You know, I have been visiting the Marans forums for a couple of years now. Don't let the post count fool you. I have seen many a conversation in here. I have read every single post on this thread, The Black Copper Thread, and the SOP Thread. For the most part I agree with you. But I think peoples understanding and view should be, whether it be a new person or a veteran is this:
New People: If your Interested In getting Marans, read the posts. Information is repetitive and often times can be found by reading. Get to know the posters, who is newer and who is experienced. If your new please state that, and it helps to know the intentions of what you are looking for. Are you breeding? Do you just want a nice lawn ornament?
New people wanting an Ornament: I dont care if you call your birds Cock, Cockerel, Hen, Pullet, Roo, Rooster, Girls, Boys, Ladies, George or Nancy. Im happy to help you learn. If I can help further this breed, or make you fall in love with them that much more than great!
New People Breeding to SOP: If you are coming on here to tap into knowledge to get rich and be another person ripping people off on
ebay, we have nothing for you! We always know who you are. If your serious, and you want peoples time to post responses to your questions, than YOU can spend time by doing your homework by reading, taking notes, taking criticism, learning the lingo, listening, being honest with us, and most of all honest to yourself. We are also not here to do all the work for you. Read! Acknowledge and appreciate the time we take out to respond to your post. At least if you respond, we know you are giving our idea some thought. It boils down to you. They are your birds. If you dont agree with our assessment thats fine. You see them up close and see things we can't. But If you post pictures and your bird is a mess, and your serious about learning, then don't get mad when we tell you your efforts would be better with a different bird. Your hurting yourself, your breeding program, your offspring, and God forbid the sucker who buys your stock should you sell them. I have posted in response to someone asking a question about what breed his bird was, and how he/she can spot the breed, and how this person should advertise his non-pure mixes so he doesnt deceive people because he/she wants to make a buck! I spent a good 45 min responding, on my phone, trying to not offend. I answered and other people did as well. SEVERAL times in other threads as well. I didnt get not even a response. Thats fine. But what I got out of it is someone not liking the answer that they got from everyone because they want to make money. If you come in being new, and then be rude and act like a know it all, disrespecting veterans, or ignore them, all bets are off. Its apparent that you do know it all, and really dont need us, so dont ask questions. Maybe Im wrong. If I am I will admit it.
Veteran/Experienced Showman/Breeder: Leader, This word is what more knowledgeble people on here need to value. Yes these threads are fairly serious threads to learn, and better for the breed. But again I will also emphasis that this is a Community as well. Many walks of life, cultures, ages, experience levels. It should not be difficult to be a part of these threads. If someone states they are new and here to learn, then teach them if they are willing to listen. But if they want to be a hobbyist, than let them say "Roos" or "girls". If they are serious they will correct themselves. If they dont want to learn, pass them by. But let me ask how does a person learn veterans? Remember in school. I do, and my time in the military. I remember every good Leader/Teacher and every BAD Leader/Teacher. Being pessimistic, negative, arrogant, not setting an example, not sharing your knowledge, being coarse, single minded, not respecting others opinions or beliefs are all things I remember. Do you think someone would want to be here, or learn if they are made to feel an inch tall? I have seen a couple people here (You know who you are) run off more people than I can count! Its always the same couple people. If your as serious as some veterans preach on here, than we are suppose to share this wonderful breed to improve it. Here is something to think about. How do we get the younger generations involved? Maybe my young daughter want to raise Marans for a 4H show. She comes on here to learn from wise people. Are any of you going to beast my daughter because she loves this great 4 month old rooster named "Boy". Let me guess, we would single her out telling her shes not serious enough to be on here because she calls a cockerel a rooster, telling her its not a boy, correct her for misspelled words, not putting an "S" on the end of Marans, not to mention misspelling WheatOn. Which results in a person leaving that could have contributed to chickens in the future. She could end up being a genetics person who maps out Marans. Who knows!
This is not that complicated ladies and gentleman. Not only should this be educational, but it should be fun as well. My thought and opinion is this. If you consider yourself knowledgeable on chickens and Marans. If you Intend to respond to posts and in essence Teach someone and cannot do it effectively and with respect(This does not include having a technical difference in opinion) than why even bother to respond to the person. If you cant say anything nice dont say it at all.
By the way, I made up the Daughter thing as an example. Im out!
"This post later edited to fix spelling errors lol and to add the below statement"
I want to again say thank you to my mentor, she knows who she is. I took this Breed head on, and searched for knowledge. I found it on here. She saw something in me and offered to come to my house to give me an assessment of my birds. Since that day we have become good friends and helped me through a lot. I was blessed because she is well respected and lives 10 minutes from me. I have learned a lot from many people on here. I thank everyone for that. But to those that go out of your way to treat others poorly, or simply have the mentality that you are who you are. I hope karma shows you many equal return. To the fairly new people on here. Hang in there, learn, and soon the roles will be reversed. You will be writing posts lifting up people, teaching and mentoring. Just dont turn into the people that get on your nerves now.
Wayne Cottrill
Edited by Staff
