From: "Bill Cole" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Where are all the people who used to share their experience and
knowledge
> about gerbils?
>
> >From some private email recently, I find that some others wonder the
same
> thing. <snip>
Let's have a short funeral service for this discussion. I'll quote some
private replies that I received, without revealing who wrote them.
I asked for ideas 3 days ago. Evidently not many people are interested.
Some were interested enough to actually read the question, but prolly not
many. Three days means that the discussion has passed out of GML memory
for all practical purposes.
There were 3 direct replies in GML. One person said she had been away for
a few days, and two more said they had been busy with work. Two other
replies were a personal exchange about one person's email address and ISP.
-0-
The nine private replies were informative and thanks to all who sent them.
I'll quote four of them, slightly edited to trim where indicated. All of
these are from Americans.
*** [from a breeder with many years of experience] --
Wisdom goes to where it is welcomed.
*** [from a pet lover, like me but much more experienced] --
Although not an experienced gerbil keeper, I've enjoyed gerbils for over
5
years now. I haven't participated in discussions of the GML for over a
year. <trim>
My last time of contributing I got into a nasty discussion with ____
_____. <trim>
I have learned a lot from this group about caring for our gerbs but I
guess for me, silence is
golden.
*** [from a breeder with even more years of experience] --
I have talked to a few that were on the list and now aren't and I get
the
same answer. They are tired of the mail dealing with "what to name my
gerbil"
and the 50 emails on "I am sorry your gerbils died". This list used to be
essentially genetic and breeding questions (before you joined) and it was
quite interesting. I and others believe it is due to the large number of
young
people on the list that have swayed the topics from what they used to be
to
what it is now. If you notice I am not on the list very much anymore and I
have noticed that _____ isn't on here very much either. <trim>
I wish you could have seen the topics and talked to the people before.
It was really nice. I think this list
will eventually lose most of the "experts" and slowly die to almost
nothing.
*** [from a young woman] --
Well, you have to consider, they got older. I wouldn't be surprised if
someone who previously wrote every day to the GML moved on to other
hobbies
and interests. I mean, as a teenager i love breeding gerbils, but I don't
plan to do this my whole life....or even through college maybe. Who knows?
You can't expect them to stay forever, do you? I mean, do you want to do
this forever?
-0-
Just BTW -- I disagree that age is a problem in GML. IMHO age has
little relationship with good sense; with wanting to learn; nor with
respect for others. This based on my own having been young, and having
helped to raise five kids to adulthood. The psych degree is too dusty to
count.
-0-
One final word on WHY GML needs the experts to participate.
A few days ago someone thought she had seen her gerbils reduced to skin
and bones and killed by blood-sucking mites. A few experts were able to
explain to many of us that the mites almost certainly did not kill the
animals -- that mites move to animals that already are sick.
Without the experts, everyone would start to believe that mites kill
gerbils.
I'll bet that many people still believe it and are spreading that
misinformation. That will mean many more animal deaths because keepers
will be treating the wrong problem.
GML has two main purposes -- information and social. The social part is
forcing out the information IMHO. Is GML primarily for the welfare of
gerbils, or of people?
