Best UK enclosure threads

[Andrew Swales]

Both you and Andrew and others continue to try and limit them!

This is rubbish, and a deliberate miss-quote. I have never tried to limit them. I just suggested they were separated, as was the last 'swamping' thread about closed zoos. Then people can quickly find what they are looking for.

Literally nothing else is being posted in UK news threads, so no one has to search for news anyway !!

This is entirely up to contributors. There is as much zoo news in the UK at the moment, as any other country. If contributors chose not to comment on it, then that is up to them.

 

[zoogiraffe]

You are making it out as if I'm the only one questioning the mods decision on this which is clearly not the case as many people have expressed the opinion they would like the polls to be created more regularly.

You bring up the issue of burn out, well my counter would be this is the perfect time to produce lots of these threads when the UK and most of the world is in strict lockdown and there is little zoo news.

Finally, I think it is highly unlikely creating 3.5 a week is likely to lead to 6 threads in the most recent posts first page.

Well you are the most consistent person banging on about it,closely followed by Amur Leopard.May I suggest you stop and let it go,unless you want to make an offer to Sim for the site,and run it your self in which case welcome to a whole host of problems,of which this would be a very minor one.The decision has been made just respect it and carry on with in the bounds you have been given.

 

[zoogiraffe]

Just to prove the point of nothing being posted at the moment - nothing has been added to a UK zoo news thread in well over 48 hours!! And that is on a weekend!

News hasn't stopped it just not being posted by those that know.

 

[amur leopard]

News hasn't stopped it just not being posted by those that know.

And why does the current situation prevent people from posting info they otherwise gladly would?

 

[Andrew Swales]

And why does the current situation prevent people from posting info they otherwise gladly would?

Yes, absolutely - especially when they were before this, and still are on other countries threads..

 

[zoogiraffe]

And why does the current situation prevent people from posting info they otherwise gladly would?

Well I can only answer for myself,I stopped posting news years ago because I could see no point in it any more,as people expected me to say everything I knew regardless of how I came across that news,and regardless of if it was from an off the record chat.Also in many cases the zoo themselves haven't broken the news themselves and at this time I think its important to let them break it themselves,you may well have a different view but thats mine and thats the way its staying.

 

[Shirokuma]

And why does the current situation prevent people from posting info they otherwise gladly would?

Unfortunately some people on this site seem to take great pleasure in knowing things that others don’t and pointing this out.

Once again I would add that if people don’t like threads, they don’t have to read them. I have to ‘wade through’ several threads about Coronavirus that I don’t want to read, threads about fantasy zoos that I don’t care about, threads about zoos in America that don’t interest me. But I just don’t read them, I don’t make a song and dance about how awful they are or how difficult they make the site to use as others clearly find them useful and engaging.

 

[amur leopard]

Well I can only answer for myself,I stopped posting news years ago because I could see no point in it any more,as people expected me to say everything I knew regardless of how I came across that news,and regardless of if it was from an off the record chat.Also in many cases the zoo themselves haven't broken the news themselves and at this time I think its important to let them break it themselves,you may well have a different view but thats mine and thats the way its staying.

I agree with the last part of course. The zoos have a right to announce news properly to the internet without an initial revelation. However, is it necessary to say that one knows the news in question and then say that one will not disclose it and we should get our dirty noses out of it?

I respect your decision not to tell people, I think you are right in not doing so if a friend has disclosed it in confidence but it would probably be better to keep the fact that you know this info to yourself if you don't want people asking, because they (we) undoubtedly will

 

[Andrew Swales]

Well I can only answer for myself,I stopped posting news years ago because I could see no point in it any more

You are not alone, unfortunately - which is where this site does lose much of its potential.

But - this does not explain the drop in real news posts on the UK thread recently (as pointed out above by britishzoofan), when the same has not happened on those of other countries. I do feel that the 'best enclosure' swamping could be to blame... and is the cause and not the symptom. A test could be to split them, but I think that has been mentioned/requested before and dismissed...

 

[zoogiraffe]

I agree with the last part of course. The zoos have a right to announce news properly to the internet without an initial revelation. However, is it necessary to say that one knows the news in question and then say that one will not disclose it and we should get our dirty noses out of it?

I respect your decision not to tell people, I think you are right in not doing so if a friend has disclosed it in confidence but it would probably be better to keep the fact that you know this info to yourself if you don't want people asking, because they (we) undoubtedly will

I never said I knew any news I just said it was out there and it wouldn't be me posting it good luck finding it.

 

[Benosaurus]

Unfortunately some people on this site seem to take great pleasure in knowing things that others don’t and pointing this out.

It's called inflating their own ego. That's literally all it is.

Once again I would add that if people don’t like threads, they don’t have to read them. I have to ‘wade through’ several threads about Coronavirus that I don’t want to read, threads about fantasy zoos that I don’t care about, threads about zoos in America that don’t interest me. But I just don’t read them, I don’t make a song and dance about how awful they are or how difficult they make the site to use as others clearly find them useful and engaging.

I agree. I find it very strange that the argument a small number of people have about not having this temporary increase in one type of thread is that they will have to SCROLL a bit more and maybe even CLICK on the next page. Oh the strenuity .

You can't try to mould zoochat so that people only post things you want to see, you need a small amount of compromise.

With regards to why there are less UK news posts at the moment:

• No new visit reports.
• No discussion of recent visits.
  
• No animal arrivals or departures.
  
• No new enclosures or new construction work going on.
• No new future plans being announced.
• Future projects on hold.
  
• No events happening.
• Zoos likely saving certain news to be released just before they reopen in order to use the immediate effect/interest to attract more visitors back more quickly.

 

[Shirokuma]

You are not alone, unfortunately - which is where this site does lose much of its potential.

But - this does not explain the drop in real news posts on the UK thread recently (as pointed out above by britishzoofan), when the same has not happened on those of other countries. I do feel that the 'best enclosure' swamping could be to blame... and is the cause and not the symptom. A test could be to split them, but I think that has been mentioned/requested before and dismissed...

I’m sure if people have news to report they will do so. I find it impossible to believe that the presence of the ‘best enclosure’ threads make people somehow unwilling or unable to share news they otherwise would.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

*sigh*

I'll be honest, I was actually quite amenable to the idea of suggesting to Sim that slightly increasing the upload-rate of threads wouldn't be all that bad and we should allow it - until BZF kept pushing the point. And pushing the point. And pushing the point I'd quite possibly be amenable again, but repeatedly trying to drum up support from others to change the minds of myself, the other moderators and - most importantly given it is his final decision - Sim is not the way to make it happen.

Finally, I think it is highly unlikely creating 3.5 a week is likely to lead to 6 threads in the most recent posts first page.

Of course it would - it is basic mathematics, given how slowly other threads are being bumped or created it is worth noting that had you not been asked to slow down, you would have posted 24 threads since that point in time, rather than the 4 which you have posted.

A test could be to split them, but I think that has been mentioned/requested before and dismissed...

We did indeed consider it - the final thinking behind not splitting them was that they are unlikely to be a permanent fixture (like the contents of the Zoochat Cup forum) and don't serve a retrospective purpose that should have been fufilled long ago (like the contents of the Zoo History forum), and as such are liable to be a "flash in the pan" in the long run.

 

[britishzoofan]

I'll be honest, I was actually quite amenable to the idea of suggesting to Sim that slightly increasing the upload-rate of threads wouldn't be all that bad and we should allow it - until BZF kept pushing the point. And pushing the point. And pushing the point I'd quite possibly be amenable again, but repeatedly trying to drum up support from others to change the minds of myself, the other moderators and - most importantly given it is his final decision - Sim is not the way to make it happen.

Fair enough I do understand your point of view. However, on the two occasions I have brought it up since I reduced the thread rate this was only as a result of other members mentioning it first. So to imply it is me alone constantly trying to drum up support is a little unfair. I would be interested to hear your views on a better way to get the moderators to change their minds.

Of course it would - it is basic mathematics, given how slowly other threads are being bumped or created it is worth noting that had you not been asked to slow down, you would have posted 24 threads since that point in time, rather than the 4 which you have posted.

I had acknowledged two a day was too many and have always been looking for a compromise so 24 threads was never a possibility. If for example you look now there are only two threads of the Best UK enclosures on first page and one is this one which would hopefully become redundant, so it does depend a lot on what time you look at recent posts.

I won't say anything further as I don't want to "drum up support".

 

[TZDugong]

But - this does not explain the drop in real news posts on the UK thread recently (as pointed out above by britishzoofan), when the same has not happened on those of other countries.

Ummm, yes it's happening in other countries. For instance, the United States forum has been quiet, with basically the only thing posted being dates zoos re-open; ditto for Canada; nothing posted in the French forum for almost a week; nothing posted in the Spain forum for over two weeks and a bunch of other examples. The UK isn't an outlier, unsurprisingly zoo news will be more limited than usual. I would blame the global pandemic that has closed basically every zoo on earth, before I'd blame threads about the best certain exhibits in the UK.

I haven't really been active with the threads, but they seem to generate a good amount of discussion so I see no reason for such backlash (although I agree that originally too many threads were posted).

 

[Simon Hampel]

This thread no longer seems to be serving any useful purpose and discussion is getting a bit personal from some people.

I have no intention of changing my mind about the guidelines we imposed for the best UK enclosure threads.

If you have concerns about moderator decisions, please private message me or email support@zoochat.com

This thread is now closed.