Thanks folks

[sophia]

Folks,
I just wanted to say thanks for 'not' being so overly argumentative about 'every, single, little post' that's made here such as, 'how do you house your snake', 'what do you use to clean', 'how often do you feed'. We're on some other lists and rather than reading the posts and 'noting' the headers, it seems that half the smart alec no nothings on these lists, just go post to post looking for things to pick up on to argue over, they don't bother to read the 'complete' post, they don't even try to pick up on the 'context', they pic out random words and make smart alec comments with regards to it and say things like, "you're WRONG, I woud never do that, you should NEVER do that, or so and so said that you shouldn't do that!" It's like trying to reason with a 5 year old throwing a temper tantrum and it just wears on my last nerve.

These people make broad sweeping assumptions about new users as if every new user that comes to their sites has either never had a snake, or is on their first one!!! I've pretty much been herping native species since I could walk, it's just the way you're raised in the south when you farm for a living, a fact of life and not a novelty hobby. Boas and pythons might be new to my home, but I worked in the trade and have worked with them for years, not all species and that's a given, I don't know anyone who has worked with 'all species' for an extended period of time... but you sure get a lot of wannabes that want to dole out bad advice and criticism as if they have been working with herps of all species for thousands of years! GEESH!

I just wanted to say that this is the most pleasant list that we frequent, it has it's problems at times, but they're very few and far between. Each poster tries to show civility and respect to all others on the board and they try to conduct themselves as if they have at least a tiny modicum of decency and that deserves a pat on the back and at least a nod of appreciation. On these other lists and boards you can't go one day without seeing at least 10 posts full of disrespect and disregard for other's feelings and the sadness therein, is that most of this teenage bickering is coming from the moderators who are over the age of alternative (or should be) and over the age of 30! It's ridiculous that the kids act better than the adults on these lists. I just wish they would stop and think how their words and actions hurt the hobby and the trade. These incidents stick in the minds of the younger generation and they won't ever want to aspire to be seen as these folks and who could blame them???

Again, thanks to all who post here and conduct themselves with dignity and thanks to the moderators who don't take their problems with posters onto to the message boards for all to see as if it's some sort of popularity contest, you are deeply appreciated.

Tay