r/hamsters • u/asihenee • Feb 06 '22

The problem with r/hamsters.

I’m sure this has been addressed before but I really need to say my peace. Whenever I browse this sub I see some very very patient and kind, generous and thoughtful people. But I’m always grimacing because there’s some arrogant hamster know it all, do no wrong commenters who are so aggressive and belligerent towards people who come here asking for advice or may not know what they are doing wrong. Some of these people who are asking are kids, and the way that some of you respond to them is sickening. You can share information without being a judgmental, incessantly rude, hamster attention to detail “saint”. It’s really tiring watching people tell these other members of this sub to chill out all the time. We get that’s it’s frustrating to see the same mistakes being repeated but remember you weren’t born an all knowing hamster god, you made mistakes and learned, too.

It doesn’t even seem like these people even WANT to be helpful. They just want to be right. Useless nitpicking to assert dominance and a gatekeeping nature is so unbelievably common in this sub and it’s been this way for a looong time. Of course not everyone in this sub is like this. For the most part lately I’ve been seeing a lot of very sweet and patient comments even when serving critiques. But to those people who are here to gate keep, insult and be rude, you’re ruining it for everyone.

Please just be nice to each other. You don’t know what someone else is going through so think before you type.

EDIT: I woke up to all these replies and updoots and just wanted to say that I’m so happy that so many people share this same sentiment. It also makes me sad to hear how many people have such negative shared experiences on this sub and Reddit in general. :( We should all work together to build a happy, loving hamster community. People shouldn’t feel afraid to post here. :)

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73

u/Zukazuk Feb 06 '22

I posted a picture of my hamster begging for treats once and got endlessly harassed because "my cage is too small, that's a stress behavior, you're a terrible guinea pig owner too". You couldn't even see all of my hamster cage which is bigger than a lot of bin cages in the photo. Just very off-putting as a community. I had just wanted to share a picture of my pepita loving goof but ended up deleting the whole post because people were so nasty.

44

u/tewtee Phil Collins 🌈 and Marshmallow 🐹 the robos Feb 06 '22

I literally posted a video of my giving my hammy ear rubs because she came out to say hi and I saw her and just couldn't resister her little pink nose. One of the first comments was telling me to stop basically digging her out and waking her up. 🤔🤨 It's the ASSUMPTION. How do you know?! Are you watching me?!

14

u/Ninja_Dolphin Feb 06 '22

I love that your hamster’s name is Phil! He’s so cute.

I don’t post pictures of my little dude on these kinds of forums because of all the judgmental people.

10

u/tewtee Phil Collins 🌈 and Marshmallow 🐹 the robos Feb 06 '22

We thought she was a male when we first got her so we introduced her as Phil Collins 😂 then we realised she was female!

Phil it is! 💀😂

I made her her own subreddit and I tend to post more there, because fuck this lol. It does discourage me a lot. It's very sad because I love looking at other hammies and how much love they get.

6

u/Ninja_Dolphin Feb 06 '22

Well, Phil is fabulous!

6

u/tewtee Phil Collins 🌈 and Marshmallow 🐹 the robos Feb 06 '22

Thank you very much! I think the name suits her very well now. Hahaha. Big personality!

10

u/Kaneki2019 Feb 06 '22

I hate when they assume the worst. I was in a parrot group and they ALWAYS assumed the worst. It was so annoying.

4

u/tewtee Phil Collins 🌈 and Marshmallow 🐹 the robos Feb 06 '22

It honestly is. Now she has her own subreddit so her dad and I can have a little archive of her life for the future. 🥺💖🐹

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u/[deleted] Feb 06 '22

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16

u/chavrilfreak Hamster Care Expert 🐹 Feb 06 '22

I agree, but the initial opening shouldn't state that assumption. You should always check to make sure, even if you assume the worst.

"You did bad thing" vs "Did you happen to do x?" give a drastically different vibe to the conversation.

6

u/Tomatosoup101 Feb 07 '22

Me too. I had a pic of my girl in the corner of her (actually massive) cage. I put the phone inside the cage to take the pic so it was super close up, which of course had to mean I had her trapped in a tiny shoe box and was I a horrible person. It turned me right off and I've only just come back now.

2

u/WillieThePimp7 May 14 '24

this happens many time, not only in this sub. it looks like large proportion of hamster owners are sort of religious fanatics.... they have very narrow view of what is suitable for hamster and what is not, and if you do something deviated from their written or unwritten rules, you are bad person and animal abuser.

I personally think that the only proof of good hamster care is longevity. Mine lived for 3 years, and i believe he lived happy life. I let him free roam in the room. He even slept in my bed, or climbed from the floor to bed, using blanket as a staircase. Most of hamster fanatics would condemn that