Facebook Campaign to get OES people to look at OES.org
I don't use Facebook and never will, but I wonder if most of the sheepie people there know that there is a better, safer, no-ad established alternative sheepdog community right here. Maybe some of you might consider posting on FB something to encourage others to check out OES.org and putting links to this site. I bet a lot of people on FB don't even know it exists. Maybe, we can get some new blood and reinvigorate what has always been the most friendly community of sheepie people around. I wouldn't hurt if you could fix the way photos are handled too. Pictures always make the stories come alive. I know, Ron, that you've put years of effort in keeping this site going and don't know how you do it, but there couldn't be a better time to let people know that there is a better, safer alternative to share their passion about these wonderful dogs. |
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| Richard, Oh, they know. Most of them were regular posters here until a few years ago. FB made it easier & faster to post pictures to both their friends AND their families without having to use multiple platforms. We've had a couple resurgences here in the last few years from OES.org members who have asked all the regulars to stop by and post. Unfortunately, those resurgences are short lived.  What I tell people who are adamant in not using FB, is to create an email account just for FB and then create a FB using an alias that no one else knows. That way you can see what's going on over there and post but you won't have to give up your privacy. And if you're REALLY tech savvy, you could create a VPN and sign into FB via that, so they won't have a record of your I.P. address. |
| There would need to be a large effort to get the photo gallery working again. It's hard to find motivation to do that when there's nobody around. Whenever someone does start posting, a small quarrel results in hurt feelings and the end of posting. Posters aren't abiding by our old "cup of tea" mantra and take expression of differing opinions personally. It's a sign of the times. It's just a different online environment than what we had here. The decline in participation here began when one of our members started being nasty. My mistake was to try to reason with her and then I edited her posts to tone them down. She proceeded to work to undermine the community. I allowed the creator of the fb group to use the forum to recruit members there. These were some of my mistakes. Could it be recreated? Probably, but it would require heavy handed intercession and quick banning of anyone who was being offensive. It would require recruiting of members. It would require a monetary investment into the systems and into more hosting capabilities. A lot of effort. It would take a surge of "new blood" and an effort and money. As an example of how times change, recently a loooong time oes.org poster went on a political tirade on fb. When I mentioned to her that she's really being quite insulting to half of her friends she simply didn't care. So I returned the favor and said things about her country's leader and she threw a #### fit and blocked me. She's blocked from participating here now, not that she had visited in the last 6 months anyway. Monetarily, currently oes.org is using 85 gigabytes of storage out of a 100GB limit. The cost to add space is around another $100 a month and I'm not willing to pay that and the advertising revenue that the site does earn (members aren't subjected to the ads) is minuscule. |
| ...and frankly I'm kind of disillusioned. After all of the time and effort over the last 15 years put into this place, when I have asked for people to stop by and "say hello", the community and I were pretty much ignored. The vast majority of the people I personally asked to stop by gave nothing but electronic lip service and never posted here. Couldn't even muster so much as a "Hi, nice to see everyone", while they post 20 times a day on fb. So that was the thanks we received from the others. I certainly don't want to insult people here, you are the victims, the ones in the community who were snubbed by the people who used oes.org for as long as it met their needs, then turned their backs when the community needed them. |
| Thanks for the education even though it's pretty depressing. I certainly understand. I will hang on here until you can't deal with it any longer however. I have no other way to share things with others who know and understand sheepdogs. None live near me certainly. The breed becomes more and more rare. I visited the local shelter after I lost Charlie a few months ago, a place I had gotten rescued sheepies before. It seemed every cage held some kind of pit bull or pit mix, unwanted and forlorn and probably destined for an unhappy ending. Not ever the breed for me particularly now at my current age. It left me saddened and feeling like we have lost so much because we are now overwhelmed by the results of those few who carelessly pursue a misguided sense of "toughness". And if anyone wants to read between the lines there, I guess I can be as off-topic as anyone at times. |
| And new posters don't come back, or update. I check daily here, and there is usually never anything new. I don't like Facebook, or the OES Facebook groups available. They are so ready to attack anyone on their methods. It's ridiculous. I can imagine the tirade of Facebook posts if they found out I had Harry neutered at 8 months old, lol. I have plenty of questions. But have hesitated to ask, as I know a lot of people are purely positive trainers. But as long ad you don't mind controversy I can stir it up here! Lol |
| I think the lack of activity and recent posts snowballs. People glance at the index and see threads months old and whole topical indices with no recent activity and just go somewhere else. What I think I will do, for my part, is to post as much as I can and reply to other posts where I maybe wouldn't have previously. I've got a new sheepie and wish I had others to share the joy of it. Maybe I will be talking to myself but at least it may cause someone to stay and take a look. Oh, her name is now Mindy instead of Bindi, which she came with. She doesn't seem to notice the difference. Turns out Bindi is actually the dot women Hindus put on their foreheads. My wife's 90 year old mother was recently scammed (for over $100,000) by someone in India and and when she found out what Bindi meant, said it has a bad association for her. So Mindy it is. I changed my avatar so that's my new little girl now. |
Well Richard, congratulations on your new girl Mindy!   I am one of those people who DO NOT facebook, tweet twitter or whatever. I found this forum a number of years ago and I enjoy reading new posts. There has been a lot of information on this forum and of course it's fun seeing all the pictures. The sad part is the 'crossing the rainbow bridge'. I have no idea how to post pictures, don't own a computer nor a fancy phone.  But I do love reading all the stories and the goofy stuff the sheepies (and other pups) do. So, hopefully new people will find this forum and others will come back. I sure hope so!!!  |
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