Rumor from someone in Britain sent to Fred that MF was shut down due
to animal cruelty?
How would someone in an entirely different continent know squat on
that score, Fred?
I have seen some of MF's federal inspection reports (available by
request in the past) and they always aced them -- a few minor things
but they did better than the other U.S. farms. Now, I have NOT seen
recent ones, but I am sure that anyone who is interested can request
them from the USDA APHIS branch now just we did in the past.
The one thing i DO know: I have noticed that almost no rumors or
internet legends are true, and interestingly, recently there was
actually an expert on that topic interviewed (but I am not sure I kept
the piece so would have to find time to search) who said that something
like 95% (94? 96?) of passed around internet rumors are false. Hey,
Becca (Wolfy), I think I sent that to you. Did you by any chance keep
it or the link to share?
----
Now I do NOT know if anyone speaking up recently is a competitive
flame baiter, but some people asked me about that "sport" (sort of
like emotional dog fights) so I'll say a little about it. There is
competitive flame baiting which usually involves immature teenage boys
(sometimes posing as females because to throws of readers) who compete
on established lists to see who can get the most points for riling
people up. They purposely say things that are meant to raise emotions
and love disrupting lists. In some of those "competitions" the person
really wins big points for list members leaving so their "points" hurt
every single real list member.
How does one deal with flame baiters? You IGNORE them -- totally --
and then they don't get any points and go away.
So, again, I am NOT saying that anyone here is participating in that
because i don't know if anyone is or is not, but when something really
bad gets said instead of giving any possible flame baiter points by
participating in anger with or against the poster, try to find a way to
turn the conversation to a constructive approach -- like talking about
what went wrong for you and the solution found (which helps everyone)
and try to ignore the rest. That way even if it isn't a flame baiter
everyone gets helped and the original poster gets company instead of
being caught in the eye of a storm. Meanwhile, the flame baiter gets
no points in the times when that is what was occurring.
I have been on the FML from it's very beginning -- in fact, as far as I
know I am the only one who has been around for every single issue and
every single year. So, I guess I have a bit of a feel for what the FML
is about and how has modified through the years. Periodically, we HAVE
had what turned out to be competitive flame baiters. Every time we
ignored them and used constructive approaches they went away because
they could not abuse the FML membership.
Now, I have seen some VERY GOOD PEOPLE (examples include Tressie and
Wolfy) getting caught up in this argument instead of using a lateral
approach. I like both of them, and I know full well that neither means
to hurt anyone. Hey, folks, *IF* this is an example of flame baiting
then you are each hurting yourselves and others just by playing along
with the baiter's game.
Many thanks to everyone who is using a constructive approach and taking
the time to time teach others lessons you have learned: Dave, Deb,
Ingrid, Terry, Renee, and anyone else who didn't add fuel to the fire
but instead found ways to help all.
Come on, folks! Stop biting at each other's faces and instead tell
about the mistakes you have made and what solutions and lessons you
learned from them to help ferrets.
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
[Posted in FML 6092]
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