Well well, This has certainly gotten a bit out of hand!!! Honestly, I really am not sure who to side with on the matter because I can see the view points of both arguments. I suppose I will just ramble my thoughts. Its been a long day, thunderstorms took out the power, its past my usual bed time and Im feeling the strain! Just what I love logging onto after a crazy day
Anyway, firstly I want to share one experience I had some time ago on a bird forum. I joined it when I use to have my love bird Houdini, because like the rest of us, when we get new pets we wanna talk about it and share them with the world! Now, I consider myself a fairly reasonable and responsible person, this forum quickly because what I can best describe as "boot camp" for love bird owners. It seemed like every turn that I took on that forum someone was hounding me to get my bird to see a vet when there was no real concern at all for my pet! A simple question would lead into "experts" pushing their advice on me. If I wanted to be appart of the club, well then I had better do what they say and asap! Long story short, I got irritated fairly quick and told them off in my diplomatic way and was shunned for acting like I "didn't care" I was giving a warning by the moderators, and I promptly told them Id keep speaking my mind just like the rest of them, and if they didn't like it, they could ban me. And well, they did.
Probably not something to be proud of, but this experience, and other not so great experiences on hamster forums prompted me to make a website forum community about hamsters that had the ideal atmosphere I wanted that everyone could appreciate. One that didn't feel to stuffy, or bossy, or clique-ish. I can sympathize with Sarah in this instance as I have been there. I think that perhaps it would be wise to "push" our views on someone we thought the hamster wouldn't best be off with, for example...if we knew that Sarah had problems in the past, and had a recored of miss treated animals. But we simply don't have that. So isn't it fair to assume that she indeed knows what shes doing? What ever happened to giving someone the benefit of the doubt? The fact shes is here on the forum, shows her interests and desire in seeing hamsters treated properly and sharing it with others.
On the other hand, I recognize that there are many irresponsible owners out there, and that not everyone has the common sense we'd like them to have when it comes to any animal. We animal lovers have a sort of maternal instinct when it comes to their wellbeing. Most of us are here because we feel a need to educate people, to protect hamsters we haven't even seen! We like to know they are living out happy lives. I can see how people would be concerned, especially since many have had their own experiences and are quite knowledgeable in their own right. I don't believe any body's intentions were meant to come off in a rude way. But where does one draw the line? when do we respectfully agree to disagree and leave it at that.
Ive been at this a long time, that is to say speaking with people over the internet. One can generally tell if something is truly wrong with a person, there are ways it shows in chat. I don't think anyone here shows anything other then great intelligence and integrity when it comes to their beliefs and love for hamsters. Id hate to see anyone leave the forum over a disagreement. Ideally id like to see people express their concerns, but leave it at that then turning it into a heated debate.
Us mods try and keep track of these things, but we cant always be at the computer, especially if our power goes out!
Sometimes these threads get a bit out of hand before we even find them.
Re: A Rescue Called Phoebe
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