Behind the scenes photos / video

{Note from @Simon Hampel - this thread was split from a zoo review which originally contained photos taken during a "behind the scenes" tour - one where it was explicitly forbidden to take photos or video.

The photos have been removed from the site and the user in question has been formally warned about bringing the site into disrepute.

I am keeping this thread here as a discussion about the issues with posting behind the scenes content on ZooChat without permission from the facility.

This thread is not intended to be about the user in question - but a general discussion, so I have edited posts to remove mention of the specifics.}






Thank you for the review and list! I’m curious about your image that includes the title “the guy who tried to ban me”?!

 

{Note from @Simon Hampel - the post from the user in question which described their actions has been deleted and is not shown in this thread. In summary: the user bragged about taking photos and video despite knowing it was forbidden and then about lying to staff when they confronted this user about it}




Why would you break a rule and then proceed to post a picture, that proves that you broke said rule, on a public forum?

 

There is no moral here - you broke it yourself! You can't tell us to not do something you yourself have literally just told us you did and then both lied to staff about it and disregarded their requests.

So obviously you were going to break the ONE rule? But you have the nerve to tell us don't do it.

That's what happens when you break rules.

And I will now say, that post is a disgrace to the site in that you have blatantly disregarded wishes of the aquarium by both admitting you didn't care and by posting those photos here. Many of us here have gone behind the scenes and either not been able to take photos or not able to share them publicly, and so we respect that. That is how we then are allowed those events again. Disrespectful moves like yours are how we lose those opportunities. I think I can safely say that that post and photo have cost you the respect of a large number of members on this site.

 

As annoying as "no photos" rules can be, they are there for a reason. If you're incapable of following a rule you were told from the beginning, don't do the tour.

If it was anything like the ones I've done, you had to sign a waiver about it, as well, meaning they could pursue legal action if they really wanted.

You're trying to make this employee seem like a bad guy when he was extremely justified in trying to get you removed. He was DOING HIS JOB.

By posting this, and photos, here, you are making ZC look complicit in your behavior which could hurt everyone here based on reputation.

 

Not only that, they've then bragged about lying to the aquarium staff and refusing to oblige when they were asked to delete the footage. With behavior like that it's almost a shame they weren't banned.

~Thylo

 

There are zoos who have changed their policy to disallow anyone from getting behind the scenes encounters due to members of this site doing stuff like this. Granted that's usually situations where an individual was granted special access outside of a paid tour, but it still reflects poorly on the forum and has potential ramifications for other members when we allow our community to disrespect institutions like this. As David said, the aquarium likely has seen that the content has been posted here and it's best for us to confirm that we do have standards and that this immaturity and blatant disregard for a zoological institution is not tolerable.

~Thylo

 

I would like to add also that there have been more than one instances of someone being fired (both at US collections and European) for people leaking stuff on this forum that they know they shouldn't be. Is that photo a harmful enough offense to cause that to happen? No, but again it's about maintaining our standards that this behavior should strictly not be allowed.

~Thylo

 

Not to add to the pile on, but from both sides of the equation - zoo staffer and zoo visitor - not cool, man. As a keeper, I really took a lot of pleasure out of inviting folks behind the scenes now and then - maybe it would be a really slow day, there'd be a visitor who was really hoping to see the sloths, and I had a few free minutes to take them back for a quick look-see. I always told them no photos, and I have to say, if someone had disobeyed that instruction, I would probably have really rethought my willingness to do something like that for visitors in the future.

Second, as a guest, I frequently call in favors/friendships with other keepers when I visit their zoos to see things that are behind the scenes. That's how I got to go BTS with Sumatran rhino, giant otter, spotted hyena, platypus, and a lot of other animals that aren't part of normal tours. In those cases, I have taken pictures - WITH permission from the keepers, and with the expressed understanding that they do not appear on social media. If I betrayed that trust, they would know, they might get in trouble (which I would feel awful about), and really tarnish my reputation among my colleagues.

What's done is done and you did what you did... but I'd strongly encourage you not to do that again. And certainly don't gloat about it

 

Well said @Aardwolf

I will add as well that people might be surprised how many zoos do keep tabs on the site. I'm sure there's quite a few members on here still remember repercussions of similar incidents in the past... leaking or supporting leak posters could potentially get you into trouble with the zoos, not just a lot of backlash from forum members.

 

Can't say much that others haven't already. Your behavior was unacceptable, your assumption that we would support you in doing it backfired, and the fact that you are liking the posts of the only person not condemning you (up until a moment ago) is evidence that you haven't really reflected on your behavior yet. My suggestion: you should admit that your actions were wrong and take some time off-forum to reflect on your approach to visiting zoos and aquariums.

Let's be clear about something: there's no maybe here. The user absolutely should have deleted the video - or more accurately, never should have taken it to begin with. It was in clear violation of the aquarium's stated policy and they were directly confronted by multiple staff members about it. There's no ambiguity there, so I think it best we don't muddy the waters about it.

Let's also be clear about something else: this thread in general isn't really an argument. What they did was obviously and blatantly wrong. Most of the posts in this thread are condemning the behavior and in full agreement with each other, not debating it.

The reason people are "piling on" is because the more people who make clear that this behavior is unacceptable and something we won't support here, the more we make clear that this behavior is *not* representative of our forum - most of whose members wouldn't do something like this.