Sugar Gliders Group GUIDELINES & RULES OF CONDUCT

1. Members will not come here seeking medical advice.

We are NOT veterinarians. If there is a potential medical problem with your sugar glider please seek a licensed veterinarian immediately. Also, we do not permit members to give medical advice here. Sharing your personal experience or giving advice on what may or may not be safe is fine. But please do not give specifics on what to do or what not to do concerning a medical problem with a glider. Please refer the member to get to a vet as soon as possible. You may assist them in finding a vet near them if necessary. Members, PLEASE speak with your vet. (We also have a list of experienced veterinarians on our website that specialize in sugar gliders and are willing to consult with your vet directly should the need arise. http://suggie.info/emergency)

2. Members will initiate conversations, provide explanations or ask questions when posting topics, photos, videos or any other content.

It is important to remember that other members may ask questions to better understand the situationwhen trying to provide helpful answers or information. It is vital to be open to advice and suggestions whenasking questions. Many of our members and admins have years of experience. In order to best benefit from this knowledge it is important to remain open minded. Sometimes the discussion may stray from the original topic, this is part of the understanding process. Learning more about the situation will help others better assist you. (Sometimes you may not like an answer you receive. In this situation you’re welcome to unfollow the thread, but there is no excuse to respond negatively or by deleting the thread. This behavior may result in a warning or removal from the group.)

3. Members will assist others in finding accurate information.

This does not include telling people to google it themselves, sending them to the forums immediately orasking them to private message you. It’s vital that we attempt to answer questions within the thread so that everyone may learn from the experience. If you’re unable to answer a specific question you’re welcome to tag someone more experienced, an admin or perhaps bump a post if you notice it’s gone unanswered for more than a few hours. If there is a specific situation that is relevant on one of the forums or such you’re welcome to link to that thread. (If someone specifically requests a link to a forum that’s totally okay, we actually even have a list here: http://suggielinks.com/forums)

4. Members will not advertise within the group.

This includes but is not limited to; looking for gliders or items, offering gliders or items, trading or swapping items, posting a screenshot or link to a craigslist ad, promotion of other Facebook groups, requesting donations, etc. (We have a sister group dedicated to this purpose, Gliderslist. http://facebook.com/groups/gliderslist/ or you may try Suggie Overpop if you’re looking for rescues. http://facebook.com/groups/sgoverpop/) *An exception may be made for a special event or similar situation. Please contact the admin directly to request permission to share something special.

5. Members will not participate in any form of solicitation.

This includes but is not limited to; messaging members within the group privately or otherwise to suggestthey visit a different group/website/forum. * There are exceptions, this rule mainly applies to members who are here with the sole intention of “stealing” members to send them to what they feel is a “better” group or such, typically done out of spite for SG. Unfortunately there are some people who have been harassing our members in this way. If someone contacts you with a similar message please report it to an admin immediately. (For example, messaging or commenting a link to Suz’s website for someone who is asking about hand raising joeys is okay. It’s not done with malicious intent.)

6. Members will be respectful at all times.

This includes; Using proper language, we do not allow swearing or vulgar language within the group. (Wedo have some younger members so we’d simply like to keep things tame.) Refraining from name calling, there is no excuse to call someone names, no matter what the situation is. (If there is an issue please contact an admin.) Refraining from attacking/harassing and threatening any other members, either in a thread via comments or via private message, instant message, e-mail, etc. Refraining from making inappropriate comments, this isn’t a dating website and we do not appreciate people making advances, sexual or otherwise, on any of the members.(*See Bra Baby Photos.)  This includes respecting the admins and staff. If you’re warned by an admin please take it seriously, arguing semantics or smarting off will not be tolerated. We will also not tolerate discrimination or racism of any kind.

7. Members will respect the administration.

If you’re warned by an admin for any reason please take it seriously. We’re here to keep the group runningsmoothly. Members must also not do anything to interfere with an admin moderating a thread. Responding with an argument or snarky comments may result in an immediate ban. You will not receive a private message with an explanation about a deleted comment or thread or a ban, permanent or temporary. For this reason an initial warning, if one is given, should be considered seriously.

8. Members will not delete or remove any threads, posts or comments.

The only exception is if you’ve contacted an admin and gotten approval or if it was something thataccidentally posted twice, for example. You MAY edit posts if you forgot to include something, used vulgarlanguage or made typos, etc. We require posts/threads to remain up so that everyone may learn from them, even if the original poster has gotten their answer. If you’d like to stop seeing the responses you can unfollow or turn notifications off for a thread. Admins may remove posts or comments as necessary to keep the group running smoothly. If for any reason an admin removes a post you may NOT make a new post complaining about it. If you’re confused as to why something was removed you may contact an admin directly. We will not contact you privately to notify each time a post or thread is deleted.

9. Members will not make legal threats.

Lately a lot of people seem to resort to making legal threats to win an argument or for various otherreason. You cannot threaten a member with a legal threat. If you have a problem with another member you may either contact an admin for assistance or block the member. We won’t tolerate people throwing around threats about contacting their lawyer or suing anyone.

10. Members will not rage quit.

Making a post, on the wall or within a thread, with the sole intention of complaining, whining and arguing allbefore leaving is not welcome. You will be banned immediately. There are many groups available on Facebook that all focus on gliders, you’ll find a list with many examples linked at the bottom of this document. Our group may not work out for you, we understand that and only ask that you leave respectfully. This is why we’re happy to offer links to other groups that are available.

11. Members will not block the Sugar Gliders admins or staff.

It’s important you not block any of the administrators so that we can continue to moderate the group asneeded. However, if you have a problem with a specific admin you’re welcome to contact a different admin and we will see if we can work to resolve the situation.

12. Members will contact an admin or report a post to the admin if a problem arises.

The list of admins and staff can be found in the group info, under the members tab on the group, on the website and right in this document. If you see something that violates these guidelines please either use the “Report to Admin” feature by clicking the top left arrow in a thread or you can contact one of us directly, but include a link to the comment or thread in question. You’re also welcome to send screenshots. We all have to work together so it’s very important to report things to an admin if you notice a problem within the group.

13. Members will not do anything to violate Facebook’s Terms of Service.

Facebook has some basic rules, we expect our members to follow those. Anyone doing anything to violatethe TOS that may directly or indirectly have an impact on the group will be immediately removed and banned. Depending on how severe the situation you may receive one initial warning. We do take the TOS seriously though and we expect our members to do the same. This includes participating in or advising other members to partake in any illegal activities. (Remember, sugar gliders ARE illegal in some areas.)

14. Members will not make posts/threads with the sole intention of complaining about the group.

If you any reason you dislike or disagree with the group or the way it is run you are welcome to leave.Complaint posts or threads will be removed. If a member is caught doing this on multiple occasions they will be removed from the group. There are many groups available on Facebook that all focus on gliders, you’ll find a list with many examples linked at the bottom of this document. Our group may not work out for you, we understand that and only ask that you leave respectfully. This is why we’re happy to offer links to other groups that are available.

15. Members will make photos albums if sharing more than one or two photos.

Due to the large number of members it’s important to utilize the album feature on Facebook within thegroup. You’re welcome to link to an external album or to make one within the group. We do this to try to keep posts with questions as the main focus so other members are able to get the assistance they need. Also – Please remember to comment on the original thread or album and NOT on an individual photo. This will split the photos from the album and clutter up the wall. Please try to be respectful of members who have questions to ask. If each of us posted one or two photos every day of the week we’d never find any of the questions, unfortunately. (If you’d like to share a lot of photos please visit our sister group, Suggie Snapshots. We’ve made this secondary group to try to keep the wall of SG open for questions and members who may need help.http://facebook.com/groups/SuggieSnapshots/)

16. Members will post only sugar glider related topics (questions on health, diet, housing, bonding, etc.), photographs, videos, etc.

One or two off topic things every now and then isn’t a huge deal but we do want to try to keep the groupon topic. We’ve noticed an increase lately in people posting random photos or topics that are entirely unrelated to sugar gliders. There is actually a great group we recommend if anyone would like to share random thoughts, topics, photos, etc. It’s called Anything Goes Glider Chat. http://facebook.com/groups/censorfreegc/)

17. Members will refrain from advocating the use of unsafe or dangerous items.

This group does not recommend the use of items like leashes or harnesses. We also do not recommend theWodent wheel, far too many injuries have resulted from the use of this wheel. What you do in the privacy of your home is your own business but if you recommend items like this here or post photos picturing unsafe items it will result in a warning from the admin.

  • NOTE: Bra Baby Photos. – They ARE welcome here. Some things to keep in mind; BE MODEST. If we have to hunt for the glider in the photo you should probably crop it before uploading. DON’T BE RUDE. If you dislike seeing bra baby photos there is ZERO reason to make rude comments or start a post complaining about them. Facebook allows you to hide posts or block other members for a reason. DON’T BE A CREEPER. Don’t make inappropriate comments on anyone’s photos. If the comments make the original poster or anyone else uncomfortable it may result in a ban, however you may get one warning first.
If you have any suggestions or questions about the guidelines or anything to improve the group we would love to hear them. Please feel free to message one of the admins or post in the group.
These rules and guidelines are subject to change at any time without notice. It is the responsibility of the members of the group to keep up with changes to these guidelines. Please take a moment to review them on occasion. However, we’ll try to post an update on the group wall if a significant change is made. The answer for the last question on the survey for when you’re joining is “omg suggies”. Thank you!