Masa / Rtaw - A Vendetta Against The Reefuge?
Hello everyone,
EDIT: For the sake a clarity, the reason I am posting this here is because MASA is an authority figure in the hobby. Doing what I believe they are doing is information that should be known to hobbyists and businesses in the hobby. It was a difficult decision to make. On one hand I did not want to talk about another sites politics here. On the other, the information is important for users to know.
Before we start, I would like to say that The Reefuge is a MASOV member.
For your convenience, a link and a copy of their (MASA/RTAW) mission statement is provided below.
The reason for this post is because I believe that the people responsible running the message forums (Reefing The Australian Way) are in breach of their own mission statement.
This would normally not be a concern for private message forums (like most online forums), however, it is not unreasonable to conclude that MASA/RTAW could be deceiving their members by stating what their organisation represents and aims to do, but does something else. My issues arise that they are a society representing their members in Australia and not sticking to their own mission. Not how they run their site.
The issues are separated in the posts below. First, we will start off with censorship of the reefuge account on RTAW.
EDIT: For the sake a clarity, the reason I am posting this here is because MASA is an authority figure in the hobby. Doing what I believe they are doing is information that should be known to hobbyists and businesses in the hobby. It was a difficult decision to make. On one hand I did not want to talk about another sites politics here. On the other, the information is important for users to know.
Before we start, I would like to say that The Reefuge is a MASOV member.
For your convenience, a link and a copy of their (MASA/RTAW) mission statement is provided below.
Source: http://www.masa.asn.au/masa/about_masa.html
The Mission of the Marine Aquarium Societies of Australia Incorporated is;
- To act as an information resource for all Australian marine aquarists, whether part of a marine aquarium society or not.
- To bring the marine aquarium hobby together within Australia, to allow growth and sharing of knowledge and expertise.
- To work with all relevant organisations, both national and international, in order to;
- Educate, inform, and support best practises for sustainability, and
- Encourage captive propagation and thereby encourage advances in marine aquarium husbandry and further reduce collection impact on the environment.
- To offer assistance to hobbyists in the establishment and ongoing administration of local marine aquarium societies.
- To actively promote sustainable practices in the hobby, including, but not limited to:
- captive propagation, both recreationally and commercially, and
- drastic reductions in mortality rates during collection, handling and holding of animals within the commercial sphere of the hobby.
- To act as a political voice at both a state and federal level on issues pertaining to marine aquarium keeping.
- To provide common online resources to enhance the feeling of community amongst reef keepers.
The reason for this post is because I believe that the people responsible running the message forums (Reefing The Australian Way) are in breach of their own mission statement.
This would normally not be a concern for private message forums (like most online forums), however, it is not unreasonable to conclude that MASA/RTAW could be deceiving their members by stating what their organisation represents and aims to do, but does something else. My issues arise that they are a society representing their members in Australia and not sticking to their own mission. Not how they run their site.
The issues are separated in the posts below. First, we will start off with censorship of the reefuge account on RTAW.
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