My sincere condolences to those who have recently suffered a loss (furry
variety or otherwise).
 
Summer is finally here and my ferrets are driving me crazy!  All of them
climb up on the window sill and act as though they want to go outside to
play.  I take them out, and then they run right back in.  I give up.  More
than likely, I am not the only one who has experienced such indecisiveness?
 
Not sure what has happened recently, but it sounds like yet another member
of this list is being harassed.  You can call me a "whimp" for posting
anonymously, but I do it for my own safety.
 
Ron, you have been an asset to the FML.  If you decide to leave, everyone
who has been on this list, should understand why you are doing so.  There
has been far too much harassment on this list as a result of a few very
angry individuals.  Whether you degrade and demean someone publicly (on
the FML) or whether you do it privately, is irrelevant.  None of it should
occur.  Why can't you just accept that people have differing views, respond
civilly, and move on?  Unfortunately, it is the same people who are repeat
offenders (or maybe this is fortunate?) I have found that those who cannot
respond in a civil manner, resorting to personal attacks, must do so
because their intelligence level is lower than those whom they are
attacking.  Feel flattered by this.
 
My recommendation to those of you who are harassed privately as a result of
what you post on the FML, is to document and save every email, not respond
to any of it, and if it keeps repeating, contact their ISP (supervisor of
customer service) to see what they can do (some do more than others).  Also
contact your ISP.  Another idea is to install a firewall, as I had to do
because I found that people from some of the places I posted, were
attempting to access my machine.  There are several firewalls out there,
that are free to individuals.  Getting the authorities involved is another
option.
 
To the person who changed his name in order to get around someone blocking
him from her email program - SHAME ON YOU!  Obviously, she does not want to
have any contact with you so why can't you respect her privacy?  If she is
emailing you and then blocking your responses, you can complain to her ISP,
but please don't resort to this childish behavior.  Some of these people
know how to change IP addresses and then it becomes difficult to avoid the
garbage.  Some people will continually harass you even when you do not
respond.  This is when you really need to get the authorities to intervene.
 
This terrible behavior needs to stop.  The ferret community should be a
place for people to feel comfortable, learning and sharing along the way.
Why does this continue to happen?  If you don't like something someone has
to say, turn the other cheek.  Resorting to email attacks and sneaky ways
to get around blocks, is very destructive.  I don't know any of you,
personally, but I cannot believe some of the things I am reading.
 
Those of you who are happy and positive, please don't let a few nasty
people get you down.  The FML is not the only place that they go to attack
others, so don't feel singled out.  Ignoring the ignorant is the best
policy.
 
Hang in there, Ron.  You obviously love and care for your furkids very
much!
 
DMC
[Posted in FML issue 3087]