Alska survived catsitter no-show

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RobinCot said:
I have fixed Alska's spreadsheet thanks to BJ. Please let me know if it is not working properly. Also, if anybody has any direction on how to replace the entire URL with "Alska's SS" in my signature, I would be grateful for the direction.
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It's easier now with the new software. Copy the spreadsheet link. Type in "Alska's SS" and highlight it. Click on the paperclip button in the toolbar. Paste the link in the window that opens. Click Insert and that should be it.
 
One thing that's the same about everyone on this board no matter what protocol we use, is that we care a lot. While so many people chose to euthanize a diabetic cat, we are willing to do everything we are capable of for ours. Each of us is filled with love, passion and protectiveness, not only for our own cat(s) but for each other's cats. I have no doubt that any of you would show up on my doorstep, if you lived close enough, if my cat was in trouble, and I needed you. We want this nasty disease to vanish from our cats' lives and the face of the earth, and we will fight for that goal. I just hope we can all see that the enemy is FD, not each other. We need each other. I know I need each and every one of you. My beloved cat is not regulating as he should, and I need input from all the experienced members, no matter what protocol they use. Perhaps even more, I need support from all the other inexperienced members like me, who can cheer me on and lift my spirits when the going is so tough. This change has been hard on all of us, and the adjustment is going to take more than just a few days. Remember when your cat was diagnosed, and you were told that in a month you'd feel much more comfortable with all of this? This forum is the same way. Give it a month, and we'll all be more comfortable. I'm sure we can find ways to respect each other's opinions and make this thing work. After all, it's for our cats.
 
Marycatmom said:
One thing that's the same about everyone on this board no matter what protocol we use, is that we care a lot. While so many people chose to euthanize a diabetic cat, we are willing to do everything we are capable of for ours. Each of us is filled with love, passion and protectiveness, not only for our own cat(s) but for each other's cats. I have no doubt that any of you would show up on my doorstep, if you lived close enough, if my cat was in trouble, and I needed you. We want this nasty disease to vanish from our cats' lives and the face of the earth, and we will fight for that goal. I just hope we can all see that the enemy is FD, not each other. We need each other. I know I need each and every one of you. My beloved cat is not regulating as he should, and I need input from all the experienced members, no matter what protocol they use. Perhaps even more, I need support from all the other inexperienced members like me, who can cheer me on and lift my spirits when the going is so tough. This change has been hard on all of us, and the adjustment is going to take more than just a few days. Remember when your cat was diagnosed, and you were told that in a month you'd feel much more comfortable with all of this? This forum is the same way. Give it a month, and we'll all be more comfortable. I'm sure we can find ways to respect each other's opinions and make this thing work. After all, it's for our cats.
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and since i'm in Connecticut & we're neighbors....if u do need help, i'm here. :)
 
Wow, I had no idea anyone was so close! Thank you for your offer. What part of CT are you in? I'm north of Providence. For those of you from normal size states, RI is so small, that CT and MA are practically the same place as RI. We're the smallest state, but we have the biggest name: The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation. Attempts to shorten the name have been voted down with a vengeance! :)
 
RobinCot said:
..and I would like to know exactly what DIDN'T work in the Relaxed forum as it has been claimed by Carl.
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I don't know about Carl's remark, but hasn't been working with having 2 forums in my opinion is the attitudes over the whole board. Its not about Relaxed not working, it was about having Relaxed and TR both not working. Any time I would post on Health to a new member, if I'd clarify that I follow the TR protocol, lately a member would come flying in and make it an argument about what the new member should follow and that they HAD TO DECIDE NOW!! before they even started insulin. Completely unfair to new members to have this attitude thrown at them before they even learned how to give insulin and against board recommendation that members stay in Health until they have the basics down. I am quite sure some members were scared away from the board by this pick-my-team attitude. Having 2 ISGs forums is not in the best interest of the cats. It is for people's personal issues. Everyone needs to get over it for the sake of the cats. Relaxed are going to have to deal with being in the same room as TR and TR people are going to have to get used to looking at the spreadsheet and dealing with not seeing everyone's condos exactly the same.

Nothing about the actual postings by members following either protocol has to change other than posting together in the same ISG forum. Relaxed was not gotten rid of, BOTH Relaxed and TR were. Sure, someone may ask you a question on whether you can add a test or something, all you have to do is say no! It may be difficult for members set in their ways to get used to, but definitely better for new members to not have such a confusing, messy setup when they are trying to get started.
 
I think it was only about a year ago that the Lantus forum was split into 2 forums: TR and Relaxed. There was a big discussion at the time. (I'll try to find it later today, when I have more time.) Everyone who uses Lantus (or Lev.) should be in the same boat, and that is what this new L&L Forum attempts to be. I really hope we can make it work--for our kitties! Let's float this boat!!

Ella
 
Mel, I would feel a huge personal loss if you left this board. I am beyond shocked that you have apparently been demoted and are no longer a moderator. Your dedication and knowledge on these pages has literally saved many cats lives, and their beans sanity. Love you for all you do, and for who you are.
 
No one has been demoted. Moderators are those who are involved in setting up and doing the technical running of the board. They solve Board problems, not care problems for the cats.

Anyone whose knowledge of FD is respected and looked to is certainly still encouraged to give advice.
 
Thank you Ann, and you are correct.
I have read comments that Mel was demoted which simply are not true.
There are "Board Moderators, (I am one) and there are " Forum Moderators" which is what Mel was on the old board.
The two types of Mods are NOT the same. Board Mods are responsible for the entire message board. Forum Mods oversee one Forum, and do not have "Mod Powers" on any other part of the board.

The title of Moderator carries ABSOLUTELY NO WEIGHT when it comes to advising on any aspect of feline diabetes. It is an ADMINSTRATIVE JOB.

Being a mod does not mean you have any more skill with FD, it doesn't mean you are a dose expert. It doesn't mean you are the best or most knowledgeable person on a forum. Mel's status as Mod of Relaxed Lantus had zero to do with Feline Diabetes. It meant that she had administrative power over the forum itself. She could edit and delete things. She could add a "911" icon to a condo if needed.
In spite of what any of you might think, it didn't mean anything relating to whatever she knew about protocols or insulin or any other aspect of FD advising.

The reason that Mel is no longer a forum mod is because the forum that she used to moderate no longer exists. TR on the old board didn have a Forum Moderator. Neither did Prozinc.

No individual forums on this new board has a forum moderator. There are no plans to assign anyone that job because forum mods are not needed. The Board Moderators, those folks you see with green banners under their avatars. They (we) moderate every forum on the board.

And our "job duties" have nothing to do with giving FD advice, or our knowledge of feline diabetes. We are allowed to give advice if we want to. Jill and Libby do occasionally. I choose not to advise on feline diabetes any more, but that is my choice.

When moderators do give advice, our titles don't make the advice any more valuable or important than anyone else's.

Mel didn't get "demoted". She was never a " Board Moderator ". She is no longer a mod because the position she held no longer exists.

Edit: changed and underlined " doesn't " (was "does")
 
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I beg to disagree. The Moderators didn't just deal with technical issues. They, as you state, had the power (and therefore, presumably, the knowledge) to decide if something was an emergency, and add an icon. They, I believe, had the power to discipline, or at least close a thread if it got out of hand. They set the tone, and had some power or influence because of who they are, how long they have been here, or what they know. If they were just technicians, then anyone, even someone who never owned a cat, could do that job.

I dont believe that for a minute. Forum moderators were chosen for all of the good reasons I stated above. And to say otherwise now is a real insult to them. I think an apology to her (or them, if others if there were more than Mel) is in order
 
Beg to disagree if that's what you want to do.
I stated nothing but simple facts. That's more than I can say for any person who has made accusations against the Board Moderators and even against Robert in the past week. Unfounded and based purely on emotions.

I am not apologizing for a word I have uttered anywhere on this board.

And yeah, actually. A person who has never owned a cat could be perfectly capable of being a forum moderator.

And no, Mel wasn't allowed to carry out discipline. Not without Robert's approval. I can't do that either.

I had been here for about a year and a half when Rebecca asked me to become a moderator. My cat got insulin for ten weeks, half of which was before I joined the FDMB. I didn't follow a protocol, I never asked for advice on treatment here. Why did she ask me? I have no real idea, I never asked her. But I can assure you that it had nothing to do with any level of expertise about treating feline diabetes. Or any long-term association with the FDMB.

And it doesn't take a skilled person to recognize that a 911 is taking place. All it takes is a member sending you a PM asking "can you please add a 911 to Fluffy's condo!?!?"
In her time as a forum mod, Mel put a 911 icon on a condo exactly one time.

The problem with this entire discussion? Too many people are posting about it with their hearts instead of with facts. And most don't understand exactly what it is that Moderators do.
 
Fair enough. I suppose i can be faulted for drawing assumptions based on what was visible to me, rather than unseen things. I apologize for that. But it still breaks my heart that this forum has lost great people, and even more importantly, people who need help with FD cats.
 
If this forum has lost great people and people who need help with FD cats, it's because they've chosen to leave. This place has changed for all of us. Many of us have chosen to STAY, even if we're not comfortable with the changes, because we are here for the good of the cats, and only the cats. The tragedy is that people have chosen to leave for reasons of ego - they have chosen to not stay for the good of the cats.
 
Linda
I am not at all thrilled when people leave the board. I've seen it happen quite a few times. Mostly because they become overwhelmed. They think it's too big, too busy, too stressful, too whatever.
But I believe as well that just about every time somebody leaves, they make a knee-jerk emotional choice to do so. I myself have "quit the board". Twice if I remember correctly. A few days later after thinking about why I quit, and thinking about what was really important, I got over myself and came back.

Nobody told anybody they had to leave. Nobody pushed them out the door. They left for whatever reasons they had that made them make that choice. I'm hoping they reconsider at some point and come back.

I really believe the FDMB is the best place for them and for their kitties to be. So of course I hope they choose to return.
 
Okay I was going to stay out of this but since tempers are getting hot let me chime in. I'm still around, I'm still reading the board to some degree. Just Autumn doesn't have a condo on the new LL because I personally can't handle that kind of crush of threads, same reason I very seldom post over on Health. Plus after nearly 3 years of dancing with Autumn, she and I have our fancy footwork down pat, so I have no reason to post daily numbers in a condo for her. After 5 years and 6 sugarcats I've got this. I took no personal insult when I was no longer in moderator status since I was a forum moderator, and that forum was dissolved.

What has bothered me was that those that were posting in Relaxed Lantus, weren't giving any warning of the merger. Nor were they asked if they wanted to be merged into a massive group or if there was a way to fix whatever was perceived problems with having the split forum for the use of Lantus/Levemir. Because from what I was seeing in Relaxed Lantus was that it was working for those that chose to post there. Yes, folks did have to post at times in multiple spots to get more eyes because there real was only one person with a few years of experience watching the posts over there and that was me. When I had asked for additional help over there, no one wanted to help out because of the politics of this board as well as loyalty to the old single Lantus Land. So yeah when I wasn't online and someone needed a quick answer they did what I had always suggested they do, post to either TR or Health or Both to get the answer as fast as possible.

But ultimately this is Robert and Rebecca's board to do with what they wish. And you can't please all of the people all of the time. There will always be collateral losses with every change that happens, its just part of change and growth. Just because I'm no longer as active on this forum as I once was, doesn't mean you can't flag me down and ask me to stop by a particular condo. I'm just not here daily anymore, but still get email alerts when I have a new PM

Mel and The Fur Gang
 
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