http://www.smartgroups.com/message/viewdiscussion.cfm?gid=1423922&messageid=350 Q: "Why are your posts so damn long and [veterinarian] posts so short? I wish your posts were shorter and [the vets] took more time to explain their answers." A: My posts are too long because I have a double dose of the recessive lecture gene. Vet posts are too short because they have better things to do and are not generally as pathetic as I am. Actually, we answer different types of questions. For the most part, vets are answering specific questions that can be done in a few sentences (take two licks of hairball preventative and poop in the corner). I am not a vet, nor do I pretend to be one, so I try to answer inquiries of an osteological, domestication, natural history or dietary nature, which reflects my own educational expertise. Because such questions require more explanation, they require more space to answer. Still, I readily admit most of my posts are longer than they need to be. Remember the old saying, "Give a person a fish and you have fed them for a day, but teach them how to fish, and you feed them forever?" Anyone can post opinions on this list, but when I discuss things of a controversial nature or when presenting ideas of possible value, rather than just tossing out the facts, I try to supply a background of information that allow people to discern the reliability of other opinions as well. In other words, rather than just tossing out the facts (fish), I try to teach people how to use scientific techniques of skeptical inquiry to, um, ferret out reliable facts for themselves (fishing). I abhor dogmatic thinking, and simply cannot post what I think are facts without some minor (major?) explanation of WHY I think they are correct. A better phrase for dogma might be "common knowledge." Common knowledge is nothing more than widely held and generally unsupported beliefs that are held as true within a particular culture or group, such as the ferret community. Common knowledge, when erroneous, can be extremely difficult to overcome. It is "common knowledge" that ferrets will go feral that keep them illegal in California. "Common knowledge" convinces people who have never owned ferrets that our harmless pets will chew the faces of babies if allowed within a mile of infants. Not all "common knowledge" is held by outsiders; ferret people have plenty of erroneous ideas held dogmatically, without testable facts to support them. For example, common knowledge leads people to believe ferrets are gregarious, although polecats and feral ferrets are not. Because it is common knowledge that ferrets can be successfully housed in large groups, people ASSUME they are gregarious, when in actuality, the stress of overcrowding probably cause ferrets more discomfort, even deaths, than most ferret diseases combined. I sincerely doubt if it is healthy to house more ferrets together than what is found in the typical litter. Common knowledge suggests a dry, extruded diet containing 40-50% carbohydrate is better for ferrets, even though ferrets evolved eating a high-protein, moderate-fat diets devoid of significant long-chain sugars. Common knowledge implies ferrets can be housed in 2 by 3 foot cages for 23+ hours a day without causing mental distress, dispite a tremendous amount of evidence that suggests otherwise. Common knowledge suggests ferrets were domesticated by the Egyptians before the cat, even though the idea has been disproved by polecat genetics, domestication studies, natural history studies, archaeology, linguistics, biogeography, and common sense. Yet, in recent issues of "Ferrets" magazine, there is continued support of the "Out of Africa" idea of ferret origins. Feeding bone to ferrets is bad because common knowledge disapproves, ignoring millions of years of evolution, thousands of years of domestication and hunting, and hundreds of years of natural history studies. I could give dozens of other examples, but the point is made. Just because something is common knowledge, even if widely held, it doesn't mean it is factually correct. Fighting common knowledge is like swimming upstream in a rapidly flowing river; you can expend a great deal of energy trying to move forward, only to glance at a shoreline reference point to discover you have hardly moved forward at all. The only way to overcome common knowledge is education. Not dogmatic pronouncements, but real education where the intricacies and subtleties of the subject are carefully explained so the reader can make informed decisions for themselves. Unfortunately, if this is done correctly, the resulting posts are long and information dense. When posted to a forum where answers of a medical nature are typically short and sweet, such posts stand out for their length and information density. Nonetheless, I readily admit I am quite sensitive to the issues of length, information density, and applicability of topic. I have actually considered starting a "Ferret Natural History" mailing list, but I don't have the time to answer my own email, much less moderate and review such an endeavor. Instead, I post here, and if Sukie likes the posts and thinks they are applicable to the general ferret community, when she has time, she forwards them to the FML. She is a sort of a "Bob filter" so I don't appear as a dogmatic demagogue to the ferret community, and I trust and value her judgment. There is one last comment I want to make. Privately, a ferret person joked with me, saying few people comment on my posts; the inference being that people were afraid to argue with a ferret deity. I absolutely don't deserve such praise; everyone on this list has the same capacity for skeptical inquiry as I. You don't have to masquerade as a genius to ask questions, or demand dogmatic statements be supported with empirical evidence. Passionate debate--sans emotional attacks on the person--is the KEY to understanding ferrets. If a scientist, or a vet, cannot withstand the rigors of inquiry, they have no business being in the business. If given the choice, I would much rather defend every statement I make rather than have marshaled fields of marionettes parroting everything I have to say. Don't be afraid to disagree with ANYONE on this list, especially me! Ask questions, disagree, point out error, offer alternative hypotheses, try to falsify suggested hypotheses, demand empirical evidence, ask for, obtain and read references, and never, ever, ever forget dogma, disguised as common knowledge, is our common enemy. I am here to learn and teach about ferrets, not to build my already considerable ego. I promise I will not get mad if anyone challenges any facts (or opinions) I might post. I would even hesitate to mount a rigourous defense if you suggested it was too intimidating. We are ALL students here, so don't be afraid to offer contributions towards the collective education. Bob [Posted in FML issue 3859]