No photos allowed at LFs

[brewmaster15]

I have seen this more and more often at Petshops and LFS... signs prohibiting taking pictures. My gut reaction is usually, " well thats pretty dumb, whats the harm in a customer taking pictures? " I suspect its because the customers may post the pics on social media. That could be some pretty awesome publicity for a business if the pics are good and the subject matter is healthy.So wheres the issue? Im guessing its because theres a higher degree of chance that someone will post a pic of a sickly fish than of the healthy ones. Think about it.You could walk by 25 tanks of fish and not see anything that strikes you bad or unhealthy. .. You hit the 26th tank and the fish just looks horrendous ..its sickly, thin emaciated etc. That fish has a better chance of making it to the social media spotlight. The harm it does can be substantial.People tend to have a knee jerk reaction. They see one bad pic or read one bad review and the band wagons start filling up with the masses. Its pretty unfair when you think of it and it can hurt business like lfs and discus breeders alike when it happens.

I do think its important that things like this do happen, the bad should not be swept under the proverbial rug but it needs to be balanced. The good pics, the good reviews need to be made. People should take the time to post positive feedback on their transactions. Why? Because it balances out our perpensity to focus on the negative ones overly and puts things into perspective as to the sellers true reputation..

I think its unfortunate that places prohibit photography but I understand why.One could say that if they kept their tanks and live stock healthy it would be a non-issue.Which is true. But one could also say theres a world of difference between a hobbyist responsible for the care of a tank or two and that of a business managing many tanks and many species.

At SimplyDiscus we have feedback systems. I believe this is very important.We have Itrader which works like ebays feedback. We have sponsor boards were you can leave feedback for sellers that advertise on the forum(aka sponsors) and we have a livestock review board for feedback on any purchases of dry goods and livestock in general.I encourage you all to use them regularly.I know as a sponsor myself I want to hear about my customers experiences, Im sure my fellow sponsors do as well.


So what do you think? Do you think we tend to focus more or react more to the negative? Have you seen these no-photography allowed signs in your areas?

al