however over time we firmly believe that this will become a popular addition to the site. After all who does not like finding a bargain or making a bit of spare cash by selling unwanted/un-used items.

Addition Two

The second item is what is called ‘Dig News‘. A huge area of the site which we believed was missing was the ability for members to upload their own articles. Whilst there is the ability for blogs to be created this is not the same as an article. Of course we create articles for the blog area of Aquarists Online, however this is our opinion, our experiences etc. There are lots of other articles all over the internet. What if we could have an area where these articles could be all be retained in one area and people could peruse them at their pleasure. What if the readers could vote on these articles so that other people would know if there were good or now.

Now we can!

Basically what this area allows is for several things. It allows for the posting of a link to an article on another website, the posting of a link to a video on another website, the posting of a link to a picture on another website and also for the posting of an article which is hosted by us.

When a link is posted you also have the ability to be able to add some content so you can say what the article/video/picture is about and why you like it.

On top of all this people can vote for entries which they like and find useful. The entries are sorted by the amounts of votes they have therefore the most useful and informative entries are at the top of the page. Comments can also be left against any entry, therefore if you really like an entry you can vote for it and also leave a comment.

We have split this area into several categories so that it is easier to locate entries. We have also included a search function so that entries are easier to locate.

As with the auction area of the site we have made this area so that anyone can visit however in order to vote or leave a comment you need to be logged in as a member.

Over time we believe that this could be built into a really useful resource. As said there are loads and loads of useful articles, information videos, great pictures and more all over the internet but they can be hard to locate.

We will be actively posting entries into this news area and invite you to do the same.

So there we go - a couple of additions to the Social aspect of our site. I hope that you agree that these are useful additions and would welcome any feedback you may have about these areas.

---

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Tags: aquarists online social, aquarium discussion, aquarium pictures, aquarium videos, aquarium-articles, aquarium-forum

We Have Our First Members Blog In The Forum

As you may or may not know we changed our communtity forum so that members can create their own blogs and share their aquarium progression with others.

Well we have our very first entry.

It basically describes the progress of a new ‘in the wall’ aquarium. Some fantastic progress has been made on the aquarium setup and we are sure that it will be an aquarium which will create a lot of enjoyment.

Both myself, John and other members of the community are enjoying this blog so why not pop in, sign up as a member and have a look yourself.

http://aquaristsonline.com/forum/blog/Aquariums/130_gallon_inwall_build_c-1_b-2.html

Even better why not sign up as a member and create your own blog - we would love to see it.

http://www.aquaristsonline.com/forum

Oh and did I mention that membership is free to the forum.

No - well it is!

---

Tags: aquarium-blog, aquarium-community, aquarium-forum, aquarium-news, fish-forum

We Have Made Changes To The Forum And The Gallery

For a while now the forum and the gallery have been running as two separate applications on the web server. This, for obvious reasons made it hard for us to administer and moderate.

Over the Christmas period we have been thinking about ways to make this easier on ourselves as well as being easy to navigate for you.

It suddenly hit us - can we combine the two?

After a look we found we could so that’s what we did.

The old gallery has been shut down and a new photo gallery installed on the forum with the photos from the old gallery being transferred. The gallery on the forum is still split into categories and we feel is quite easy to navigate plus we managed to make it so that pictures can be rated - just as they were in the old gallery.

At the same time we had a look to see if we could make the forum better.

We are pleased to say that we have been able to put in some new features for you all (and us) to use and hopefully enjoy and find beneficial.

So what are they?

• The new photo gallery of course where you can look at the pictures we upload as well as having the ability to upload your own. You will also be able to make comments on pictures as well as rate them.
• Blogs - You now have the ability to have your very own blog within the forum. You can blog about your aquarium(s), detailing your progress and share it with others. You also have the ability to leave comments on blogs.
• A new easy to use posting page so that you do not need to know bbcode any more. You can write (or reply to) a post just like you were writing in a word processor. There is a load of functionality in this ranging from advanced text manipulation, quotes, videos, pictures plus a lot more.
• A brand new member profile area.
• The ability to add friends to your profile.
• A new layout to the forum categories to make it easier to read.
• A new FAQ.
• New smilies
• All topped off with a brand new front end portal type design.

We believe that the changes to the forum move it from being just a forum into more of a community area which is what we both wanted it to be. Hopefully you will all like it.

The good thing is that with it now being easier on us we will now have more time to participate in the forum as well as having more time to write posts for the blog!

Check it out and let us know what you think - if you are not a member yet then why not join up?

http://www.aquaristsonline.com/forum

---

Tags: aquarium-forum, fish-forum, marine-fish-forum, saltwater-aquarium-forums, saltwater-fish-tank-forum

The Aquarists Online Forum Has Had An Update

Here on the Aquarists Online website we have our own community saltwater aquarium forum loaded which is an area where saltwater aquarists can from all over the globe can come and ask questions, answer questions or just generally ‘hang out’.

Saltwater aquarists from any level can use this forum - it does not matter if you are a complete newbie or have been keeping saltwater aquariums for years - everyone is welcome.

The community forum is still quite young, however people are joining as members and joining in. Some great questions are being asked and it is fantastic to be able to meet new aquarists.
[Read more]

Tags: aquarium-forum, fish-forum, marine-fish-forum, saltwater-aquarium-forums, saltwater-fish-tank-forum

Reef Central - A Great Place To Visit

Research, planning and patience as we say over and over again is the basis for a successful saltwater aquarium.

Planning and patience are down to you as the aquarist to control as is research to a certain degree. You have to be prepared to do the research and other people have to be prepared to either provide or other the information you require.

We class ourselves and this site as what we believe to be a valuable place to perform your research.

Of course we are not the only website on the internet where you can obtain the information you require. Community forums are another great resource to visit one of which is Reef Central.

Reef Central is a very popular forum and has many members and thousands of posts on their site.

There is a lot of information on the Reef Central site which any aquarist of any level will find useful plus there are lots of very experienced aquarists who are both willing and capable to give you the answer you are looking for.

So no matter what level aquarists you are make sure that you check out the Reef Central forum – you never know one day the Aquarists Online forum may be that popular. Well we can but hope.

http://www.reefcentral.com

---

Tags: aquarium-forum, marine-aquarium, reef-tank-forum.-saltwater-aquarium, saltwater-aquarium-forum