I fed my dog Pedigree her entire life (14 years) and rehomed a cat. I've been on one side of an issue, then changed my mind. *shrug* Yeah, I'm sure a lot of people have incidents in their past but just stay mum on them. Most people don't make up elaborate stories about their pets simultaneously on different message boards, though. What is the truth? I don't know, I'm so confused at this point.
The whole "mod abusing privileges" thing has been covered very well (I've seen it absolutely POLLUTE other message boards, BTW . . . once people lose trust in the mods they start thinking the worst about every mod decision), so I'll bring up something else instead.
There's an entrenched "us vs. them" mentality on Chaz. "Us" being "people who have been on the board a while" and "them" being "newbies." It's almost like, as George Orwell said, "all pigs are equal here, but some are more equal than others." Frankly, that bothers me. Is it okay to grill the hell out of someone about their breeding practices or not? The answer should either be "yes" or "no", not "yes if they're new, but no if they've been here more than two years, have posted cute pictures of their dogs, and have a recognizable screenname." It's almost like we purposely drive potential new members away while putting on blinders when it comes to established members, so we can maintain this illusion that we're all Best Friends Forever.
This is just a message board, not a cult. I don't have to like every single Chazzer just BECAUSE they are a Chazzer. Don't get me wrong, I do like most people here.
But I don't feel
obligated to. Look at Reggin. How many of us felt uncomfortable about her, but kept quiet because speaking up would have looked "mean"? I know I did, and I regret that.
Well, this current situation makes me feel uncomfortable too. Read through that thread and pretend that a newbie made it--what would your response be to this unlikely and confusing tangle of contradictions?