Hi All,

I've not been around much, been floating around different forums and working hard (dogs and the rest), but I've recently asked to be banned from a forum because of some awful behaviour from the major players in it's membership towards a young girl, who was nothing more than honest about having to sell her dog.

Some of the attacks on her were more than a bit personal and well out of order for a simple web forum post, which made me think and go back on some of the posts and PM's I've had on this board.

I had some trouble with my last dog a couple of years back and was open enough to share on this board what was going on. Without too much fuss and maybe one exception the general support I got was very good and very welcome at the time I needed it most.

I can't understand why the majority of folks on the Leerburg board are able to conduct themselves with such grace and good manners, while other boards are cursed with such moronic behaviour. I've not been around much so things might have changed and I've not seen it :-)

Is it because the Leerburg users are required to use real names in the registration, making them accountable for what they say, rather than hiding behind screen names?

Anyway after reading the old PM's etc. I thought it was time for me to say thank you to the people who's messages helped me in so many different ways.

All that best

John

John,
You hit it right on the head there - I think that the major reason for the better behavior of the forum posters here are because the site owner insists on us using our real names.

Being anonymous on the internet brings out the absolutely worse in people ( although there are a bunch of super folks here that would be great no matter what handle they went by... )

that and the website owner and moderators are intolerant of people being disrespectful.

I got booted from another board ..... I love the fact that Ed and his son are great Americans.





Edited by Connie Sutherland (11/02/2008 08:32 PM)
Edit reason: small deletion

 Quote: Debbie High

that and the website owner and moderators are intolerant of people being disrespectful.

I completely agree. Having cut my teeth years ago on a down 'n dirty political forum, I know the mods here are really good at keeping people polite and posts on topic. That they have a keen sense of humor helps. Actually, a fair number of forum members have a real gift that way. It's a nice place to hang out.

ROGER,
Read Debbie's post.


We're all great Americans here.
Randy

I've noticed that too. Leerburg by far is one of the most polite boards I've seen. I frequent several other dog related public boards and on one in particular you see some really heated debates. It seems that there anyone who doesn't side with the majority always gets shouted down and made to look like a cruel heartless monster if they so much as say "no" to their dog.

Also there are several topics on that board that seem to bring on almost certain flame wars. One example is Cesar Milan. The majority of posters there are Cesar haters. While I'm not a huge fan of his I do agree with him on some topics. Over there however just the mention that you don't outright hate the man is cause to be raked over the coals.

Another huge red flag is the mention of pack structure. Most over there think it's a complete myth and to mention the word "dominance" is to get a dozen or so PMs that should get their authors booted from any other site.

Also the mention of Ed or the Leerburg site is another hot topic. Every month or so someone posts a link to the Leerburg page on the Dominant Dog collar and a huge debate is started.

I notice here at Leerburg that the posters are a lot more tolerant of differing training styles. I've always thought part of the reason was due mostly to the fact that posters here at LB are made up more of sport dog owners. The other site is mostly pet owners.

 Quote: Matt Wyrick

I notice here at Leerburg that the posters are a lot more tolerant of differing training styles. I've always thought part of the reason was due mostly to the fact that posters here at LB are made up more of sport dog owners. The other site is mostly pet owners.

There's something to that. On boards with pet owners it seems to be more about the person and less about the dog. Personalities and feelings and, no offense meant to my gender, a lot of womanish behavior. All the free-floating emotion is really too much for me to stomach.

 Quote: Roger Kutzler

LOL I got booted from another board ..... I love the fact that Ed and his son are great Americans.

Hi Roger,

One of the things that keeps the board so civil is its ban on political and/or religious negatives. Thank you for understanding that positive statements like the one you made here (that I quoted) are the rule here.

I also wonder if our "if you're gonna post something as fact you'd better be prepared to back it up" attitude keeps the forum pretty clean.

I see more than a few dog sites where people post training concepts or ideas that have been proven wrong so many times in the past but are still presented as fact by folks that don't even train dogs, lol.