Is there a good fishkeeping forum on the internet where the people aren't snobby and elitist?

Answer 1

You might try out
http://freshwater.fanatics.googlepages.com/freshwaterfanaticshome

It's small forum so far but they seem friendly enough

MM

Answer 2

What subject are you looking for? Some forums are specific to species or particular tank types, others will have a more general subject matter.

Honestly, you might find any forum has some "bad apples" or people who disagree with how it's run. Some of the moderated forums use a panel of people with certain expertise in a variety of subjects, but people using different methods of fish keeping will disagree with what these experts might advise. Because the people on the panel generally have advanced degrees in their fields (MS or PhD) the way they word their answers might come of as sounding "superior" to others (and I'm probably guilty of some of that myself at times), but have you ever read a scientific journal? That's just the way we write and talk in everyday life!

Other "open" forums, such as Yahoo!Answers will provide a better mix of hobbyist and professional, but you'll often see "cliques" form - especially if there's voting or a point system. It often becomes too much of a "vote for your favorite person" rather than "vote for the person who gave the best answer to the question". It's tough for a new user to establish their own place and reputation, but it can be done by giving consistant, good answers (and reading those of others and researching a little). Other users DO take notice of who is knowledgable and actually trying to help others with problems and who's only here to gain points (with repeated "idk" or copied answers from a website they found by searching for a few keywords - even though the subject matter may not be appropriate for the question asked).

The only way to totally eliminate all these "negatives" is to have a forum without any system of evaluating answers (no points, best answers, leaderboards, ratings, etc.). But then, the person needing the information has no way of "weeding out" any bad answers either, other than researching the topic themselves.

If you're loking for a forum where you can participate in answering questions, I'd say don't give up on this one yet. Or at least find a forum where a point system - this is the cause of most conflict between users in them.

If you want to find a forum where you can get good information, I'd suggest one of the moderated types - but you won't be able to answer questions there, only ask. My peronal preference among the ones out there is wetwebmedia (http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ ). You can ask questions, and the answers are later organized into a well-indexed group of FAQs pages where you an look up information, plus a number of articles written by professionals for a vide variety of topics: freshwater, brackish, and marine aquaria, ponds, aquatic plants, aquatic science, and business-related. I like this one because the people that run the forum try to give all information available in their articles so there's a good balance of pros and cons - giving the reader the info to make their own choices based on their needs.

Answer 3

No, not that I know of. In places where people have real knowledge and take the hobby seriously enough to spend so much time helping others, there is always a certain amount of pretentious behavior. Still, as far as I'm concerned it's a small price to pay for good advice.

Answer 4

I started my own forum recently. It's still growing.

Answer 5

I find Yahoo's fish section really good, but here are some others...

http://fwfanatics.proboards80.com/index.cgi

http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/forum/index.php

http://www.fishforums.net

http://www.reefcentral.com

http://www.fishforum.com/

http://www.fishforums.com/forum/

http://www.myfishforum.com/

http://www.aquaria.info

Those are some good ones.

Answer 6

wheresoursquirrel.com - forums many to choose from
angelfish.net

Answer 7

look people are going to be like that by as long as they give you the answers you are looking for don't go for less snooty go for the highly trained biologist who is going to give you **** but give you the best answer the nice ones usually don't know anything or so that is what i have ran across

Answer 8

www.reefcentral.com
is awesome! they have moderators so if anyone is being mean, which is very very rare, the moderators will see and help you out. this site is the best I have ever found! they are soo helpful. good luck.

Answer 9

http://www.forums.pondlife.eu/

We're a friendly and polite bunch who are always willing to help and take advice from more experienced members.

Answer 10

http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/forum/index.php