I just got a cup of coffee and came on the MD site to look around and see what is new and it occurred to me to write this little topic.  

You see, there was a time, about 8 years ago, when members of websites, discussion forums, gallery sites, etc.. were not afraid to discuss things relating to their dogs. One could find a bounty of information simply by reading a forum.  Discussions were thorough and opinions were expressed freely and sometimes very forcefully. Many people would participate in the discussions and there was great learning to be achieved. For instance when someone asked about the temperament of the Caucasian Ovcharka, owners, breeders, fanciers, and dog experts would chime in. A discussion about the difficulties in breeding Neapolitan Mastiffs because of human intervention proves enlightening when the discourse is debated from all sides as in this topic. There are many more discussions that are actually discussions and full of great information in the forum.

So what has happened? I think the emergence of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, p Interest, etc have relegated discussions to posting short nonsensical sentences or just clicking like, or thumbs up/down buttons.  It is assumed that we no longer have to actually think and write something, after all there is so much other things we have to click on, who has time to actually think and write.

Yes, I remember when it may take a day or two to get an answer to a question posted in forums because you would actually think about it and formulate your opinion and then write something that was designed to inform, convince, or motivate to action.  We would use an actual keyboard on which typing was easy, we had real computer screens on which to compose our thoughts (I still do).  Many of us now use a mobile device to visit websites but mostly to check their activity stream on large social networks and construct any response using a minuscule onscreen keyboard that was not designed for typing many words.

So, why construct a masterpiece of words on the giant social networks and then as soon as you press "post" it is relegated to the dustbin of likes, pins, pokes, tweets, never to be found again?

I think it is time to take our discussions and information sharing seriously and start contributing to the standalone dog sites and specific interest social networks again. Most websites and forums will allow members to post, create discussions, comments, and upload photos just like the major social nets.  So, next time you have an inspiration or a nagging question, please find a specific website (search google, yahoo, bing) for your interest and take the time to write there.  More people will see it and appreciate it than if you post it on FB, Twitter or others and it is gone to the bottom of the info stream as soon as you press "post."

Yes, I do remember the good old days of us actually having relevant discussions such as this one about coat color genetics in the Neo. One could learn something from the shared knowledge of others. Yes, I remember when.... a topic like this would have some responses. :)