Melissa wrote about a lack of responses to her question-- I guess I've been
around here for long enough to qualify as a middle-aged timer, and after
going through Amelia's horrible blockage experience I try to respond to any
posts that ask for information on blockages.  Also having written up that
biting FAQ, I try to respond to people with questions about problem biters,
if only to refer them to the FAQ.  But the key word there is "try"-- we're
all only human, and sometimes life rushes by, and that email you've been
meaning to write falls by the wayside, and if it didn't sound like a
life-or-death situation, you don't feel as much pressure to respond.  When
it's a question that's answered in the FAQs at Ferret Central, well, you
hope that the person asking the question knows enough to look it up there.
It can be very frustrating when the answers are in the FAQ, and you find
yourself writing the same email over and over again.  I know too that I feel
wary of being used as a vet substitute when I write about blockages to
people-- I stress over and over to get the ferret to a vet if there's any
questions-- and sometimes that feeling can hold me back from writing
anything but "go to the vet" in response.
 
I hope it's clear that this isn't a flame-- I just wanted to give Melissa
and any others with the same feelings a sense of what it's like to be faced
with questions all the time, either directly or through the FML (in this
particular case, I had nothing to contribute to her question anyway...).  I
suppose people are people, and cliques do happen, but the ferret community
is one of the more inclusive groups of people I've been around, and we're
all enthusiastic-- evangelical even-- about welcoming new ferret people into
the fold.  If you don't get a response the first time, try looking things up
in the FAQs, and be persistent like a ferret-- ask again!  Best wishes to
everybody out there,
 
Regina
and Cully and Amelia too!
 
--
Regina Harrison
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/1083
 
And time gets somewhat muddled here
But no matter, no matter
[Posted in FML issue 2187]