I came to this Forum 5yrs and 1 week ago as ‘newbie’, a typical newcomer with little or no idea about koi or koi keeping. I had a small pond in my garden with some goldfish etc.
The help & advice i received in the first couple of years was amazing, i still owe a debt of gratitude to those who helped me out, thank you all.
I progressed to build a bigger pond and installed a ‘proper’ filtration system and have built up a collection of koi much better than i ever thought i could possibly keep. I have grown to love this hobby with a passion far greater than the initial interest & curiosity I started with. I have made some wonderful friends and met some of the nicest people in all areas of the hobby over the past few years.
I have more recently got to a point where I am able to start giving back some of the advice; hints & tips; know-how and knowledge backed with some experience to a point where I am now one of the forum members who can be found on the volunteer helpers listvolunteers-list-t423188.htmlalong with a few other kind souls who will gladly give up their precious time to help others.
sadly , over these past few years it has not all been in the positive on this forum.There have been many instances where the forum has been dragged down into the gutter by a few individuals who seem hell bent on ruining anything to do with this great hobby, including this forum. Those individuals would do well to change their attitude or go elsewhere. They are not welcome.
Myself and a few others have stuck around mostly to help the newcomers and give something back, in spite of the troublemakers and not because of them. As long as there are always new people coming into the hobby needing others to help them find their way then that will not change as far as I see it.
I have more recently found another , much larger group of Koi Keepers who are genuinely interested in promoting the proper care; health & well being of the Koi we keep and sharing the best ways of doing so with all newcomers to the hobby, without prejudice.
That group is the British Koi Keepers Society, with its own website:http://www.bkks.co.ukand member’s forum that certainly does not tolerate the kind of behavior that would bring this or any forum to a halt, and has seen one such forum go by the wayside this month.
So, whether you are a newcomer to Koi Keeping or somebody who genuinely believes in the promotion of safe practices and good husbandry in a Social environment & is the backbone of the Show Circuit & supports the many Sections/Koi Societies in your area & around the UK, all run ‘by the members for the members’ rather than by the ‘Koi Industry’ then you could do no better thing than to join the BKKS:http://www.bkks.co.uk/index.php?option= … &Itemid=99
or contact the Membership Secretary:[email protected]
by far the best decision I made in the past 5 years of being in this hobby. 
Russell.
Last edited by bicolormoth on Fri May 27, 2011 12:58 am, edited 2 times in total.
[url=http://www.bkks.co.uk/index.php?option-com_content&view=article&id=227&itemid=99][img]http://www.koikeepers.co.uk/images/russ.jpg[/img][/url]