The Forum Rulesforum Agreement
As some of you may have noticed, the Fluffy Ferret Forum is attracting a lot of new members which is in the main, very good news for all of us. Having said that, in my haste to set the forum up, it has been brought to my attention that the forum does not have any written rules. Yeahh anarchy, my inner punk has finally come to the surface.. :laugh:

While this was fine when everyone one here had been invited by word of mouth, with the increase in traffic on here, we have attracted the attention of the search engines, which is good in getting new members, but unfortunately means "Forum spammers" have found us as well.

Suz and I are working hard at vetting anyone who tries to join up now, but with up to 20 spammers a day, every once in a while, one may get through.

For this reason, we need to safe guard ourselves, and I have put a set of forum rules in place. I have basically taken a look at rules for other forums I am on, and used them as the basis for ours, so hopefully there should be no surprises in there, but should continue to allow the FFF to grow and remain the friendly place we have grown to love since it was started in February 2010



Fluffy Ferret Forum (FFF) rules:-

Posting on this forum implies agreement to abide by the forum rules and guidelines whether you have read them or not.




The FFF is a non confrontational place for ferret lovers to come and share the fluffier side of owning ferrets. We love photo's and funny stories, but also have a wealth of information and experience between us, that can be a great bonus in educating and helping all ferret owners on the more serious side of fuzzy husbandry.

The FFF will not be encouraging ferret breeding. The majority of the members of this forum are against irresponsible breeding of Ferrets. We do however appreciate that in some instances individuals will breed to carry on a blood line or come in to possession of a pregnant Jill etc. We do not wish to ostracise a whole section of the ferret community who have a wealth of information that they can share, especially when their knowledge could be very useful if someone should accidentally find themselves with a pregnant ferret, and require help and advice.

Owing to the many volatile opinions on hunting, the FFF will not be discussing any hunting practices. We do not believe there are any difference between ferrets used for hunting and household pet ferrets. Since the main aim of the forum is for people to discuss good ferret husbandry practices, and for it's members to have fun while doing this, we believe that both types of owners can learn from each others experiences with out the need to go into specifics of the actual hunting scene and can live in harmony on the forum.

The Members of the Fluffy Ferret Forum will not tolerate obvious signs of mistreatment, abuse, or neglect. Posters showing repeated displays of ignorance, antipathy, aggression, or a general unwillingness to be receptive to basic advice regarding the care of their ferrets will leave us with no choice but to receive either a warning or be banned as we deem necessary.

As a forum, we hold all our members to a certain level of responsibility when it comes to ferret husbandry which includes a proper diet,exercise/enrichment, veterinary care, and living conditions. Our members all pride themselves in knowing that they have the best information available to them by asking fellow members for their help and advice, knowing that the information given will always be to the best of every ones ability, accurate and useful. The great thing about a forum, is you get the opinions of many people, and while in many instances, the information may differ from person to person, and give you a choice of ways to approach your own issue, any bad information accidentally given can be quickly be corrected by other posters, resulting in other people also learning from your question.

When someone does ask a question, we would rather people post first hand information, rather than resorting to links to other web sites.

This is because a lot of information on static web pages can be incorrect, either:

- because new practices have superseded them and the page is out of date,
- it is based on information about drugs and treatments available in another country and not applicable here,
- or it was typed in wrong in the first place, and has never been corrected.

The linked to page  may also be moved or removed at a later date, making the post pointless to later referral by members searching the forum for for information at a later date.

To compound this issue, many sites just copy their information from another web page, resulting in misinformation being easily duplicated from one site to the next. The whole point of posting a question on a forum is to get first hand experiences from fellow "Live" ferret owners, after all, if the poster had just wanted to read static information they would have just typed it into a search engine their selves from the start.

The Fluffy Ferret Forum is not the place for you if you do not have the intention or means to care for your ferrets properly, and are not willing to seek expert veterinary help when recommended by general consensus to do so. We are not telling members how to think or feel in regards to animal care, but we believe our collective experience can help members avoid any potential mistakes or hazards to their animals well being and health.




AUTOMATIC BANS

- Anything that is against the Law in the United Kingdom

- Spam-mailing of the FFF membership or any other unauthorized advertisements are prohibited and are considered to be a theft of service.

- No copying of photos or posts on FFF. All photos are property of the poster and you must have permission from the poster before copying or using them elsewhere. All posts on FFF are property of FFF and are protected under copyright laws. You must have permission from a FFF Administrator before copying, reposting, or linking to a FFF post. Reposting information that we have provided for your use, on other forums is considered theft of services.

- Posting pornography is strictly prohibited.

- Respect the mods. They are here to keep the boards safe,sane, secure, and pleasant. Do not harass, sass, or intentionally annoy the mods. If they ask you to do something, please do it. If you do not like the mods or moderation here, then feel free not to post here. If you have an issue with a mod that you cannot work out privately or if you feel you are being picked on by a mod, please contact an administrator privately.

- DO NOT LIE. This includes deliberately omitting information.

- The staff at FFF believes that one of the forum’s goals is educating first time and even long time ferret owners. However, we will not tolerate obvious signs of mistreatment, abuse, or neglect. Posters showing repeated displays of ignorance, antipathy, aggression, or a general unwillingness to be receptive to basic advice regarding the care of their pets will be warned and banned as we deem necessary.

- Many of the icons and emoticons you find here at FFF are the property of "The Lazy Hammock" Ferret forum, and are used by kind permission of the Board owner. Others are made by me, to match in. They are all protected under copyright laws. DO NOT copy or use them elsewhere. Doing so will result in immediate banning.




OTHER RULES

- Debating and discussion is fine. We like all types of threads posted in the forum, so that everyone can learn and have fun.
Definition of debate:
"a process of inquiry and advocacy seeking reasoned judgement on a proposition. Debate allows for two or more sides advocating their positions on a given issues under some set of rules with some kind of judgement to follow from a judge or audience."

Lively and even heated discussions are welcome, but personal attacks aren't. Take issue with any idea you wish, but we expect all members to do so with decorum. Do not make personal grievances public. Differences that arise in private or on other forums should be dealt with privately. If a poster cannot act in a mature fashion, they will be asked to leave. Administrators and Moderators will not put up with trolls, name calling, and personal attacks under any circumstances.

- Advice is offered on FFF for many things including medical inquiries. We are not vets and recommend that you seek a veterinarian’s advice for all medical concerns. If it worries you enough to ask us about it, it should worry you enough to ask a vet about it. Any advice you take from any FFF member or staff member is taken at your own risk. Members and staff members cannot be held responsible for your actions or inactions.

- Advertising or selling pets is not allowed. But listing adoptions in local areas is ok. If you find yourself unable to properly care for your ferret(s), and you feel that you must re-home them, you may post a re-homing ad.

- No matter how worthy your cause, solicitation for donations on this board for any charity or reason is prohibited. The only members that may solicit for donations are Rescues/Welfares with at least 50 quality posts and only with the permission from a moderator or administrator.

- Advertising, mentioning, or soliciting for other forums, good or bad, is not allowed. Please do not link to another forum in your posts or signature. It will be deleted.

- Advertising a personal business or soliciting for business on FFF is not allowed until you have reached 100 posts and have requested permission from a staff member. Please do not link to your personal business in your signature. If you do link to your business before you reach 100 posts, it will be deleted.

- Please do not post other people's personal info (names, addresses, phone number, e-mail) for any reason. It will be deleted.

- Do not post content promoting the use of illegal drugs, alcohol, sex, pornography, nudity, or any other form of adult content, profanity, hate, "spam", fraud, racism, pyramid schemes, or promote any illegal activity

- Pets come in many species, shapes, sizes and colours. We understand that not everyone likes every animal, but please be respectful of other people's feelings and pet choices.




Please have fun