All Members Must Read!!!

[VoodooJoint]

All of the mods have been trying for a few months now to be gentler and kinder following the complaints about us being too harsh. Obviously we have done a good job at it because there have been very few complaints except from members who either break the rules, troll or simply insist on posting inflammatory content.

Unfortunately a side effect of this have been the degeneration of the forum. The poor posting and use of chat speak has reached ridiculous levels. We tried to be nice and issue gentle pleas and reminders to post properly but we are getting ignored.

The content of the posts has reached a nauseating level of fuzzy-wuzzy-vomitinatiousness. Bad advice is running rampant.

The gallery fills up everyday with pictures of pets, petstore cages and useless photos. I empty it out and half of the people that have their pictures deleted repost them.

We have actually been receiving complaints from long standing members about the state of the forum.

I cannot speak for all of the mods or admin but as for myself I HAVE HAD IT!

Let me make this clear to all members new and old. This forum is for mature people of any age. We allow children on this forum but you are expected to write, post, debate and interact at a mature level. We will not tolerate tantrums, poor posting habits, breaking of rules or bad advice.

I will be handing out infractions like candy and maybe that will get the point across. I know how everyone hates them and I don't like giving them out either but they sure seem to get people's attention. If we get repeat offenders that do not head the warnings and points I just may start a thread to post your infractions publically. Maybe a bit of embarrassment and shame will help remind you of the rules and guidelines here.

I would also like members in chat to save any chats (using the handy save feature) if any rules are broken or bad advice is given out and forward the log onto a mod or admin. I will have no problem with banning people from chat that abuse it

I recommend that new members READ THE RULES and posting guidelines. If you are an older member it wouldn't hurt to refresh your memory.

Here are helpful links
Posting Rules
Policies & Guidelines
Principles and Philosophies

[Ly&Pigs]

This mod is also tired of the "I'm too lazy to use capitalization and/or punctuation", "I can't be bothered to read the rules and post properly", "I think I will fill up my posts with symbols or abuse the smilies", etc., etc., etc.!

I am also going to be handing out impactions to those who don't follow the rules. I don't care if you've been a member for a day, a month or a year, if you break the rules you will get an impaction.

[kittnkarr]

I just want to say Thank you !

[Trega]

Thank you so much. It is getting a bit crazy here at the forum.

[kittieb]

Thank you.

[nismosmama]

I say if people want serious and mature answers to their questions, they should act mature to begin with. And unfortunately tough love is sometimes the only way to achieve that. Thank you mods for all your hard work.

[KaceyH]

Thank you for someone speaking up.
I am XX and I think I act more mature than some people that may be because I am not new to forums though being part of them for almost every animal I have ever had.

[Res Judicata]

I want to add my thanks as well. I was about to pull my hair out reading some of these posts with their bad grammar and spelling.

[Ly&Pigs]

Well, the next time members want to moan and complain about how the mods are being so "mean" about capitalization, spelling, smilies, grammar, etc., just remember how the forum became when we tried to be a bit nicer regarding the rules.

[VoodooJoint]

Bumping this up because today alone I had to delete at least 6 petstore cage and pet pictures out of the gallery.

Since I started this thread 33 infractions have gone out. That's an average of 11 a day.

10 - Poor posting (chat speak, capitalization, fancy fonts, bold, colors, smilies, etc)
9 - Improper gallery pictures
6 - creating a second user account
3 - improper avatars
2 - posting your age (if a minor)
1 - swearing
1 - unaproved selling on the forum
1 - starting multiple, same subject, threads

Please newbies read and follow the rules. We want you to have fun and learn on the forum but we require that the rules be followed.

For those of you that got infractions, and accepted them with understanding, I thank you. Like I said before, I know you don't like getting them and the mods don't like giving them but it is appreciated when you accept your mistake and infraction and move on but most of all it is appreciated if the problem doesn't happen again.

[ellenvega]

fancy fonts, bold, colors, smilies,

Just a suggestion, but have you considered disabling some of these options? Do we really need 20 different colors and fonts to choose from? As long as they're available people are going to be tempted to use them.

[CavySpirit]

They are actually nice to use for occassional emphasis and ease of reading. I like having that flexibility in some of the posts.

[Fay]

They are actually nice to use for occassional emphasis and ease of reading. I like having that flexibility in some of the posts.

Perhaps you could enable it only for administrators/moderators and members who donate?

I have noticed people are very harsh here when you say something wrong or make a mistake even the slightest. I can understand it's necessary and not personal but sometimes it feels like everyone is out to get you. I always try my best and I never mean wrong with any of my posts but I still get commented at on a lot of my posts and things I say which can be upsetting sometimes. At which point it feels like people are angry at you and dislike you which can be very discouraging. I do know this isn't the case but I'm a very sensitive person so it does occasionally get to me. At the end I'm only trying to help and it's not my intention to post badly or make mistakes, making the jobs of the moderators harder and I'm sure a lot of other members don't mean to either.

At this point I double-check my posts about 20 times before I even dare to post it. I'm not natively English speaking so it's extra challenging and I use a dictionary 2/3 times per post on average. So I do put a lot of effort in doing it right and for example getting an impaction for spelling "U'd" instead of "You'd" makes me worried about every single post I make as there is no room for mistakes. You will notice that all my posts have been re-edited after posting because despite checking those 20 times during making and previewing I always think I found something I missed or didn't formulate good enough. It would be nice if you we're allowed a little bit of room for mistakes.

[VoodooJoint]

It would be nice if you we're allowed a little bit of room for mistakes.

You are allowed room for mistakes. We do not come after people because of one misspelled word, one missed capital I, or things like that. We will address chat speak or consistant lack of decent writing skills though.

People need to remember what I said in my first post as it has been said before many times:

"This forum is for mature people of any age. We allow children on this forum but you are expected to write, post, debate and interact at a mature level."

If you find what is written on this forum, or certain relpies you get, upsetting then you need to make sure you are responding in a mature manner and not in an emotional one. This is not a chat room for children. Not everything is unicorns and cotton candy.

[Ly&Pigs]

I have noticed people are very harsh here when you say something wrong or make a mistake even the slightest. I can understand it's necessary and not personal but sometimes it feels like everyone is out to get you.

If you are referring to correcting either misinformation or wrong information in posts, well that's part of our jobs and it's not personal in the slightest. We set high standards here on this forum to provide correct info when it comes to cavy caging and care. No one is out to get anyone.

[CavySpirit]

Perhaps you could enable it only for administrators/moderators and members who donate?

I've looked into it. It's not possible.