News threads creating clutter

This is one of social media's biggest problems. The site has hundreds of members. Less than half a dozen have raised this objection. Does the vocal minority speak for the group?
I always opt for more inclusion, more openness and less pointless management. The Mods will decide if they feel this is a problem but I still see this as a solution in search of a problem

 

Grant's Farms is a facility I feel like domestic news actually makes sense for. Probably about 2/3 of the collection is domestics and they've had a lot of weird stuff going on with their collection recently. To me, it was a refresher to know they even still have animals.

 

Dang I realized that throwing myself back into the lion's den wasn't a good idea

you beat me to the deletion though lol.

 

It is far more than that. Most just haven't publicly said anything in this thread because past objections were ignored, they know they won't be listened to now, and/or they've left the forum entirely.

So where should we stop with inclusion? Share every single birthday? Every time an animal gets new enrichment? Every single event held at a zoo? What about petting zoos, farms that allow visitors?

 

On what do you base this? How can anyone know what "most haven't said"????

The Straw Man Fallacy: Meaning and Examples

 

The thing about sustaining any community is that new members need to be welcomed and their fresh perspective respected especially by exiting members.
If you've been in any community long enough you have seen everything discussed more than once. What is old to you is new to someone else. If you can't allow room for that then there will be no new members and the community will whither away.
When existing members insist that the entire community keep pace with their jaded interests then it becomes a community of the old. Members may well in time out grow the community as their interests specialize and mature. That's life.
And frankly, there are more members who consider themselves "experienced and knowledgeable" than are either experienced or knowledgeable. They can benefit from being challenged or even annoyed by fresh voices. (Remember when so many of the very young new members took the name "expert" as part of their username?)
So we are each faced with the question: is the Forum about MY interests or is it a community I wish to support and sustain?

 

I think something that needs to be considered when discussing any of this news that many of us find annoying or frustrating also is who is posting it in what zoos? There's a big difference between someone posting about the goats at a zoo they visit often and someone posting facebook links to goat births/deaths at a zoo they've never visited and likely never will. I get it, I love the goats at my local zoo as I assume many others on here do. If someone posts news about the goats they love from their zoo, that's great and I don't have any problem with that. It's a bit different though to be posting facebook links to goat births and deaths at random, obscure zoo that you don't have an invested interest in. Part of me wishes that people would save the reporting of news to those who visit the facility and know it best. Others can comment and discuss the news, sure, but save the reporting for those who have a more intimate connection with the zoo, as chances are those members have a better idea of what is or isn't newsworthy. I'm willing to bet a decent amount of "lurkers" would also be more inclined to post if the site was more encouraging to and more dependent on local zoo-goers to report news, rather than have members half way across the country who have never visited dominating the news threads.

 

It seems like you are fascinated with goats, is there something you're not telling us?

Jokes aside, I have an invested interest in every facility I post and there are members (who aren't private) that I could name who post news from across the world at different facilities. I guess what separates me is how often I post the news in threads that "not many people care about".

 

I can confirm that I am one of those who is frustrated by the number of posts regarding goats, Guinee pigs, seasonal reindeer and the like, but have not contributed to this discussion. I have wondered for quite a while, why has someone living in the US felt the need to update UK threads about such "news" of the birth or arrival of a new goat or similar.

 

Agreed. I'll add that it is irritating to see the thread for a zoo that I'm interested in updated, to click through, and discover it is a post about goats or crazy golf or something.

 

Indeed.
But if your focus was on elephants you'd be equally miffed at updates about lions.
I just don't see how to make sure every click is completely rewarding.
I believe that one can simply mark any member as "Ignore" and be free of selected "clutterers" (Either that or bring Marie Kondo in to moderate)

 

You seem to think that when I write in this thread, I am targeting specifically you, and only you. I am not. I am commenting on the general nature of the forum, and am not out to get anyone. This isn't personal. When others behave similarly, I find it equally frustrating as when you do it, and I hope that others see this thread and re-consider/evaluate their posting habits as well. Furthermore, I don't see how you could have an invested interest in every single zoo in the country. Sure, you could find the other zoos interesting, but unless you are visiting all the zoos you post news about, then I don't see it as your place to be posting the news. Save the news reporting for the members who actually visit the zoos, not keyboard warriors halfway across the country or world.

 

Just to add my .02c, I really don't mind the updates, even if they are very minor. Sometimes it helps give some vision to a zoo that otherwise gets few posts or information due to a lack of zoochatters visiting it for whatever reason.

I am not going to comb through every facebook or instagram update for all these zoos, but when I am looking for something about a particular place I know I can get a summary here.

 

Neil I don't think you are just "targeting me" in this thread. However, when you keep bringing up the subject of "goats" every single time you list out ur problems with Zoochat, I think you are mentioning me because there might be 1 other person I have seen talking about domestic news included in zoo posts. So forgive me for thinking that.

I am invested in every facility I talk about because I am heavily invested in the internet. I don't really have much else going on in my life so I dedicate my time to researching and documenting zoological facilities. Also Neil, I really do hope you will repeat that to anyone else who posts news from facilities they have never been to if you actually believe in that point.

 

I believe this has been said before and it really does miss the point for a lot of us (I AM ASSUMING) in that goats for example are generally regarded as domesticated animals, whereas, dare I hazard a guess, the majority of members of a ZOO forum want to read about ZOO animals. The elephant/lion argument is very weak and it was the last time I read it somewhere else on the forum.

I can't imagine anyone expects to be rewarded by every click on the forum.

Again, this has been mentioned before. Not everyone wants to log in for every visit, therefore the ignore function doesn't work on those occasions. Also, as I found with a couple of members a couple of years ago, threads go missing because they started them, or discussions are really confusing because many of the references will be missing.

Your other point about new members bringing a new perspective? A goat has been born at "x" park, is not a new perspective.

 

I rather think I have made my point. A seemingly small number of members disagree and feel that more rules and even censoring will improve their experience. That's disappointing.
I'll leave you to it then

 

If one of the rationales for controlling unwelcome news posts is that some members have left due to them, we need to face the fact that there are no doubt members who leave Zoochat because of threads like these.
Who wants drama in a zoo fan forum?

 

People talk privately.

I know what a straw man is, thanks. I'm not making one.

 

This has nothing to do with new members, you're moving goalposts here. Constantly posting non-news bogs down threads, buries actual news, and gives new people no room to contribute.

I can only think of a single member with "expert" in their username, and I'm not finding any others using search.

Wanting the community to be sustainable is the entire point.

 

Not at all. People are aware that others like popular, and sometimes even unpopular, species, you know. I'm not into hippos but plenty of people are, and updates about them make sense.

As others have already pointed out, using the ignore function doesn't work in these cases, because you still constantly see that the threads are updated, and it means you could miss some actual news if the ignored members started the news threads for that facility/year.