From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2001-05-21 15:29:00 UTC
Subject: Moderator's message: We all have responsibility to weigh
what we read and decide for ourselves.
There has been a suggestion that the moderators check posts for
accuracy and even add some restrictions on what can be posted. For
several reasons, providing such checks would be unwieldy, perhaps
even impossible. We also doubt that they are necessary because the
readers provide their own evaluations and cross-checks.
FHL members are intelligent and curious souls; they know enough to
weigh sources of information. They know enough to realize that even
while most cases fit within certain categories that there are still
variations among individual ferrets. They realize that their main
source of information needs to be a ferret-knowledgeable vet who is
familiar with the ferret, the case and the home situation.
Do people make mistakes at times? Of course! Are the FHL members
intelligent enough to realize that and take it into account? Also,
of course!
At some point there is simply the factor of the reader taking on
responsibility for his or her own interpretation and action. That is
an inevitable result of any discussion. People know enough to take
assorted opinions, weigh them, (if wanted) even gently discuss them
with the vets who have hands-on knowledge of the specific individual
ferret. The final choices though are their's, not our's. Those
folks work with their data base and their vets and they make their
choices, their own choices. It's simply what we all do in our own
lives; in the end we sift through what we have been given, pick and
choose, and then take responsibility for the final decisions
ourselves.