How to Use The Forum

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emmabeth
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Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:24 pm
Location: West Midlands
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How to Use The Forum

Post by emmabeth »

Forum Guidelines:

General posting advice

This forum is designed to be a place where you can find help, and additionally, talk to other dog people, make friends, exchange information.
Because you can only communicate with text, rather than face to face, it's important to remember that your words can be read and interpreted very differently to the way you originally intended. Use the emoticons/smiley faces where needed, these give other forum users a better idea of your meaning when you post.

It is also worth bearing in mind that it is often easier to be "mean" to someone you can't see and have never met via a post, so do read your words through using the preview option before posting, if you wouldn't say a thing to someone face to face, don't say it via the forum. This is not a place for personal vendettas and as our mothers used to say, if you can't say something nice, (or constructive) don't say anything at all!

Do remember that although you can't see and will probably never meet other users, they are real people with real feelings. These guidelines are here to help you use the forum and get the best out of it, following them will enable other people to understand you clearly, and prevent many misunderstandings.


How to get the best out of the forum

Firstly, whilst this is Victoria Stilwell's forum, please understand that Victoria is very busy and cannot always respond to posts personally even if addressed to her. Victoria does check the board on a regular basis and can and does answer questions when she has the time.

Post in the correct area, so if you are posting about a problem you require help dealing with, post in "Dog Training Advice". If you are posting with a question or observation about the show, post in "TV Show", if you have a joke or some photos of your dog, post in General Discussion.
This keeps the forum tidy and easy to access for all, and makes the mods job easier.

Defamation Laws Apply On The Internet

Please think carefully about what you post. The law (and it varies from country to country) DOES apply on the internet and to the things you publish on it (posting to a forum such as this is counted as 'published' and also 're-published').
This can apply to something you write yourself, or something you have copied and quoted from somebody else.
Because this area of law is a minefield (especially as this forum has users from many different countries which are subject to differing laws), the admin and moderation team here will lock or delete comments or threads that they feel may in any way cross the line, or encourage others to do so.

Search First!
There is a Search function on the board found at the top of the screen, do please use this to see if your question has already been answered.

This forum now has a huge archive of previously asked and answered questions, especially covering common queries regarding house training, pulling on the lead and puppy play biting. It is highly likely that you can find the solution to your problem by reading these posts. If you can do this then we can save time in repeating the same advice.

We also have the Dog Training Articles forum with useful topics on a variety of subjects. Please do check in there to see if the help you require is there.

(Note: please do not respond on old threads you find using the search function though - this bumps them up and pushes newer posts down the list.)

If you have a problem that has not been covered previously, post in the "Dog Training Advice" area and include as much information as you can. We like looooooooong posts!
Start your own thread for your own problem rather than tagging onto an existing thread started by someone else, otherwise your post may be missed.
However, if you have more than one doggy problem just put them all down in the same thread rather than starting two or three separate threads for each issue.

PM System

The Private Message system is there for you to use to contact other members privately, to contact the moderator or Board Admin about important issues.

Please try not to PM those giving out useful advice for private advice, they give up their time for free and public posts on the forum mean that as many people as possible can benefit from the advice given (and equally the poster benefits from the advice of more than one person). If you PM privately you are taking up that persons time purely for your own benefit and no one elses. Many of those advising on the forum are dog trainers/behaviourists in their own right and would normally charge money for private advice, their time is valuable!


General Rules

Please note, the following forum guidelines exist to make this forum easy to use and understand for all.
Please refrain from using ‘text speak’, it is hard to understand and whilst its use on mobile phones is fine where characters are limited, we positively welcome long posts, you are not limited in the number of words or letters you may use.

Please do not post entirely in capital letters. In "internet etiquette" this is considered 'shouting' and it is also very hard to read.
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