Hi All
As Gill says we are in the middle of considering an extra note in our guidelines about this subject. It is one of those emotional and sensitive ones due to the fact we are a site firstly in support of Cat rescue and helping them to help the needy cats. Secondly, we are (and all the staff will try to keep it) a friendly place to come and be part of a cat lovers community, where any cat lover/slave can come for valuable advice and chat to like minded friends about the furries in our lives. This is important as it is our way to build a community to help the needy cats and a friendly forum is important as without it we do not have the members joining in our events to fundraise and help the rescues (our main goal).
Purrs will not discriminate between members who have Ped cats or moggies and i believe threads on this nature are getting a little out of hand and having a ped cat is getting rolled up in with the subject of actual breeding and breeders which should not the be case. There are many rescue cats that are Pedigrees and moggies and ALL cats and all genuine cat loving slaves are welcome no matter how their cats have come to be part of a members loved family.
Members who have been with us or Catchat for a while do know we are here to support cat rescue and as a result do understand it can be a sensitive subject but new members do not have that knowledge with us as yet. If we as a rescue community are seen to respond to posts and to give friendly advice in a calm. polite but informed manner to new members, it's more likely to have the desired effect than if they are met with hostility. It is the reason we have this in our guide from the start of Purrs :-
As in all forums, it is very easy to take the written word in the wrong context and meaning. The use of smilies do help to show your emotions in your text. We all have our own strong opinions and personalities can clash or it would not be a real world but please be polite and hold controlled discussions.
Please bear in mind that some people may come on the site not knowing much about cats and genuinely seeking advice.
Please be fair to any topics you may not agree with. Ie if a new poster comes on posting about de-clawing, etc., please be polite but objective as the poster may be unaware that this is very very cruel and offensive to us. However, if there is a poster deliberately upsetting members, please report this to a Moderator or Admin straight away.
If we are to add a little on this subject to our guide (which also is in our registration agreement before you become a member) it will hopefully help new members be aware we are in support of cat rescue and the subject of active breeding will be one of our sensitive ones. We do not promote breeders or allow breeder advertising. We would not want to stop any cat owners including responsible, caring breeders joining for friendly advice from our huge wealth of knowledge for the best interest of their cat/s care and health.
Personal "attacks" of any kind should not be on threads and any problems or things you are not happy with are much better being reported to the staff who can help to the best we can with a mind of fairness for all the members.
For me and i hope for all of us, we are a team of caring cat owners, helping other cat owners, helping the cat rescues and having the members and the staff as a group together to do this.