Post by NightwishRaven999 on Dec 20, 2011 7:49:44 GMT
I am certain all of you will agree that year 2011 has been a most productive, eventful and fruitful year for our community and for degu owners everywhere.
First and foremost, I would like to thank Faith (deguconvert) and the moderating staff for another successful year in maintaining forum peace and unity. We have had several incidents confront us during the year, but with Faith guiding the staff and the forum as a whole, wise decisions were taken and the forum has moved on. Thank you Faith, Kat, Emma, Chloe, Amie and Alexia.
The cage building movement that we started in 2010 continues to be a big hit on our forum and on other pet related communities.
We have seen some fantastic cages being built this year and have seen an increasing amount of interest in this housing alternative. Several great cages have just recently been constructed (namely Tiiyn's, Pinkhairedelf's and Alexia's cages)...and some being currently planned/constructed. Bex's (Dingle87) cage plans come to mind.
I would also like to point towards Amie's idea to DIY her cage into a fabulous degu home as of the high points of the year.
Mel, Stormsong and Nexissa have also been leading the way as far as metal cage DIY projects.
Another project that was successfully launched this year, was Fred's CARA chart. Thourough work and planning was put into this project and thanks to the release of the chart and a detailed explanation of how it is used, members and guests alike have access to a tool that promotes very good housing standards.
CARA also comes out as a year 2011 hit, with many of us using the chart as refference and new cage builders using this chart in the planning and construction of their cages.
Year 2011 has also been a turning point for our forum, the arrival of David (Davx), Marlen (Maravilla) and Apology72 and their active forum participation giving us new insight into proper degu diet and insight into degus and their wildlife habits.
The recent arrival of Benjamin (19Uhr30) is also proving to be one of the high points of the year for me.
With Faith (deguconvert) opening up a BLOG section on the forum, new and interesting experiences are being shared...allowing us and guest readers to follow the progress of individual owners.
Kat's blog and diet related posts have defenitely become a hit, as have Alexia's (Malteser60) blog journal and Stormsong's degu keeping adventures.
David's (davx) topic on Degu Diet in the Wild has also encouraged quite a response and enthusiatic conversations were started on the matter.
Another project that quickly became a forum hit, and most of us would agree to this as being THE EVENT of year 2011...The 50% Natural Nutrition Project.
Inspired by the arrival of our friends from the german degu keeping community and introduced to us by Fred, this project reached a popularity peak, having amassed an incredible response and viewership after only the first week.
This ongoing community project remains on par with the cage building projects started in 2010.
This defenitely goes into the year's major highlights !
This movement was soon followed by the new Safe Wood List released by both Fred and David (davx)...something which has proven highly enlightening for our community.
The collective work that has been put into the construction of the beginner's guide has also proven to be a success and our page continues to gain popularity on the web, becoming the second most highly viewed page on the Octodondegus.weebly website...quickly out-ranking the popular Degu Taming Guide.
The introduction of Joshua's (smithomatic) insightful blogging webpage and our recent decision to link his works to our cage building guide is another step in the right direction.
Kat's ability to create and ship out fabulous running wheels to our members, has also proven to be a success...many members highly anxious to get their hands on some good, solid wheels.
Bravo Kat !
Talks of new projects have already hit the forum. One of them being the developement of a degu Feeding Guide which will be composed and produced by Fred and several of our members from the experienced german community. (Estimated release: early 2012). This guide will join the articles published on the Octodondegus.weebly webiste.
Last but not least, I did not want to rejoice prematurely so this has been kept undercover from most of you (save the staff and two highly active members)...but it seems like year 2011 will be ending in glory with a sort of "alliance" being made between our forum and Degutopia.
Only a handful of members have been made aware of this as I did not want to spark excitement where none was to be had.
Two days ago, Chloe Long (Degutopia Founder), Melissa Tiley-Waters and myself discussed the opportunity for Degutopia to expand its website information to include wooden DIY cages.
For those of you not active on the Degutopia Information Boards, it might be surprising to hear that the cage building movement has reached members there and has been sparking a high level of interest.
Chloe Long has accepted my request to help us promote this type of housing and has even offered to use our cage building guide as a refference and provide its link on the main Degutopia website.
Chloe has offered to use some of our DIY cage photos as illustrations...an invitation which I took the liberty to accept on your behalf. (if anyone of you does not wish their cage photos posted on Degutopia please let me know by pm)
This is a great move for the movement and for our forum as a whole. With Degutopia's support the cage building movement will reach far and wide...at a faster pace than it already has.
This puts our forum under a large and much deserved spotlight !
With Degutopia's backing of wooden cages, we can continue to zealously help interested ones build cages large enough to accomodate their degus' needs and use the opportunity to talk to them about CARA. With the issue of wood suitability out of the way, we can continue focusing on size and surface area of the enclosures.
2012 promises to be a fun and exciting year for our forum and its members !
Everyone of you is to be congradulated for making this community a better place.
Let's work together to make 2012 an equally productive and eventful year !
First and foremost, I would like to thank Faith (deguconvert) and the moderating staff for another successful year in maintaining forum peace and unity. We have had several incidents confront us during the year, but with Faith guiding the staff and the forum as a whole, wise decisions were taken and the forum has moved on. Thank you Faith, Kat, Emma, Chloe, Amie and Alexia.
The cage building movement that we started in 2010 continues to be a big hit on our forum and on other pet related communities.
We have seen some fantastic cages being built this year and have seen an increasing amount of interest in this housing alternative. Several great cages have just recently been constructed (namely Tiiyn's, Pinkhairedelf's and Alexia's cages)...and some being currently planned/constructed. Bex's (Dingle87) cage plans come to mind.
I would also like to point towards Amie's idea to DIY her cage into a fabulous degu home as of the high points of the year.
Mel, Stormsong and Nexissa have also been leading the way as far as metal cage DIY projects.
Another project that was successfully launched this year, was Fred's CARA chart. Thourough work and planning was put into this project and thanks to the release of the chart and a detailed explanation of how it is used, members and guests alike have access to a tool that promotes very good housing standards.
CARA also comes out as a year 2011 hit, with many of us using the chart as refference and new cage builders using this chart in the planning and construction of their cages.
Year 2011 has also been a turning point for our forum, the arrival of David (Davx), Marlen (Maravilla) and Apology72 and their active forum participation giving us new insight into proper degu diet and insight into degus and their wildlife habits.
The recent arrival of Benjamin (19Uhr30) is also proving to be one of the high points of the year for me.
With Faith (deguconvert) opening up a BLOG section on the forum, new and interesting experiences are being shared...allowing us and guest readers to follow the progress of individual owners.
Kat's blog and diet related posts have defenitely become a hit, as have Alexia's (Malteser60) blog journal and Stormsong's degu keeping adventures.
David's (davx) topic on Degu Diet in the Wild has also encouraged quite a response and enthusiatic conversations were started on the matter.
Another project that quickly became a forum hit, and most of us would agree to this as being THE EVENT of year 2011...The 50% Natural Nutrition Project.
Inspired by the arrival of our friends from the german degu keeping community and introduced to us by Fred, this project reached a popularity peak, having amassed an incredible response and viewership after only the first week.
This ongoing community project remains on par with the cage building projects started in 2010.
This defenitely goes into the year's major highlights !
This movement was soon followed by the new Safe Wood List released by both Fred and David (davx)...something which has proven highly enlightening for our community.
The collective work that has been put into the construction of the beginner's guide has also proven to be a success and our page continues to gain popularity on the web, becoming the second most highly viewed page on the Octodondegus.weebly website...quickly out-ranking the popular Degu Taming Guide.
The introduction of Joshua's (smithomatic) insightful blogging webpage and our recent decision to link his works to our cage building guide is another step in the right direction.
Kat's ability to create and ship out fabulous running wheels to our members, has also proven to be a success...many members highly anxious to get their hands on some good, solid wheels.
Bravo Kat !
Talks of new projects have already hit the forum. One of them being the developement of a degu Feeding Guide which will be composed and produced by Fred and several of our members from the experienced german community. (Estimated release: early 2012). This guide will join the articles published on the Octodondegus.weebly webiste.
Last but not least, I did not want to rejoice prematurely so this has been kept undercover from most of you (save the staff and two highly active members)...but it seems like year 2011 will be ending in glory with a sort of "alliance" being made between our forum and Degutopia.
Only a handful of members have been made aware of this as I did not want to spark excitement where none was to be had.
Two days ago, Chloe Long (Degutopia Founder), Melissa Tiley-Waters and myself discussed the opportunity for Degutopia to expand its website information to include wooden DIY cages.
For those of you not active on the Degutopia Information Boards, it might be surprising to hear that the cage building movement has reached members there and has been sparking a high level of interest.
Chloe Long has accepted my request to help us promote this type of housing and has even offered to use our cage building guide as a refference and provide its link on the main Degutopia website.
Chloe has offered to use some of our DIY cage photos as illustrations...an invitation which I took the liberty to accept on your behalf. (if anyone of you does not wish their cage photos posted on Degutopia please let me know by pm)
This is a great move for the movement and for our forum as a whole. With Degutopia's support the cage building movement will reach far and wide...at a faster pace than it already has.
This puts our forum under a large and much deserved spotlight !
With Degutopia's backing of wooden cages, we can continue to zealously help interested ones build cages large enough to accomodate their degus' needs and use the opportunity to talk to them about CARA. With the issue of wood suitability out of the way, we can continue focusing on size and surface area of the enclosures.
2012 promises to be a fun and exciting year for our forum and its members !
Everyone of you is to be congradulated for making this community a better place.
Let's work together to make 2012 an equally productive and eventful year !
together, the increase was notable!! Jordan, you are a true asset to our forum, along with Fred, Marlen, David, Benjammin, our amazing team of moderators, Kat - maker of impectable wheels, and Fuzzymum - maker of degu "dream cozies." Our many thanks to you, Jordan!!
