Hi All! I feel an urgent need to comment on the postings in regards to the show in Seattle, WA. I will say up front that I did not attend, and do not know the particulars of the show. I can't help but feel that unless you attended, or were involved, it is impossible to comment on the show, whether precautions were set up in the "11th hour", or whether ECE was really going to be a factor at the show. Anything that anyone tells you about the show second or third hand will be slanted towards their particular sympathies - whether it is positive or negative. I am also disturbed by the negative slant towards the LOS and LIFE organizations - is this really necessary? I did not like reading comments like, "Questionable judging and even more questionable revocation of trophies were the biggest problem. Blame for these goes in a different direction.", or "From everything we can tell this show turned out rather like all the other LOS shows in the country." I have heard many comments as to why the ferret community is so splintered and this appears to hit the heart of the issue. If you do not agree with someone, fine - choose to disagree. But to bash an organization or show solely because of personality differences tears the ferret community into factions and is exactly what the ferret community DOES NOT need. How can we be taken seriously if we can't even agree that everyone is entitled to their own opinions and ideas, and that we won't always be in agreement, but that the most important thing is our ferrets? I feel that comments like this are not appropriate for the FML and should not be allowed to be posted. I absolutely agree with Di (Frstypaws), on a personal level, as far as ECE is concerned. She made a lot of sense in her postings and more importantly didn't try to blame anyone. We all need to be more tolerant towards each other - the written word leaves out so much - tone, how it is said, etc. All that is left are the words and we can all "read" into the words what we want, depending on whether we agree or not with the author. I fully expect to get flamed for this, both in private and on the FML - but I feel that I must respond. To stay silent is to give tacit approval of the postings and may allow further such posts to continue. This is solely my opinion, and I dearly hope that everyone will step back, take a deep breath, and be nicer to one another. I think that the thing that I am most sorry for is that I felt I had to make a posting like this on FML. Lisa [Posted in FML issue 1856]