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59 – Purebred PIGEON
Handed the Last Piece to the Puzzle
By Mike McLin – Rice Lake, Wisconsin
Since the beginning of the Internet sites, there have been argu-
ments over the simplest things including the correct band size for
a breed, or my favorite – over a rare color. A young fellow said it
was a made up name, but it was in the standard for the breed.
What I have observed over the years, the more long time
breeders drop in and comment on the material being posted – the
better. I call it both voices of reason and experience. I could never
figure out a how a club site that was open to anyone around the
world, who have folks that may or may not even have the breed,
could so easily bully fanciers and cause people to quit the site or
the breed, depending on the conflict without a club administrator
stopping it. We have administrators that are supposed to watch
over all these sites but from my experience you really need people
that are willing, knowledgeable and able to keep control over the
site. One Admin I asked to step in to quell an argument said he
never visits the Internet sites and it should take care of its self.
Well it didn’t, like so many things, and people quit the site and a
few quit the club. Admins, step down and let someone who cares
about the hobby take over.
After a few years of observing and trying to figure out the best
solution to manage and keep the peace I have run two breed sites
myself and in 5 years have not had one conflict. One thing I do
when a person asks to join the site is 1). I check to see if the person
is a pigeon fancier first by viewing their info and 2). see if they
have had any prior violations or kicked off from any other sites.
If they have, then I have to pass on them. It’s best for the welfare
of the breed site. Occasionally people will try to post something
other than the breed intended on the site and most often trying to
sell by posting everywhere. I Just reject it before it makes it on the
site and move on. It is in the best interest of the clubs and breeds
involved to make these sites a nice place to view pictures of the
birds and have discussions without having an ugly debate over
something that may have been known for 60 years. But the new
person could not find it by google search and therefore it cannot
be true. That’s right fellow fanciers, I was told by a person that he
could not verify the information when he googled it so it can’t be
true. Most everyone who has had pigeons for 20-plus years would
know that information so I have been taken aback at some of these
comments and keyboard battles.
That was the piece to the puzzle I had been missing. I did not
realize so many of the newer pigeon fanciers are so used to getting
all their information on line and easy – rather than spend 40 to 65
years plus, actually breeding, observing the pigeons and going to
the shows to gain their knowledge. Many times these days, it’s
instant gratification. How many “likes” can you get and if someone
is getting more than you , well time to be a keyboard warrior and
take the person down even if you have no idea who the person is,
or their experience. You have Google backing you up, or not.
It made sense to me since one person with 6 months in the
breed and no show record was telling long established breeders
about how their achievements were mistakes and accidents or pro-
moting the wrong band size or arguing over colors that are actually
in the breed standard.
What can we do about it since most often these guys are just
patted on the back and given an attaboy from their peers. Veteran
breeders have to say something if they see bad behavior on these
sites and from what I saw recently, stopped the baloney instantly.
Having the birds all your life you pick up knowledge along
the way just by the way it was done for many years and still today
for those who listen. We used to visit one another’s lofts, some-