Letter to the Membership, Part 1: Celebrating diversity
Dear fellow finch enthusiasts,
When I founded this forum years ago, it was intended to be a place where anyone with an interest in learning about, teaching about, or simply sharing about finches could find others with whom to connect. The goal was to create a forum that brought a sense of community and thereby nurtured a supportive, family-friendly learning environment where anyone (no matter how inexperienced with finches) could feel secure in sharing and engaging in an open exchange of ideas. (Now our official forum mission statement!)
Of course the very nature of this goal means bringing together differences in opinions and differences in methods when it comes to caring for birds, not to mention variations in personality types and communication styles when it comes to the folks sharing the information (online, as in life!). Please know that so long as the tone is civil, and the information being shared not endangering/detrimental, contrast is not, nor has it ever been considered a problem in need of solving—far from it! In my opinion, our differences have been, and have every potential of continuing to be one of the most valuable resources we possess. After all, it is our diversity of experiences, of opinions, of life-lessons learned that makes this forum so great and informative, and which has allowed it to be such a success for all of this time!
I want to take a moment to celebrate our diversity, and to thank you for making this forum so fantastic, in part by keeping the discourse friendly (or at least neutral) as we exchange interactions. I think this deserves a big thank you because it is no easy task, especially when encountering subjects of controversy and debate!!
And debate is important because it offers a truly fantastic and powerful means of advancing interest in, and education about a subject, but only remains that effective (in my opinion, anyway) if it’s friendly and therefore constructive debate. Having a truly friendly debate is naturally challenging, because controversial subjects carry at least 2 very strong, and often contrary, sides to an issue, and most people feel very strongly one way or another. Sometimes a person may even feel threatened, hurt, or insulted when they encounter someone else who does not agree with their position; sometimes this has more to do with how the information is presented during the debate (the tone of the information or what was inferred) rather than what information is actually presented (the content of the information).
For years, however, this forum has found a way to maintain a friendly atmosphere despite encountering subjects of debate. It is a challenge, an art really, but not impossible! And so many of you have helped us realize that goal!
And to that effect, you constructive contributors, you friendly finch enthusiasts, you deserve your share of credit and thanks for helping to make this forum possible, and also so great, active, engaging, and generally wonderful. I love that we appreciate each other, even when our opinions may vary, and wanted to extend a huge round of applause for you on behalf of not just myself but our entire moderator team!
Thank you to everyone for making this forum as friendly and helpful as it is 
