Firstly, we are all forum members and we are doing our various forum jobs for free in our own free time around our own guinea pigs, day jobs and private lives, as and whenever we can. There is no firm presence rota or cover. Everybody is contributing to the smooth running of the forum and to the friendly community on here whenever they can.
The forum is entirely run on voluntary member donations, most of which are going towards technical support and security in order to create and maintain the safe space we all enjoy.
The forum is independent from social media but as a public place it falls under UK regulations (which is where it is based). The legal age limit is now 18 years (you can still read and research existing threads and information but anybody lying about their age will have to be banned). Stricter rules than in some other countries also apply to prescription-only medication and vet visits for a hands-on diagnosis. Especially if you are based outside the UK, it would help us if you added your country to your personal account details.
How do we recruit our staff members?
Our staff members come mostly from long term regular forum members who are familiar with and supportive of our forum ethos and ways to make it work. They have also proven their staying power. We try to find those that contribute in positive ways a place on our staff team if possible. All our forum members and all our various team members are crucial to make this forum work and to keep it working. We do however have to keep a balance between the forum traffic and the number of staff members we have and the demands that come with certain jobs.
Any staff members are usually designated by the name of their role underneath their avatar picture on the left instead of their membership status.
Our staff roles:
Forum Buddies
Forum Buddies are both the face of our forum and the heart of our friendly and supportive community. They greet new members and make them feel welcome or help members during tough times or in the wake of a loss with moral support and just being there. They are the ones who visibly carry our forum ethos of providing a friendly space.
We are usually asking regulars who have been doing this already on their own and who we feel make the best ambassadors for what our forum is about. We value their daily or near daily presence and input no less than any other forum jobs because our forum lives through its community to which everybody contributes but the visible presence of the forum buddies will hopefully help especially new members or members who feel insecure as an approachable presence.
Anniversary Herd
Any members with this badge must be very reliable and able to attend the forum on a daily basis. They run our member’s birthday threads and also host photo competitions, which are open to all members and voted on by all members. They provide the cherries for our forum cake.
Section Monitors for Health/Illness and Pregnancy/Baby Care
These members specifically monitor our two most sensitive sections and try their best to ensure that all threads are answered competently as soon as one of them comes on during UK hours. The monitors are knowledgeable forum members with experience in their respective area and have our full trust in carrying our forum ethos. They also need to have good people skills for providing ongoing support.
We are however not a specialist medical forum and cannot replace any necessary veterinary care; our aim is help with ongoing home care and moral support during illness, death or birth.
Our monitors have a 'nurses' badge for their section in their signature so they are easy to spot.
Because of the sensitive nature of these sections, we have the rule that any advice in the Health/Illness and Pregnancy/Baby Care/Sexing sections is given by our monitors or moderators.
Any other members are asked to please add relevant personal experiences if they have them or are otherwise cordially invited to provide moral support and sympathy as needed. Never underestimate how much it means to feel understood and supported during a crisis!
The wellbeing and support of the poster and their guinea pigs are at the forefront of our concerns. We do not want any turf wars on their hapless back and will only step in if anything said has been proven to be wrong or detrimental but we also want to provide a clear voice and not confuse a stressed owner unnecessarily. The monitors are doing their best that the quality of our advice is as good as we can provide and that there is a clear lead throughout the whole period we do provide support.
We are also a strictly no intentional breeding forum. Any support is only given with the explicit intent of avoiding any further procreation. That is why you need to be a registered forum member in order to access our courtesy unplanned pregnancies or surprise babies support section and not before you have read and accepted our strict forum rules in this regard in the process.
Unlike social media, we can allow support threads in the various Care sections to run for as long as possible but for best efficiency we kindly ask any members to please bookmark their support thread and to keep any questions, concerns and updates to their personalised support thread. This allows us to refresh our memories as we jump between lots of threads on a daily basis and avoids the need of repeated explanations. We can adjust any advice to what has already been said and done and to the specifics in play in terms of the location, climate, vet, brands and other resources access straight away for best efficiency.
Our 'one thread for one case' rule in our health and pregnancy sections has proven its worth. For this reason we ask new members to please rather start a new thread than reopen somebody else's old thread, which can cause confusion, especially on a busy day. We have a lot of one-off posters who never come back with any updates although we always appreciate when we get to hear about outcomes.
Again, we ask regular members we feel have proven their mettle and whose experience and knowledge we fully trust from time to time to join the team as monitors whenever the need for a more regualar presence arises.
Moderators and Administration
This is the tough end of the jobs list. Moderators and admin are not simply glorified members; they are in fact the trouble shooters that look after the smooth running of the forum with as little of any disruptions and disturbances showing on the surface as possible in order to create an enjoyable experience for our members. There can at times be some very hefty paddling behind the scenes, though. Modding takes long term commitment and dedication. The fun side can often come a poor second in times of stress.
If you have any concerns about any posts or have made a mistake, please use the report button under the post and the next admin along will deal with it.
Moderators are the staff members that mainly look after the posters, questions and the content of the posting as well as our extensive information resource while admins are the ones that look after the technical issues and anything related to the membership status before they moderate.
Our moderation team is strictly run by consensus. Any decisions are always made by reaching a solution that is acceptable to and supported by every member of the mods and admins team. Any ban that is not for a clear breach of our forum rules must be supported by a minimum of at least three team members in an emergency and ideally by the whole team in a less urgent situation. It is however always only a last resort measure after several moderation attempts have failed, including temporary bans. The moderation/admin team never makes use of it lightly or arbitrarily and only if the disruption for the forum community is and continues to be considerable.
No team member is more important than any other. We all work together, respect each other, support each other and need to be able trust each other fully.
In order to ensure fairness and openness for all forum members we do not give advice via private messaging unless there is a real and valid need for discretion. We are working hard to provide a safe and supportive open forum in which any question, important or seemingly inconsequential, can be asked and is treated with the same respect. All of us want our forum to remain a friendly and lively community so there is no preferential treatment for anybody. All our staff members abide by the same rules as everybody else.
For this reason any communication with any forum member that involves moderation or sensitive aspects will always have the full moderation team included so it is all dealt with above the table.
Any member of the moderation/admin team must have some solid guinea pig knowledge and experience, but even more importantly they need to have excellent people skills and be able to remain calm under trying circumstances. For this reason a suitable professional background is desirable. When we are looking at filling any vacancies in our team from time to time, this is what we are looking for as well as of course the capability to fit into our moderation team.
We need to have enough admin/mod members that any of us can take a step back whenever needed (life happens and we all need a break from time to time) but not so many that it gets cumbersome to reach a concensus in a reasonable space of time. There is however no set number for any team.
Technical support
Our technical support is professional. We are very grateful that we have got @MattW who is willing to listen to us and to accommodate our quirks and special needs as much as possible during and in the wake of any updates and who often goes to great lengths to make new features work in the existing layout and forum.
Ownership
The current forum owner and top admin is @BossHogg , himself a long standing forum and admin/mods team member. He is fully supportive of our forum ethos - which he has helped to develop - and of our independence. He works shifts in real life, so he is liable to pop up at all sorts of times.
We hope that this helps you to understand better how this forum works and what we are looking for when asking forum members for different roles in order to make the best use of their various strengths and talents.
If you notice long term members with no badge that are around a lot then you can be assured that they have not been overlooked or been deliberately excluded. We do respect that our forum means different things to different members and that not everybody is interested in the added commitment and responsibility that comes with an official role; especially when the forum is their safe place to hang out and relax from other stresses. But we still value their long term contribution to the forum community as regular members and do not care about them any less.
We always consider and ask more members than ultimately accept but we do try our best to fit as many willing forum regulars with what they are best at. However, we are doing this organically and not on a strict schedule or points basis.
We hope that this helps you to understand a bit better how our forum works. Our quirks are the result of many years of making this forum work for us all on lots of different levels, which are not always obvious to the outside but intrinsic to making and keeping this forum the special friendly place we love.
The forum is entirely run on voluntary member donations, most of which are going towards technical support and security in order to create and maintain the safe space we all enjoy.
The forum is independent from social media but as a public place it falls under UK regulations (which is where it is based). The legal age limit is now 18 years (you can still read and research existing threads and information but anybody lying about their age will have to be banned). Stricter rules than in some other countries also apply to prescription-only medication and vet visits for a hands-on diagnosis. Especially if you are based outside the UK, it would help us if you added your country to your personal account details.
How do we recruit our staff members?
Our staff members come mostly from long term regular forum members who are familiar with and supportive of our forum ethos and ways to make it work. They have also proven their staying power. We try to find those that contribute in positive ways a place on our staff team if possible. All our forum members and all our various team members are crucial to make this forum work and to keep it working. We do however have to keep a balance between the forum traffic and the number of staff members we have and the demands that come with certain jobs.
Any staff members are usually designated by the name of their role underneath their avatar picture on the left instead of their membership status.
Our staff roles:
Forum Buddies
Forum Buddies are both the face of our forum and the heart of our friendly and supportive community. They greet new members and make them feel welcome or help members during tough times or in the wake of a loss with moral support and just being there. They are the ones who visibly carry our forum ethos of providing a friendly space.
We are usually asking regulars who have been doing this already on their own and who we feel make the best ambassadors for what our forum is about. We value their daily or near daily presence and input no less than any other forum jobs because our forum lives through its community to which everybody contributes but the visible presence of the forum buddies will hopefully help especially new members or members who feel insecure as an approachable presence.
Anniversary Herd
Any members with this badge must be very reliable and able to attend the forum on a daily basis. They run our member’s birthday threads and also host photo competitions, which are open to all members and voted on by all members. They provide the cherries for our forum cake.
Section Monitors for Health/Illness and Pregnancy/Baby Care
These members specifically monitor our two most sensitive sections and try their best to ensure that all threads are answered competently as soon as one of them comes on during UK hours. The monitors are knowledgeable forum members with experience in their respective area and have our full trust in carrying our forum ethos. They also need to have good people skills for providing ongoing support.
We are however not a specialist medical forum and cannot replace any necessary veterinary care; our aim is help with ongoing home care and moral support during illness, death or birth.
Our monitors have a 'nurses' badge for their section in their signature so they are easy to spot.
Because of the sensitive nature of these sections, we have the rule that any advice in the Health/Illness and Pregnancy/Baby Care/Sexing sections is given by our monitors or moderators.
Any other members are asked to please add relevant personal experiences if they have them or are otherwise cordially invited to provide moral support and sympathy as needed. Never underestimate how much it means to feel understood and supported during a crisis!
The wellbeing and support of the poster and their guinea pigs are at the forefront of our concerns. We do not want any turf wars on their hapless back and will only step in if anything said has been proven to be wrong or detrimental but we also want to provide a clear voice and not confuse a stressed owner unnecessarily. The monitors are doing their best that the quality of our advice is as good as we can provide and that there is a clear lead throughout the whole period we do provide support.
We are also a strictly no intentional breeding forum. Any support is only given with the explicit intent of avoiding any further procreation. That is why you need to be a registered forum member in order to access our courtesy unplanned pregnancies or surprise babies support section and not before you have read and accepted our strict forum rules in this regard in the process.
Unlike social media, we can allow support threads in the various Care sections to run for as long as possible but for best efficiency we kindly ask any members to please bookmark their support thread and to keep any questions, concerns and updates to their personalised support thread. This allows us to refresh our memories as we jump between lots of threads on a daily basis and avoids the need of repeated explanations. We can adjust any advice to what has already been said and done and to the specifics in play in terms of the location, climate, vet, brands and other resources access straight away for best efficiency.
Our 'one thread for one case' rule in our health and pregnancy sections has proven its worth. For this reason we ask new members to please rather start a new thread than reopen somebody else's old thread, which can cause confusion, especially on a busy day. We have a lot of one-off posters who never come back with any updates although we always appreciate when we get to hear about outcomes.
Again, we ask regular members we feel have proven their mettle and whose experience and knowledge we fully trust from time to time to join the team as monitors whenever the need for a more regualar presence arises.
Moderators and Administration
This is the tough end of the jobs list. Moderators and admin are not simply glorified members; they are in fact the trouble shooters that look after the smooth running of the forum with as little of any disruptions and disturbances showing on the surface as possible in order to create an enjoyable experience for our members. There can at times be some very hefty paddling behind the scenes, though. Modding takes long term commitment and dedication. The fun side can often come a poor second in times of stress.
If you have any concerns about any posts or have made a mistake, please use the report button under the post and the next admin along will deal with it.
Moderators are the staff members that mainly look after the posters, questions and the content of the posting as well as our extensive information resource while admins are the ones that look after the technical issues and anything related to the membership status before they moderate.
Our moderation team is strictly run by consensus. Any decisions are always made by reaching a solution that is acceptable to and supported by every member of the mods and admins team. Any ban that is not for a clear breach of our forum rules must be supported by a minimum of at least three team members in an emergency and ideally by the whole team in a less urgent situation. It is however always only a last resort measure after several moderation attempts have failed, including temporary bans. The moderation/admin team never makes use of it lightly or arbitrarily and only if the disruption for the forum community is and continues to be considerable.
No team member is more important than any other. We all work together, respect each other, support each other and need to be able trust each other fully.
In order to ensure fairness and openness for all forum members we do not give advice via private messaging unless there is a real and valid need for discretion. We are working hard to provide a safe and supportive open forum in which any question, important or seemingly inconsequential, can be asked and is treated with the same respect. All of us want our forum to remain a friendly and lively community so there is no preferential treatment for anybody. All our staff members abide by the same rules as everybody else.
For this reason any communication with any forum member that involves moderation or sensitive aspects will always have the full moderation team included so it is all dealt with above the table.
Any member of the moderation/admin team must have some solid guinea pig knowledge and experience, but even more importantly they need to have excellent people skills and be able to remain calm under trying circumstances. For this reason a suitable professional background is desirable. When we are looking at filling any vacancies in our team from time to time, this is what we are looking for as well as of course the capability to fit into our moderation team.
We need to have enough admin/mod members that any of us can take a step back whenever needed (life happens and we all need a break from time to time) but not so many that it gets cumbersome to reach a concensus in a reasonable space of time. There is however no set number for any team.
Technical support
Our technical support is professional. We are very grateful that we have got @MattW who is willing to listen to us and to accommodate our quirks and special needs as much as possible during and in the wake of any updates and who often goes to great lengths to make new features work in the existing layout and forum.
Ownership
The current forum owner and top admin is @BossHogg , himself a long standing forum and admin/mods team member. He is fully supportive of our forum ethos - which he has helped to develop - and of our independence. He works shifts in real life, so he is liable to pop up at all sorts of times.
We hope that this helps you to understand better how this forum works and what we are looking for when asking forum members for different roles in order to make the best use of their various strengths and talents.
If you notice long term members with no badge that are around a lot then you can be assured that they have not been overlooked or been deliberately excluded. We do respect that our forum means different things to different members and that not everybody is interested in the added commitment and responsibility that comes with an official role; especially when the forum is their safe place to hang out and relax from other stresses. But we still value their long term contribution to the forum community as regular members and do not care about them any less.
We always consider and ask more members than ultimately accept but we do try our best to fit as many willing forum regulars with what they are best at. However, we are doing this organically and not on a strict schedule or points basis.
We hope that this helps you to understand a bit better how our forum works. Our quirks are the result of many years of making this forum work for us all on lots of different levels, which are not always obvious to the outside but intrinsic to making and keeping this forum the special friendly place we love.