I almost thought this was a scam when I received an e-mail in my inbox notifying me that the forum has been brought back to life...
How long was APSA officially down? This is so weird...I was just thinking recently to start up a tank again (do not tell my wife!) after selling all my tanks bar one old 60cm... Is this the universe talking to me...? ;-)
welcome back neville! its serendipitous for sure APSA was never officially offline, it was just full of spam, so people stopped posting and visiting eventually, you can see the posts tapering off.. I cleaned up 21 pages of 20 spammers and all their thousands of posts
What a nice surprise! Thank you for cleaning up the spam, wearsbunnyslippers. I hope more people will join soon.
Wow now there is a name I have not seen in many years!!! @Silikube your planted tanks must have been the first ever proper planted tanks I've seen ever. I got some plants from you somewhere in 2009/10 I think! I used to stay around the corner from you Doubt you will remember me . I really hope this forum can start taking off again. There seems to be a few familiar faces around. Schalk
I hope so, too, but unfortunately, forums overall have gone the way of the dodo. Many of the forums I have been part of have either closed down or become a ghost town.
Why Forums Are Better Than WhatsApp & Social Media Groups for Communities While WhatsApp and social media groups (like Facebook or Discord) are great for quick chats, forums offer a superior experience for knowledge-sharing, organization, and long-term value. 1. Structured & Searchable Content ✅ Forums keep discussions organized by topics and threads—unlike WhatsApp/Facebook, where important info gets lost in endless scrolling. ✅ You can search old posts and reference them anytime, making forums a permanent knowledge base. Example: On WhatsApp: "Does anyone know how to treat algae?" ⏳ 10 replies later, the answer is buried under memes and off-topic discussions. On a forum: A pinned post explains algae control in detail, accessible forever. 2. No Distractions & No Algorithm Chaos ✅ No ads, spam, or distractions—unlike Facebook, which buries important discussions under trending nonsense. ✅ No algorithm deciding what you see—you control what topics you follow. 3. Better Engagement & Quality Discussions ✅ Forum posts encourage thoughtful responses instead of rushed one-liners or emojis. ✅ You can have long-form discussions, add images, and format posts properly—something WhatsApp makes painful. 4. Forums Are a Permanent Knowledge Base ✅ WhatsApp chats disappear, forums don’t. ✅ Valuable community knowledge remains accessible, rather than being forgotten in a chat history that nobody scrolls back through. 5. Privacy & Data Ownership ✅ Forums give communities control over their own data and content, unlike WhatsApp/Facebook, where Big Tech owns and monetizes your discussions. ✅ No risk of being banned or shadowbanned due to an algorithmic decision. TLR – Why Forums > WhatsApp & Social Media ✔ Searchable, structured discussions ✔ No distractions, no lost messages ✔ Better engagement & higher quality posts ✔ Permanent knowledge base ✔ You control your data, not Big Tech Ready to Rejoin the Forum? If you're tired of repeating the same questions, losing important info, and endless scrolling, it's time to get back to the forum! thanks chatgpt!
I would disagree. I think it's the very reason why Forums are basically dead now. The Android/Apple forum software is terrible and not user-friendly at all. If you use it without the software on a browser and you don't have an adblocker installed, you can barely read anything because it's filled with ads. We started a fishkeeping community on WhatsApp about 2 years ago, and it's quickly grown to the point that we have over 2900 members spanning across 7 different groups. Our Facebook group is sitting at around 6500 members, and we have only seen positive growth since we started it. The great thing about WhatsApp is it's instantly available on your phone, everyone has it. Got a problem? Quickly hop on and ask for some help on the group. Got a question about a fish in a store quickly send a message while you standing in the shop.
Is this the same AI that told people they need to eat a single rock each day and add glue to their pizza?
chatgpt / AI is just another tool, like a sharp knife, if you use it incorrectly you could lose body parts, if you use it properly its indispensable..
some of the forums are full of ads, i agree, people trying to monetize their audience.. thats amazing growth larch, well done on your communities! i find the groups a little overwhelming, if you join a new group, you have lost out on all the previous conversations and history. instagram, facebook, x etc. so many platforms.. so hard to search, or find relevant info, people ask the same questions over and over, because they get instant feedback, no one bothers to do any research of their own, so they have to keep asking questions. i think there is still a place for forums
That's why you have separate groups like we have. We have freshwater, marine, shrimp, axolotl, and shop and breeders groups. Each group has its rules that users need to follow, which you can easily add in the group's description, which is the first thing people see when they join the group. Each group has an admin who keeps an eye on everything and enforces the rules. All of that falls under a community group which makes making announcements and managing of the groups so much easier. WhatsApp has a search function that works really well if you use the proper keyword searches, and you can turn disappearing messages off so all the discussions stay there forever. You can also star certain messages so you can go back to them if needed. If the group is properly managed, there are no off-topic discussions allowed or posting of memes. There is no spam or ads on WhatsApp or Facebook groups. There are no algorithms in your Facebook feed, yes, but nothing on Facebook groups. You can have plenty of quality discussions on WhatsApp as well; it all depends on the community and generally has nothing to do with the platform, your community is the one creating the content. That is why we also have a website that contains all the regular questions being asked and has a knowledge base anyone can access. Forums aren't immune to this, I mean did you not just delete thousands of spam messages
Well, give our group a chance, and you might be surprised. The worst case is that you and ChatGPT are indeed correct. Single link to our WhatsApp Groups, Facebook community, and our official website. https://linktr.ee/aquariumadvicesa
