Conference misery::feline_v1

    I do notice that often someone who isn't a regular feline
    noter finds themself with a cat/kitten that needs a home.
    Understandably, they don't bother to do a search to find if
    there is a note specific to this.  They just enter a new 
    note (the case with notes 419 and 428 I think).  I wouldn't
    agree that Note 415 "isn't working", just that it's not
    feasible to make it the only "Cats for Sale" note.  On the
    other hand, it makes it easier for the person looking for
    a cat/kitten to only need to look in one note for potential
    adoptees.
    
    Actually, note 415 wasn't the first note of its kind.
    There was a previous note (forget the number) that was started
    for cats/kittens at the Acton Emergency Animal Hospital that
    needed homes.  It was going to be updated weekly but I haven't
    seen anything entered recently.  So it seems that a 'single note
    adoption system' hasn't worked out as we would like.
    
    
    Donna
    

    Note 415 might work better if there was an "announcement" of it
    in the introduction note.  I think that most people reading a new
    conference will at least read through the introduction notes.  
    
    Shall I delete it???  
    
    cin
    

    Why not do what CANINE does.  It has a permanent message under the
    NOTES> prompt that points to the adoption note.
    
    Jess

    I think this would be a good idea....Also, if a new note is started
    either looking for or finding a home for a cat/kitten, doesn't the
    moderator have the ability to move the note to the correct place.
    
    Just an idea....there seem to be so many notes used here just for
    kitten placements.  
    
    Also, I think JoAnn mentioned yesterday, is it possible to delete
    some of the old ones....it would make it alot easier to do a directory
    of this file.
    
    purrs
    cin
    

    Cin,
    I agree that there should be a notice on the directory about the
    cats/kittens for adoption/sale topic.  I did ask the moderator about
    deleting old "cats needing homes" topics, but after the moderators
    pointed out that the old files served a useful purpose to new notes
    readers (by letting new noters see that cats have been placed through
    feline), I withdrew my request.
    
    Maybe the moderators can relocate the others files to note 415.
    I don't think you should delete that note.
    
    JoAnn

    Personally, and I am not speaking in my moderator role, while I
    have nothing against a note devoted to placing kittens, I feel that
    if people want to create a new note to give their particular kitten
    or cat, an extra boost, that is fine. (I've taken in strays before and I
    know how hard it can be to find a *good* home). The more advertising,
    the better likely you are to place the kitten.
    
    Speaking now as a moderator, however, we've felt that by leaving old
    notes that said "I've got kittens" and replys that said "I've placed
    them", it might cause some people to say "Let me try to place these
    kittens thru Feline before I give them to a shelter". 
    
    While I agree in theory that one note is a good idea, in might be a bit
    impractical in practice. For example, when people place their cats, they
    tend like to share the good news rather than delete their note;
    if were are dealing with a single note, that note could get pretty
    cluttered. (In just 8 days, 415 generated  11 replies; that note
    has the potential for getting big pretty fast and  a slow network link
    might cause some people  to give up reading the note). It has been
    suggested that the moderators delete "old" notes. That brings up some
    questions like how old should a note be before the moderator should
    delete it? A week, two weeks, a month? I know that if I was trying to
    place a kitty and my note was deleted because a time limit expired, I'd
    be a bit irritated. Same thing with moving base notes. I'd be irratated
    if someone moved my base note about placing a cat to a note with
    a large number of replies.
    
    My *own opinion* is that moving/deleting notes is more
    policing than moderating and that just isn't my style. One of the
    nice things about notes is it's informality; if we start imposing
    rules about this and that, it might make some people feel a bit
    uncomfortable about contributing least they get jumped on about
    breaking some rule.
      
    Something that I will do, however, is to place a reply in the intro
    note that asks people to please include information about breed,
    length of coat, coat pattern and location of the kitty. I'll mention
    that note 415 exists, but I won't insist on its being used.
    
    Deb 

    From the Handy Hints department:
    
    If you are writing a note, or entering a reply, which you intend
    to delete after a certain period of time, you can use the VAXnotes
    "MARK" command to simplify the procedure. Once you've written your
    note, enter MARK and a string that identifies the note - "MARK
    TAKE_MY_CAT_PLEASE", for example. Then, later, you can do a 
    "READ/MARK TAKE_MY_CAT_PLEASE" and you'll be back at that note,
    where you can delete it if you like. (I've found this *very* handy
    for the CLASSIFIED_ADS file - since it's only open odd hours it's
    nice to set up a batch job to read the marker and delete the note.)

    This isn't meant to indicate that everybody should run around purging
    old notes, but if you should want to find an old note again - for
    any reason - then markers are a handy way to avoid scribbling note
    numbers on little pieces of paper. (And, yes, there's a SHOW MARKER
    command to show you all your outstanding markers...)

    -b