Dogsey www.dogsey.com

Doesn't seem to have any decent members with dog experience/qualifications? Posts often ignored with no replies. Ended up joining a more specific forum.

The good points - it's very active, friendly members, interesting topics.

Bad points - messages aren't private, they can, and are read by the Admin team, threads are locked/deleted when members don't agree with the Admin's views. Even go as far as members being banned for disagreeing. Toys are seriously thrown out of the pram.

Personal details aren't allowed to be given to each other, although that is recent as I know of Dogsey walks being organised which would be impossible if details weren't allowed to be given. I have met a few people I have met via the internet and have made great friends. This won't be possible on this board as you don't know who you are speaking to!

Social media sites are not allowed to be mentioned, nor are other websites with forums. It seems that Admin would like you only to belong to this site, which tbh, is a little bit overbearing. Again, a recent thing (social media sites), as I was in a private message (there were private then), with another member regarding my facebook name. In this day and age, social media is SUCH a large part of the WWW and our lives. I can't even think of a reason behind Admin's thoughts on this one.

Yes, I have been banned, so you could think I have a vendetta about it. Not really, I don't have the energy tbh, at the end of the day, it's only an internet forum, there are a lot more important things in life. What annoys me is that a number of reviews have been removed from this site and legal action threatened. Do you really want to get involved in a site that would do something like that?

Go and have a look, you may like it, but I don't like being told what I can and can't look at and who I can and can't contact. I am a grown up. It's been a LOOOONG time since anyone told me that!

Helen

I have been a member of this forum for many years and have previously been happy to be part of the friendly and helpful community that it used to consist of. Unfortunately recently that all changed and I and many others decided that we no longer wanted to be a member of a forum which, amongst other things, discouraged any contact between members outside the forum. It also transpired that if photos or articles were posted they can be used by the owner as he wishes.

If you do decide to join this forum please read the small print in the conditions, you will find the information above written there. I am not prepared for this to happen to things I might put on the forum, especially photos, so I will no longer be posting there.

It is very sad because it used to be a great place however so many people have now been banned or left or decided, like me, not to post, that its knowledge base has been diminished radically.

I have found a friendlier forum to post on with fewer rules and full of many of the people who no longer post on Dogsey. I would suggest anyone wanting a freer community does the same and looks around for another place.

I recently joined Dogsey and was a little bit put off the the reviews on here but I have been made to feel so welcome and would recommend Dogsey to my doggie friends if they are looking for somewhere to chat.

No doubt I will be dubbed a troll by the forum admin for daring to leave a negative review, but I will let others make their own mind up. Supposedly a troublemaker, my apparent crime seems to be having my own opinion and a Facebook account. Banned for the forum and the only reasons I can think of is because I didn't think the idea of farmers driving around with water cannons or having to get licensed for tranquiliser guns (something that, spending 2 minutes on Google, becomes an obviously impractical and potentially dangerous solution due to the adverse effects tranquiliser darts have on humans) for dogs that are worrying their livestock. That, and someone asking me if I was on Facebook over PM, seems to have gotten me a ban. I have to assume these are the reasons, as the admin didn't even have the guts to give a reason!

Not that I was overly bothered, having walked away with I felt was overbearing, overcontrolling behaviour displayed by the admin when members had the gall to not share his personal opinions (despite being reminded that he had admitted previous for this and publically decided not to partake in debates anymore, as well as having had several incidents of breaking his own rules pointed out to him) and the ensuing reaction when members expressed their dissatisfaction. But it's OK, because his rules do encourage you to express when you have an issue with him. Unfortunately you have to do this in a private section of the forum where he will dismiss your opinion anyway, so what's the point!

Dogsey is alright forum most of the time thanks to the numerous friendly members happy to share their opinion, but dare to disagree with the almight admin and you will soon find yourself moderated, banned, shunned on the forum with some false story about being a troublemaker, all merely because you are an individual. My tip, walk away and find somewhere else, there are plenty of alternative forums out there.

Was originally given the details of this forum by a friend but have to say am unimpressed. Appears to be run by a ten year old suffering from delusions of grandeur and not the slightest understanding of dogs

I remained a member on this forum for a while. You expect to take the good with the bad, and there are some wonderful members, as well as some not so pleasant ones. However, it was the behaviour of the owner towards the members, who make this site, which eventually led me to leave. I have been shocked that anyone wishing to challenge in public is very quickly removed from the view of any other members.

The great sadness is the friendships that can be made, but taken no further due to rules about sharing personal information (which leads to a ban). It is against the rules to share any personal information in these messages as well. It was a good site, and a good source of information to new pet owners. I made many friends there and (through my work) recommended a great many people look/join to share in that. I cannot feel comfortable doing this any more, knowing how these people can expect to be treated. A great shame

On the surface, the forum looks like a great place, lots of members, lots of topics. As a newbie, however, you are oblivious to the truth. As time goes on and you are involved in more discussions, it becomes obvious.

The admim is running a dictatorship, not a forum.

Have a look at the member list - notice how many members are banned? You would assume they did something wrong. They didn't.

The admin has a very particular certain set of views. Nothing wrong with that, the intelligent among us very much agree with freedom of speech and are happy to debate opposing views. The admin, however, does not. So, let's just say if you believe the world is all rosy and solutions to problems are black and white, and that all dogs (and their owners) poop fairydust and fart rainbows......well this is the forum for you.  If you are happy with someone else telling you how you should think, feel and what you should say about any topic, then this won't bother you.

Don't get me wrong, a lot of us stuck around for a long time as there is a HUGE wealth of great, friendly, knowledgeable people on there. A great many more have since left due to issues with how the board is run.  My opinion? Full of great members, but most are also members of other dog forums which are run in a much more professional manner. Go there.

I find it hilarious how we're supposed to take all the negative commenters here at their word, yet anyone posting a positive comment is immediately accused of being the site owner - when actually it's just as likely that the negative commenters here are ex-Dogsey members who were banned and flounced off looking for somewhere to vent their spleen (or even owners of competitor websites trying to gain an advantage).

I'm NOT the site owner (for what that's worth, since I know I can't prove it!) but I have been on Dogsey for years and I really really love it. They're a nice friendly bunch of people who welcome newcomers, so I don't know what all the "unfriendly to new members" comments are about. Sure, members come and members go, and you get the occasional one looking to stir up trouble but you get those people on all forums I've visited, and sooner or later they end up doing something that gets them banned. Like most banned members, they tend to leave with a chip on their shoulder and a determination to bring the site down, so all I can say is take their views with a pinch of salt.

Dogsey has been a fantastic source of information for me over the years that I've had my dog and I wouldn't be without it.

LOL, that place makes LaLa land look posh!

But hey guys, to be on the fair side, before the net those guys must have lived at at a very low ebb in life, at least the net gives them a place of safety where they can release their inner screams so at least it gives them a sort of outlet for their troubles, I mean they think they're real on their, harm no one cause no would listen, so lets not grudge them that little bit of life, to them that place is more then just something, it's everything to them!