Welcome to Our New Moderator!

[jamesw]

Ladies and Gents,

I'd like everyone to give a warm welcome to our new moderator here at the Industry Behind the Hobby forum - John Brandt.

I first met John at Western Marine Conference 1998 in Seattle and we have kept in touch ever since. John is one of the few industry/hobby types that has attended each and every MACNA, since MACNA 1!!!!

For those who are interested in his background, here is John's "aquarium biography"

My earliest recollection of fish is from age three. I peered into a sunlit galvanized bucket full of minnows and was completely captivated by their beauty and movement. By age eight, I had my first aquarium and began to read everything I could get my hands on. I was fascinated with all kinds of tropical fish, freshwater and marine species.

With my enduring interest in animals, a career as a professional aquarist came naturally to me. I have now worked in the aquarium industry for 23 years. My experiences range from a goldfish in a bowl to designing, installing and maintaining marine systems over 1000 gallons. Besides marine life, my interests and studies include evolutionary zoology, philosophy of biology, cosmology, and cognitive science. I have many diverse hobbies, from collecting antique photographs to bird watching, billiards and scuba diving.

I am the Vice President of the Chicagoland Marine Aquarium Society (CMAS) ; the Marine Aquarium Council (MAC) and United States Coral Reef Task Force representative for the Marine Aquarium Societies of North America (MASNA) and the MASNA representative for (MAC) . I’m also proud to be one of three people who have been to all 14 Marine Aquarium Conference of North America (MACNA) events. I have lectured at two MACNAs and at many more CMAS meetings.

In the past few years I have been greatly involved in aquarium industry reform issues and have an active relationship with the USCRTF and MAC. I have attended and spoken at government meetings in Washington D.C., American Samoa and Puerto Rico. My recent travels to the Philippines allowed me to observe and evaluate MAC field operations firsthand.

We hope that John can help us all learn more about our hobby and industry, inject some humor and wit into our discussions, and just generally help things keep running smoothly here at reefs.org. As we all know, things can get pretty heated at times, so I'm glad we have a friendly knowledgable moderator like John.

Once again, welcome!

Sincerely,
The reefs.org staff

 

[danmhippo]

Congratulation to the moderator hat. We welcome you to lead the Industry forum, and I look forward to your perspectives of many industry related issues.

 

[Anonymous]

Congratulations, both to Mr. Brandt and to RDO for gaining such a well-qualified member.

 

[Anonymous]

my personal feelings towards j.brandt aside-i think it's quite the pity that a mac representative is now a moderator for an rdo forum

imo-you folks just took a giant step downwards

let the greenwashing begin! :roll:

 

[dizzy]

Hi John,
Welcome to the hot seat. Hopefully your skin is thick and protected by a nice insulated layer similar to the one MHA is famous for. :lol: Do you still do aquarium consulting and installation work? Or how do you get paid? I think everyone should be aware that your MAC Board seat is not salaried.

 

[mkirda]

my personal feelings towards j.brandt aside-i think it's quite the pity that a mac representative is now a moderator for an rdo forum

imo-you folks just took a giant step downwards

let the greenwashing begin! :roll:

Jeez. Give the man a chance to prove himself.

John, a bit of advice/warning/whatever:
The people in this forum are about action- Saying "We're working on that" without saying who and how and in what way is suicide.
You cannot be a MAC apologist.
It means talking about 'the warts' as you see them.
It means frank and open discussion and information exchanges.
And it means that you need to temper it all.

Good luck, my friend.
There are lots of good people here who do not trust MAC and its motives.
And yet, we are all mostly on the same side.
I really do hope you can balance it all.

Regards.
Mike Kirda

 

[John_Brandt]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the great introduction James.

Well I'm certainly rolling on training wheels right now. I've got all these cool moderator superpowers like splitting, moving, smashing, editing for the purpose of sabotage, setting on fire, etc. I feel like a Jedi without the training of Yoda. Bear with me for a while.

I have no plans of directly controlling this forum, other than the typical editing and shuffling housework. Most any topic is fair game, but a relationship to the Aquarium Trade is what makes a topic most appropriate for this forum.

I may not always be able to respond to questions promptly. I do work that takes me away from my computer, and I am traveling fairly often. Some delays in response may be because I am researching or consulting others to arrive at a more complete answer. Be patient please.

I am a perfect resource for anyone wishing to learn more about MASNA, MAC, the USCRTF and many areas of the aquarium industry. I maintain close contact with those organizations and can usually aquire and relay information in a reasonable amount of time. If you wish to make suggestions to those organizations I am willing to act as a liason within reason.

I personally don't know everything there is to know about any topic, but I'm always interested in seeking answers. I do all of this out of passion and love of the hobby and industry. None of my board of directors positions have monetary compensation.

You will quickly learn that I like to have fun. I often have a humorous, mildly sarcastic style. But I never mean anyone harm. My jokes are rarely followed with a haha or a laughing icon, but they are usually easy to spot if you are paying attention.

I sure don't want to see excessive rudeness, profanities, personal attacks, smear campaigns, public urination, acts of voodoo or excessive drinking. There's no smoking in here either, please. You can get about as exotic as you want in here as long as you keep it within reason.

Expect to be treated the same as you treat others around here. I'd like everybody to treat everybody like we're friends gathered around a fireplace.

Let's all have fun and try to learn from each other.

John Brandt

MASNA
MAC
CMAS-Chicago

 

[John_Brandt]

Hi John,
Welcome to the hot seat. Hopefully your skin is thick and protected by a nice insulated layer similar to the one MHA is famous for. :lol: Do you still do aquarium consulting and installation work? Or how do you get paid? I think everyone should be aware that your MAC Board seat is not salaried.

That is my work Mitch. And no, there is no payment for being on the board.

Thank you for the welcome. I bought fireproof head protection.

 

[Anonymous]

LOULE!! My brother-in-law has that gear...never thought about it, always considered myself a pretty tough old bird. :lol:

At least you've got a righteous sense of humor!

 

[mkirda]

I bought fireproof head protection.

Are you sure you need it for your big head, John?
You might want some flame-proof skivvies too!

{grin}

Mike

 

[naesco]

Good choice
Congrats

 

[John_Brandt]

"Sus ginoo ko! Gihimo siyang moderator??!!"

(Oh my god! They made him the moderator??!!)

 

[Anonymous]

:lol: LOULE!!!

Dang, those kids'r cute.