M_surinamensis
Shillelagh Law
- Messages
- 1,165
Delete, or lock and archive, the Health and Medication subforums and lock/delete any such threads created in other subforums around the site.
The number of registered members who seem capable of appropriately and responsibly discussing the topic is very low relative to the number who misuse them.
Most of the threads in those sections consist of people who are creating posts as a substitute to seeking appropriate veterinary care for their animals. They ask questions or seek information that are impossible for anyone else to really answer in a responsible and educated manner and they often get answers from people who are completely under-qualified to be discussing the topic to begin with (even if they were seeing the animal in person and were able to directly observe, analyze and test).
The few people who might be qualified to offer information will almost never be willing to do so because of the inherently subjective nature of the owner's description and the way that it is completely irresponsible to diagnose or recommend a course of treatment without seeing the animal personally and directly.
The few topics which might be appropriate to discuss are all on the fence between health and medication and the general husbandry forums anyway, so things like shedding tips or feeding techniques still have a place where they can be appropriately posted. Everything else ultimately comes down to "see a vet" as the only responsible answer that can be given anyway; though there are a few members who don't seem to understand that and will contribute inaccurate, unsubstantiated and sometimes dangerous misinformation regardless.
Having the forums there encourages people to post. Most of them are probably innocently naive of the fact that their questions are either impossible or irresponsible; some kind of statement encouraging them to seek appropriate and qualified medical care would do them a lot more good than those forums do in their current incarnation.
Basically comes down to a scenario where nothing good can be achieved with all these "My animal is sick, help!" threads, but there is a great potential for negative consequences when under-qualified members step up and try anyway. I've seen a few which were already dangerously ignorant and liable to result in the injury or death of the animal in question, thankfully most have been caught and addressed but why encourage the risk for no gain?
The number of registered members who seem capable of appropriately and responsibly discussing the topic is very low relative to the number who misuse them.
Most of the threads in those sections consist of people who are creating posts as a substitute to seeking appropriate veterinary care for their animals. They ask questions or seek information that are impossible for anyone else to really answer in a responsible and educated manner and they often get answers from people who are completely under-qualified to be discussing the topic to begin with (even if they were seeing the animal in person and were able to directly observe, analyze and test).
The few people who might be qualified to offer information will almost never be willing to do so because of the inherently subjective nature of the owner's description and the way that it is completely irresponsible to diagnose or recommend a course of treatment without seeing the animal personally and directly.
The few topics which might be appropriate to discuss are all on the fence between health and medication and the general husbandry forums anyway, so things like shedding tips or feeding techniques still have a place where they can be appropriately posted. Everything else ultimately comes down to "see a vet" as the only responsible answer that can be given anyway; though there are a few members who don't seem to understand that and will contribute inaccurate, unsubstantiated and sometimes dangerous misinformation regardless.
Having the forums there encourages people to post. Most of them are probably innocently naive of the fact that their questions are either impossible or irresponsible; some kind of statement encouraging them to seek appropriate and qualified medical care would do them a lot more good than those forums do in their current incarnation.
Basically comes down to a scenario where nothing good can be achieved with all these "My animal is sick, help!" threads, but there is a great potential for negative consequences when under-qualified members step up and try anyway. I've seen a few which were already dangerously ignorant and liable to result in the injury or death of the animal in question, thankfully most have been caught and addressed but why encourage the risk for no gain?