Whats the mfk crash???
- Thread starter MatteoTheEnder22
- Start date
This is what people are talking about when they talk about the crash.
I overly dramatize it by referring to it as the Great Server Crash of May 2015. This was the event that broke MFK and came danger close to killing it. I dramatize it in this manner because everything in this community can really be broken down into before the Crash and after the Crash.
In May of 2015, we were using an old version of vBulletin, we were hosted on old servers and the app we were using was ten years old and no longer supported. The problem began in May when the servers started struggling to handle the load of activity. We'd have periodic outages from time to time. Not enough to break the forum, but enough to disrupt people's use of the forum. By the time June rolled around however, we started having major server crashes that would put the site down for days at a time.
When we eventually got the server issue fixed, everything had changed. We were forced to update the software of the forum itself, which killed off the app, as the 2005 era app software was incompatible with the new xenforo forum software.
By the time we had brought MFK through the painful and long process of getting servers, updating our software, and becoming stable again, roughly a month had passed and most of MFK's community had left to Facebook to try to get a fish fix.
Once that diaspora happened, MFK lost its de facto monopoly on the fish hobby. Fortunately though, we were able to retain our position as a keystone part of the hobby by using the social media outlets to raise awareness of our survival rather than attempting to compete with them. As a result of that, there is now a de facto new third leg to the Administration team of the Monster Aquaria Network along side of MFK and AC that is focused on social media content which is currently being led by
Gr8KarmaSF
as our Social Media Manager.Without the utter monopoly on the fish hobby, MFK was forced to adapt and grow over the past five years in order to survive. It is a very different place than that which it was before. The level of traffic is roughly the same as pre Crash levels, but the level of activity is still down. This is an unavoidable consequence of what was formerly traffic that belonged almost exclusively to MFK being scattered to the winds throughout MFK, Facebook, IG and other social media outlets now.
Combine all of THAT with the fact that the Crash took place at a time when the economy had only just really started to recover meaningfully after the 2008/9 Great Recession, which had served to severely restrict the money coming into the hobby, and it was unavoidable that MFK would not survive the tribulations of the first half of the last decade unchanged. If one goes back and reviews the activity from the past, it is fairly obvious that the quantity of threads started dropping off most quickly in the 2010 economic valley. By the time 2015 had happened, the MFK landscape had already contracted exponentially, but it was based on a stable cadre of experienced MFKers who served as the backbone of the community. The Crash of May 2015 broke that backbone.
There's a solid argument to be made that MFK is diminished from what it used to be. MFK in the old days really was about a tank size more than a mindset; and no one can deny that that it has changed. Far fewer people can afford that tank size these days. I can understand why some say that change to our hobby isn't for the better, and I understand and kind of agree.
Still though, MFK did what it had to do in order to survive. The US and world economies have changed on very fundamental levels since the Recession, and MFK wasn't immune to that. There just isn't as much money for giant tanks, and I expect the current economic environment won't help the fish hobby get back to giant tanks any time soon. MFK has changed, right along with the rest of the world, but we're still here. Rather than focusing on the success of a giant tank, we're focusing on the mindset that leads to the creation of that success.
Hence, MFK is a mindset, not a tank size.
I hope that we as a community can continue to grow and do great things, and eventually encounter another golden age for our community as MFK and the world recover and grow together.
IMO, that was/is the real issue, and what had the greatest impact on MFK. FB, IG, and YouTube gained what we lost. And it was a major loss at the time, no question about that. Add to that everything else that you described, along with real life, (marriage/work/kids/death/etc) and the end result was a major hit to the pre-crash membership, and pre-crash forum activity.
Yes, and no. For many it never was about having a "monster" tank, this really came down to the part of the forum that one visited, and the species of fish that they kept. I can recall some fairly monster sized cichlid tanks in the past, but it certainly didn't reflect what the average member owned, for cichlids. But the information being shared, was "monster", and not found on most other forums. That's where MFK truly shined, it was and to me always will be about the quality, not the quantity. That's more than just a mindset.
But I agree, that part of this site has also changed quite a bit over the years, again, for all the reasons that you stated. In todays world not a lot of people are building 50K gallon tanks in their free time. Thank god for folks like Viktor,
thebiggerthebetter
who are still active in this part of the hobby. I may not keep the same types of fish, but I thoroughly enjoy following his adventures.So we adapt with the times, and change where change is needed. It seems to be working thus far, thanks to those working behind the scenes - to which we all owe a great debt of grattitude for the countless and often thankless hours of work they have dedicated to keep this ship afloat. Thank you!
I agree with what is said here. I have visited many other forums over the years and very few can compete with MFK in terms of quality information, the closest being on niche topics or particular groups of fish or specifically aquascaping.es, and no. For many it never was about having a "monster" tank, this really came down to the part of the forum that one visited, and the species of fish that they kept. I can recall some fairly monster sized cichlid tanks in the past, but it certainly didn't reflect what the average member owned, for cichlids. But the information being shared, was "monster", and not found on most other forums. That's where MFK truly shined, it was and to me always will be about the quality, not the quantity. That's more than just a mindset.
But I agree, that part of this site has also changed quite a bit over the years, again, for all the reasons that you stated. In todays world not a lot of people are building 50K gallon tanks in their free time. Thank god for folks like Viktor, .avatar--xss { width: 21px; height: 21px; line-height: 21px !important; margin-right: 2px; }
So we adapt with the times, and change where change is needed. It seems to be working thus far, thanks to those working behind the scenes - to which we all owe a great debt of grattitude for the countless and often thankless hours of work they have dedicated to keep this ship afloat. Thank you!
I think it is time for some revision of information, I am currently neck deep in rewriting and updating polypterus information that is about 10 years old and I encourage anyone with a few hours of spare time to have a crack at. I wrote this thread as a bored 16 year old: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/african-knife-fish-2-1.695091/
Go dig up some science on Google scholar or other sites or compile information, MFK can always add more!
Wait...you mean, if I don't have an actual clue about a topic...I'm not supposed to spout off on it with some nonsense I read on the internet the previous day? Even if I qualify it with cutesy-poo disclaimers like "My understanding is..." or maybe "I've heard that..."???
You're actually supposed to respond based on stuff you have actually done yourself???
Wow...I've been going at this all wrong. Who knew?
Ive definitely given people advice without having kept a certain fish myself, but usually have had at least some experience with it supported by actual research and a couple decades of being around aquaria.
The flip side to what youre suggesting is that a lot of threads will simply go unanswered and ignored. We have some great aquarists with lots of experience here but they can't or wont be bothered to answer every single query at all times.
My response was a bit tongue-in-cheek, and in any case the problem doesn't seem nearly as evident here on MFK as on other forums I've visited or frequented. I also did not mean to suggest that an educated opinion needs to be based upon specific experience with an individual species of fish. But the internet in general is blessed with a certain population of folk who feel that the entire world is entitled to hear what they have to say, so they will say something whether they know the answer or not. If a new aquarist (or newcomer to anything) asks a question and the first answer he receives is blatantly incorrect, it's quite possible that he will be worse off than if he had gotten no reply at all.
Anyone who reads a question...anywhere, about anything...knows very well whether or not he is qualified to answer it definitively, or at least provide an opinion based on solid facts and/or related experience. Those people who can't give a relevant answer know darned well that they can't; remaining silent in a case like that might be the wisest course of action.
Anyone who reads a question...anywhere, about anything...knows very well whether or not he is qualified to answer it definitively, or at least provide an opinion based on solid facts and/or related experience. Those people who can't give a relevant answer know darned well that they can't; remaining silent in a case like that might be the wisest course of action.
Love the MFK history only really got into it a month ago and love the site props to all the admins
