Kathy -- HOLD those thoughts :)

In designing the site we purposely didn't require more specific
information than we did rather urging each to put what they'd like
within their listing. And, some have added images of their shelter
set-ups. We believe for now, getting what we did was already a
significant leap forward in what has already ever been published in
one place. I trust over time it can and should expand as folks grow
comfortable with the format.

We are no where near done and this effort has a number of additional
short, medium and longer term phases that include:

  * adding more shelters - specifically multi-species shelters and
    facilities like pet stores and breeders that take in and adopt
    out ferrets);

  * expanding the shelter resources section and (eventually) moving
    that into a private, shelters-only "portal" area;

  * building out the Shop a Ferret Shelter functionality (personally,
    I want to have more visible well in advance of this year's Giving
    Tree so people can shop shelters first for a true win-win for
    shelters!);

  * kicking off (as I indicated in the first Ferret Shelters Directory
    newsletter that went out recently) a survey capability which the
    shelter community sorely needs covering among other issues some of
    the topics you raised; and lastly,

  * building more potentially public/private information into
    listings -- not all at once, but as shelters become more
    comfortable (not to worry, nothing is going to happen in that
    regard anytime soon!).

And you are correct, Facebook is NOT the place, even with it's private
group capability, to have serious discussions on much of anything.
Further, it just isn't useful for documenting and warehousing the types
of information you are talking about or anything else shelters need.
Sites like FB, yahoo groups, and such just were not designed for it.
So the intent is to build what is needed, accessible to shelters and
use Ferretshelters.org as the launching point.

These are some of the short and longer term goals of the site and
where, in my mind, it needs to go. All the stakes, obviously, are not
in place. I've only had preliminary conversations with SOS and FERRET
about it because they have some interest in parts of this even though
it is not within the scope of their missions. And I've gotten input
from others within the ferret community.

No group has ever taken this on. That's been the problem all along.
Therefore, the Ferret Association of Connecticut decided it was high
time someone did. But whatever is done, is going to be done with the
intent that it is "driven" by shelters and shelter needs. Just not
quite sure what that means and how it will all function as yet and
exactly how it will be financed. But we're working on that as well.

Ann Gruden
Ferret Association of Connecticut, Inc.

[Posted in FML 8081]