We all love ferrets. Even when we get mad at each other, remember, most
of the time you're talking to someone who loves ferrets too and just
wants the best for them.
APF Etiquette
1. If you have a question to ask, please consult the FAQ first. The best one can be found at Ferret Central.
2. Post to the right group. Ferrets aren't rodents, dogs, or any other
animal.
2a. Make sure the topic is relevent to ferrets. This can mean your
ferret, a ferret product you have used, ferrets in the news, or anything
that involves ferrets. Things that don't involve ferrets will most
likely be ignored. If you must post something off topic, add OT to the
subject line.
3. Make sure your subject line is both relevant and descriptive of your
message
4. Don't crosspost. It's hard for some users to follow crossposted
messages, and many newsreaders consider crossposed messages as 'SPAM'
and delete them.
5. Spelling, grammar and capitalization count. Remember, people are
judging you and your message as much on how it looks and reads, and its
content.
5a. DON'T TYPE IN ALL CAPS. IT LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE SHOUTING AND IT TICKS
PEOPLE OFF!
5b. Don't use excessive punctuation. A dozen excelmation marks!!!!!! or
other signs !??!!!??? just make you look hyper and impatient.
5c. If you write i, i'd or any other words that should be capitalized as
a lowercase letter, it gives the impression that you're a young child.
6. Don't spam the group. This includes, but is not limited to
unsolicited advertisements, relevent or irrelevent to ferrets. Spam can
also be talking about pages irrelevent to ferrets, and large
crosspostings.
6a. It is especially bad form to make your spam look like a personal
testimonial if you're talking about something you'll gain money from.
6b. Occasionally, people will inquire about products. It is acceptable
to discuss ferret products then.
7. Don't post anything that involves talking about something you did to
a ferret that was abuseive. This includes but is not limited to hiting,
declawing, defanging, kicking and neglecting. You will be seen as a
troll, and if you are interested in ferrets, will gain a reputation in
the group.
7a. Asking about something controversial, such as the above list, is
acceptable.
7b. Don't post anything purposefully inciniary. This is called
'Trolling'. It will make people stop reading your messages, and is
unconstructive to the newsgroup.
7c. Don't post things to a public forum if you don't want them to be commented on. Be aware that there are hundreds of people all over the world reading APF, whether they are active posters or not. Also keep in mind your post will probably be floating around cyberspace forever, so choose your words carefully.
8. Quote the relevent parts of a message you're replying to. This should
include removing irrelevent parts.
9. The APF is a mature audience newsgroup. This means that swearing is
occasionally used. Be reminded that swearing, personal attacks and 'hot
button' words in replies may be seen as flaming. Though flaming is
allowed, it discredits many a good argument you may be making.
10. If you have a pressing medical question, please TAKE YOUR FERRET TO
THE VET.
11. Binaries, such as photos, animated gifs, etc. are *NOT* allowed on this group. Please post a URL where
members can see the pictures of your ferrets instead of attaching them
to a message. Read more about this here.
11a. Please post your messages in plain text form, not in html. While alot of the backgrounds and such you can add to email messages may be very cute, they make messages take much longer to download and can mess up many people's news readers.
12 If you're about to use the phrase "I haven't been following this from
the start" or "I just found this thread" or anything else to make a
large comment on the conduct and replies of messages you have not seen, please don't
post the message. Most of the time you only expose your ignorance on the
issue, ignorance that could be corrected by reading back to see the
beginning of the arguement.
13 Many people will seem to have a special status in the group. This is
because they're longtime posters who've shown themselves to be helpful
and useful, posters of relevent and interesting ferret information, and
are known to be long time ferret helpers and supporters. We
respect them, and take their opinions seriously.You cannot ask for this
respect, or expect it by simply posting how long you've been helping
animals on the newsgroup, or any other personal laurels. This is a
status defered by the group as a whole based on conduct, intellegence,
and yes, personality. We do not consult on who we give this status to,
and it's not a conspiracy against any one person, but based on the
attitudes and personalities of the members of the newsgroup as
individuals.
14 Finally, if you don't like anything on the newsgroup, then there's
always rec.pets.ferrets
