>Gimme a break. Your emotions are hangin' out girl, not your common sense. >Absolutely NOTHING you said has ever been substantiated. Making these >broad statements does more harm to fuzzydom than good. Deal with >facts..not what you have heard that sounds true. Unless you have seen it >with your own eyes, and have first hand, provable knowledge, anything you >say is simply heresay. I really have no position on this MF thing. However, I am curious why you found it neccesary to come down so hard. Please don't be offended, this person was obviously distraught and well-meaning. Actually her statements about shorter lifespans and more illness prone have been echoed by some ferret-experienced vets. In the world of academia, a fact is a piece of information that everyone can have equal access and discourse to, and in many cases, "expert opinions" are recognized as reference material and can be sourced. I think these vets certainly qualify, don't you? I agree they could be wrong and it just may be a case of more exposure to MF ferrets, but for now, expert opinions still bear some validity. I am certainly not qualified to argue nor have I amassed a wealth of data to debate with their years of experience and education, are you? And great for the ones that are. I would be happy just listening to the experts dook it out. Some would argue all "facts" are simply lies waiting to be discovered. But how do two hyperbolic, rhetorical statements make a right? To slam those who bring information [good or bad] to the table will only inhibit all new or controversial thoughts, ideas, and inputs. I am not comfortable with that, are you? I think we all deserve to see it all, without any intimidation. So why not give her a break? I really see no reason this FML should be a souce of antagonistic, personal shots, do you? I am really hoping you receive this in the way it was meant to be delivered. Why might it be neccesary for BIG to quell this argument? Perhaps some of us forget to conduct ourselves in a civil, normal tone. Do we need to get our wrists slapped? I for one, hope we can all progress past that. Look, I hope this does not come off maternalistic or paternalistic, its just that I hope we are all capable of taking a higher road no matter how difficult that may be. best wishes to EVERYONE! alphachi ps where's Rodney King when you need him? [Posted in FML issue 1817]