Jestersix

Encouraging DBTC participation

Would a reward make you more likely to participate in DBTC?

  • No, I don’t like DBTC (please share why in your post if you’re willing)

    Votes: 1 8.3%

  • I already participate so not really

    Votes: 6 50.0%

  • Yes, I would be more likely to start new chains

    Votes: 2 16.7%

  • Yes, I would want to take part in existing chains more

    Votes: 5 41.7%
  • Total voters
    12
Coral reefer

Coral reefer

Past President
BARcard
Just curious if people would be more likely to take part in existing chains or start new ones if there was some sort of tangible reward.

No concrete idea yet, but it could be linked to the dbtc swap that will start next year. Maybe a special raffle or bonus round pick?

I don’t think it should necessarily be needed, but if it helps why not? Share your thoughts.
 
For me, I think it would be good to have 2 DBTC "repositories"... In the last few DBTCs I participated in, traveling from Peninsula \ South Bay to SF \ East Bay for pick up is a bit challenging since I haven't been able to make it to the swaps as often.

Doesn't mean I don't participate, just not as often as I would like.

Be awesome if we had members hold batches of DBTC more regionally so to speak...

I think DBTC in itself is motivation for participation... but wondering if for folks to take DBTC pieces, or at least more premium pieces, then need to at least offer up one in turn within a certain window like once every 1.5 - 2 years to increase the pool of DBTC variety?
 
I'd echo what @NanoCrazed said in terms of more regional DBTC...I've seen a lot of nice pieces, but haven't been able to pick up due to how far away they are.

I'll be offering up my first DBTC Acro shortly..Finally has grown out enough (I think) to frag a piece off of
 
NanoCrazed said:
For me, I think it would be good to have 2 DBTC "repositories"... In the last few DBTCs I participated in, traveling from Peninsula \ South Bay to SF \ East Bay for pick up is a bit challenging since I haven't been able to make it to the swaps as often.

Doesn't mean I don't participate, just not as often as I would like.

Be awesome if we had members hold batches of DBTC more regionally so to speak...

I think DBTC in itself is motivation for participation... but wondering if for folks to take DBTC pieces, or at least more premium pieces, then need to at least offer up one in turn within a certain window like once every 1.5 - 2 years to increase the pool of DBTC variety?
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Yes. Would Be great to have a dbtc tank at a lfs. I don’t think it is realistic for members to take on this responsibility. Think how terrible someone would feel if that system crashed.
Ideally so many people have so many of the dbtc corals that someone not far away has what you want. That’s what I’d like the program to become.
 
Coral reefer said:
Yes. Would Be great to have a dbtc tank at a lfs. I don’t think it is realistic for members to take on this responsibility. Think how terrible someone would feel if that system crashed.
Ideally so many people have so many of the dbtc corals that someone not far away has what you want. That’s what I’d like the program to become.
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This would be an awesome form of sponsorship! Get a LFS to host a BAR tank with a sign up about BAR or frags are for "BAR members only". And in turn, they get BAR members showing up there at minimum. I don't think I have ever visited a LFS to frag swap \ pickup without buying something from the LFS. So everyone wins!
 
NanoCrazed said:
This would be an awesome form of sponsorship! Get a LFS to host a BAR tank with a sign up about BAR or frags are for "BAR members only". And in turn, they get BAR members showing up there at minimum. I don't think I have ever visited a LFS to frag swap \ pickup without buying something from the LFS. So everyone wins!
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Yes, but...
Stores come and go.
Who pays for the upkeep?
I would think BAR members could make a small donation per frag or something and also donate frags for the tank. Not sure any sponsors currently have been approached about it. Feel free to talk to lfs about it. If they are interested we can put them in contact w @The_Lazy_Reefer and myself to iron out the details.
 
I like the idea of incentivizing/recognizing DBTC participation.

Another reward for participating in DBTC could be that once you put back in your 2 frags (or whatever number is specified), you get priority for replacement if needed like the person who originated the chain. We sort of already do this informally, but I’d like to see it a formal rule to encourage people to complete the chain and keep it going.
 
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The reward should be seeing your coral being grown out and/or redistributed on DBTC, it would be encouraging if people even just posted photos of growth progress even if the corals are not ready to frag.

Also I agree a lot of the time it’s just logistically not worth it to drive across the peninsula. But at the same time it’s a terrible idea from a pest management perspective to have a central holding location.
 
I don't understand how DBTC is "regional."
You have to go to where the person donating lives or want to meet, which can be anywhere.

That said, I really wish posters would make sure to add city location, so you can easily figure out if it is worth it.
 
I do think that DBTC participation suffers a bit from the stigma of being available only to certain members. This is just one member's opinion so take it for what it's worth.
 
The reward should be receiving someone else’s or banking your awesome corals. I've participated in numerous DBTCs and started a number of my own. In my mind, outside of a few cases, DBTC has largely failed (at least from my perspective since being a member for the last four years).

Here is a list I what I see are some of the problems in DBTCs that I’ve been involved in and why I think it failed. The problems are really just rooted in tracking ability and accountability.

1. no easy way to know if someone is an established member or a “good” DBTC participate or just a passerby (doesn’t always mean freeloader, but in some cases it does)
2. no regular updates/pictures on frag status
3. not fulfilling their obligation of contributing back frags to the chain
4. people often forget what DBTCs they have participated in or even created
5. Really only a handful of members were good DBTC citizens

I’ve personally stopped participating in DBTCs because I see too many people failing to pass on frags. Whether it was because they’re freeloading or just simply forgot, the result is the same.

I know we’ve visited this path after the site update and the answer has been a pretty resounding “No,” but software is really the only way to address the issues in my opinion. We all are busy with our normal lives so the owners of a DBTC can’t be expected to track every participant in their DBTC and hunt them down (even more so since there is no easy way to search and show what DBTCs they’ve actually started). And people don’t have the time to research users and pick “good citizens”. If BAR wants DBTC to be attractive and take off, it needs to be made easy to use. Obviously effort or money has to be put in to make it good. I for one think the effort would likely be worth it because it would be a differentiating factor from other forums. There’s been discussions on upping quality members in other threads, it’s features like this that will drive quality people to join.

In an ideal world, this is what I believe the DBTC software should be able to do.
- Searchable database by owner or participant
- a visual tracking tree of frag distribution
- ability to score users (DBTC owners can give a thumbs up for good members, points for giving frags back to DBTC, points for providing updates, loss of points for killing frags - this one is a maybe, loss of points for not giving a frag back after a reasonable timeframe)
- ability to send regular emails/alerts on DBTCs they’re involved in at a specified interval

DBTC was honestly one of the reasons that really enticed me when I first joined. It was sad to see that it didn’t really perform up to snuff. And call me a Debbie Downer, but once the tracking tree went away, I really didn’t see DBTC really continuing on. It was already tough and removing the tracking tree just made it too much effort on the DBTC owner.

Anyhoo, my very long two cents. Thanks if you’ve read this far. ;)
 
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RandyC said:
The reward should be receiving someone else’s or banking your awesome corals. I've participated in numerous DBTCs and started a number of my own. In my mind, outside of a few cases, DBTC has largely failed (at least from my perspective since being a member for the last four years).

Here is a list I what I see are some of the problems in DBTCs that I’ve been involved in and why I think it failed. The problems are really just rooted in tracking ability and accountability.

1. no easy way to know if someone is an established member or a “good” DBTC participate or just a passerby (doesn’t always mean freeloader, but in some cases it does)
2. no regular updates/pictures on frag status
3. not fulfilling their obligation of contributing back frags to the chain
4. people often forget what DBTCs they have participated in or even created
5. Really only a handful of members were good DBTC citizens

I’ve personally stopped participating in DBTCs because I see too many people failing to pass on frags. Whether it was because they’re freeloading or just simply forgot, the result is the same.

I know we’ve visited this path after the site update and the answer has been a pretty resounding “No,” but software is really the only way to address the issues in my opinion. We all are busy with our normal lives so the owners of a DBTC can’t be expected to track every participant in their DBTC and hunt them down (even more so since there is no easy way to search and show what DBTCs they’ve actually started). And people don’t have the time to research users and pick “good citizens”. If BAR wants DBTC to be attractive and take off, it needs to be made easy to use. Obviously effort or money has to be put in to make it good. I for one think the effort would likely be worth it because it would be a differentiating factor from other forums. There’s been discussions on upping quality members in other threads, it’s features like this that will drive quality people to join.

In an ideal world, this is what I believe the DBTC software should be able to do.
- Searchable database by owner or participant
- a visual tracking tree of frag distribution
- ability to score users (DBTC owners can give a thumbs up for good members, points for giving frags back to DBTC, points for providing updates, loss of points for killing frags - this one is a maybe, loss of points for not giving a frag back after a reasonable timeframe)
- ability to send regular emails/alerts on DBTCs they’re involved in at a specified interval

DBTC was honestly one of the reasons that really enticed me when I first joined. It was sad to see that it didn’t really perform up to snuff. And call me a Debbie Downer, but once the tracking tree went away, I really didn’t see DBTC really continuing on. It was already tough, and removing the tracking tree just made it too much effort on the DBTC owner.

Anyhoo, my very long two cents. Thanks if you’ve read this far. ;)
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I agree with much of this. All I can personally do is try to give out frags as much as I can.
I was crushed when we changed forums like 6 years ago and lost all the old chains. I was against upgrading as I didn’t want to lose them.
The tracker was really cool.
I really hope someone will be able to implement a new system that will replace it.
 
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