Terms of Service & Soliciting for Money

@jbrayshaw

There's an interesting thing about the ad network that we currently use. It presents ads based on sites that you visit. Practical example, I recently bought some skimpy undies for my nearest and dearest for St. Valentine's. Now every time I visit this site, I'm presented with ads to buy more skimpy undies or related products.

I understand that many sites do this, but I can assure you, I've never visited any porn related site that would generate an ad for me to meet hot Asian women. If shopping online at Victoria's Secret generates this type of ad, then perhaps I need to contact VS.

About the pm-ing, I was not aware I had to friend someone to do this. It was not like that on the old format. I'm not on any other forum or message board, so I don't know how they work. I'm a bit anti-social when it comes to generic places like Facebook, but I do love dogs and sharing with people who have the same passion.

I understand that participation ebbs and flows. I think the biggest thing that has driven away people has been the inability to stay logged in. I don't access this site by anything but a desktop computer - I don't have a fancy cell phone or notebook. This login issue is not a top concern for me, but I can see how it might be for others.

We can only teach new members if they come back. How many times have we seen posts looking for "urgent" help, and then the poster never comes back and tells us what happened? Do you think people soliciting for money ever come back? Probably not. I understand you can't judge a person's intent when they sign up, so screening would be next to impossible.

At any rate, I appreciate you "listening", Jonathan. I know life is constantly changing and I try to roll with it the best I can.

You just made my Friday @JackieG. Now all I need is for everyone to start a few threads (and comment on more) and I can really look forward to my weekend. Any community, but especially this one, should cater for as many people as possible. I get the site's heritage and I have the deepest respect for it. I'd love us to be the place where newbies come when they get their first puppy as well as old hands who have been there, done it and got themselves a collection of T-shirts. Come on guys, help us make this something REALLY special.

@sharismom

I understand that many sites do this, but I can assure you, I've never visited any porn related site that would generate an ad for me to meet hot Asian women. If shopping online at Victoria's Secret generates this type of ad, then perhaps I need to contact VS.

I am not going to argue with you. My point was these networks do sometimes stretch definitions within categories. Like so many things it's Google you'd need to talk to.

@sharismom

About the pm-ing, I was not aware I had to friend someone to do this. It was not like that on the old format. I'm not on any other forum or message board, so I don't know how they work. I'm a bit anti-social when it comes to generic places like Facebook, but I do love dogs and sharing with people who have the same passion.

There's a lot to like about Facebook and while I don't want to send people into a panic by mentioning it, what we did is look at sites like Facebook and Pinterest and tried to combine those experiences. It looks good (I think) but it has some technical challenges. We're working on those, so that it should be easier to follow next time we make a major release. On reflection, long-form content doesn't really sit well in little boxes on a grid, but we have ideas on how to fix that to encourage engagement and help people navigate the site.

@sharismom

I understand that participation ebbs and flows. I think the biggest thing that has driven away people has been the inability to stay logged in. I don't access this site by anything but a desktop computer - I don't have a fancy cell phone or notebook. This login issue is not a top concern for me, but I can see how it might be for others.

I hear you and fully accept this. It's been driving me crazy of late too. But I am informed by my tech team that they have fixed it. So it should no longer be a feature of the site. We will keep an eye on it though.

@sharismom

We can only teach new members if they come back. How many times have we seen posts looking for "urgent" help, and then the poster never comes back and tells us what happened? Do you think people soliciting for money ever come back? Probably not. I understand you can't judge a person's intent when they sign up, so screening would be next to impossible.

Screening is hard and it is also very unreliable. For me this is a question of netiquette. Some people have it, some people don't. I hope we can encourage people to live the values of this community when they join and quickly weed out people that don't believe or anywhere else on line, frankly.

@sharismom

At any rate, I appreciate you "listening", Jonathan. I know life is constantly changing and I try to roll with it the best I can.

And I appreciate you sticking with us and continuing to share your views.

Jonathan