A Message from the Admins and Mods

[Cassidy's Mom]

Originally Posted by LaRen616

It's because this feels like a trap. Like your waiting for us to say something wrong and then ban us. That's why no one is disagreeing right now.

Like your taunting us to come out and expose ourselves

As I pointed out on another thread, nobody has ever been banned for disagreeing with someone. If you're concerned about saying something "wrong", then choose your words more carefully. You are free to have any opinion you like as long as you state it in a way that complies with board rules. This is not a "trap" to get anyone banned.

[MayzieGSD]

Originally Posted by shepherds

You do realize I've been around since December right? I guess I'm still new but..ha...

As for the political topics discussions, I will talk to the admins/mods about it. No promises. On a site I frequent as a user, the owner added a political forums area to the site and all stuff broke loose. Wasn't a pretty sight.

Well a little drama makes things more interesting Until the religion thread came up, chat has been a little boring around here lately. Yes, I know, it's a shepherd board, but it's nice to get to know forum members better and sometimes topics like politics can really bring out your personality

[Branca's Mom]

Originally Posted by Jax08

Smartass!

One of the many reasons I am a thorn, eh?

I try soooo hard to be nice, then... out of the blue that other side of me fights its way out!

teachers pet .....

[Xeph]

I haven't been on this board much in the last year or so. Why? Because it's not the board I joined almost 5 years ago. It has sunk into petty cliques (Yes, cliques, not "clicks"...pet peeve of mine) and the same old junk that I can find on lots of other boards IMO.

Do I still read? Yes. Post? Not really.

If I were to really leave this board for good, I would post a goodbye thread, not be persuaded to stay, but I do know there are a couple of people that would want to contact me outside the board, and may want to PM me for more contact info or something.

We've lost a LOT of good people in the last few years (I think about Tracy and his crew ALL the time), and it just doesn't seem like a very healthy place to be anymore.

The debates we used to have, even when they got heated, were fun. But now we can't discuss politics. Or health care. Or or or (and yet religion is still ok...go fig).

I've never claimed nor believed this place to be a democracy (I have noticed, as have others, time and time again, that it most certainly is not), but the way the reigns have been pulled in to check the debate horses in the last couple of years put a sour taste in my mouth.

This board used to be the friendliest out of all the GSD boards, IMO. Often times it doesn't feel welcoming anymore.

It is certainly not on par with the level of BS that can go on on the PDB (though I do appreciate it as a resource, and I CAN get honest answers there about breeders instead of having to go through PMs), feeling wise it is heading that way.

It's getting old. And disappointing.

I miss the old board. Including it's old look (the OLD old look for me...like three or four years ago).

Nothing can be done about it now, but I find I don't spend much time at GSD specific forums at all anymore.

It saddens me, really.

[robinhuerta]

Are you one of those "crowned" members?...I recently read about?
BTW...whats a crowned member?

[fightin14]

Laren I may not be considered a "Bad Apple" yet, you just wait I will be on that pretend list for one reason or another before its over considering my past with forums. HAHAHAHAHA

[Branca's Mom]

Well, I think a crowned member must be a Prince or Princess or something? One day, you too can be a Princess if you stay around long enough, or make some un-godly amount of posts every day.... Dream BIG!!

[Xeph]

Crowned members are just denoted by the number of posts they have. I'm a knighted member, but it means nothing more than that I have a certain number of posts.

[Cassidy's Mom]

Originally Posted by shepherds

Can I also remind everyone that mods/admins are members as well. We have opinions, and we will state them like anyone else. It seems people assume because someone is a mod/admin that they shouldn't be allowed to express their opinions, or that they cannot "take sides" in a discussion or debate.

One person suggested maybe mods/admins shouldn't moderate the sections they are most interested in because their interest leads to impartiality. Honestly, if that is the case and we can't play in the areas we enjoy (after all, the admins/mods are assigned to moderate areas they picked because those areas match with their interests and their ability to help out the most), or we can't have opinions, we might as well remove their admin/mod status so they can enjoy the board like everyone else.

I don't think you'd have to remove anyone's admin/mod status, I'm sure most of us would step down if we had to check our opinions at the door and could no longer participate in the board other than as hall monitors.

After all, we're here because we like being here. Because each of us already spent quite a bit of time here before being asked to be a mod or administrator. Because we are welcoming to new members, or helpful when people have problems or questions, or have knowledge or experience in certain areas such as breeding, or health, or competing, or we just love the breed, or any other number of reasons. Why should we have to give that up?

If you're paid to do a job, then yes, you should be impartial. But we're not paid to do this, we're volunteers, and if we don't get to have fun here too, why on earth would anyone be willing to do it?

[robinhuerta]

Jackie.....I'll hit the spell check button next time....
I try to post correct spelling, but alas....type too fast...don't remember to hit the (check) button.