Product Review Section

 Hey Gloria,

 LOL -- yes, she'd be the one to have caught that!! Hah!  They will be very happy with it, thanks for doing this..... I'm sure you'll have a happy forum :)

 Just while we are talking forum, any update to how Tech is making out with some of our back-end problems?  

 Thanks for the help, looking forward to the rules and the new section, it'll be bustling very soon, no doubt!

Lani

Haha!  I guess my email went out before your post.  Yes, I clearly have nothing better to do than monitor the forum all day... lol  Sorry for the redundancy, and I'll leave it alone for you to create, post rules, etc.  Must feel good to be comfortable maneuvering around the forum and creating things the way you want.  Click-treat for Gloria! :)

So, I have a question about sections in the forum.... namely, Health

At some point about a year or two ago, dog.com decided they wanted the Health section reorganized the way it is now.  With this being flea/tick season ramping up for most of the country (and dog.com promoting their sales of same), I have a hard time deciding where threads about such preventative stuff should go.  There are a few threads in General about fleas, ticks, and other parasites.  Mods - where would you throw those?  Under Health - General section?  or one of these?:

Life Stages - not really applicable, unless it's the life stage of the parasite. lol

Diseases and Conditions - maybe, but when we're talking preventative stuff, this doesn't really apply

Injuries and First Aid - again, not really applicable, since nobody is hurt, they're just talking about Frontline or which worm preventative

Reproduction and Contraception - (which I still find a funny section name, lol) - not applicable

Homeopathic and Alternative Remedies - to me, this has always meant herbs, accupuncture, etc - ie, Callie should own this section

Kate did that (the Health section) ... bless her, but I disagreed with her too.  She agonized over the name of each section. Honestly, she probably put wayyyyyy too much thought into it.

"Life Stages" was supposed to reference problems dogs have as puppies, adults and then geriatric.  Maybe there is a better way to name that.

Repro and contraceptive is pretty obvious, but yeah.  It should just say "Reproduction" period, in my opinion.

LOL about the Homeopathic, very true. We should just put a little cabin in there for Callie ;)

 Maybe we could cut those back that's being way too specific, these are the sections I see... how would you want to trim it?

PUPPIES & GERIATRIC

GENETICS

INJURIES

REPRO

ALTERNATIVE REMEDIES

Hi everyone,

I just sent out an email about the rules since you offered to post the rules for me. However, I can draft up a copy and post on the forum tomorrow, right before the section goes live. Let me know what you think about the additions to the rules in the latest email. (I mainly took it from the forum rules and added some of my own.)

 Lani, I also answered your question about the back end issues. 

 As for the Health issues and where to classify flea and ticks...well, we have an alternative remedies section, so why can't we make just a Remedies section? Can't have an alternative without a regular right? we could always just write in the description as to what fits into the section.

 Let me know what you think.

Here's what I see for health questions:

My dog swallowed X, is limping, is breathing funny, etc, what do I do - sounds like First Aid/When to call the Vet

My dog was diagnosed with xyz disease, my vet reco's using abc drug, I think my neighbor's dog has lmnop condition, does anyone have advice - sounds like Diseases and Conditions - when you know or suspect your dog has a disease or condition and you need advice/perspectives

I want to start using traumeel, tea tree oil, witch hazel, but don't know how much, or if it will interact w/his existing drugs.  Or, anybody have good experiences with T-touch, or accupuncture, or reiki on dogs? - sounds like Homeopathy/Alternative  how to apply herbal and alternative treatments. 

My dog has fleas from a visitor, I don't know which tick preventative to use, how do I know which type of worm I just found in my dog's poop, any tips on applying Frontline,  - sounds like either Prevention or Parasite Prevention or something... Would we put vaccination questions in there? - vaccinations, titers, etc are a decently sized issue among dog owners.  I almost would rather have a Preventative Care and Maintenance section!

I think my dog is pregnant, how long until I can tell?  How to keep a dog quiet after spay/neuter surgery, what do I if the dog licks his surgery site? - sounds like Reproduction

My elderly dog is leaking, how much glucosamine is right for my 15yr old beagle, I think he's going blind or has cataracts, which puppy pads work best for incontinent dogs, when to wean puppies to solid foods, at what age should I get his first shots- Life Stages or Puppies and Geriatrics would be fine.

Meanwhile, things like odd growths, lumps, pimples, etc - would those go in General?  First Aid?  Diseases and Conditions?

Hi ladies!

 Product Review section is now live and running. I have posted the rules and regulations AND made an announcement on the welcomes and announcement pages!

More importantly, I have made it so that particular section of the group CANNOT be accessed by anyone BUT the members for the forum!  I have tested this on both Macs and PCs so we should be good to go. if you guys want to just take a look, feel free and let me know if you come across any problems.If you want to take a look at the groups, please do so! It is always nice to have another set of eyes.

 Hopefully, this is will go smoothly.

 Thanks!

glam

Product Review section is now live and running. I have posted the rules and regulations AND made an announcement on the welcomes and announcement pages!

  YOU ROCK!  The rules are niiiice and clear!  Your announcements for each are friendly and inviting -   I kinda like the Eco-friendly part of the travel section, too!

One thought - I do NOT want people going there to ask "what would you use for X?" - that's what the rest of the forum is for.  This Product Review is to say "This is great because it does x and y and z.  Really useful for lmno and p."  Am I the only one of this opinion?

 Great job Gloria, it looks great!!  Lots of work, I know. Thank you for putting it together :)

 Paige, I don't mind people asking for a review about a product that hasn't yet been reviewed.  Say I'm buying a new no-pull harness, I may want to find out if it works.  But, maybe I'm missunderstanding your question.  

 Also Gloria, is it now throughout the forum, no links to competitors sites even if they sell a product that dog.com doesn't currently carry? We used to allow that, as long as it wasn't a direct competitor to dog.com and wasn't SPAM (let's say a regular member was asking a question about a product.) Speaking of updating the rules, shall we go over the old rules and revise them?  I like what you added at the end of the product review section and think the old rules could use some of the disclaimers, also.  

I LOVE, LOVE, LLOOVVEE that only members can see this section... I could just see the huge amounts of spam otherwise. We'd get rid of it, but it'd be a near full-time job to do so! :)  I'm soooo excited about that!

Great job, again... looks great!

Sera_J

Paige, I don't mind people asking for a review about a product that hasn't yet been reviewed.  Say I'm buying a new no-pull harness, I may want to find out if it works.  But, maybe I'm missunderstanding your question.  

I think if you have a particular product and have not seen a review of it, then that's one thing.  What I do NOT want to see is open-ended "give me reco's for harnesses".  I honestly think the thread should be limited to a particular product.

  I mean, I don't want to see "Hey, guys, what kind of food do you recommend?" - use Nutrition to ask questions.  I don't want to see "which crate should I buy?" - although, I guess if you've got two particular models and want advice between the two...  I just don't think it's the place to SEEK general advice (that's what the rest of the forum is for!), but is the place to PROVIDE feedback on particular products.

 Gotchya... totally agree! Good point.  It's for specific product review, not general questions.  Great point!

 late to the party as usual - why oh why do I not get notification of posts in here as I have selected!

Anyway review section looks good and I agree with both Lani and Paige in that we don't want wide open 'what food' questions but I think if I was looking at buying the Ruffwear Webmaster harness I should ask in this section about others experiences with this harness.

super busy got to go

Hi Ladies,

      I think that it would be okay if it was not in the product review section for linking sites. However, for the product suggestions, if they want to link to a product, we would like that they would ask for permission first (just so we don't get in trouble for linking to a manufacturer's site). I don't believe it would be a problem outside of the product review sections as long as it is not a competitor.

       As for the questions, the product review section is strictly for reviews only. It's fine if they ask "what is great about this product?" (or any question along those lines).  Questions as to recommendations ( as you have suggested, should be moved to the proper threads). That I will leave up to you guys to take care of. Any questions on it, please feel free to ask.

Sera_J

Speaking of updating the rules, shall we go over the old rules and revise them?  I like what you added at the end of the product review section and think the old rules could use some of the disclaimers, also.  

        As for the rules, I had a meeting with Kelly in regards to the rules yesterday and have already revised it with a couple of updates (which are similar to what is on the product review). I added in a couple of new rules and Kelly has approved of it. I added to several of the old rules too. Some of the new ones are:

• The forum is a family friendly board and does have a forum censor for words that are not tolerated. Circumventing around the censor by using asterisks, exclamation marks, question marks or anything else in place of the letters is not acceptable. Failure to respect the censor will result in an edit, three edits equal a suspension.
• Plagiarizing content or posting images that are not your own is strictly forbidden. If you are going to post content and images that are not your own, please give credit to who it does belong to.  Failing to do so will result in disciplinary action.

I added to the the Debating and discussion rule, stating that if they continue to abuse this rule, they will be moderated. I have spoken to Kelly and she has agreed to this. 3 Moderations will equal 1 Ban and a warning from the admin. Afterwards, they are allowed 1 more moderation and 1 more ban and then their case will under review and up for possible permanent ban. These are for our more aggressive members. So all our forums will be set to be moderated and all users will be not moderated unless they violate that rule. Hopefully, they'll understand that their green card is being pulled. LOL.

I will be posting those rules tomorrow morning in the forum, under the Welcome and Announcement Pages.

Let me know if you have any issues.

 Thanks!

 Thanks so much Gloria, you've been awesome :)

 I went ahead an posted the rules and regs at the top of each sub-catergory so that they can't claim they didn't see them (at the bottom of the page :)  Because.... well, I know these people. LOL  So the R&R's are well posted!

glam

• The forum is a family friendly board and does have a forum censor for words that are not tolerated. Circumventing around the censor by using asterisks, exclamation marks, question marks or anything else in place of the letters is not acceptable. Failure to respect the censor will result in an edit, three edits equal a suspension.
• Plagiarizing content or posting images that are not your own is strictly forbidden. If you are going to post content and images that are not your own, please give credit to who it does belong to.  Failing to do so will result in disciplinary action.

As far as the plagiarizing, we totally need this rule.  Thank you!  I do think we should go one step further. Having had photos of mine used without my consent, I'd say that "Plagiarizing content or posting images that do not belong to you is strictly forbidden.  You must have the author or copyright owners explicit permission to use their material and by posting such property you are confirming that you've received all necessary authorization."  We have had someone scan pages out of a book to post on the forum... why? I really don't know, but that is most definitely copyright infringement.  Just by saying "photos taken by Lani Jones" wouldn't make me happy, it's just acknowledging that I took the photo, it doesn't guaranty I gave necessary permission. Ya know?  This is very near to my heart... sorry if I go overboard, but it's just this is some people's livelihoods and they can and do get very upset about use.

Awesome changes and thanks so much for listening to what we have to say and installing some changes for us!