Ok, so the thing is I've been at this coral thing a while now and I have always tried to harbor a feel for what the community wants or in some cases doesn't want as it pertains to my own selection and business practices. There has clearly been a sense for a while now brewing that the whole "naming coral thing" has gotten pretty outlandish and passe even if I'm being polite. While I have no doubt that most people still would prefer to have a name, no matter how ridiculous attached to the coral they are buying, I am finding myself in the camp that has really kind of been there done that, and ready to move on to some degree. Or at least sidestep a little away from the silliness.
Here's my antidote. Some of you may have discovered my recent site update included a few special upgrades, the largest of which is the “No Glitz” mode. What is No Glitz mode you ask? Allow me to explain.
First, you hit this button in the upper-right corner of any of the products pages, then hit "got it" and you're in. It's not some kind of internet trap I promise. Simply put, entering No Glitz mode lets the user browse my entire collection with all the silly names removed and actual scientific names inserted. This concept had been in the works for years actually and I'm super happy with how it finally turned out. However, I NEED YOUR GUYS HELP! And I need it bad because while I’ve been a die-hard hobbyist for going on 2 decades I will take no shame in admitting I absolutely suck and I mean S-U-C-K at identifying Acropora. Now to be fair, it's hard enough trying to match up pieces with pics online and even harder trying to match up captive colonies and nearly impossible to match up frags with positively identified pics of colonies online.
And this is where you guys come in.
I did the best I could on the few species I was pretty sure on, you know tenuis, milliporas, etc, but most of the pieces are simply listed as “acropora sp”.
I would absolutely love to get as many pieces as we can positively identified. This will only enhance the No Glitz experience, and it seems the best way to pull this off is to give you guys some incentive. I know some of you are actually super good at this and you will thrive here. If you choose to participate. So I can think of no better way to accomplish this than with a contest with real prizes for proper IDs!
I'm literally talking about the "name game!" For real!
So what I am proposing if you are still with me, or, if you just skipped all the babble and are just reading this part now (which is fine) is that I need you guys to help me ID as many of the sps on my site as possible, and for every piece, we can collectively agree on I'll award a 25.00 gift card to the person who initially made the assertation. Now realize there are well over 250 pieces that still need ID's, so if you are ultra savvy this can be a real windfall for you assuming you'd like some free-ish sps.
Here is what I'd like you to do if you are up to it.
Take a screenshot of any particular coral on my site and post it in this thread with your best-educated guess. If we can get at least a few people to agree, the cash is yours in the form of a BC gift certificate. Do four of them and that's an easy hundo, Nail ten, and you're already at 250.00. You get the idea.
There is no rush on this and I assume it's going to be a bit of a marathon. I'm sure any initial excitement will fizzle and fade eventually. And maybe there are a lot of you who could really care less about names one way or the other, but my goal is to have as many pieces labeled correctly as possible in the No glitz zone. And with your help, we can do it
. I will continue to work on my end to ID any that I can as well so you'll also be racing against the Master Control Program. And, if there is a better more efficient way to handle the posting and labeling process please don't hesitate to chime in.
So what do you guys say? Do you want to help a dude improve his website?
Here's my antidote. Some of you may have discovered my recent site update included a few special upgrades, the largest of which is the “No Glitz” mode. What is No Glitz mode you ask? Allow me to explain.
First, you hit this button in the upper-right corner of any of the products pages, then hit "got it" and you're in. It's not some kind of internet trap I promise. Simply put, entering No Glitz mode lets the user browse my entire collection with all the silly names removed and actual scientific names inserted. This concept had been in the works for years actually and I'm super happy with how it finally turned out. However, I NEED YOUR GUYS HELP! And I need it bad because while I’ve been a die-hard hobbyist for going on 2 decades I will take no shame in admitting I absolutely suck and I mean S-U-C-K at identifying Acropora. Now to be fair, it's hard enough trying to match up pieces with pics online and even harder trying to match up captive colonies and nearly impossible to match up frags with positively identified pics of colonies online.
And this is where you guys come in.
I did the best I could on the few species I was pretty sure on, you know tenuis, milliporas, etc, but most of the pieces are simply listed as “acropora sp”.
I would absolutely love to get as many pieces as we can positively identified. This will only enhance the No Glitz experience, and it seems the best way to pull this off is to give you guys some incentive. I know some of you are actually super good at this and you will thrive here. If you choose to participate. So I can think of no better way to accomplish this than with a contest with real prizes for proper IDs!
I'm literally talking about the "name game!" For real!
So what I am proposing if you are still with me, or, if you just skipped all the babble and are just reading this part now (which is fine) is that I need you guys to help me ID as many of the sps on my site as possible, and for every piece, we can collectively agree on I'll award a 25.00 gift card to the person who initially made the assertation. Now realize there are well over 250 pieces that still need ID's, so if you are ultra savvy this can be a real windfall for you assuming you'd like some free-ish sps.
Here is what I'd like you to do if you are up to it.
Take a screenshot of any particular coral on my site and post it in this thread with your best-educated guess. If we can get at least a few people to agree, the cash is yours in the form of a BC gift certificate. Do four of them and that's an easy hundo, Nail ten, and you're already at 250.00. You get the idea.
There is no rush on this and I assume it's going to be a bit of a marathon. I'm sure any initial excitement will fizzle and fade eventually. And maybe there are a lot of you who could really care less about names one way or the other, but my goal is to have as many pieces labeled correctly as possible in the No glitz zone. And with your help, we can do it
. I will continue to work on my end to ID any that I can as well so you'll also be racing against the Master Control Program. And, if there is a better more efficient way to handle the posting and labeling process please don't hesitate to chime in. So what do you guys say? Do you want to help a dude improve his website?
