The "So Discouraging" Thread

[Amanda]

Just in case anyone was curious, I've removed the "So Discouraging" thread. The original poster came back and deleted her initial post.

[Donna]

While I don't love threads being closed that one was a good call, way to much hostility towards the poster not without warrant.

[Maryjo]

Ya sometimes wonder if the newbies who post stuff like that are trolls that are TRYING to start trouble. Especially since the original post was deleted.

Sigh...

[Aussie Witch]

I wish SHE'D be deleted from pug-ownership. What a bitch. Poor dog.

Maybe she'll end up on PV, she'll be told everything she wanted to hear.

[Donna]

Maybe she'll end up on PV, she'll be told everything she wanted to hear.

Not if I have a say!

[northernwitch]

I ended up feeling kind of badly for my response, on some levels. I felt that I wasn't maybe as helpful as I could have been and immediately went to the "give your dog to rescue" advice.

I dunno. I'm increasingly intolerant of the owner who posts these kinds of threads. Not a good thing when involved in a rescue.

[Donna]

What is that saying, you can catch more fly's with honey.
I know it's hard not to jump all over someone that you don't believe is treating there pug properly but I do feel that if it had been handled better we might have gotten some good points through to her.
We were all new and naive at some point, at least I was, but I've learned a wealth of info from PV, if I had gotten ticked off by everyone who I thought was being slightly rude then I would still be making the same mistakes.
I just joined a car forum and one guy scolded me, I felt like saying F you buddy but I just ignored him and the moderator told him he was being rude.
Maybe this can be a lesson that we go go getnly on new pug owners and teach them all our collective widsom.....just a thought.

[MackandMattiesMom]

I have a feeling it was a troll sent to stir people up here.

[Donna]

I have a feeling it was a troll sent to stir people up here.

I don't really get what a troll is, is thier whole purpose to piss people off, why? what do they get out of it

[MommaJones]

Ya sometimes wonder if the newbies who post stuff like that are trolls that are TRYING to start trouble. Especially since the original post was deleted.

Sigh...

I kept thinking "troll" also. If someone is truly seeking advice, they don't put all kinds of qualifiers about what they will and won't listen to.

[northernwitch]

I have a feeling it was a troll sent to stir people up here.

I don't really get what a troll is, is thier whole purpose to piss people off, why? what do they get out of it

Here's the definition of a troll:
In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response^[1] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.<sup>[2]

I think it is like cyber vandalism. There's no point to it really, other than eliciting a reaction. Some folks just like to rile people up. I don't know if this woman was or wasn't a troll. I'm always suspicious when I see a post that hits as many "hot" buttons as hers did.</sup>

[Lilos Mom]

I did'nt reply to the original post as quite honestly I had not one nice thing to say. You can't expect to start a thread and state you hit your dog out of impatience and expect everyone to be like oh ok cool we understand. Sorry...I don't and never will.

[Not Afraid]

I think what got to her was the number of people who all said basically the same thing - in various strengths of disgust.

[Pugsaunt]

I didn't respond, because I could not have responded civilly. I got troll vibes, especially from her response.

[pugasaurus]

God I hate to say this but she's about 50% of the dog owners that take my obedience classes. Granted we're in Texas which can be really backwards sometimes, but hitting is a way of life down here and if I can show them a better way instead of judging them it's the best thing for the owner and ultimately for the dog. If I spent my time judging the people who came to my class I not doing my job of educating them. I'll be honest tell them what you get out of this is in direct proportion to what you put into it, and the first class is about realistic expectations for a puppy or adolescent dog.

Some of the most unlikely people end up being fabulous dog owners, I had this one young 20-ish girl in my class with her pit mix, she seemed a real bimbo at first, but about half-way through the class, things starting clicking for both her and the dog and she ended up doing SAR with her dog and her dog found a lost girl.

God knows I was far from perfect with my first dog who came from squalid conditions at a flea market. I did lots of things wrong, but because of her and because of people who were nice enough to educate me about puppy mills, responsible breeding, puppyhood and all the things that went with dog ownership, my mind was open to learn more. If these people would've judged me instead of trying to educate me, I only would've gotten mad, felt like I had no where to turn and would've probably dumped the dog. She was an Aussie mix breed with big health issues and I'm sure she would've gotten the pink needle.

Because another thing I like about being an obedience instructor is things don't work out for whatever reason, the owner feels like they can talk to me about possibly getting the dog into rescue, I've had a few pugs surrendered to me over the years and they've all gone to good homes.

Another thing to consider, even if she were a troll, think about all the lurkers who read and don't post, suppose one of them was having problems with their dog, they would've marked this forum off as a place they would want to turn to for help.

Now if the girl were a troll and continued to post garbage, most readers would feel free to connect the dots and watch the troll-baiting happen, but for a 1st post I'm going to take things at face value.

And I'd rather have the honest rantings of the ignorant than the posters who know all the right things to say and later on turn out to be raving nut jobs, I can think of one right off the top of my head, she was a real Monstor :)

I'm just sayin....

[Pugsaunt]

Point well taken, Karen.

[Amanda]

Karen, you make a lot of very good points. I initially deleted the post simply because, without the original poster's question, it didn't really make sense. What I love about the group we have here is that you're very passionate about animals and won't blow sunshine up somebody's ass just so they won't get upset. I do, however, want to be sure that this forum remains the best place to get informed and responsible information about pet ownership. I don't necessarily think she was a troll. I just think she was one of the many uneducated pet owners out there. Do these kinds of posts anger and frustrate me sometimes? Sure. They will always strike a chord but we have to remember that we can't educate those who aren't listening. The forum is growing and we're getting more and more "outsiders," especially in the past couple weeks. THOSE are the people that we need to try not to alienate because those are the people with pugs living in their homes who could be unhealthy or in danger because of their owners' lack of education. There was a lot of valuable information in that thread but I think emotions took over and it would have become hard for any lurker to look past the anger expressed and get to the point that was being made.

[northernwitch]

Thanks Karen and Amanda. I think the points are well taken and I, for one, wasn't particularly helpful to this poster. I'll try to do better next time or just not respond.

[H the P]

I didn't respond, because I could not have responded civilly. I got troll vibes, especially from her response.

What Nancy says.