CCA Membership

[Acpape0]

Membership is a reoccurring theme on the market place forum. There are many who believe everyone should be a member. Some who are indifferent on the subject. There are hundreds of opinions on this topic. My wish for this thread is for it to be a place to voice your opinion. Why you joined/ renew, Buyers remorse, joy of membership. Why you don't want to join. Pretty much anything on the subject.

My opinion / story:
So I found about this forum by searching for cichlids for sale in md on google. I have never been to big on forums , to many pompous desk jockeys , but I gave this one a try... Worst case was cheap high quality fish locally. I came to the forum for the market place. I did not join the club for the marketplace but we will get to that. When I first started here I was put off by what seemed as pressure to join. I almost left this forum for that reason but after privately chatting with a few great members I decided to stick it out. A few weeks later, after getting help, chatting, lurking, and other things I decided to go ahead and join. I figured there are a lot of pretty cool people here, most of which are local, that I could network with. The HOT discount would pay for the membership anyways so what did I have to lose. When I went to my first meeting with the club I started to understand that some of the people I thought were a**holes real were not. They were just trying to grow something they love and invest a lot of effort into. (To be honest : My opinion on some may not have changed ) I got some great fish and deals at my first meeting. In my opinion it was a great deal and I proud to be part of the club now. I guess it officially makes me a fish geek but oh well. There is no buyers remorse here. I have met some great people thanks to the club. There is no buyers remorse here

Please leave this thread in market place that way we are more likely to get non members opinions on the subject and maybe a membership or two out of it.


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[Andrewtfw]

For me, joining was a no brainer. CCA provides a means of developing long lasting friendships while helping to grow the fishkeeping hobby. Some of the most important people in my life were met through joining CCA.

 

[zackcrack00]

For me, joining was a no brainer. CCA provides a means of developing long lasting friendships while helping to grow the fishkeeping hobby. Some of the most important people in my life were met through joining CCA.

I totally agree. I met other fish-lovers MY AGE! And, it's not just that I made friends, I made a BEST friend. Just from joining the CCA community. I've learned so much from everyone here, made many friendships, and bought more fish than I knew what to do with. So CCA isn't just a club to me, it's like one big family of people helping people with whatever, whenever they can. And that's pretty awesome.


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[TMSB805]

I joined because I wanted to sit next to the cool kids at lunch.

 

[rich_one]

I spent a lot of time lurking and reading threads, haunting the Marketplace. After several friendly PMs back and for with a former member named DQ Newton (Uncleruckus), I finally attended a meeting, went on a road trip with a few other very cool guys (ironically, all no longer around... Caleb (minifoot) and Mike (Danger_Chicken). Now, I enjoy the meetings and friendships with like-minded folks, and $20 a year is an insane bargain for that, as far as I'm concerned.

-Rich

 

[daninmd]

I joined because it was only $20, allowed participation in group buys and most importantly to support the club. it costs money to run a club. not only for meetings, etc but to operate and maintain a website. even if I never went to a meeting, I would pay the $20 just for use of the forum and the marketplace.

 

[b considine]

Agree

CCA provides a means of developing long lasting friendships while helping to grow the fishkeeping hobby.

What Andrew said. Cichlids aren't my cuppa, but CCA provides a wealth of information applicable to other fish interests. I've learned much over the time I've been a member. The other stuff, such as group buys, is just icing on the cake.

Blaise

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

I've been a member of CCA for over 5 years now, and I know my money goes to a good cause every year. I actually attended a meeting and became a member before I knew about the forum (I found the club through craigslist surfing). Honestly the forum can be fun and informative, but I get so much more out of the meetings and club gatherings. I served on the board for a year, helped run the ACA we hosted, took lead roles in the past 2 Aquamanias, and helped at other events.

Honestly, I think its one of those things where you get out what you put in. There is so much more to the club than just buying and selling fish, though that is a nice perk. As others have said, I've made some great friends through the club, including the best man for my wedding. I enjoy hanging out with people at the Stained Glass Pub as much as I like going to the meetings, and we've always had great speakers.

Other perks to membership:

Participation in group buys including discounts
Participation in Photo of the Month Contest
Discounts at local fish stores
Summer picnic, Holiday Party and other club events

The club has a lot to offer, its up to each individual what they want to participate in. I'd give up the forum before I'd give up the meetings, something to be said for talking to people in person. I'm sure there are other benefits I'm missing, but its worth $20 to find out whats there, and if you don't think you got your money's worth, you're not obligated to renew.

 

[Thai]

Other local clubs I'm on you have to be a paid member to even participate in the marketplace.

 

[Greengirl]

I just love all the new friends I've made and the new fish I have seen. I felt like the odd one out among my other friends and family because they didn't really understand why I love fish so much. They are like living art to me, as well as companions with personality. It was so nice to discover I am one of many who love fish and I have always felt welcomed among you.

 

[festaedan]

The pros of having a member ship for the club completely out whey the cons. If you participate in the group orders and use your membership card for discounts at the lfs it payes for itself in no time. When I joined I knew next to nothing about fish. I had a 55 with an oscar and a 10 gallon comunity tank but I have learned so much from all of the nice members here and the number of tanks and variety of fish I'm keeping have drasticly grown since I joined the club. I've also gotten many rare and unusual fish in the auctions and from fellow members. But really the best part was getting to meet people who love fish just as much or more than I do. Im a really shy person as most people who have met me know but everyone has been very inclusive and nice to me since the day I joined and really, in my opinion that is worth much more than the $10 I payed to join.

 

[spazmattik]

Some people may suggest ("pressure") others to join because it honestly has to be a little frustrating for the people that really get involved in leading/organizing and making this community work. (Of course it is up to everyone to pitch in on that) Put yourself in their shoes... Imagine you host a party with a keg. You set up a jar for donations at the door and have people bring appetizers or whatever. As an organizer of this, you would most likely be frustrated to see people that come in, eat / drink / leave but never bring a dish or leave money in the jar. Just a simple analogy..

Personally I was never pressured to join. I heard about aquamania 1 through MFK and from there met Tony and Matt. Matt handed me a flyer to check out the forum/meeting and I got into a more detailed conversation with Tony about it. I joined maybe a month or so later after checking it out. No regrets. Little did I know a year from then I would be involved in helping a little with AM2.

As far as personal gain, benefits have already been explained. Fact of the matter is some people are just along for a free ride. I really can't see why you wouldn't join. You can either join to benefit yourself with discounts at stores, group buys... or you can join for the satisfaction of knowing you contributed to something bigger than just your personal gain, you contributed to a community. But hey, if that money is really that big of a deal, go ahead and buy yourself those 19 McChickens. Have fun with that. * drops the mic* lol

 

[dogofwar]

It’s probably a bad idea to weigh in here, but I will anyway.

I feel so lucky to have found a hobby that has kept me entertained and enlightened…for over 30 years now! Joining the local fish club was one of the first things that I did when my family moved to this area (from California) in 2007. I remember Francine welcoming me with a hug at my first meeting and the kindness and sharing of so many club members over the years. I remember the outpouring of help when we had a chimney fire a few years ago. I’ve met some of my very best friends because of CCA.

A couple of weekends ago, (former CCA President) Tony and I ran the Tough Mudder in Virginia. Many of the obstacles were not possible to accomplish alone (except maybe by Tony’s brother). They required people at the top (or the bottom or both) to assist others. This is why the Tough Mudder isn’t a “race” – finishing first probably means that someone took help from others on obstacles and didn’t provide any in return. To keep people flowing over obstacles and to prevent back-ups, some people took many turns as helpers, smiling as they assisted dozens of appreciative folks. There’s no written rule that one must help x number of people on the Tough Mudder, but it’s in the culture of the event. It’s a way that Tough Mudder differs from lots of other events.

The same is true of an all-volunteer organization like CCA. We all have our motivations for participating but the bottom line is that the organization – and all of the benefits it provides - will cease to exist without active contribution (including but not limited to $20 per year membership) from the people who gain benefit from the club.

The club IS the sum of our contributions, which is why supporting the club is a virtuous circle: the more you give (via dues, quality forum contributions, donating fish and supplies, bringing food for meetings, recruiting new members and sponsors, volunteering at events, ensuring that info about the club is posted at LFS and forums, participating in BAP, CARES, running bags at auctions, helping with meeting sign-in, cleaning up your mess at meetings, community outreach projects, doing short “my fishroom” or BAP presentations, mentoring new hobbyists, supporting conservation and research efforts around cichlids and their habitats, getting a table at the swap meet your club has organized vs. doing parking lot deals, holding a club board or committee member position…and a million other ways), the more that the club can do for our members, our community and for our hobby.

We have grown CCA to become one of the pre-eminent clubs in the nation. I have the benefit of having been a member and participant in fish clubs since the 1980s and have seen clubs come and go. Our club is so much more than a forum and so much more than buying and selling stuff. To me at least, it’s unfortunate that so much of the focus seems to be on the Marketplace and deal-making. While they’re good indicators of activity, numbers of clicks, posts, members and dollars in the bank (we’re solid on all three, by the way), the health of the club is about more than these things.

Long story short, we can – and should – all contribute in various ways to our club, monetarily or otherwise. Contribution is not something that we – people who gain benefit from the club – should place on a few but EXPECT from all.

Matt

 

[neut]

Well, consider me an outsider if you like but here's my deal. First thing I found was the forum, not the marketplace. I liked the idea of a forum and/or club based in my region, though I'm something like five hours west of DC. At the time I registered on the forum I had notions of coming into town for an occasional meeting, but my plate has become so full with other matters that it's never really been feasible.

For many years I did a lot of fish breeding, so the thought also occurred to me it might be a platform for trading fish, etc. But for a variety of reasons where other matters in life take precedence, I've cut back on tanks and spend as little time on fish breeding as I probably ever have in the hobby. I still have multiple tanks and still do some breeding, but on a much smaller and more casual scale.

What got me started to post on forums at all, as opposed to occasionally reading something I'd googled, was a particular forum where I couldn't resist the temptation to register and answer someone's question on something. To make a long story short, from there I was eventually invited to be a mod or Admin on that and several other forums, to the point I eventually started turning it down because I have many other interests and only so much time to spend on fish forums.

Excepting two fish forums where I'm still an admin, these days I generally only post on this and one other cichlid forum and only when there's a subject that interests me or if I feel I might be able to help someone. Same goes for the marketplace, whether here or anywhere else. Out of curiosity I'll take a quick look but only click if there's something interesting to me and I rarely ever buy that way. Here I've made exactly one fish buy in four years and never posted fish for sale. Not that I'll never offer fish here, maybe even soon, as long as the marketplace remains welcome for use by all forum members. But I'm hardly profiteering from the CCA marketplace, not by any stretch of the imagination.

As far as my opinion of some of the characters here, can't say I've made any particular judgments, other than some are somewhat opinionated, but so am I and you get that anywhere. It doesn't necessarily tell you much about whether you'd like someone in person. In life some of my best friends have been people I disagreed with on a lot of things, only to find there were some important fundamentals we did agree on. I'm all for a spirited discussion, not afraid to argue something out to reach an understanding or conclusion, even if the conclusion is that we disagree. My only thing is people should be civilized enough to be civil. It's not that hard.

So, for me the question of club membership is simple pragmatism. If I lived closer and had the time, good chance I'd be a member and be at some of the events. It would be something I'd enjoy if I had the opportunity, but it's just not feasible at this stage. Contributions for contributions sake? That's a personal matter and I reserve the right to choose my own priorities in that respect.

 

[Raven20]

I wasn't going to comment on this thread, but after the threats of being banned this morning from a certain Administrator for something I still don't understand, I have mixed feelings about the club now. I've met a few nice guys thru the club and bought and sold some nice equipment , I was on the fence about attending some meetings because its a bit far from where I live, after the beat down I received this morning, I know I wont attend the meetings now. I still haven't received my membership card yet. Maybe I'll just be an onlooker from now on, and probably won't renew the membership.

 

[Digital]

I signed up now. Valid point that I've saved the $20 many times over from the members of this club that sold me fish at very fair prices.

Digital

 

[Avatar]

Spawn 'til you die

I guess it officially makes me a fish geek but oh well.

There are far worse things in life. And where else does one get to practice engineering and natural selection on a daily basis?

 

[Becca]

There are far worse things in life. And where else does one get to practice engineering and natural selection on a daily basis?

Sam, you're back!

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[garganoth]

Is this membership only for a certain area? I'm in socal but doesn't seem to be a lot on here in my area. If someone could help me out I'd really appreciate it!

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[dogofwar]

Yes - CCA is an actual cichlid club based in Maryland.

We have monthly meetings, an annual weekend event (convention), member BBQ and Holiday Party. There are clubs in SoCal...but not as good as CCA

Matt

Is this membership only for a certain area? I'm in socal but doesn't seem to be a lot on here in my area. If someone could help me out I'd really appreciate it!

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