sooty mangabey
Well-Known Member
About a year ago I came across ZooChat, or ZooBeat as it then was, and began posting fairly frequently.
Recently I have desisted from posting, and have had just the occasional look at the site. One or two people I have got to know through the site have contacted me to ask why I have not been contributing to the site any more.
Without wanting to be melodramatic, or self-referential, I thought it might be worth my stating my reasons for my electing to no longer participate in ZooChat.
There are certainly posters whose contributions border on the offensive – this sort of thing, from a recent discussion on Marwell: “I said just that in an earlier post. Read more carefully… don't get hyped.” Call me old-fashioned, but I find this unedifying. More seriously, the half-truths which are presented as fact by some posters take away from the credibility of the site as a whole. I’m not sure what the solution is to this sort of thing, if indeed there can be a solution, but for as long as it goes on the site will not be as strong a tool as it can be.
But it’s people talking about things about which they apparently know very little – and yet being free and easy in their condemnation – which gets me every time. Don’t get me wrong – I have no issue with people who are not experts. Of course I don’t. but I do take umbrage with those who do not accept that their ignorance is a barrier to their having the right to broadcast, loudly, their opinion on something, often in a knee-jerk fashion. It reminds me of the sort of thing you hear on the incessant football phone-ins on British radio: Manchester United fans from Devon who have never been to Old Trafford calling for Alex Ferguson to be sacked because United have drawn a game. And I'm not sure that this sort of thing is very valuable at all. This sort of gem, from a discussion on the buffalo husbandry at Chester for example: “first i thought it was an un-safe paddock or it was slippery for the cattle, but then i see the keepers opening the door and they all rush out. I think the giraffe team are just being lazy”. What right does this poster have to start making such accusations? And what about those who rush to condemn a zoo that they'v enot even seen. If we're talking about hellhole zoos - and there are several out there - then fair enough. But too often it's places which have good and bad parts, and which simply don't deserve the vitriol which comes their way.
I rather wonder what the great Clinton Keeling would have made of all of this. He was never one to suffer the opinions of those who did not have the knowledge or experience to support those opinions, and I think he would have been incredulous at some of the comments made here. I rather share this point of view which is why, a little bit reluctantly, I’m bowing out.
There are many brilliant people contributing to this site. Some I have the pleasure of knowing in the flesh, others just through the site. The written posts of Sun Wukong are always wonderful – even when I don’t wholly agree with the point being made; the photos of Gentle Lemur are more often than not stunning (and the grace and modesty of his written postings could be learned from by many other posters). People like Zoogiraffe, Tim May and Paradoxurus really do know their stuff - when they say something, it is worth listening, because they accrued a great deal of knowledge over the years. But there are others whose ill-punctuated, grammatically-hideous postings of questionable factual validity I will be glad to not ever read again.
So, thank you for having me for a while, good ZooChatting, and goodbye…
Recently I have desisted from posting, and have had just the occasional look at the site. One or two people I have got to know through the site have contacted me to ask why I have not been contributing to the site any more.
Without wanting to be melodramatic, or self-referential, I thought it might be worth my stating my reasons for my electing to no longer participate in ZooChat.
There are certainly posters whose contributions border on the offensive – this sort of thing, from a recent discussion on Marwell: “I said just that in an earlier post. Read more carefully… don't get hyped.” Call me old-fashioned, but I find this unedifying. More seriously, the half-truths which are presented as fact by some posters take away from the credibility of the site as a whole. I’m not sure what the solution is to this sort of thing, if indeed there can be a solution, but for as long as it goes on the site will not be as strong a tool as it can be.
But it’s people talking about things about which they apparently know very little – and yet being free and easy in their condemnation – which gets me every time. Don’t get me wrong – I have no issue with people who are not experts. Of course I don’t. but I do take umbrage with those who do not accept that their ignorance is a barrier to their having the right to broadcast, loudly, their opinion on something, often in a knee-jerk fashion. It reminds me of the sort of thing you hear on the incessant football phone-ins on British radio: Manchester United fans from Devon who have never been to Old Trafford calling for Alex Ferguson to be sacked because United have drawn a game. And I'm not sure that this sort of thing is very valuable at all. This sort of gem, from a discussion on the buffalo husbandry at Chester for example: “first i thought it was an un-safe paddock or it was slippery for the cattle, but then i see the keepers opening the door and they all rush out. I think the giraffe team are just being lazy”. What right does this poster have to start making such accusations? And what about those who rush to condemn a zoo that they'v enot even seen. If we're talking about hellhole zoos - and there are several out there - then fair enough. But too often it's places which have good and bad parts, and which simply don't deserve the vitriol which comes their way.
I rather wonder what the great Clinton Keeling would have made of all of this. He was never one to suffer the opinions of those who did not have the knowledge or experience to support those opinions, and I think he would have been incredulous at some of the comments made here. I rather share this point of view which is why, a little bit reluctantly, I’m bowing out.
There are many brilliant people contributing to this site. Some I have the pleasure of knowing in the flesh, others just through the site. The written posts of Sun Wukong are always wonderful – even when I don’t wholly agree with the point being made; the photos of Gentle Lemur are more often than not stunning (and the grace and modesty of his written postings could be learned from by many other posters). People like Zoogiraffe, Tim May and Paradoxurus really do know their stuff - when they say something, it is worth listening, because they accrued a great deal of knowledge over the years. But there are others whose ill-punctuated, grammatically-hideous postings of questionable factual validity I will be glad to not ever read again.
So, thank you for having me for a while, good ZooChatting, and goodbye…
), the fact of the matter is everyone has an opinion and it wouldn't be worthwhile if they didn't. Heck, if someone thought Bronx was abusive to all of their animals, I'd much rather have a conversation about why they think this and give my insight as to why their wrong than just get upset about their ignorance. 
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BTW l am a teacher!!! true just not english LOL
