Joined
·
3,813 Posts
It's a chilly winter day. You don't bother wearing a jacket or coat before you drive to a store named All Things A to Z. When you arrive, you get out and walk in. You're feeling fine and not cold at all. You approach a several customers standing in close proximity, and you ask,
"Where can I find xyz?"
The mood changes. Instead of being given a direct answer, the people around you looked concerned, or even angry.
"Well, needing xyz is the least of your problems," one person says kindly. "You need a jacket first."
Another says with mild contempt in her voice, "I never leave the house without one on a day like this."
Several argue over some other letter in the alphabet.
Then another responds angrily, "Some lady at my job did what you're doing, got sick, spread it to everyone, and I ended up missing two weeks of work!"
Then yet another says "You don't need xyz. Go get abc."
A few sound nice but haven't answered your question.
Another says you can't afford xyz.
No one has bothered to tell you where in the store to find xyz.
A final one says with hate in her voice, "We don't like or want your kind around here."
Suddenly you are feeling cold.
You look around, and depending on what day when you came, there may not be a manager to help you.
But on this day, one approaches you and tries to be helpful, and asks the other customers to be respectful. The crowd is not pleased with being told this, because they only want the store to offer items A to W, not A to Z. The manager is now feeling a bit chilly too.
****
This example is a metaphor I created. It's about what many new members and some old ones since 2009 have experienced when asking questions or talking about breeding if they didn't have on that figurative jacket or coat, which is credentials and knowledge. There are no hotter or ruder threads than those.
As the new Super Moderator, I am not the metaphorical manager who can't be found. Why? Personally I can't stand disrespect of others and needless conflict. This happens in threads about breeding, simply because many members have very strong opinions about it: who should do it and who shouldn't. It's an emotional topic and for good reason: it's literally one of life, death, and potential genetic diseases for puppies yet to be born.
Poodle Forum is All Things Poodle. It's supposed to be an A to Z kind of place. Being a moderator under these circumstances has it's challenges.
Earlier this morning I pinned a new thread titled "Nearly Everything You Want to Know About The Technical Aspects of Breeding". This may make some of you wonder (or continue wondering), Has Vita lost her mind? Is she for or against well-bred poodles?
It has links that answer "how to" questions about breeding-related concerns and problems that can literally save a litter of poodles, or convince a newbie thinking about breeding to learn a whole lot more or to not do it at all after they read and see the photos of all the problems with it. They educate, and it's compelling to read.
My concern is that visitors and members can't get much information here and they're generally not received well when they do. This leaves the door open for the clueless or partially informed to take their chances in breeding their dog anyway, hoping rather than extensively learning and planning for things to go well, with too often disastrous results. Like parents of a teen who censors sex education and their kid gets pregnant, is that their fault or ours?
So members, I ask you now to offer suggestions on how to deal with this problem, which was a problem years before I heard of PF. And feedback, insight, criticisms, etc, and especially what you might do instead.
Respectfully,
Vita
"Where can I find xyz?"
The mood changes. Instead of being given a direct answer, the people around you looked concerned, or even angry.
"Well, needing xyz is the least of your problems," one person says kindly. "You need a jacket first."
Another says with mild contempt in her voice, "I never leave the house without one on a day like this."
Several argue over some other letter in the alphabet.
Then another responds angrily, "Some lady at my job did what you're doing, got sick, spread it to everyone, and I ended up missing two weeks of work!"
Then yet another says "You don't need xyz. Go get abc."
A few sound nice but haven't answered your question.
Another says you can't afford xyz.
No one has bothered to tell you where in the store to find xyz.
A final one says with hate in her voice, "We don't like or want your kind around here."
Suddenly you are feeling cold.
You look around, and depending on what day when you came, there may not be a manager to help you.
But on this day, one approaches you and tries to be helpful, and asks the other customers to be respectful. The crowd is not pleased with being told this, because they only want the store to offer items A to W, not A to Z. The manager is now feeling a bit chilly too.
****
This example is a metaphor I created. It's about what many new members and some old ones since 2009 have experienced when asking questions or talking about breeding if they didn't have on that figurative jacket or coat, which is credentials and knowledge. There are no hotter or ruder threads than those.
As the new Super Moderator, I am not the metaphorical manager who can't be found. Why? Personally I can't stand disrespect of others and needless conflict. This happens in threads about breeding, simply because many members have very strong opinions about it: who should do it and who shouldn't. It's an emotional topic and for good reason: it's literally one of life, death, and potential genetic diseases for puppies yet to be born.
Poodle Forum is All Things Poodle. It's supposed to be an A to Z kind of place. Being a moderator under these circumstances has it's challenges.
Earlier this morning I pinned a new thread titled "Nearly Everything You Want to Know About The Technical Aspects of Breeding". This may make some of you wonder (or continue wondering), Has Vita lost her mind? Is she for or against well-bred poodles?
It has links that answer "how to" questions about breeding-related concerns and problems that can literally save a litter of poodles, or convince a newbie thinking about breeding to learn a whole lot more or to not do it at all after they read and see the photos of all the problems with it. They educate, and it's compelling to read.
My concern is that visitors and members can't get much information here and they're generally not received well when they do. This leaves the door open for the clueless or partially informed to take their chances in breeding their dog anyway, hoping rather than extensively learning and planning for things to go well, with too often disastrous results. Like parents of a teen who censors sex education and their kid gets pregnant, is that their fault or ours?
So members, I ask you now to offer suggestions on how to deal with this problem, which was a problem years before I heard of PF. And feedback, insight, criticisms, etc, and especially what you might do instead.
Respectfully,
Vita