Spawner,
While I sincerely respect your opinion and your devotion to the betterment of collection practices, I plead with you to be more pragmatic and constructive in your responses. I mean no offense in saying that what you've suggested (demanded is a more accurate description) is unfeasible for the viability of Reefs.org. If we relied on the member donations, I assure you we wouldn't survive 2 months. And there simply aren't enough vendors willing AND able to sponsor sites such as ours, let alone vendors you’d approve of. There surely isn’t a vendor everyone approves of.
It's really a catch 22, as previously described. On one hand, we'd all like for every vendor to practice all aspects of their business ethically (whether it be livestock or dry goods). We'd prefer to be excruciating stringent on sponsor selection. On the other hand, it's vendor support that sustains our existence and provides you with a place to exchange ideas and knowledge. And the absolute truth is: there simply isn't enough vendors willing and able to sponsor Reefs.org (yes, a reiteration for emphasis). And to answer your question: yes, losing a single sponsor significantly affects our bottom line, no less a premiere sponsor (or multiple sponsors). We’d love to have rich members contribute hundreds of dollars to our resources on a monthly basis. Alas, this world we live in simply isn’t that generous. Besides, someone is likely to have reservations about particular private sponsors, in which case this issue of corruption or tainted money rears its ugly head all over again. And who’s to say you or others won’t demand termination of other sponsors for different issues?
Truth is, Reefs.org appreciates every financial support afforded us (within reason, of course). But by no means should you infer that we approve of everything our sponsors do. And by no means is our decision making process influenced by our sponsors. Rest assured, our site's mission is wholly independent of external influence. Reefs.org does everything with the best interest of our community in mind. While there may be disagreements about certain methodologies at times, be perfectly clear that our motivation and interest is solely for the betterment of our online reef-keeping family.
Again, I respect what you have to say. However, you’ve yet to extend any constructive, feasible suggestions as to how to finance this site in accordance to your code of ethics. Simply rehashing your original demand doesn’t serve much utility for us, and to be perfectly honest. Please either provide viable alternatives or refrain from further comment. This is all merely my opinion, of course (read: not a threat of administrative action).
FWIW, I’ve taken the time to review all our sponsor ads, and I find nothing to be patently false, and surely nothing that you can take to litigation. If you have issues with particular vendors regarding activities outside of Reefs.org’s domain, nothing prevents you from addressing the problem(s) to the vendor(s) yourself. Fight your good right; it’s your right. But please don’t ask Reefs.org to shoulder the financial responsibility/risk for you.
If you truly take the pragmatic approach, you should be addressing these perceived problems to vendors in question, and not Reefs.org. Terminating their sponsorships here hurts Reefs.org – and our members - infinitely more then it does the vendor you have objections to. And it doesn’t address the problem directly. You keep pleading for common sense. Well, this is common sense to me. I respect you for your zealousness, but implore you to employ more logic behind your passion (although in your defense, you really have little idea what’s involved to keep sites like ours running for our members). Remember: Battles are rarely won on rash decisions of the heart.
Thank you Tom, for being sensible about this issue. While everyone may esteem the high road, few realize the real cost required to pave this road. We live in a society governed by money and law, and while our motivation may be of something better/loftier, we’re forced to play within the rules or face extinction. I hope you can appreciate all this. And I hope you agree that having resources like Reefs.org/AAOLM/MACO is more valuable to the advancement of our hobby and industry then whatever administrative disagreements you may have.
