A suggestion about FACEBOOK tortoise groups

[ZEROPILOT]

I just made the mistake of posting a few replies to some alarming activity going on in a particular FB Redfoot group. Lots of ignorance and even downright animal abuse. I found where the "My tortoises like each other" people hang out.
Now I feel like I need another shower. I'm just disgusted.
My suggestion. If you see anything. Say something. Then suggest that they take a look at the TORTOISEFORUM.ORG for "free and up to date information".
(Then block them before you get a stupid response)
You're welcome

 

[Cathie G]

I MIGHT go there long enough to do what you did and immediately block Facebook in general.😁🤪😉🙃 then I'll unblock them long enough to dis them again then reblock the idiotic site immediately.🤗 there's more than one way to skin a cat.🤪

 

[wellington]

I just made the mistake of posting a few replies to some alarming activity going on in a particular FB Redfoot group. Lots of ignorance and even downright animal abuse. I found where the "My tortoises like each other" people hang out.
Now I feel like I need another shower. I'm just disgusted.
My suggestion. If you see anything. Say something. Then suggest that they take a look at the TORTOISEFORUM.ORG for "free and up to date information".
(Then block them before you get a stupid response)
You're welcome

Exactly what I do, except the blocking. I tell them what is wrong, what should be done and then refer them to get the correct upto date info here.
I don't go there often, it's exhausting and as many here know, I don't kiss up or blow smoke up anyone's butt. I get right to the point and don't give a rip if they like it. It's very sad the ignorance on there. I'm not sure which FB group I have been on, not a species specific one.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Exactly what I do, except the blocking. I tell them what is wrong, what should be done and then refer them to get the correct upto date info here.
I don't go there often, it's exhausting and as many here know, I don't kiss up or blow smoke up anyone's butt. I get right to the point and don't give a rip if they like it. It's very sad the ignorance on there. I'm not sure which FB group I have been on, not a species specific one.

I get cruel when I'm in an argument. Especially if it's a subject that really gets under my skin.
It's best to walk away for me.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

On another FACEBOOK group that I'm actually part of (not tortoise related)
One of the favorite answers that a few juvenile members like to say when asked an innocent question is: "Hit it with your purse"
It's so helpful.

 

[Cathie G]

On another FACEBOOK group that I'm actually part of (not tortoise related)
One of the favorite answers that a few juvenile members like to say when asked an innocent question is: "Hit it with your purse"
It's so helpful.

That's what my little sister used to do. Anybody she disagreed with, she would hit them over the head with her pocket book. And well it shut us up 😉 she saved pennies in a little bag 💰 and kept them in her pocket book 😁

 

[wellington]

Sadly I think some of those FB people come here and then just repeat the garbage they learned on FB and refuse to listen to what they are being told here. Hopefully most of them open their minds before they do come.
Such experience in a tort owner of just a few months lol, NOT!

 

[Tom]

Sadly I think some of those FB people come here and then just repeat the garbage they learned on FB and refuse to listen to what they are being told here. Hopefully most of them open their minds before they do come.
Such experience in a tort owner of just a few months lol, NOT!

I think a lot about this. The vast majority of people thank us, and if they are here more than a few weeks, we see pics and descriptions of thriving tortoises. I think this group is 80%. I get PMs all the time from people thanking me for helping their tortoises and telling me how great they are doing, and I know other people here do to. That is the most rewarding thing for me. Healthy tortoises out in the world with people enjoying their company.

The next largest group are those who are understandably skeptical at first, but have enough of an open mind to look at the facts presented and give the info a chance. In this group there are varying degrees of push-back, arguing, and understandable frustration. So many people do months of research, spend hundreds of dollars, create a visually beautiful tortoise enclosure, and then find out the info they followed was largely incorrect. I'd be frustrated too. I WAS frustrated when I could not grow a smooth tortoise after following all the "expert advice" I was given for nearly 20 years. I wonder how I would have reacted if I got my first tortoise one year ago, after researching and watching KK videos on YT and joining FB groups, making an expensive enclosure with all the "right" (actually wrong...) equipment from the pet store, and then find this place and have some dude named Tom tell me I didi it all wrong and that my tortoise was going to die or pyramid because of it... I can say that my experience with tortoises, people, and this forum have really helped to to have a more open mind when it comes to other reptiles and really everything out in the world. I've learned that sometimes 9 people will tell you the same thing, and that 10th person is the only one who really knows what they are talking about.

The last group is a very small percentage. I think we probably see one or two a year here that don't get the answer they wanted to hear, get mad and leave in a huff. With all the dysfunctional damaged human beings out in the world, I am frankly surprised that this doesn't happen more often. I like to think that I have matured, learned from previous mistakes, and that my efforts to be less offensive have succeeded, but I still manage to make someone mad every now and then. Sometimes people go off, and because we don't take it personally, because we can understand their frustration, we come back at them with compassion instead of angry words in return. I love it when we get through to those people. If they leave angry, I personally feel like I have failed to help their tortoise. If they get mad, but some of our more eloquent members can talk them down off that ledge, I really feel like a good deed has been done for their animals.

There is a fourth group that is hard to quantify. People who come here, but then disappear without a trace. Did they stop wanting to keep tortoises? Did someone offend them and they decided to just leave instead of have a confrontation? Do they think our info is wrong because some YT or FB personality said otherwise and? Maybe the "tone" of our community here was just not for them? I wonder about these ones.

 

[wellington]

I think a lot about this. The vast majority of people thank us, and if they are here more than a few weeks, we see pics and descriptions of thriving tortoises. I think this group is 80%. I get PMs all the time from people thanking me for helping their tortoises and telling me how great they are doing, and I know other people here do to. That is the most rewarding thing for me. Healthy tortoises out in the world with people enjoying their company.

The next largest group are those who are understandably skeptical at first, but have enough of an open mind to look at the facts presented and give the info a chance. In this group there are varying degrees of push-back, arguing, and understandable frustration. So many people do months of research, spend hundreds of dollars, create a visually beautiful tortoise enclosure, and then find out the info they followed was largely incorrect. I'd be frustrated too. I WAS frustrated when I could not grow a smooth tortoise after following all the "expert advice" I was given for nearly 20 years. I wonder how I would have reacted if I got my first tortoise one year ago, after researching and watching KK videos on YT and joining FB groups, making an expensive enclosure with all the "right" (actually wrong...) equipment from the pet store, and then find this place and have some dude named Tom tell me I didi it all wrong and that my tortoise was going to die or pyramid because of it... I can say that my experience with tortoises, people, and this forum have really helped to to have a more open mind when it comes to other reptiles and really everything out in the world. I've learned that sometimes 9 people will tell you the same thing, and that 10th person is the only one who really knows what they are talking about.

The last group is a very small percentage. I think we probably see one or two a year here that don't get the answer they wanted to hear, get mad and leave in a huff. With all the dysfunctional damaged human beings out in the world, I am frankly surprised that this doesn't happen more often. I like to think that I have matured, learned from previous mistakes, and that my efforts to be less offensive have succeeded, but I still manage to make someone mad every now and then. Sometimes people go off, and because we don't take it personally, because we can understand their frustration, we come back at them with compassion instead of angry words in return. I love it when we get through to those people. If they leave angry, I personally feel like I have failed to help their tortoise. If they get mad, but some of our more eloquent members can talk them down off that ledge, I really feel like a good deed has been done for their animals.

There is a fourth group that is hard to quantify. People who come here, but then disappear without a trace. Did they stop wanting to keep tortoises? Did someone offend them and they decided to just leave instead of have a confrontation? Do they think our info is wrong because some YT or FB personality said otherwise and? Maybe the "tone" of our community here was just not for them? I wonder about these ones.

There are more to your number 3 group, then one or two a year. You are just missing them and some of them I'm the unlucky one to have to deal with them.
As for your number 4 group. Likely they are part of the number 3 group and just can't handle the truth and leave, or some get nasty and are banned, some probably only want one question answers and they don't stick around openly but probably still reads and research threads.

 

[Cathie G]

I think a lot about this. The vast majority of people thank us, and if they are here more than a few weeks, we see pics and descriptions of thriving tortoises. I think this group is 80%. I get PMs all the time from people thanking me for helping their tortoises and telling me how great they are doing, and I know other people here do to. That is the most rewarding thing for me. Healthy tortoises out in the world with people enjoying their company.

The next largest group are those who are understandably skeptical at first, but have enough of an open mind to look at the facts presented and give the info a chance. In this group there are varying degrees of push-back, arguing, and understandable frustration. So many people do months of research, spend hundreds of dollars, create a visually beautiful tortoise enclosure, and then find out the info they followed was largely incorrect. I'd be frustrated too. I WAS frustrated when I could not grow a smooth tortoise after following all the "expert advice" I was given for nearly 20 years. I wonder how I would have reacted if I got my first tortoise one year ago, after researching and watching KK videos on YT and joining FB groups, making an expensive enclosure with all the "right" (actually wrong...) equipment from the pet store, and then find this place and have some dude named Tom tell me I didi it all wrong and that my tortoise was going to die or pyramid because of it... I can say that my experience with tortoises, people, and this forum have really helped to to have a more open mind when it comes to other reptiles and really everything out in the world. I've learned that sometimes 9 people will tell you the same thing, and that 10th person is the only one who really knows what they are talking about.

The last group is a very small percentage. I think we probably see one or two a year here that don't get the answer they wanted to hear, get mad and leave in a huff. With all the dysfunctional damaged human beings out in the world, I am frankly surprised that this doesn't happen more often. I like to think that I have matured, learned from previous mistakes, and that my efforts to be less offensive have succeeded, but I still manage to make someone mad every now and then. Sometimes people go off, and because we don't take it personally, because we can understand their frustration, we come back at them with compassion instead of angry words in return. I love it when we get through to those people. If they leave angry, I personally feel like I have failed to help their tortoise. If they get mad, but some of our more eloquent members can talk them down off that ledge, I really feel like a good deed has been done for their animals.

There is a fourth group that is hard to quantify. People who come here, but then disappear without a trace. Did they stop wanting to keep tortoises? Did someone offend them and they decided to just leave instead of have a confrontation? Do they think our info is wrong because some YT or FB personality said otherwise and? Maybe the "tone" of our community here was just not for them? I wonder about these ones.

And well... when I joined I was happy that you answered me at all. And the many others that did. I've noticed that you've tried to be less gruf. But truthfully I liked you then too.☺️

 

[Wpagey]

I think a lot about this. The vast majority of people thank us, and if they are here more than a few weeks, we see pics and descriptions of thriving tortoises. I think this group is 80%. I get PMs all the time from people thanking me for helping their tortoises and telling me how great they are doing, and I know other people here do to. That is the most rewarding thing for me. Healthy tortoises out in the world with people enjoying their company.

The next largest group are those who are understandably skeptical at first, but have enough of an open mind to look at the facts presented and give the info a chance. In this group there are varying degrees of push-back, arguing, and understandable frustration. So many people do months of research, spend hundreds of dollars, create a visually beautiful tortoise enclosure, and then find out the info they followed was largely incorrect. I'd be frustrated too. I WAS frustrated when I could not grow a smooth tortoise after following all the "expert advice" I was given for nearly 20 years. I wonder how I would have reacted if I got my first tortoise one year ago, after researching and watching KK videos on YT and joining FB groups, making an expensive enclosure with all the "right" (actually wrong...) equipment from the pet store, and then find this place and have some dude named Tom tell me I didi it all wrong and that my tortoise was going to die or pyramid because of it... I can say that my experience with tortoises, people, and this forum have really helped to to have a more open mind when it comes to other reptiles and really everything out in the world. I've learned that sometimes 9 people will tell you the same thing, and that 10th person is the only one who really knows what they are talking about.

The last group is a very small percentage. I think we probably see one or two a year here that don't get the answer they wanted to hear, get mad and leave in a huff. With all the dysfunctional damaged human beings out in the world, I am frankly surprised that this doesn't happen more often. I like to think that I have matured, learned from previous mistakes, and that my efforts to be less offensive have succeeded, but I still manage to make someone mad every now and then. Sometimes people go off, and because we don't take it personally, because we can understand their frustration, we come back at them with compassion instead of angry words in return. I love it when we get through to those people. If they leave angry, I personally feel like I have failed to help their tortoise. If they get mad, but some of our more eloquent members can talk them down off that ledge, I really feel like a good deed has been done for their animals.

There is a fourth group that is hard to quantify. People who come here, but then disappear without a trace. Did they stop wanting to keep tortoises? Did someone offend them and they decided to just leave instead of have a confrontation? Do they think our info is wrong because some YT or FB personality said otherwise and? Maybe the "tone" of our community here was just not for them? I wonder about these ones.

Hopefully that fourth group found the info they needed, downloaded the care sheets and are doing fine

 

[ZEROPILOT]

There are more to your number 3 group, then one or two a year. You are just missing them and some of them I'm the unlucky one to have to deal with them.
As for your number 4 group. Likely they are part of the number 3 group and just can't handle the truth and leave, or some get nasty and are banned, some probably only want one question answers and they don't stick around openly but probably still reads and research threads.

Some BANNED members will seem to have just dissappear because there is no public notification about the banning.
However, this is not a common issue with established members.
I think that as a whole, we do a pretty great job here. Lots of people working together to help others and their animals. Many hours spent reading and answering. Learning and sharing. All absolutely free.
All because we care.

 

[Cathie G]

Also, I think TFO is actually influencing more people than they even realize. Before I joined I asked a question at a Petland and she went on her phone for the answer. She gave me a YavonneG answer. I doubt if she was a member but I'm almost positive she used this site to get me an answer.