A couple of words "as to my decision to join the UK reefkeeping forum scene." ...

Well, I have been on the reef forum "scene" for 14 years more-or-less. During that time I have always had a few folks from the UK that have been active on my various forums, but really not very many. Over the last three years, it has become apparent to me that there is a real difference in forums. This difference is expressed in the "attitude" of the forum to its participants (including the moderators), and it is expressed in the content of forum. The latter is very important. Poor content means dead reef animals, and reefs are dying. As examples, for all intents and purposes the Caribbean coral reef ecosystem is extinct, having been replaced by the Caribbean algal reef ecosystem; likewise all Indo-Pacific reefs are losing coral cover at the rate of about 2% per year. The hand-writing is on the wall... reefs are doomed. I think the only way many reef animals will survive is in the tanks of aquarists. Consequently, I think it is important that hobbyists learn how to properly maintain their animals, and as a scientist, I am aware that most hobbyist references are essentially useless.

So...

Last autumn I made the choice to try to get "the word" out to some sites outside of my usual haunts. To this end, I am now a moderator on the Greek forum, Aquazone.gr. After trying that for a few months, it made real sense that I should try to interact more with people I could communicate with without too much translation. I am aware I speak "American," and that that is a decidedly different language than "English." Nonetheless, the communication difficulties should be fewer than with most other languages. You (Mike) had asked me to join Reefcove some time ago, and I visited the forum as a lurker a few times to take a look at it. It seemed like it could be a good place to work, so I contacted you a few weeks ago to see if there was still some interest in having me on the team. And so... here I am.

Cheers, Ron