There reaches a certain point when the market becomes saturated. There are 
TOO MANY choices. Yes, it is possible. We are seeing that today in the retail grocery space. Grocery chains are actually reducing the number of choices for consumers because consumers are telling them that there is too much. Honestly, its true. How many different brands and flavors of spaghetti sauce do you need? Grocery stores are picking four or five brands and then a selection within each brand. It makes sense honestly.
And it makes sense in reefkeeping too. How many forums do we really need? There are literally hundreds of them. Here is a list of 20: http://www.aquaticreefsystems.com/forum/pages.php?page=16 Of course, Reef Central is probably the number one reef keeping forum. Nano Reef was a favorite of mine when I had my 14g BioCube. I like Reef2Reef, but only for the arcade. Otherwise I never go there. ReefChat, which was down for a while today, is good only for the signature generator. (Again, my opinion.)
Then, of course, there is the local reef club which is invaluable. But, if you come to the Philly area, you will quickly learn that sticking too many passionate people in one place becomes dangerous. So, the Philly Reef Club dissolved and the Delaware Valley Reef Club (DVRC) formed. But, that wasn’t enough and tempers flared, so Renegade Reefers was born. And, then they flared again and East Coast Reefers was born.
I think its time for some consolidation in the marketplace. Not all of these reef forums can be successful. It makes it harder on the sponsors. Who do they give their money to? Some people get overlooked. And, some of these forums will just cease to exist. Look at East Coast Reefers. Its barely hanging on and my guess will be gone by the summer. ReefIndex is gone and so are many others.
I was talking with Cerven Cotter (via Twitter) over at NanoReefBlog about this a little. And, he agrees. His point of view is that we need more niche focused blogs. And I agree with him, to a point as well. I love his site. I also love ReefBuilders and GlassBox Design. But, sometimes GlassBox and Reefbuilders are repetitive. GlassBox and Reefbuilders are not pure blogs as I see them. They are more about blogging news, getting scoops, etc. That’s not blogging. That’s micro-journalism.
And, it extends into the specialty coral market as well. There are literally thousands of online coral stores. But, so many of them are basement operations and won’t last. There is a difference here, though. These people will be told quickly by the market whether they will stick around or not. Forums can linger on indefinitely.
I think Reefing is really starting to take off. More and more people are doing, in part thanks to advancements in the hobby which makes it easier to do and in part due to Nano Reefing, which makes it more affordable as an entry point. And I think all these sites are great. But, there comes a point when you have to say “Enough is Enough” and the market will eventually do that.
Until then, I have a PM at ReefCentral to answer, someone to reply to at DVRC, Reefchat to review, my Reefing Twitter to post to and reply, and NanoReefBlog, GlassBox Design and ReefBuilders to read, while scanning my favorite online stores for more goodies to buy. Whew! Makes me tired just thinking about it.
I am sure I will have offended someone here and that was not my intent. My intent was to point out that we are a small community and that all this fragmentation (no pun intended) doesn’t help us.
Posted On: Thursday, February 4th, 2010
Posted In: Reef Blog
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Comments: 11 Responses
I’ve written about this a few times now. This was one of the first posts I did on the topic: http://blog.fragd.it/2008/07/24/forumd-out/
The real problem is the lack of innovation in reefing communities. People look at ReefCentral, see a thriving community and want a piece of the action. It’s easy to install a copy of vbPortal and customize a theme. A forum does not an online community make.
New websites should be innovative, not rehashes. Take ideas that work for other industries and apply them to reefing. Here’s some ideas that I’d like to see; tank profiles, tank history, livestock inventory, user reputation (keep 6 tanks in a 40 gallon? downvotes for you!), reminders (clean your skimmer!).
None of that stuff is innovative, but most certainly would be different from what’s out there now.
Amen, Jeff. I couldn’t agree more. But, i think some are trying. Part of the reason that innovation is slow is that even the consumers are slow to adopt in our space. I tweet all the time, but zero people in my local reef club tweet or follow it. And there are over 300 members!
But, I think Reefbuilders, GlassBox Design and NanoReefBlog are part of the next generation format. Your blog too!
One of the sites that has potential, but is just too annoying to me right now is Melev’s new site ReefAddicts. I like the idea of multiple bloggers in one location. Think about the benefits of a massive blog with you, RB, GB, NanoReef, and I dare say, myself
in a single blog. All different points of view and experience in a single spot! Hmmmm…
Derek, you’ve put together a really great post here. Thanks for mentioning NanoReefBlog.com alongside the likes of Glassbox-design.com and Reefbuilders.com
You are right in that both GBD and RB are more like magazine sites than blogs, however GBD still center’s around the ‘Glassbox’ 90g reef, making it more blog than mag, kind of like NRB. RB is a full blown community with their forums.
I see each of these 3 sites sitting nicely in a niche at the moment. RB is very generalised, GBD leans more towards the design/modern side of the hobby and well, the nano arena is for NRB. At times certain things will overlap across all three sites and the other great blogs out there -it’s just going to be a race to see who posts that ‘breaking’ story first, ha ha.
I just wish we could all work together in the blogosphere and in turn further contribute to the growth and innovation of this hobby. If the webdesign community can work together, surely us reefers can do the same?
As for forums… been down that road too. I’ve seen a very small scene split down the middle and two forums born as a result.
One thing to remember as markets saturate, competitive nature rears it’s head, and those who won’t/can’t play ball get left behind and are forgotten.
All good points! As I mentioned in my reply to Jeff below. Imagine if we all combined to make a SuperBlog! It could be very interesting for not only the community, but the sponsors as well. One blog to sponsor, one place to go! Unlikely, yes, but worth more thought!
Great post Derek. My “Forum” bookmark folder is mile long….too long to pay much attention to any but the most active, and there are very few worth the time.
Jeff – I agree I would LOVE to see more tank profiles, etc., like you mentioned. I scour the internet hard trying to find that and it’s rarely seen, with the except of some forum posts.
Keep up the good work guys!
-Melissa
Yes, agreed! More tank profiles would be great! I bought a bunch of books that simply were case studies on different tanks. That is one of the reasons I like ReefCentral. They have a lot fo tank build threads. The problem is that it is not well organized and searchable! Hmmmm… yet another idea worth pursuing!
I wish I could make a living in the reef space. I would quit my job in a minute to do this full time. Building all these portals, superblogs, own a store maybe or work for another… But, there is no real money in it as far as I know. If anyone wants to offer me a job! LOL
Melissa, how do you decide where to spend your money on banner ads? Some are no brainers. But, how many can you really support? And what is the payback? At what point do you say enough? Or do you feel obligated to support them because if you don’t others will and possibly steal your business. All rhetorical questions you need not answer here.
Derek, I see what you are saying with the crowding of communities, BBs, communities and blogs but I think the Reefing world has room for even more. Curvball does the petite reefs, Eric Sanchez does the trendy stuff and at ReefBuilders we just carpet bomb you with every story under the sun. Even when we cover similar topics you will find that we all focus on different aspects of a particular story and how it relates to what we hold important.
I wish people would realize that there is very little difference between our blogs and the somewhat aging bulletin boards format. The only difference is that in the blogs you know who is posting stories but still anyone can comment on a blog post just as if they were replying to a thread. Blog readers are starting to understand that and we are seeing more comments on blog posts all the time.
Great topic Derek, we could all use more critical thinking in the virtual reef space. I know there is a lot of information out there but just keep making the rounds and eventually you’ll settle for stopping by just a few sites that hold your interest the most.
Jake, Thanks for the response!
(SIDE NOTE: Do I use a lot of punctuation or what?)
I agree that Reefbuilders, GlassBox Design, and NanoReefBlog are different. I also think I am different from you (at least I hope so). I was not lumping you into the same category as forums. But, I disagree that forums and blogs are very similar. I think they are quite different. But, I also think they are a natural progression from forums. In forums, its about all people having an equal voice. In blogs there is a hierarchy. The blogger and those who comment. Also, blogs enable you to stand apart and stand on your own. Forums are not about individuals. You could never post again on ReefCentral and it will get along just fine. You stop posting on ReefBuilders and its gone.
Forums are able sharing information with everyone having a voice. Its a dialogue. The dialogue exists but is muted in blogs. Both exist and thrive for different reasons.
Finding out that Hydor is recalling heaters is a good example. I may never know that, even if it was stickied in a forum. It might just get lost. But, with the blog its front and center.
Derek -
As far as your banner questions go – we do mostly Affiliate banners nowadays. Anytime you see one of our banners it is 99% likely that Forum or Blog is part of an Affiliate program. We do not pay for those – rather the sites that use them get money back if somebody purchases via the banner. We sometimes give out $20 gift certificates or something to reef clubs and they will put our banner up for that.
Great commentary – thanks!
-Melissa
I think Jeff and I offer a much different perspective to the reefing world than GBD, RB, and NRB. Our goal is to educate all levels of reefers on many different things. I think we fill the void that is left by large forums, as we try to make sence of the information mush.
But, I wouldn’t be opposed to a blog collaboration, as it would streamline all of our ideas on one site. I think a lot of the reefing community would benefit from this, as there will be a lot of hands-on articles that people can skim through. But I have my reservations on how we can achieve the business side of things.
Let’s talk about this. I think there might be an opportunity here. Its worth discussing for sure. Even if the result is: Can’t be done. I’ll think more about this over the weekend and then ping you all next week.