OK. So What Do I Do Next?

[zonker]

Saw this picture on another board. I thought those of you who also fis-h from a yak would enjoy it. Definitely not my idea of a good time but hey, whatever floats your boa-t. Said to be a Thresher Shark.

~z


[inline KayakFishing.jpg]
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[ATFISHING]

HEY Z THE YAKKERS OUT HERE IN SOCAL ARE NUTS.....THEY FISH WAY OFF SHORE FOR YELLOWTAIL, WHITE SEABASS, SHARKS, ETC. A FEW MONTHS AGO A GENTLEMAN NAMED RYAN (AKA INCORPARAL ON ANOTHER BOARD) GOT A 100 BLACK SEABASS AND SEVERAL 40 TO 50 WHITE SEABASS....TALK ABOUT BEING TOWED.

ATFISHING
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[Fishhound]

[black][size 3]Now that looks like some fun ! OK, maybe I'd pass on the shark action, but having been towed around by a rather large carp while Yak fishing, I think a tuna or some other robust fish ride would be a blast ![/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]BTW - Good Idea and I am of the same mind Zonker, I think I may also employ your alternative plan to the inline advertisement link issue as expressed below. [/size][/black]

[size 1]"This post may be edited to remove context ad links. Some mis-spell-ings or rewordings may be intentional 'cause I don't like anybody messing with my posting and filling it up with ads"[/size]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Great pic. As AT says, the SoCal boys have taken yakkin' to an otherworldly level. It is unbelievable the species and the sizes of the fish (sharks) they successfully subdue from astraddle those yaks.[/#0000ff]
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[zonker]

Fishhound,

Be my guest with the wording on the context ad thingy. If it keeps going this whole place is going to turn into one giant ad. I count 40 ads surrounding my post right now. I have no quarrel with that. Up until now the only thing without ads has been the member's posts. Putting ads in our posts is out of line as far as I'm concerned. Over the top. Unethical and invasive. Makes me feel about the same as I do when telemarketers call my cell phone.

I don't own the place so I have no say as to policy. The owners can make whatever decisions they wish. But I do and will control what I write or I won't post. We've already lost one regular poster on this forum because of this.

Boy I hate to be a rabble rouser.

z~
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[zonker]

If you wondered what the guy in the yak did with the shark, here is your answer. According to the report he "Glocked" him to sleep. That's one mean looking fishie. Gives me the willies.

z~


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[zonker]

Here's another yak-er while we're on the subject, this time being towed by a sailfish. I think I'll stay in fresh water.

z~

[inline KayakSailfish.jpg]

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[Fishhound]

[black][size 4]Hey Zonker,[/size][/black]

[size 1]Here's another yak-er while we're on the subject, this time being towed by a sailfish. I think I'll stay in fresh water.[/size]
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[black][size 3]Man now this Ad link thing is really getting out of hand when a poster writes something like "yak-er" and there turns up a link on the hyphenated suffix "er" that points to some stupid TV show like ER ! [/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]What the heck does "ER" have to do with fishing ?[/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]BTW. there has been quite a bit of disscussion on the moderators board about these new ad things. And, I will say the consensus among the moderators seems to have been negative ! [/size][/black]
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[size 3]Hang in there Zonker ![/size]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Hang in there a few days. I started a sticky post thread on the moderators board making my strong feelings on this subject known, and asking for input from other moderators. So far the response is 100% negative. Let's see what theangler does on his part. He just got back from a few days away from the boards.[/#0000ff]
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[zonker]

I'm not a moderator or I would go straight over to Tubedude's mentioned sticky section and put this there. Theangler said he wanted input, so with all due respect, here's some more.

My experience tells me that the majority of members on forums like this are lurkers, not posters. The lurkers come to read the good things created by the most productive posters. (Hello! They don't come to read the ads!) The draw is the content. The great rule for internet entrepreneurs is content, content, content. If you offend the productive posters and they go away, you're killing your content. Kill the content and the lurkers will thin out because there is little reason to come. With fewer eyeballs on the pages, there will be fewer click throughs on the ads, revenue begins to dry up. How much "testing" does it take to figure that out? How long can you offend your productive posters until they decide to leave?

When I buy a car, if the salesman puts so much pressure on me to buy that I'm not even free to think for myself, after a polite warning I "vote with my feet" and leave the idiot talking to himself on the lot. If he can't figure it out, he doesn't deserve my business. He can ignore my action, but if he continues the same thing with others he'll be out of business.

Forums are a partnership. The owner provides the space. The most productive of the posters provide the content. The owner "farms" the setup and hopefully makes a profit. All good and fine. Great setup. Given the draw provided by a good poster, I venture that one productive poster is worth many lurkers. So offending one productive poster is like offending maybe 100 lurkers. Perhaps even more. If 100 lurkers suddenly posted saying they were leaving because of the ads, it would get attention now, not later.

Again, a forum is a partnership between owners and productive posters. A productive poster is a good partner, indeed. You need to keep him/her happy within reason. If you keep stomping on your partner's feet, pretty soon you'll have no partner. No partner, no farm. No farm, no money. The powers that be need to start respecting their partners [#ff0000]now[/#ff0000] and quit stomping on their feet.

And by the way, a good, productive poster is worth more than what he/she posts at a given moment or what he/she has posted in the past. The potential of a good poster is that he/she becomes a better and better draw. You need to listen when your productive poster partners speak - especially when you see that you're offending them and killing their incentive to post.

Keep the ads out of my posts.

zonker
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[BurlSwift]

That guying being towed by the sailfish is by far the most awesome fishing picture I've ever seen.
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