I am going to be phasing out the Forum. As I will leave the original posts up long enough for people to search though them, incase there is something they want to copy, and/or need information from.

PLEASE , no private emails to me. I’ve been considering phasing this board out for some time now. There are other forums for the people who frequent this one to go to. Aside from that, I also feel that with the many breeders who are now using Facebook, we are still given the ability to communicate with each other in a more private manner.

Please respect and understand this decision.

best regards,
Jill

It’s been a couple of days since the Forum was closed down. I’ve spoken with others, all respecting my decision, and many voicing their disappointment that it had come down to discontinuing it.

This Forum has always been a place for YOU, YOU and YOU. In that group, as we all know, are also The Good, The Bad, AND the Ugly.

Unfortunately, and I’ve voiced this to some of you privately, I have always felt like the forum was a direct reflection on me and my reputation. I am SO ashamed of some of the ugliness that I have witnessed here. And, on the other hand, I have been SO proud of those of you have stepped up to the plate and helped others when they have desperately needed it. Where else, can a plea for help go out and be seen by hundreds and hundreds of other fellow breeders , and friends within minutes?? You’ve all seen that happened many , many times.

If this Forum is to be successful, we have to put a stop to the ugliness that some seem to relish in. I know who quite a few of you are, and I am asking you to back off. Back WAY off. IF you really have the need to pick another breeder or dog apart, pick of the telephone and call someone who cares, because most of us don’t. And you should also know that by my having the ability to see your ip’s , I’ve been able to figure out who quite a few of you are. Would you like to be outted? Would you like others to know that it was YOU who spewed the garbage all over the forum? I think not. You’d be ashamed, just the same way *I* am ashamed of you when I see the ugliness you create.

If this is to work, I have to ask EVERYONE to take it upon themselves to stop the nonsence. It means that when someone posts something that is disrespectful, or provocative in an unflattering matter, NOT to feed into those posts. Just simply ignore them. If it is way over the line, I will remove it as soon as I can. But for goodness sake, do not let the trolls get their way by commenting on their posts. These people are just feeding on the attention that their posts generate.

That is the only way this type of forum can work. If those of you who do want this board to continue, can help me with that, we can give it a go. Notice, I said WE. Again, it is not *my* Forum, or the *Wiscoy* Forum, it is YOUR Forum.

If it’s worth it to you who who don’t want to see it end, can you help me out?? YOU have the opportunity to see this work.

Do you see the header on this page, it reads LABRADOR RETRIEVER BREEDERS FORUM. That's YOU, YOU and YOU.

Jill, I for one commend you on what a job you have here and know how ugly it can get. Where else can we see, Breeders listed, litters listed, Spotlight Labs promoted monthly and Specialty results? Not to mention the cries for Help that are indeed answered? Nowhere else are these above mentioned to be found so professionally and convenient? So sorry it came to this and thankful you are bringing it back. I just really worry about the anon ugly posts because so many of us have asked them to stop and go away and they continue. You might have to name them in order for it to stop? My thanks go out to you for dealing with this Forum.

Thank you Jill for keeping this forum alive. It really is a blessing to alot of us. Health questions, medications, diagnosis (seen many times more by breeders than vets) are a lifesaver at times. Not to mention show information, and equipment we all use. I love reading the forum daily. Yes, there are bad apples but we learn to ignore them and skip over them. I feel it is my lifeline to the entire Labrador Community and I LOVE IT! Bless you! Merry Christmas too.

Thanks Jill for giving this forum back to us and allowing us to learn.That is what I love about it. The wealth of info. I have never once felt you were seen in a bad light because of some of the negative and mean comments. I will do my part by NOT taking part in those threads, PROMISE!

Bless you, Jill. We don't deserve another try. I too promise to leave the nasties without my reply. I have learned so much here. Merry Christmas to you and yours and again, thank you.

Thank you, Jill, for reconsidering!! I have learned so much on this forum and was so sad when I read that you were discontinuing it. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

dear jill. the forum is world wide unique for us labrador people. THANK YOU. only place i know of for ASAP help often needed in most urgent matters?
best
ritva

Thank you so much Jill, for bringing the forum back. It's not only your reputation that is being jeopardize here, but all the Labrador lovers worldwide. This forum is the mirror of us all, so let us all be responsible when we do our posting. Thank you for all the long time breeders who help us along the way, and will be continuing to help us. Without you guys we won't be able to accomplish what we have done so far for the breed. Let me remind everybody, if we cannot edify somebody we might us well not comment. Lastly I want to wish everyone happy holidays, and may the Lord keep us all, and guide us.


God Bless you all,



Phil Aperocho

I recently bought a different breed puppy and had a few questions regarding my new breed. Even with all the books I had read before getting her there were still questions I would have loved to run by a group of breeders...when to switch from puppy food, which food are you using, what is part of the normal breed behavior and what is not?

I realized then how much I have depended on the Lab Forum over the years.

Thanks Jill!

THANK YOU JILL for your openness and wiliness to allow the forum to continue. People need to realize how demanding the behind the scenes of managing this forum is on YOU and I hope with our second chance, we will be more respectful of both ourselves and mostly of YOU. May you AND the Labrador community have a Blessed Holiday and Merry Christmas
Marion

Glad to hear that the Forum will continue. I had gotten so sick of reading all the negative and nasty stuff that I quit even looking at it. Thanks Jill and Happy Holidays to all.

Here is a suggestion. Whenever one of the nasty people posts something offensive, if you read it and recognize it is a troll, reply with the name "DO NOT REPLY". That would give everyone a heads up. If the thread was stopped in its tracks, it would be a good thing. If the original post was worth pursuing, it could be reposted in a new post.

I come on here extremely rarely; I am a nonbreeder, nonkennel, never have been and never will be, reading this forum a couple of times a week for the valuable information for my labs. Through the links I found the breeder of our first lab who happened to be a senior. When I asked advice regarding getting her a companion, I received encouragement and advice. It was though this forum, I believe, that another breeder found out and contacted me about a senior in need of a home. I may not have my current sweet girl without this forum. And thanks to the advice of this forum, she now has her senior gentleman.
Can only image your frustration. I belong to a forum for lab owners and the same happens there; the individual is warned and then banned. Respectful disagreement is one thing, ugliness is another.
Without hesitation, I can say that I never felt that the remarks of others were a reflection on you, only on those who hid behind anonymity.
Whatever your future decision may be, please know, I will always be thankful to those who have helped and most of all to you for having this forum.

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas.

Thank you, Jill. I love to check out the forum. I have use the search so many times for health issues. And most of the time have an answer. There is a wealth of knowledge on here if we just listen to each other. Know you didn't have to bring it back but a big THANK YOU ! Merry Christmas to you and yours !!!

I also love reading this forum. I have 5 Labs and love keeping up do date on the interests of lab Breeders. I do not breed but do competitive obedience with my dogs.

If I can offer a suggestion........ no anonymous posts. Make everyone who wants to post use their real name. Make it a forum for members who want to share their love for the breed.

I believe if people had to expose their identity, there would be civil discourse.

Thanks for letting me put in my 2 cents.

Thank you so much for allowing this forum to continue. I admit I have commented on some nasty remarks but promise to never do it again. I will totally ignore from now on.
Just so you know there is not a perfect forum, there was an extremely mean post on another forum about my dog, he had won the show. It was very meanspirited concerning my dog plus it was not truthful. The show was named, etc. so everyone could look at the results of the show, day etc. and would know exactly who the dog was and who he belonged to. About 20 replies were posted on the subject and absolutely NO ONE asked it to be removed. Months later I finally e-mailed the owner of the forum and it took like it seemed forever to get it removed. My point is no forum is without it's faults, I suppose it boils down to if you are well known or not. So Thank You Jill for hanging in there and allowing this forum to exist. Now I will ignore the meanies comments and read the posts that are informative. The posts on your forum were never as bad as the one about my dog on another forum.

A big yes to Michael Cody's post. Have the posters use their individual or kennel names and you will see how fast the hostile posts disappear. If that dosesn't work 100%, simply block posters who continue to send hostile posts. This forum is too valuable to be ruined by a few.

Great idea, but not practical. How would anyone enforce using names on a public "anonymous" forum?

Where's the like button? (lol!). Jill, you do a fabulous job for the Labrador community. It is appreciated....

Oh boy am I glad to hear the Forum is back. I have a litter due in a few short weeks and it's always good to know there is someone up at some point during the day or night that might be able to offer some guidance! Of course the forum is helpful all year round for uncountable reasons. Jill,I don't blame you one bit for wanting to shut it down though and be rid of your headache.

Why not simply require all posters to identify themselves & provide their emails. I usually ignore any and all anonymous posts, and it's come to the point where there's very little else to read.

Well,I am thrilled to see the forum back up. As Jill said, "this is Our forum". WE choose to use our names and to reveal who we are. I do think there is a place for an anonymous post on occasion, but if we want to assist in keeping the forum cleaner then we must choose to use our names.

Thanks Jill!!! Merry Christmas!

If you learned something from an anonymous poster, ignoring that post does not seem like it would be the best thing to do. Worse yet, some of the most intelligent posts written on this forum are written by anonymous posters and if you ignore them, you won't even know that.

On the other hand, responding to a rude poster who uses their name also does not seem like the best thing to do.

I totally agree people are more likely to be rude if they are allowed to be anonymous. Ignore them!

But I also think that there is a lot of intelligent discussion that would not occur if people had to post their names. There are many reasons for this.

Bottom line, judge what is written. Decide what you want to do with what is written. Don't take is so personal and don't worry about who wrote it.

Thanks for keeping the forum up.

This is my favorite forum because you CAN be anon. I belong to a few other forums and will go there to pat people on their backs, have fun, and socialize. When it comes to the real meat and potatoes (the hard questions and gray areas), I prefer this forum to discuss theories and thoughts.

I know it occassionally gets rude, but I will always come here as long as I can, because the wealth of knowledge on this forum outweighs the few bad apples.

In the past I have had a few issues with my dogs that I didn't feel the whole world needed to know about. Sick puppies, illness or infection. Things that I didn't feel comfortable posting on other forums.

I don't think some people realize who some of these "breeder" posters are. Some are very respected, well known breeder judges who are paid to give seminars. They come here because they can remain anon and share their opinions without the world knowing who they are.

I really hope the format stays the same and we can continue to share without posting our names.

I agree with many who have noted that the ugliness does not come from people who identify themselves, it is always from an "no names" or "breeder" or some such other moniker. I think people should be required to say who they are, then we will all be grateful to see the end of the nastiness.