My growing concern is that will we get to a point where everyone is hesitant to post fishing reports? Its easy for me to post detailed reports, as there are not many North Alabamians on the forum, and those that are, I usually fish with.</p>
Lets not forget what the Paterfamilias (Dhaun) stated in the orgininal site policy memo, its attached at the end of my message. If we don't have fishing reports, detailed or general, CFF will turn into a barren wasteland. I sure don't want that, nor do I want it to turn over to a site where we get only, "Caught 5 keepers, 19 lbs, nice day to be on the water." This is a perfect example of what happened to Bass Fishing Home Page. </p>
The question is,
how do we solve this? How do we make CFF work the way it used to? Where everyone was comfortable posting reports.
Please submit your ideas in this thread and I'll develop a poll for all Contributing Members to take, on the way to solve this problem. Of course I can't poll 25 different ideas, but I'll consolidate them into 3 or 4 options. We can see what the major stance of the contributors are.</p>
Below is David's original purpose of CFF. I don't want this site branching out from this forum. If we can't operate like this, we shouldn't be open. Lets put our brains together folks!
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If you find anything useful on CFF please leave a fishing report in return. This site is propped-up on the contributions of its members - it runs off donations like public radio. Many CFF members already understand this concept and are great contributors - I want to thank them for all they do.
I have recieved several comments and suggestions recently on the topic of fishing reports. First off I think there are plenty of great contributors here with wealth of knowledge that I really appreciate...I sometimes can hardly keep up with the reports posted. Most long-time members know this already - This post is for those who do not know yet why CFF is here.
One member mentioned that it seems like their are many CFF'ers fishing on a regular basis who rarely if ever post reports. Another said it seems like members prefer to sign on just to sell their gear or to promote their tournaments or friends businesses. That's fine since CFF is here to help with other forms of fishing & boating related information but I was reminded that it would probably be a good idea to communicate the primary purpose & intent of CFF and to reiterate why CFF exists to begin with. Some members may have no clue as to the purpose of CFF so I agree with that recommendation. So...this is a mission statement for all who visit the site, specifically to those who are new, are frequent visitors, or members who fish regularly & rarely if ever post a report. I figure I should have posted something like this over 2 years ago when the site first went online...I'm slow like that sometimes
This site is a free service for area anglers where everyone is welcome. CFF is not a profitable business. I donate my time to make it available and ask for only one thing in return. Your Fishing Reports. There is no need to ever post exact locations or compromise a fishing hole. Just basic patterns and depths on what species is biting is all that has ever been requested. There are many variables that affect fishing in this area and I am hoping that CFF may help educate me and other anglers on this long-term. Reports are all I really have time to read and I gain a lot of enjoyment from reading them when I am unable to be fishing myself. I believe your reports can also help to spread the message of conservation, provide an indicator of the health of our river system to biologists and others in TWRA who visit the site, and serve to promote the area fishery for out of town visitors.
If you like visiting this site and have gained anything useful from CFF then I respectfully ask that you please post fishing reports in return if you go fishing regularly. Each time you click on a link to visit CFF and start to read something please remember that this site is only here because of the Fishing Reports and I am hoping that you will take a few minutes to post a report of your most recent trip. I encourage everyone to thank those who frequently contribute, because they are the ones who keep CFF online and when the reports decline there will be no reason for me to maintain this site. It's a simple formula - the more reports CFF has, the greater likelihood that it will still be here in 2008.
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