After being on here for a while, I think I understand better why some older posters get frustrated trying to save people from the same problems over and over and over again. I'm talking primarily about people who come to the site having already decided to buy a puppy without realizing that their breeder is disreputable. It is really hard to see so many people refuse to accept that by buying a dog from a bad breeder, they are perpetuating the cruel cycle of puppy mills and our huge shelter problem.
That being said, I think
maryeverett1 kind of got mugged. She was just trying to show off her puppies, and while some people were nice, she WAS accused of being an animal hater AND a puppy broker. That is completely over the line.
Some of it is just the internet. In real life, people tend to back off sensitive topics, and we have a whole set of facial cues and vocal tones to help diffuse arguments.
On the web, people tend to overestimate the tact of their post, AND also tend to take things more personally. So there is always a tendency for conversations to spin out of control, because everyone posting feels like, "I just said something perfectly reasonable, and this other poster attacked me out of the blue!"
I think a good rule of thumb is, if you're posting something that might be construed as critical, take time to make it nicer than you think is necessary; and if you read a post you feel is critical of you, recognize that it's probably not as personal as it seems.
I don't always follow that rule, but still, it's a good one, don't you think?
Finally, this is a big one that drives me crazy: just because someone is rude to you, it does not give you an excuse to be rude to them. You can only control the tone of your OWN posts. Give the respect you want to get.
And yes, we're all here because we love yorkies!
So no matter how crazy/rude/clueless someone might seem to be, we all have that in common.