[Marhcarter]

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom

We've been getting an increasing amount of complaints about how people are being treated in this section. We truly need ALL members who post in here to take a good honest look at their posts in this section and then decide if they could do better in helping both people and dogs.

Please review these snippets of YT policies and rules (entire list here):

1. Please be civil and do not personally attack members, their opinions, their knowledge, or how they care for their dog. It is NOT acceptable to call any member a troll, a pot stirrer, or a bully. If you disagree with a member's post - you must reply respectfully; if unable to do so, you should not post. YT will not allow rude, snide, or disrespectful remarks towards fellow members. If you have only criticism and nothing constructive to add to a thread - then DO NOT POST. If you have ongoing conflict with a member, you may place them on your ignore list. It is not allowed to publicly declare whether a member is placed on 'ignore' - any posts stating such will be deleted and could result in consequences.

2. New members will be treated with respect, patience, and extra understanding. All yorkie owners at YT were “new” at some point; new members come to YT hoping to learn about their dogs and they want some support, patience and kindness while learning and sharing. If you are a member who cannot offer patience and understanding to new members or during sensitive topics, then you should not post on applicable threads. If you break this rule - your posts will be deleted, your access to the applicable section(s) may be removed for up to 30 days or indefinitely, and/or you will be suspended.

3. If your personal interactions are deemed problematic, attacking, badgering, snarky/snide or anything similar, (via forums, PMs, chat etc.), your account may be suspended for 1-4 weeks. If you try to circumvent this by creating another account, both accounts will be PERMANENTLY BANNED. For more serious offenses, you may be banned from YT immediately, rather than suspended. If a member causes ongoing problematic issues in a certain section of YT, we may disable the member's access to that section for 1-4 weeks; if it continues, access will be removed indefinitely.

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Hopefully, that makes it pretty clear. Can we do better? Thoughts? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Well said. I found this forum because I had questions about some behavior of my dog and while i just read a lot that night and didn't post my problem asking for advice (I took him emergently to the vet), I have discovered this site is chock full of knowledgeable people. I have a low threshold for stupidity and ignorance, but to help people like this, we have to be constructive, not critical. We can phrase answers to stupid questions in ways that are not ugly even while we bite our tongues. Just because you think it doesn't mean you have to say it. I know my brain-mouth filter is broken at times, but as this is a written forum, it gives you a chance to review before posting. Stop, read what you wrote and see if it comes across the way it needs to. I would hate to run off people that we could really help. The dogs will be the ones to suffer and none of us want that.