San Diego Zoo Safari Park Platypus at San Diego Zoo Safari Park

Well said.

 

Indeed we have and you are correct, it is certainly much more complicated than strictly saying Chester cancelled the talks because people leaked too much information from them.

I definitely do agree that if a keeper tells a member something during a visit and never clarifies that the information is confidential, then it is usually fair game to post on the forum. Of course there are grey areas, such as someone hearing a conversation two keepers are having that happens to be in the public area or if you're on a behind the scenes tour of some sort. In these cases it's best to try and ask yourself "does this sound like something I shouldn't post yet?". In most cases, the answer is that it's fine to post but we must still be wary of those few occasions where we stumble onto something we perhaps weren't supposed to. And of course, if it's confidential just don't say anything.

You're not necessarily wrong here either.. but of course there is a major difference between sharing a secret amongst trusted friends and posting it on the internet for many more than just the members of it to see.

~Thylo

 

I think I agree with all of this. Although, as you say, there is a lot of grey in this area.

My main concern is to draw a line and make sure that we don't fall into the trap of self-censoring and only discussing stuff that has been publicly announced by the zoo itself. Modern zoos (the big ones) are very PR conscious and want to keep a tight lid on everything; witness how devoid of actual substance most official Facebook pages are (not that I use Facebook). There are plenty of other public sources, like government documentation of imports, ZTL and even things like seeing one zoo's van in another and attempting to put two and two together. Zoos may not want us to discuss these things, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't.

There is, of course, but as we have again discussed elsewhere it's not really in the interest of the wider forum to protect the access of a few members to information that won't be shared on ZooChat. Which is not to say that confidential information that might be passed on in private should be posted here.

 

I Agree with u @ThylacineAlive it's took risky to find out about the platypus for employees could loose their jobs. If the park wanted to make it official then let them make it official instead of having a media link

 

I agree 100%. See, we're not so different

In this particular instance, I can't see someone actually losing their job even if we assume the rumor is true. Someone could, however, get into some form of trouble with their supervisors and, in turn, be less trusting of the next enthusiastic zoo nerd that comes around harmlessly asking questions. Speculation can be fun, and as @FunkyGibbon points out a lot of-- if not most-- zoo news will not be published officially by the zoo, we just need to be careful that healthy speculation doesn't turn into rampant rumors and that we're not spreading false or sensitive information.

~Thylo

 

...Did I do something bad...or...? I don't know, but this has sparked up quite the conversation...

 

Honestly? Yes.

If somebody gives you information and they tell you it’s confidential, then respect that. Don’t use it as an opportunity to show off.

You’re very young and I understand people make mistakes, so don’t be too hard on yourself. But understand that this sort of thing would get you fired from many of the jobs you might have one day. It’s really not the right thing to do.

 

You didn't necessarily do anything bad. It's just that a lot of people "leak" things on the internet that end up being false, so people tend to be wary of information given by people without verified credentials. Even on ZooChat it's happened before.

On top of that, some people are wary of the idea of leaks in general and believe that off the record information should not be given to others as they feel it's like spreading secrets, and disrespectful to the person who gave you that information. It's a breach of trust, more or less. As CGSwans says, people can get fired for that. I nearly volunteered for an AZA facility and volunteers were told that no information could be given out period by volunteers or staff unless it was released by the facility, and the penalty was termination.

 

I apologize for the big spark up that's been caused, I'm not discussing anything further. Would it be fair if this part was taken down so that nothing develops further?

 

To be clear I think what people are reacting to is that ZooBinh said they had confidential information that couldn't be shared but then also left us no doubt at all about what that information was by saying we would be very happy about it.

 

Yeah, that's what I was trying to do.

 

And do you understand how unfair that is to whoever you spoke to? You breached their trust.

 

Yes...

 

I think ZooBinh got the idea guys, lets move on and let this thread get back to its purpose now.

 

I would try to explain myself, but I'm afraid that it would be too much, but I mean I didn't tell you that what was happening, just that there was something happening that you all would be happy about, so just to have a mystery to look forward to or something. But I get the point, I'm sorry.

 

Woah this did blow up more and most rightly so. I think ZooBinh didn’t mean to neither confirm or deny what may be going on and as for my first visit to the safari park with behind the scenes I will keep my lip shut, the zoo staff work so hard to make sure all species are properly acclimated and transfers of new species is a rather strenuous one. I will ask the zoo staff as to what can be said and not, I do hope they are able to acquire and hopefully exhibit them one day since they’re a specie that almost defies what we expect from biology. We should all respect any zoo’s decision of what they decide to divulge to the public or even a select few, I will follow through the same as well as anyone would whom may have discreet knowledge to.

 

I disagree with u their on that. @ZooBinh technically never showed off confidential information. I understand a ur point of view and I respect that but plz note that ZooBinh never actually revealed anything about the Platypus

 

ZooBinh may not have directly gave away information, but he so heavily insinuated that info that practically everyone who's read this thread can easily figure out what he means. I'd say that counts in my book.

 

@pachyderm pro thats true. I never thought of it that way