[Rona]

Originally Posted by michaelundinaeichhorn

Yes you are right but I think you sometimes need to know the whole story that happened before to realize that. And not all people think to the end of a story they heard or can read between lines.
For those who tend to believe what they read and are newbies it is like Nebulosa wrote difficult to find the truth. If the tactic wouldn´t be successful in at least some cases it wouldn´t be used for so many years for so many times and not every breeder would hesitate to write openly about his problem to look for advice.

I take your point Ina, but on the other hand one cannot shut the gossipers’ mouths and they’ll continue spreading their rumours /lies privately or on some other platforms, where there is no possibility to confront them and present true views and facts. Not to mention, that if banned or heavily moderated, they will keep victimizing themselves, and using this fact as an argument for their cases.

Last summer I met a man who asked me which kennel Lorelei came from. Since he looked a bit weird, (the type I call little macho willing to walk with a big wolf ) I gave him a name of a nonexiting kennel . We started talking about CSVs and he told me he had already conducted research for buying a CSV and one of the breeders from central Poland, the top expert in CSVs (sic!) briefed him about the CSV market in Poland. You wouldn’t believe what nonsense I heard about Margo’s kennel, about Galicyjski Wilk and a couple of others!!! By eliminating the “bad” kennels and adding 2 + 2 I could guess with great probability who the source of his “info” was, but since he didn’t mention the name directly, I won’t spread gossip.
Even if half of what he said was true, I should have already been sued by Margo for not taking Lorka often enough to dog shows , my dog should be half her size, have very poor HD and ED and would never be able to play unleashed with other dogs or peacefully walk in busy streets, all of which she often does. .

I am sure this man was not the only indoctrinated one! Such cases have happened, happen and will happen in every country, and I think it’s better to be able to address the gossipers: ask for evidence, details, names, etc. If they cannot display them, and in return only call their opponents names or do not answer the questions, they only discredit themselves. If they do answer, the situation isn't much better. Recent example? Even open, unprejudiced person, who tries to see arguments of all sides, finds it hard to understand how a breed expert may so easily blame breeder(s?) for not testing their dogs for dwarfism, if she herself hasn’t tested hers yet (only intends to ...) .

So maybe a moderate moderation would be a solution? Giving warnings to forum members who use offensive terms like liar, bonsai breeder, etc. or who use deplorable expressions like some of our little machos with big wolves sometimes do?
I don’t mean or mind hot discussions or strong argumentation, but if somebody cannot control himself to the point of throwing mud at others, he should be warned a couple of times and only then - banned.
On th other hand, the moderator or admin should tell forum members very openly and precisely what this person was banned for, so there is no room for victimization and self-victimization.