Why Are There So Many Gory Topics In This Section ?

[brightonrock]

Why are there so many gory topics in this section ?

Whenever I look in this section I am struck by how gory and horrific the news items are. Is this necessary ? I am as sad and distressed about the cruelty cases talked about here as the people who respond but why is there a big lack of other news ?

I think if you read all the topics in this section you would be frightened to leave your pets alone for a minute and a bit paranoid about strangers and walking your dogs alone as well.

In general people are good, the majority do love animals or are at least interested in them and mean them no harm.

I think focussing on animal cruelty is sick. It should be dealt with by the authorities and justice served, but a forum is a strange place for it.

[SkySoaringMagpie]

I don't necessarily have an issue with them being posted but as I mentioned in the Doberman thread, because you can see the most recent topic "In The News" when you look at the DOL forums page I think it would be more courteous for people not to describe the cruelty in graphic detail in the heading. The Doberman one could have been rendered "Doberman cruelty case". The horse one "Horse dies after attack in paddock" etc

I guess the other thing is, what are people going to say? About 10 posts calling the perp a sick f*** and then 5 posts commenting that they won't get a sufficient penalty and then another 5 posts calling for an eye for an eye. It never changes. At least with the scientific breakthrough stories or opinion pieces about feeding and training there's an opportunity for more of a discussion.

[koalathebear]

I guess the other thing is, what are people going to say? About 10 posts calling the perp a sick f*** and then 5 posts commenting that they won't get a sufficient penalty and then another 5 posts calling for an eye for an eye. It never changes. At least with the scientific breakthrough stories or opinion pieces about feeding and training there's an opportunity for more of a discussion.

I have to agree on this one ... The stories about horrible animal cruelty are very upsetting but they are factual and it is important to know about them to see what the law does etc but I'm usually very disconcerted by the responses that advocate some form of gruesome, physical retaliation. I know it's rhetoric and the posters don't actually mean they want to go and kick people and gouge out their eyes etec but sometimes the strength of language describing what should be done to the perpetrators is as upsetting as the original article. I'm not a believer in eye for an eye. We hopefully don't live in that kind of poor, nasty, brutish, and short-lived society (to borrow from Hobbes) any more ...

[Cheyd]

I don't necessarily have an issue with them being posted but as I mentioned in the Doberman thread, because you can see the most recent topic "In The News" when you look at the DOL forums page I think it would be more courteous for people not to describe the cruelty in graphic detail in the heading. The Doberman one could have been rendered "Doberman cruelty case". The horse one "Horse dies after attack in paddock" etc

I agree the titles could be changed to make them a little more palatable, I had just been quoting the paper headlines whenever I posted in that part of the forum so assumed that if you could see them as headlines that they would be ok

I will make a conscious effort next time I post anything to check the title of the thread

Generally I believe that the more people talk about cruelty the more people are outraged, eventually this must get through to the people who make our laws or enforce them. I also think that if people are more aware of this going on, more people might dob someone in they suspect is hurting or abusing an animal

[brightonrock]

I guess the other thing is, what are people going to say? About 10 posts calling the perp a sick f*** and then 5 posts commenting that they won't get a sufficient penalty and then another 5 posts calling for an eye for an eye. It never changes. At least with the scientific breakthrough stories or opinion pieces about feeding and training there's an opportunity for more of a discussion.

I have to agree on this one ... The stories about horrible animal cruelty are very upsetting but they are factual and it is important to know about them to see what the law does etc but I'm usually very disconcerted by the responses that advocate some form of gruesome, physical retaliation. I know it's rhetoric and the posters don't actually mean they want to go and kick people and gouge out their eyes etec but sometimes the strength of language describing what should be done to the perpetrators is as upsetting as the original article. I'm not a believer in eye for an eye. We hopefully don't live in that kind of poor, nasty, brutish, and short-lived society (to borrow from Hobbes) any more ...

I completely agree. The replies to the earlier posts have scared me as much as the news articles. Violence is aggressive and verbal violence is what I object to.

Oh, and completely off topic, koalathebear I love your Elbie, what a sweetheart !!!

[Staranais]

I don't normally read most of the topics here as I find them rather depressing. I don't see why you'd want to read such horrible things. But, I think it's good to have the headline reposted as the title so I can tell which things I want to read, & which I really don't.

If you don't like hearing about it, I guess don't read the news section? Or, post more positive news articles.

[brightonrock]

I don't normally read most of the topics here as I find them rather depressing. I don't see why you'd want to read such horrible things. But, I think it's good to have the headline reposted as the title so I can tell which things I want to read, & which I really don't.

If you don't like hearing about it, I guess don't read the news section? Or, post more positive news articles.

More positive articles are the way to go..... my point was that the focus seems to be on cruelty cases.

[Zhou Xuanyao]

SkySouringMagpie - That reminds me of "How many forum members does it take to change a lightbulb ?"

KoalatheBear - Agree. But I do not think it is empty rhetoric. I think most of them really would like to see these beatings, castrations, drownings, burnings at the stake, ect

Aside from that the attitude alone says it all. "He\she committed an act of cruelty, therefor I should also commit an act of cruelty. But for me its ok because I feel justified, for someone else its not"

Edited October 10, 2010 by Lo Pan

[koalathebear]

Oh, and completely off topic, koalathebear I love your Elbie, what a sweetheart !!!

Oh, thank you. We love him a lot. He is a lot of hard work, but he also works very hard and we find him most delightful. I'm glad you think he's sweet, too.

KoalatheBear - Agree. But I do not think it is empty rhetoric. I think most of them really would like to see these beatings, castrations, drownings, burnings at the stake, ect

Aside from that the attitude alone says it all. "He\she committed an act of cruelty, therefor I should also commit an act of cruelty. But for me its ok because I feel justified, for someone else its not"

Oh dear. I was trying to give people the benefit of a doubt. My view is that the violence has to end somewhere and one act of violence does not justify another.

[raz]

my point was that the focus seems to be on cruelty cases.

I agree with you. Check out the happy news stories - they get very few responses. Isnt it bizarre!

Koala, that's what Lo Pan is saying. He just said it a different way

[Jed]

Perhaps because there are more gory news stories than feel good ones.

A forum is its' members. The members of this forum post what interests them or what they think will interest other users.

[Adza]

I feel terrible after reading these stories, and no I never agree to eye for an eye, sometimes I get angry but most of the time, I am wanting to know the what the legal system does with it.

[raz]

Perhaps because there are more gory news stories than feel good ones.

A forum is its' members. The members of this forum post what interests them or what they think will interest other users.

Feel good stories arent exactly newsworthy - because it's human nature to dwell on the negative.

I dont think there are any more gory stories in the news than there have always been. It's just that we have a news subforum so they all get posted here. Most of these stories we'd never even see just flicking through the newspaper. If the stories are upsetting people, just best to avoid this section of the forum.

[LizT]

my point was that the focus seems to be on cruelty cases.

I agree with you. Check out the happy news stories - they get very few responses. Isnt it bizarre!

Koala, that's what Lo Pan is saying. He just said it a different way

Sadly I think it is because human nature suffers from "morbid curiosity".

Edited October 12, 2010 by LizT

[snow_wolf]

Why are there so many gory topics in this section ?

Whenever I look in this section I am struck by how gory and horrific the news items are. Is this necessary ? I am as sad and distressed about the cruelty cases talked about here as the people who respond but why is there a big lack of other news ?

I think if you read all the topics in this section you would be frightened to leave your pets alone for a minute and a bit paranoid about strangers and walking your dogs alone as well.

In general people are good, the majority do love animals or are at least interested in them and mean them no harm.

I think focussing on animal cruelty is sick. It should be dealt with by the authorities and justice served, but a forum is a strange place for it.

This is the "In the news thread"... Quite frankly, every time average joe gives "buddy" a scooby snack, It isn't going to hit headlines. Unfortunately, because the posts here are to subject related, the majority of article that will be posted here will be acts of cruelty, or other "shocking" news... Of course, occassionally, there will be great feats, which will bring joy to your day to read. Such as the thread about the oldest living dog.

But this is the way the world works, and good news doesnt sell, anywhere near as well as bad news will, thus wont be reported.

That being said, there is nothing forcing you to be exposed to the "grim" topics. And it is your choice, and yours alone, whether you open those pages...

If you're looking to engage in a conversation that is more light-hearted, visit the general discussion page. And once your post count reaches 150, you will have acess to the off topic section. Usually some good stuff to talk about in there if u want to stray (no pun intended) away from dog-talk.

[SkySoaringMagpie]

That being said, there is nothing forcing you to be exposed to the "grim" topics. And it is your choice, and yours alone, whether you open those pages...

Actually, the point I made, and others make, is that if the poster chooses to describe the act of cruelty in the subject line then you do see it, whether or not you even open the In The News forum, because the most recent topic sits in the Discussion Forums area.

[raz]

Actually, the point I made, and others make, is that if the poster chooses to describe the act of cruelty in the subject line then you do see it, whether or not you even open the In The News forum, because the most recent topic sits in the Discussion Forums area.

The problem is that if the OP doesnt give an indication of the content in the subject heading people complain that there wasnt a warning. It's a no win, really.

[snow_wolf]

Actually, the point I made, and others make, is that if the poster chooses to describe the act of cruelty in the subject line then you do see it, whether or not you even open the In The News forum, because the most recent topic sits in the Discussion Forums area.

The problem is that if the OP doesnt give an indication of the content in the subject heading people complain that there wasnt a warning. It's a no win, really.

Or people could just grow up??? Its not the end of the world, because you read a word that is a little unsettling such as "death"...

Unfortunately this is the world we live in. These things happen, as unfortunate, shocking, and disgusting as they can be, they do happen.

There's no point having a cry because you read about it on some web forum, and its shaken you up a little bit. How about thinking what those animals, and people go through when these things happen. Im sure that they would all beg to have just read about it on the internet one day instead.

[sandgrubber]

What bothers me is that the 'In the News' category has essentially jumped the que and sits before Health, Nutrition and Grooming, Training, BSL, Puppy Problems, the Show Ring, etc. So it becomes a high emphasis forum. That was ok when the 'News' was dominated by tragic events that happened to much loved DOL'ers. But it stinks, now that the 'News' is dominated by animal cruelty. If this forum stays dominated by negative stories, I think it should be put down below the training and show sections . . . so people will be exposed to it only if they seek it out. You're not going to get people to change topic headers . . . ok . .. maybe for a week or two, but then a whole new mob will come in and hey, lots of people want attention, and gore gets attention.

Btw, while discussing listing order of forums, I think Breeds 101 was interesting at first, but has become moribund. Every time I check a Labrador listing I seem to find someone asking chatty questions that don't fit into the forum and being referred to 'Those Crazy Labradors' in the General Discussion. I think Breeds 101 should be moved to the bottom of the list or sub-listed in the Show forum.

Edited October 14, 2010 by sandgrubber

[raz]

If this forum stays dominated by negative stories, I think it should be put down below the training and show sections . . . so people will be exposed to it only if they seek it out.

How does that work? You're only going to be exposed to it if you seek it out anyway. Just dont look in the news subforum if it upsets you so much. Pretty simple, really.