It's quiet in here !

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Dibbythedog
Posts: 214
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2006 12:08 pm
Location: Middlesex West London

It's quiet in here !

Post by Dibbythedog »

The forum seems to be very quiet now especially in the Dog sections. Is there a reason for that?
Its a shame because there is very good advice to be had here .
JudyN
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Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 1:20 pm
Location: Dorset, UK
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Re: It's quiet in here !

Post by JudyN »

It's because no new users have been activated since 17 September :( I've tried contacting admin, but with no response. Sadly, if nothing is done, the forum isn't going to survive - very sad. If anyone has Victoria's phone number......
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
JudyN
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Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 1:20 pm
Location: Dorset, UK
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Re: It's quiet in here !

Post by JudyN »

I've had a word with Emmabeth who has just activated 5 weeks' worth of new members, but now it's going to be a case of sitting back and watching the spam roll in, as it takes a long time to check each one manually....
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
Dibbythedog
Posts: 214
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2006 12:08 pm
Location: Middlesex West London

Re: It's quiet in here !

Post by Dibbythedog »

Oh thanks for explaining . I think the site could do with more Ad Min and Mods !
DianeLDL
Posts: 832
Joined: Sun May 19, 2013 4:16 pm
Location: Maine USA

Re: It's quiet in here !

Post by DianeLDL »

Is this why I had to log in again? Or is it that I haven't posted in a while?

I've had a crazy 4 months.
1-mom went into hospice & I flew from Maine to San Francisco Bay Area to see her.
2-next week, my mom died
3-next week, flew back for my mom's funeral
4-end of July drove back to Albuquerque.
5-day we arrived in Albuquerque, I fell off a ladder changing smoke detector batteries, & Sandy watched them take me to hospital in ambulance. I had landed on my left hip from about 4 ft off the ground. Thankfully, I didn't break my hip bone, but I had a hairline fracture in the trochanter (round are at top of the femur the goes into the hip). I had surgery August 13 that night I fell. Then, on Aug. 17, I was moved into a rehab facility for physical therapy. Sandy was allowed to visit me there which we felt was important after seeing me hauled off on a stretcher into an ambulance. He was too excited to explore my room than sit still. So, 15 minutes was all he could take there.
6-saw ortho surgeon on August 28th. Xrays showed I was healing and by then using a walker instead of wheelchair.
7-was discharged next day, then the day after on August 30 we began driving to N. California to see my father and my son, dil, & grandkids who flew in from Israel.
8-returned to Albuquerque on Sept. 28th.
9-saw ortho surgeon on Oct. 9th and I could see the healing by comparing the previous xrays with ones taken that day.
10-this Wednesday morning after leaving the gym on the Air Force base near us in Albuquerque at 4:20am, OH was in an vehicle accident, where the other driver ran the stop sign which OH didn't have and rammed our minivan. Thankfully, Sandy wasn't with him, but the towed the minivan after OH needed help to open driver door. Electronics had also died in crash. He wouldn't go to hospital since sandy and I were home and I can't do too much. He did go to urgent care, and Monday he has a CT scan of his head and neck scheduled. Thankfully, OH already had appt with his primary doctor on Tuesday.
He had to go to the tow yard to release our minivan as well as retrieve some items including Sandy's crate. That's why he would not take the economy car that the insurance company ordered. Neither Sandy and crate nor I could get in and out. We got a rental minivan.
11-my birthday is Sat., Nov. 3rd and although OH wanted to go out of town, I just can't see dealing with more hotels and lodging and driving. It's been hard on me and glad to be home in my own bed. Besides Sandy has been acting up more than usual during our latest trips.
12-I finally begin outpatient PT on Nov. 7th.

As you can see, it's been one thing after another. I'm still mourning the death of my mom. We were very close and she was my only ally with my father and sister. That's another story. Emotionally, I'm drained. Today, I sat in my recliner with Sandy in my lap and we dozed a bit. He has been some comfort. I can't take him on walks. OH has been doing most of Sandy's care.

Here in Albuquerque, I can stand on the patio with my walker and hooked Sandy into a 15 ft training lead so he can walk around the backyard while I'm standing there. We can't let him off leash since he can squeeze through the gate and he is not road savvy.

Anyway, that's why I have not been online and most likely why I had to log in again.

Hope everything has been going better for the rest of you.
Diane & Sandy
Sandy, Chihuahua mix b. 12/20/09
JudyN
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Re: It's quiet in here !

Post by JudyN »

Oh dear Diane, what a time you've been having. I'm sorry for the loss of your mother :( I do hope everything picks up for you and OH now, and that you both heal well.

Sometimes forums do tend to bump people off for no clear reason and you need to log back in. It tends to be a mismatch between the forum and your browser, rather than a 'forum problem' as such. If it only happens occasionally it's easier just to ignore it and log back in.
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
Dibbythedog
Posts: 214
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2006 12:08 pm
Location: Middlesex West London

Re: It's quiet in here !

Post by Dibbythedog »

Hi Diane, you might have to sign in again if the cookies on your PC or lap top were removed. That has happened to me.

Im so sorry for the loss of your mum . :(
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Nettle
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Re: It's quiet in here !

Post by Nettle »

Diane, I am so, so sorry for your bereavement. And what an awful time you have been through. Thank goodness you were sensible about the vehicle hire.
We are all here for you. Any time you want to 'talk' come and see us. If it's too private for a forum, feel free to PM me, and I'm sure everyone else would be happy for PM too.
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog

SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS
emmabeth
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Re: It's quiet in here !

Post by emmabeth »

So sorry Diane!

Re the forums, when I initially agreed to manually vet each applicant, it was easy to determine who is genuine and who isnt... that no longer applies unfortunately :( Combined with the traffic going to facebook instead of forums, it's very difficult indeed to keep forusm going, which is a shame as this is a MUCH better platform for sharing information!
West Midlands based 1-2-1 Training & Behaviour Canine Consultant
DianeLDL
Posts: 832
Joined: Sun May 19, 2013 4:16 pm
Location: Maine USA

Re: It's quiet in here !

Post by DianeLDL »

Hi Emmabeth,

This definitely is the best forum for these topics. People know they are getting sound and safe advice. People and I trust VS. who knows what type of stuff is going around in Facebook! :shock:

I will NOT go on Facebook. :evil:

Without this forum, I would have been lost as to understanding and working with Sandy.

Thank you for all you do!
Diane and Sandy thanks you too! :wink:
Sandy, Chihuahua mix b. 12/20/09
DianeLDL
Posts: 832
Joined: Sun May 19, 2013 4:16 pm
Location: Maine USA

Re: It's quiet in here !

Post by DianeLDL »

Thank you Nettle & JudyN for all your emotional support. I really appreciate it. I had forgotten about the PM feature. :roll:

Also, your help for me Sandy has been wonderful.

(((HUGS))))
Diane
Sandy, Chihuahua mix b. 12/20/09
Colt_An2
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2018 7:06 am

Re: It's quiet in here !

Post by Colt_An2 »

I can confirm about the time needed to have the account confirm, but well, if the admins are busy, I can't criticise them.
But yes, it's a shame that facebook is eating up usual forum content; my main gripe is that a Facebook group has little to no useful info at all, 90% of the posts are the same basic questions being repeated over and over again, while the genuinely interesting stuff gets buried after a couple days and is next to impossible to get back unless you have an hour to dedicate to internet speleology. Meanwhile, on a forum, you can find some useful stuff someone said in 2005 in a matter of seconds!
I'm trying to bring some people from hobbies I take part in back from facebook to forums using these arguments, but it's a slow and ungrateful process. Said forums end up being slow, but at least the useful data stays and is always easy to find.

PS: DianeLDL, please be careful when using multiple parentheses... I'm sorry, but it seems like online far-right groups have begun using these to designate people as being Jewish and thus bad and not to be trusted. What are they NOT going to spoil for normal people?
JudyN
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Re: It's quiet in here !

Post by JudyN »

Thank you for not wandering off and giving up on the forum, Olivier - I'm really hoping we can sort something out so new members can get activated much more quickly (without us being buried under spam).

I hadn't come across that use of multiple parentheses before, but I've just read up on it. I'm not even going to give my views on such far-right groups because I couldn't word it strongly enough. Not without breaking the forum sweary filter, anyway. My initial feeling is I'm not going to let them stop me giving people big online ((((hugs)))) if I want to - and maybe, inspired by this article https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... -at-a-time even change my user name to (((JudyN))) I'm not Jewish but am more than happy to show solidarity with Jews.
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
Colt_An2
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2018 7:06 am

Re: It's quiet in here !

Post by Colt_An2 »

I think that the system you have here works quite well; on some other forums, I've seen longer and harder acceptance systems (confirmation by the administrator + manual confirmation by a moderator of the first 5 posts), and this is very efficient to curb spam as fake profile messages are quite recognisable, but it is long, unpleasant, and may discourage some users.

Regarding the parentheses issue, I agree that it can be seen as stupid... unless, as I did, you use this without being aware of its newly created meaning and get branded as a far right extremist out of the blue. And yes, this act of solidarity sounds like a great idea, especially after the horrible news of the last weekend coming from the USA!
DianeLDL
Posts: 832
Joined: Sun May 19, 2013 4:16 pm
Location: Maine USA

Re: It's quiet in here !

Post by DianeLDL »

Colt_An2 wrote: Mon Oct 29, 2018 1:09 pm PS: DianeLDL, please be careful when using multiple parentheses... I'm sorry, but it seems like online far-right groups have begun using these to designate people as being Jewish and thus bad and not to be trusted. What are they NOT going to spoil for normal people?
I'm not sure what you mean! I've never heard this before. I am Jewish. So does that mean using the multiple parentheses makes me a target?

We have used these numerous times on this forum. Granted I'm not on Facebook or social media so I've never heard this before.
Please explain
Thanks,
Diane
Sandy, Chihuahua mix b. 12/20/09
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