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-- Dog Events Message Board to be Discontinued (http://forums.ukcdogs.com/showthread.php?threadid=928441062)

Dog Events Message Board to be Discontinued

Attention all message board users! The Dog Events Department will be closing the Dog Events side of the UKC message boards as of Friday January 22, 2016.

Social media has largely replaced the functionality of these message boards and there is a continual decline in activity on this forum.

We encourage you to utilize the UKC Facebook page for any conversations, questions or announcements you would normally post here. You may also post pictures and videos to the UKC Facebook page or send us a private message and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Direct link to the UKC Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/ukcdogs/

If you have any questions, please post them to the UKC Facebook page or contact the office directly at (269) 343-9020,

Thank you!

I am sorry to hear this; I know many people who are not on Facebook for various reasons, and they are unlikely to join Facebook because of the Dog Events Message Board being discontinued.

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Lori C-C
SFX Samoyeds

I thought that the other social media outlets were "unofficial" and that this message board is where access to questions by UKC staff/officials was provided.

UKC staff are still not going to monitor the social media outlets?

Often on those groups people with questions were directed here to get an official UKC viewpoint rather than popular opinion and speculation.

This is a very disappointing decision.

sad, a loss to many people who do not use social media.

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Kathleen Chance

Dog Events Message Board and Facebook

Hummingbirdindy-

The link that was provided by Ms. Suwannarat is the "Official" facebook page for UKC and this is monitored. Again the direct link to the UKC Facebook page is:

https://www.facebook.com/ukcdogs/

Any and all other FB sites are unofficial and are not monitored.

Questions regarding UKC rules and policies may still be sent to UKC through email or by calling our office.

We thank you for your understanding.
Denise Vavla

Dog Events Message Board to be Discontinued

I am also sorry to see this happen, but I understand from UKC's point of view.

However, I would like to offer a caveat for anyone posting anything on a kennel club FB page: Please be careful what you say, & how you say it.

The FB pages are heavily monitored by many Animal Rights activists who would like nothing more than to know the names of your dogs, what breeds you raise, & what days you are going to be away at a dog show....

I am aware that Animal Rights activists (and others) can also read & post on these UKC message boards, but many don't know about them, and even those who do are not as likely to come to the Dog Events board, where people don't usually post photos of their new litters (like they do on Facebook), and typically use a "screen name" instead of their actual name (as on FB), making it a bit more difficult for Activists to track down who you are, and where your dogs are kept.

Last year on Facebook, we had dog breeders whose homes & kennels were photographed, then placed on FB (along with the breeders' street addresses), and death threats were made by Activists, in addition to threats of "compiling information" on how many dogs were seen out at different times of the day, etc. In the case of one breeder, the Activists managed to find out the name & address of the breeder's family member, and that was also posted on FB for all of the Activists to see (and stalk).

Forewarned is forearmed.

How about a closed facebook page for Judges?

This would be a closed group that could only be accessed by licensed conformation judges. It would be a good way to notify judges of updates as well as a discussion spot. It would, of course, need to be monitored but would not be open to the public. Just a suggestion..

great idea Violet!

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Jeanne Heger

Visit our FB page Mid-lakes Australian Shepherd Club

If they are going to make a closed judges FB page, I think ALL judges should be included as rule discussions can often pertain to all events. I know that as a WP judge, I was very displeased when I found out about rule changes regarding back-up judges 6 months AFTER they went into effect.