A forum is a means for exchanging information and opinion. In my case it was an opinion. I did not intend to offend anybody. But if I did that with Sissimore without intention, I beg him pardon. Maybe, I read the word of “keeping fish” too literally in his case. I should be happy seeing him write here again.
But we should follow the principle of expressing our opinion clearly. I have a critical opinion in respect to aquaristics: a wonderful hobby, an excellent opportunity to watch and learn, but at the same time a great business with ambivalent aspects, too. That refers mainly to the role of the hobby industry, but partly to common mentalities, too. If you investigate empirically into the motives and practices of the aquarists (and I did some years ago at the university), the overwhelming majority of them are buyers and consumers of products without much knowledge about the backgrounds. They keep fish for fun.
I am not against that, but I am somewhat relieved that – with some exceptions – heavily threatened fish are not to be purchased in the pet shops. Here, in our Parosphromenus-project, we follow much more special aims and all who log-in here are certainly aware of the problems. At least I am fully aware of that, but I am grateful that we can express very different thoughts on our subject matters and discuss it. The medium is not very conveniant for differentiated argumentaion. All must be expressed rather shortly, with a few words only. This generates misunderstandings, but it opens the way for discussion. And that’s good, isn’t it?