I’m about to get on a bit of a soapbox here, but hang tight and hear me out.
POND Trade was hacked about a month ago. Some devious person got into my account and sent out a bogus invoice to many of my advertisers and subscribers. I’m so sorry if you were affected by this! Not only were they clever enough to send out a bill and hope to pilfer money from the water feature community, but they also diverted my incoming emails! So while I normally might have noticed something was off pretty quickly, I was left in the dark and unable to do anything about it. What a pain!
Luckily, we eventually fixed the issue and secured our server once again. Everything is back to normal, but ugh — if you’ve ever been hacked, you probably know exactly how I felt.
OK, soapbox time. Why can’t people just go out and try to earn an honest living, like you and I are doing? What drives someone to steal information and money from other innocent people? Just think of what these would-be crooks could do if they just focused their time and efforts on building up their own (legitimate) business instead of trying to cheat other folks?
One of the keys to running any honest operation is staying informed and up-to-date on industry trends, whether it’s cybersecurity or the latest innovations in the field. That’s where we come in. This issue in particular is really diverse, from pond and water-management basics to new and exciting trends in aquaculture.
Liners, for example, are part of Pond Building 101, but Freddie Combas presents and explains all the acronyms involved, making it easier to choose which type of pond liner is best for your application. I personally enjoyed the cover story, Native Planting Revive Wet Meadow Ecosystems, and John Mark Courtney’s rundown of native wetland plants. Speaking of plants, we have a hydroponics feature by Ken Rust, who breaks down some of the popular types of food-growing systems. You won’t want to miss John Magyar’s profile of a koi pond sanctuary outfitted with bonsai trees. We’re also happy our Best Pond Practices segment is back! Kent Wallace has a dazzling desert water wall and koi pond build to show you.
