I don’t know if this has been brought up and discussed somewhere, but when I tried to post on a thread where somebody was trying to find a home for a cat I got the message that posting was not allowed. Apparently pet adoption discussions will not be allowed in the Animal section anymore. In fact, people will only be able to put up pet adoption ads in the Forumosafieds, and no replies seem to be allowed there (I headed over there to check it out).
Do most people here agree with this? I think that a lot of adoptions have actually come from the discussions around the original post. I also enjoy reading these stories, seeing the pictures of how the animal has recovered after a month or two, knowing that it is actually still in need of help, etc.
What is the reason for the change? Too much work for the mods? Too many different threads started about the same kind of topic? Will the same rule apply for animals that have been helped by Animals in Taiwan?
I would like to see the adoption ads in the forum, so I’d like to hear from others and the mods.
Thanks.
In a nutshell, the forums are for discussion. If anyone wants to talk about health issues, veterinarians, training, products for animals, etc. the forums are the place. If, however, an animal is in need of a new owner, the forumsafieds is the right place to go. And of course you can reply directly to any ad. It just won’t be viewable as it isn’t a public discussion forum.
I agree. In fact this brings me to another point I thought of this morning, specifically with the animal adoption posts.
I firmly believe these should NOT have to be relegated to the dim misty reaches of the almost-never-looked-at Forumosafieds. They’re not buying or selling anything. And the idea is to find homes for these creatures.
People don’t think to themselves: “Hmmm, I think I’d like to adopt a pet. Where can I find one? Ah yes, the classifieds.”
Of course they don’t. They see a discussion about an animal in desperate need of a home and think to themselves: “Hmmm, I think I could do that.”
It’s terribly unfair to lock or move such posts, I think. People simply don’t browse the classifieds unless they’re looking for something in particular.
Maoman, I know you’re desperate to make Forumosafieds work, but surely not at the expense of finding homes for rescued animals?
And what about when you start charging for ads? You’re going to CHARGE a charity organization seeking to home rescued animals? Surely not!
Please consider allowing the adoption posts to stay in the discussion forums.
[quote=“sandman”]I firmly believe these should NOT have to be relegated to the dim misty reaches of the almost-never-looked-at Forumosafieds. They’re not buying or selling anything. And the idea is to find homes for these creatures.
People don’t think to themselves: “Hmmm, I think I’d like to adopt a pet. Where can I find one? Ah yes, the classifieds.”
Of course they don’t. They see a discussion about an animal in desperate need of a home and think to themselves: “Hmmm, I think I could do that.”
It’s terribly unfair to lock or move such posts, I think. People simply don’t browse the classifieds unless they’re looking for something in particular.
Maoman, I know you’re desperate to make Forumosafieds work, but surely not at the expense of finding homes for rescued animals? …
Please consider allowing the adoption posts to stay in the discussion forums.[/quote]
In general, I think the Forumosafieds are fine, and I’ve used them with success, both for posting and buying. But I have to strongly agree with Sandman here – classifieds are for people specifically looking for something, and that’s just not going to work well for finding homes for rescued animals. Seeing pics of the adorable animals while browsing the Pets & Animals forum is likely to be much more successful, and it’s SOOOOO important to do everything we can for these poor critters that I have to ask admins to please reconsider this decision.
[quote=“sandman”]I agree. In fact this brings me to another point I thought of this morning, specifically with the animal adoption posts.
I firmly believe these should NOT have to be relegated to the dim misty reaches of the almost-never-looked-at Forumosafieds. They’re not buying or selling anything. And the idea is to find homes for these creatures.
People don’t think to themselves: “Hmmm, I think I’d like to adopt a pet. Where can I find one? Ah yes, the classifieds.”
Of course they don’t. They see a discussion about an animal in desperate need of a home and think to themselves: “Hmmm, I think I could do that.” …
Please consider allowing the adoption posts to stay in the discussion forums.[/quote]
Sandman is taking the words out of my mouth here. It would be nice to see more rescue stories too. I think it encourages others to do the same. So not only it would help homeless animals find homes, but it would potentially lead to more animals being rescued.
What if we only had a sticky thread? The title could be something like Animals Needing Homes." I would be more than willing to merge every adoption post to this thread as opposed to locking it and sending it to temp. I could maintain this thread as well. Once the thread gets too big, I could just move the most recent adds into a new sticky thread and unsticky the previous one. Something like that.
I think that could work, even if it were just temporary.
Or you could just do a little story about a rescued animal, with pics, etc., and close it with something like: “If you are interested in this story about XXXX, please take a look at the animal adoption ads in Forumosafieds, where XXXX is listed along with full contact details.”
That way, Forumosafieds gets a plug and the animal gets a plug
I thought about something like that too. Perhaps a reminder in the current stickies telling people that in order to post about adoption, they also need to post in the forumosafields. Your point of plugging the forumosafieds aside, I think that anyone who really wants to find a home for an animal should take the time to post in the forumosafield.
I’m willing to facilitate this, no problem. I can also help those who have difficulties using forumosafied and I can also send reminder pms to people who post in P & A that they also have to post in the forumosafied. I would let them know that short of also posting in the forumosafied, their post in P&A would be temped if they fail to oblige to that condition.
I send pm to people who post single links to ask them to edit their posts and add content. Haven’t has a problem yet. The posters usually are glad to edit their posts to avoid being temped. I suppose people would do the same to avoid having their adoption add being temped. As mentioned, I could help them with that if they are having difficulties with the forumosafied. I have been able to use the forumosafied with no problems lately. The system even sends you a reminder before auto-deleting the add so that you can renew it. It’s easy, just not enough exposure for our furry friends IMO.
Here’s a section from an adoption add that was posted on www.connectkaohsiung 2 days ago by one of our foster homes. In addition to his dog and our dog, this guy just rescued a third one. I think it’s blunt, but true:
The above is only 1/3 of this add BTW, and it’s already more text than what is allowed in the forumosafieds if I’m not mistaking. Forumosafied doesn’t allow enough room to type what has to be said, especially for recued animals and for those who want to add a lenghty description of an animal.
I think Forumosa should change its rules about posting adoptions in the classified area only. This is an online community, and as a community, people gather to talk about stuff and to help each other out. The Forumosafieds don’t feel like part of the community to me. They seem to be strictly “business only” for lack of a better description. Just like a newspaper has a classifieds page and a community corners page (which I used to liken to the Pets & Animals forum). I like to read stories such as the cat who was rescued from a highway in the middle of winter, missing a leg, foaming at the mouth, looking for a home, to a furball of energy who needs a loving home. Stories like that take weeks to develop and update. I’m just reading the suggestions in this thread and some have said we can still keep the warm and fuzzy stories but link them to a classified ad. But isn’t that the same as just posting an adoption story in the P & A Forum? Animals are not objects or jobs, I think their stories should stay in the P & A AND be posted as a Forumosafied just in case people only check one site and not the other.
Either way, the Forumosafieds have worked for me. We’ve had them for some time now and I still don’t check them each time I log on to F.com, whereas before when they were in the forumsa, I checked them regularly.
[quote=“sandman”]Or you could just do a little story about a rescued animal, with pics, etc., and close it with something like: “If you are interested in this story about XXXX, please take a look at the animal adoption ads in Forumosafieds, where XXXX is listed along with full contact details.”
That way, Forumosafieds gets a plug and the animal gets a plug[/quote]
That’s what I recommend, too. Behind every rescued animal is a picture and a story worthy of being shared and discussed in the fora – no need to hide those from view in the Forumosafieds. Also, the rescue often precedes the need for an ad by weeks or more, due to the period of time needed to bottle feed young animals, get them medical care, nurse them back to health and so on. When you’re ready to find a new home for it, you can then put a link to the ad in the thread so folks can find the ad conveniently.
Same here. I use them now. They work. But I browsed the old ones almost daily, due to their location and layout; I might check the current ones once a month now. Big difference. I’m not complaining – just making an observation, FWIW.
[quote]Animals are not objects or jobs, I think their stories should stay in the P & A AND be posted as a Forumosafied just in case people only check one site and not the other.[/quote]That’s a lot like what I was trying to say. If someone really wants to rehome an animal, they should also use the forumosafieds.
I think there is a lot more potential for helping the community through the P & A, all the while keeping things discussion based. It always was discussion based anyways, before the forumosafields replaced it.
I pruned all the old adoption adds, and I estimate that only about 5% of the total posts were adds for adoption that DID NOT generate interesting, educating, sometimes touching conversations between animal lovers. I miss that, too.
I think Sandman and DB’s suggestion is best. It would maybe promote the forumosafields, while actually allowing for more conversation between animal lovers. Not less, IMOHO.
Discussion aside, Forumosa is the biggest online amalgamation of foreigners living in Taiwan. I think we owe our furry-friends to have voice on here through some of us.
You guys are addressing your concerns to Maoman. That’s not the best way to be heard. You should start addressing these valid, IMO, concerns to Gustav. I’m certain Gustav can make Maoman understand the desirability of having animal homing posts in the regular P&A forum.
Damn straight. I had a long talk with Maoman, Malc and Goose Egg yesterday, and let them know that rescues and adoptions definitely deserved to be on the forums. It was a heated discusssion, and I had to bare my teeth a few times, but I finally made them understand. Rescues & Adoptions is now a sub-forum of Pets & Animals. You guys owe me a milk-bone! :scooby:
Great idea bobpine. I’m sure it took you quite some time to put that together. I thank you for this very helpful addition to Forumosa. You deserve a pat on the back for your contribution to animal welfare here on Forumosa, both the website and the island.
Forumosa is a community members supported website, and they do need money to operate, why not make a donation to sponsor this, then maybe Forumosa admins would be more willing to do it. I would think between NT$5,000 and NT$10,000 per year might be enough. Maybe others would be willing to sponsor this for those selfless poor volunteer animal lovers and the beloved animals that need homes.
