reefkeeping-discuss@lists.athiel.com is the address you need to use to post to the list.
A confirmation message will be sent back to you, to which you MUST reply in
order to confirm your intentions.
So much for the general introduction. Now on to the rules and information on the reefkeeping list itself.
Welcome to the Reef Keeping/Marine Fish Forum. You have or
are about to subscribe to a forum consisting of people from
all over the world with a strong interest in marine fish
and marine reef aquariums. If you are an advanced or intermediate
hobbyist, please feel free to contribute. If you are new
to the hobby or just contemplating getting started, please
feel free to ask questions as many questions as you wish - our primary function is to
help you be successful. If you are shy, just lurk a while
until you feel comfortable in joining in.
This list is owned, operated by and financed solely by Mr.
Albert Thiel of Atlanta, GA, a pioneer in the field of
marine aquariums and former owner of Thiel Aqua Tech (TAT),
a manufacturer and distributor of marine aquarium products. He is responsible so many say for getting thousands of people into reefkeeping and has introduced more ideas to the hobby than anyone else to our knowledge. Sure many were known but not in the US.
He has also introduced a number of new products that have helped hobbyists maintain their aquariums in an easier manner. Albert is presently not associated financially with ANY company. He has no interests in any and does NOT receive commissions from anyone!
Many of his products have been copied. Great we say. They must be good indeed. Note that not all copies are as good as the original ones though. If you want to real thing order the TAT products from TAD Reef Enterprises Inc. through the secure product ordering link on http://www.athiel.com. The final decision is yours though. This is NOT an attempt to promote TAT, just a clarification.
The New Marine Fish and Invert Reef Aquarium (to be released later this year). You can order this book through the secure product ordering link on http://www.athiel.com. If you pre-order you will also receive free access to the electronic version but you need to send email to
Albert and request that he enter you in the Database.
Through the sharing of ideas, experiences and methods, the
members of this group have evolved into a family. Albert
has graciously given the group considerable leeway as to
where we want to take the discussions, their format and the
topics we wish to discuss. It should be noted at this
point, however, that in all matters concerning this list,
Albert has the final say.
The leeway you have will continue but you do need to adhere to the list of rules that are part of this document. This is a big family indeed. It was real interesting that close to 25 people who are presently on the list were at the latest MACNA convention, attesting to the level of participants we have.
MACNA X is around the corner and you should start planning for it now. There is a banner on our web page that you can click to obtain all the information you need to know. Andy Amussen also posted a message to the reefkeeping list with a special offer for members of our list. If you have not seen it let me know, and I will send it to you.
The members of the group may suggest that an individual be
removed from the list for conduct unbecoming a member,
however, it is Albert's judgement as to final disposition.
People are and will be removed from the list for failure to
adhere to the guidelines presented below.
If you have become (or about to become) a member of this
and think that the topic will he always be 100% reef
keeping or 100% marine fish, then be advised that we do
every once in a while get off on tangents. We may also
mention other hobbies shared by members, tell jokes and
have little fun.
If the off-topic messages become too numerous, please revert to private email with those interested. Albert has other hobbies too but does not flood the list with messages relating to them.
Among his interests are cigars, classical music, opera, Peppino di Capri music, reading spy novels, science fiction, and of course reefkeeping and research into anything that relates to it. He is presently studying the OOP programming language and would appreciate private email from anyone who is doing so too or is a beginner in the field.
Because of our approach to things, there may be a
considerable amount of messages generated on any given day.
If you do not have the time or the patience for all of the
e-mail than can be potentially generated (both hobby and
non hobby related) then it is respectfully suggested that
you reevaluate your decision to join. Keeping up with all
of the e-mail generated on this list may be more of a chore
than you want to handle, or are willing to accept.
Traffic is heavy during the week and slower during the week end.
Note that you can subscribe in digest form meaning you only get two messages
per day that contains all the messages that were posted in the past twelve
hours. To do so send an
empty email message to reefkeeping-discuss-digest-request@lists.athiel.com.
Messages posted to this list are rebroadcast to all list
members; your response may be read by a child, someone's
significant other, a parent, as well as someone in another
country who may misinterpret what you intended to say.
Profanity of any kind, swearing, expletives, national and racial slurs, racial
slurs, religious slurs, etc WILL NOT be permitted under any
circumstance.
Adult humor will be tolerated, however,
good taste should take precedence; extremely adult humor
should be sent privately. Be careful though not to offend anyone on the list. One liners are certainly welcome but if you are going to post humor please keep it short.
Flaming, personal insults and the like are not permitted.
If you have a dispute with another list member, contact
him/her privately and work it out. Then return to the list
when both of you can play nice! The same goes for bashing
of products or suppliers.
If you have used a product or
purchased one from a supplier and have had negative results
or if you feel that the product misrepresents itself, then
an objective review of the product is in order. You may
post what you used, how you used it, and what results were,
good or bad, observed or measured. Remember that we all
would like to hear success stories about products that work
well. Give as many details about your experience as possible so others may benefit from yours.
Racial Jokes are not permissible at all and will be dealt with in a very serious manner.
When a list member posts his thoughts on a particular
topic, it is his opinion. We may agree or disagree,
however, we do owe that person the respect to read his
opinion and not attempt to tell him that he is wrong. If
you are given a suggestion and totally disagree with it,
don't challenge it openly. Just say thanks and do what you
feel is best.
This is America and free speech is the rule but that does not mean that everyone will agree with you. You can certainly argue your point but if the thread starts to get off topic please take it to a private exchange and then, when you have reached a consensus post to the list what the outcome was.
Selling products or services for personal gain in this
forum is strictly prohibited. It should be pointed out at
this time that although Albert was the founder of TAT, he
no longer owns the company, nor does he retain any
financial interest in it. From time to time, Albert may
recommend a TAT product (or another product), and quite
frankly since it is his list, it is his right and his
privilege to do so. Moreover when doing so he is trying to help not sell. If you have items for sale post them to our Trading and Selling Board.
If you wish to offer specials to members of the list and are in the commerce of reefkeeping you can do so. They have to be specials though and please include either a URL for your web page or a telephone number where people can reach you. Just promoting your products without offering anything over and above what anyone can get is not acceptable but you can email Albert and ask him to post a message for you. He is the sole judge of whether this will be done or not.
Albert. If you post a message regarding "SPECIALS" it should not be longer than 6/7 lines and you should not post more than two such messages in any 30 day period. Note that this applies even if you are a banner advertiser on our website. Members do appreciate specials but overkill is not the way to go. I know from experience that listmembers too "not" appreciate being flooded with "commercials". Thank you for sticking to this rule.
You may or may not have noticed but Albert does not post that often to the list and when he does he rarely promotes a product, rather he makes recommendations and often offers choices. A good example is that whenever he mentions Vital Gold he will also mention Combisan.
The following is required when it comes to the technical
aspects of your e-mail post: