TinysMom
Well-Known Member
First of all - I want y'all to know that I LOVE this area of the forum and our many breeders who post here. I think so many of you are awesome - some of you I wish I could steal babies from (oh Polly....)...
I was talking to someone today (several someones today) about something and I really feel like I need to post it here and share with y'all.
As a moderator - I feel like I rarely ever have to edit stuff here - and I hope that when I do edit stuff I am respectful of you - if I'm not - PLEASE contact me. Ok?
But one thing I've been noticing is that many times opinions are shared on this forum (in all the areas) - but they're shared at times when they are inappropriate.
Y'all have heard me joke about how opinions are like feet- we all have them - and some stink. My husband has an addendum do that which goes "And many times they should be kept covered...".
I'm going to ask IN ADVANCE that when we get people in here who talk about wanting to breed because they want "cute, cuddly rabbits" or they're asking questions about breeding - that we try to address their questions without throwing our opinions at them. In other words - lets use facts that we know (ie. - the best ages for breeding does of certain breeds or how many kits can be in a litter, etc) - and try to keep our opinions out of it.
My concern is that if folks see us commenting in ways that they see as "attacking" another person about having baby bunnies...if they wind up deciding to breed - or if they wind up with an accidental pregnancy - they may not feel comfortable coming to us for help.
So much of our focus needs to be on education...and helping.
I'm sharing this partly because I'm going to be mentoring some young breeders that may be joining soon - and by many of our standards they've done everything wrong. No pedigreed animals - didn't know what they were doing, etc. etc. They're like 12 or 13 or whatever (but they do have the support of their parents).
I would hate to see them come on here - share their experiences - and then leave here because they've been hurt by our "opinions" and how they did things wrong.
I look at some people on here who have come a long way - one person who comes to mind is Misty. We've seen how she came on here with questions and yes - I'm pretty sure sometimes I was pretty rough on her....but she's learning and growing and I keep thinking about her changes and meaning to drop her a pm and say, "you go girl".
I've seen this in some of our other breeders - some of whom I've had a hard time with in the past.
But because they stuck with us - they've learned and they've grown.
So please - I'm going to ask that in the future - even if we want to tear our hair out because person X wants to mix breeds A & D to get purple bunnies with pink polka dots and green stripes .... that we try to keep our emotions out of it...and stick to the facts of how we can help them. Sometimes our job is to help them understand why something won't work - and sometimes it is to help them because even though they are making choices we don't understand - we care about the rabbits.
And with that said - I'm off to get my hard lemonade (its been a hard day here)...and go to bed.
I really do appreciate y'all. I hope you know that. This is just something that has been on my heart for a couple of weeks....and I felt like I HAD to get it out before I go to bed tonight.
I was talking to someone today (several someones today) about something and I really feel like I need to post it here and share with y'all.
As a moderator - I feel like I rarely ever have to edit stuff here - and I hope that when I do edit stuff I am respectful of you - if I'm not - PLEASE contact me. Ok?
But one thing I've been noticing is that many times opinions are shared on this forum (in all the areas) - but they're shared at times when they are inappropriate.
Y'all have heard me joke about how opinions are like feet- we all have them - and some stink. My husband has an addendum do that which goes "And many times they should be kept covered...".
I'm going to ask IN ADVANCE that when we get people in here who talk about wanting to breed because they want "cute, cuddly rabbits" or they're asking questions about breeding - that we try to address their questions without throwing our opinions at them. In other words - lets use facts that we know (ie. - the best ages for breeding does of certain breeds or how many kits can be in a litter, etc) - and try to keep our opinions out of it.
My concern is that if folks see us commenting in ways that they see as "attacking" another person about having baby bunnies...if they wind up deciding to breed - or if they wind up with an accidental pregnancy - they may not feel comfortable coming to us for help.
So much of our focus needs to be on education...and helping.
I'm sharing this partly because I'm going to be mentoring some young breeders that may be joining soon - and by many of our standards they've done everything wrong. No pedigreed animals - didn't know what they were doing, etc. etc. They're like 12 or 13 or whatever (but they do have the support of their parents).
I would hate to see them come on here - share their experiences - and then leave here because they've been hurt by our "opinions" and how they did things wrong.
I look at some people on here who have come a long way - one person who comes to mind is Misty. We've seen how she came on here with questions and yes - I'm pretty sure sometimes I was pretty rough on her....but she's learning and growing and I keep thinking about her changes and meaning to drop her a pm and say, "you go girl".
I've seen this in some of our other breeders - some of whom I've had a hard time with in the past.
But because they stuck with us - they've learned and they've grown.
So please - I'm going to ask that in the future - even if we want to tear our hair out because person X wants to mix breeds A & D to get purple bunnies with pink polka dots and green stripes .... that we try to keep our emotions out of it...and stick to the facts of how we can help them. Sometimes our job is to help them understand why something won't work - and sometimes it is to help them because even though they are making choices we don't understand - we care about the rabbits.
And with that said - I'm off to get my hard lemonade (its been a hard day here)...and go to bed.
I really do appreciate y'all. I hope you know that. This is just something that has been on my heart for a couple of weeks....and I felt like I HAD to get it out before I go to bed tonight.
