- Joined
- Feb 22, 2013
- Messages
- 3,291
This forum is an absolutely amazing source of information. You couldn’t get more accurate information if you went to a convention, let alone trying to do research on your own online. As we know, the internet is filled with absolutely terrible advice. There is much, much more bad advice than there is good. We live in an age where you can literally talk to your phone and say “What humidity does an Avicularia need?” and end up with one piece of good advice and ten care sheets. But how would a new user know that any of it was bad advice? That is doing research, and it ended poorly.
That is why it saddens me to see what’s been going on here lately. Just in the past two weeks, we’ve had several new users come on here asking for advice (some before even buying the spider) only to be berated. Another user brought up his Poecilotheria and was almost immediately hounded about what species he’s owned and for how long, even though he showed no signs of being a beginner. Most of us have a passion for these creatures – many of us treat it like a part-time job. I get it. But this is not how we cultivate this hobby.
A person buys an Avicularia from a pet store, follows care sheets, comes to us when the spider is curling, and is promptly harassed because they didn’t perform the research and weed out the terrible advice first. The spider dies, they leave the forums (because why wouldn’t they?), and we’ve lost a potentially great hobbyist. What, exactly, is the point of lecturing? If the goal is to teach them a lesson, then that’s not the way to do it. I wouldn’t consider myself a beginner at this point, and yet my smartphone is still in hand at any expo to quick Google an unfamiliar species. That’s the lesson that needs to be conveyed – that this hobby will force you to do research constantly. What’s going on here is akin to a student showing up for a math class and being berated for not knowing algebra. Should they know it? Yes, but yelling at them will solve precisely nothing.
Every time a question is asked, it is wholly unneeded to start drilling the asker on what species they’ve kept and for how long. I understand the goal there; to find out their experience level. But really, does it matter? Help them with the matter at hand and, shockingly, they’ll open up. A question about substrate will quickly turn into suggestions on different substrates to try. That is how education works… it’s a branching path. Just like with all hobbies, there is a certain taboo in being a ‘newbie’ (a term I despise because of the connotations). Because of that taboo, they are immediately put on the defensive and feel as if they need to explain their actions, which is then perceived by this community as arguing.
Another user on here recently said that many people expect a hobbyist to have a degree in biology before even buying a spider. I’m paraphrasing of course, but that is spot on. More often than not, a new hobbyist already has done research and was misguided by caresheets. But how would they know that this information is garbage? You can find literally hundreds of caresheets online, and only a handful of truthful advice. All I’m asking is that there is a certain amount of caring and sympathy towards the keeper, not just the spider.
To be clear, I’m not talking about the posters asking what’s wrong with their spider without providing any information or pictures. I’m talking about the posters that clearly have good intentions and have been led astray.
I love this hobby, and I love these forums. We’re a great source for “no nonsense” advice, but that doesn’t mean that the new hobbyist should walk away feeling beaten. Of course not all users act the way I’ve described, but enough to warrant me posting this. Please, just be nicer to new hobbyists.
For the record, I’ve put this in the Tarantula Chat section because this doesn’t seem to be an issue in any other subforum.
That is why it saddens me to see what’s been going on here lately. Just in the past two weeks, we’ve had several new users come on here asking for advice (some before even buying the spider) only to be berated. Another user brought up his Poecilotheria and was almost immediately hounded about what species he’s owned and for how long, even though he showed no signs of being a beginner. Most of us have a passion for these creatures – many of us treat it like a part-time job. I get it. But this is not how we cultivate this hobby.
A person buys an Avicularia from a pet store, follows care sheets, comes to us when the spider is curling, and is promptly harassed because they didn’t perform the research and weed out the terrible advice first. The spider dies, they leave the forums (because why wouldn’t they?), and we’ve lost a potentially great hobbyist. What, exactly, is the point of lecturing? If the goal is to teach them a lesson, then that’s not the way to do it. I wouldn’t consider myself a beginner at this point, and yet my smartphone is still in hand at any expo to quick Google an unfamiliar species. That’s the lesson that needs to be conveyed – that this hobby will force you to do research constantly. What’s going on here is akin to a student showing up for a math class and being berated for not knowing algebra. Should they know it? Yes, but yelling at them will solve precisely nothing.
Every time a question is asked, it is wholly unneeded to start drilling the asker on what species they’ve kept and for how long. I understand the goal there; to find out their experience level. But really, does it matter? Help them with the matter at hand and, shockingly, they’ll open up. A question about substrate will quickly turn into suggestions on different substrates to try. That is how education works… it’s a branching path. Just like with all hobbies, there is a certain taboo in being a ‘newbie’ (a term I despise because of the connotations). Because of that taboo, they are immediately put on the defensive and feel as if they need to explain their actions, which is then perceived by this community as arguing.
Another user on here recently said that many people expect a hobbyist to have a degree in biology before even buying a spider. I’m paraphrasing of course, but that is spot on. More often than not, a new hobbyist already has done research and was misguided by caresheets. But how would they know that this information is garbage? You can find literally hundreds of caresheets online, and only a handful of truthful advice. All I’m asking is that there is a certain amount of caring and sympathy towards the keeper, not just the spider.
To be clear, I’m not talking about the posters asking what’s wrong with their spider without providing any information or pictures. I’m talking about the posters that clearly have good intentions and have been led astray.
I love this hobby, and I love these forums. We’re a great source for “no nonsense” advice, but that doesn’t mean that the new hobbyist should walk away feeling beaten. Of course not all users act the way I’ve described, but enough to warrant me posting this. Please, just be nicer to new hobbyists.
For the record, I’ve put this in the Tarantula Chat section because this doesn’t seem to be an issue in any other subforum.
