I haven't joined in on the conversation because so far people like Platy, etc. have been doing an amazing job of keeping this moving forward. I ended up posting to another hobbyist website (not aquaria) and got a few supportive responses and hopefully a lot more signatures out of it...
But at this point, I don't see why we seem to be headed backwards...
As I've said before, I've never associated Monster Aquaria "M" with the Monster Energy "M", but now, with all the avatars sporting their "M", (even with the red slash) I'm constantly reminded of their product. They're certainly getting a ton of free advertising from us here. Their tactics are already paying off. I'd suggest removing all traces of their product from this site and only refer to them as "the drink" or something non graphical.
I seriously doubt that informed AC members would even consider buying a Monster product right now. Not to mention that the circle with a line through it symbol is almost universally recognized as a negative connotation. At this point we need to continue spreading the word...talking in code (by referring to Monster as "the drink," for example) can only confuse people who are not in the loop and it almost lets Monster get off the hook. We need to be calling them out directly by name so that they know our community is serious about this effort.
One additional comment. I'm wondering why Monster Fish Keepers / Monster Aquaria Network logo ever became so prevalent on AquariaCentral. I feel it's diminished its credibility somewhat and it's friendly community appearance. How do the guppy or endler or betta enthusiasts feel since this community was tagged as monster fish keepers? While I do own some "monster" fish, I do love the small community fish as well and would bet the majority of AC members feel the same way. One member went so far some years ago to even create a poll to see how others felt. Although there were only 46 responses, it's representative of the community as a whole. See it here-
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...riaCentral-or-Monster-***********s&styleid=18
I say bring back the original AC vibe and keep MFK separate.
That poll in no way shows any intention for the AC community to break apart and there are FAR more than 46 active members here. People of course will have their favorite forum, but I didn't see anyone say anything negative about the current MAN dynamics. I myself have an account at MFK with like 5-10 posts, all from when AC had a period of excessive downtime. I hardly visit the site and only a few times lurked around APC. But in no way would I support dissolving MAN because it is a great bridge between different "niches" in the hobby. It's also probably the most fiscally responsible way to run the sites, with money flowing in from the three via the MAN store. It was also mentioned that Neo helps support a variety of hobbyist activities out there, which can only be good for the AC side of MAN. The MAN/MFK logo being used on AC hardly bothers me, and I feel like it's a very nit-picky and negative thing to bring up when we should be coming together as a community.
