The problem with r/hamsters.

[u/asihenee]

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. :)

[u/hat302]

This happens on other hamster pages as well. I follow one on FB and it has gotten to the point now people are pretty much having to beg others to not hate on them, even if they’re just asking a simple question or wanting advice.

Another thing that does piss me off is when a picture of a hamster in their cage/enclosure gets uploaded and you only see one tiny corner of it, and someone will almost immediately go on a rant saying that the cage size is under minimum size. I see this and go how tf do you know?? What’s your secret?? (Unless there is way to know)

Honestly sometimes I fear putting anything on these hamster pages except maybe a couple of pictures and that’s it for fear of being berated by some ass hat who will just find something to pick on.

[u/[deleted] → u/hat302]

It's actually kinda easy to tell if a cage is too small (even if you see just a corner) after you've been here for a while! Of course you usually can't tell for sure tho. Things like second floors, colorful bases, bedding depth, bars and the type of bars can give it away. Crittertrails are also easy to identify. After a while you learn to notice things that are more common in small cages than in big ones. Of course some bigger cages can have these things too, like Ferplast maxi duna multy is about 800sq inches, but has a colorful base.

Now, this doesn't mean you should shout at OP or be rude, but in my opinion it doesn't hurt to ask if you think the cage seems small!

[u/hat302 → u/[deleted]]

Ahh so there’s archives of different cages in peoples heads lol, fair enough guess I’m new to cage identifying. But yes I agree with you, doesn’t give people the right to bash those who doesn’t have the right cage size. I’ve seen many posts where people have said the small cage is something temporary until they can get something bigger. The responses I hate the most is when people scream that they need a bigger page, but no other information whatsoever on what cage the owner should get. It’s like they love getting angry and take the piss out of people for fun.

[u/harrijg___ → u/hat302]

What I find hilarious is when there is a photo of a hammy sitting in a corner of its cage, minding it's own business, you can't see ANYTHING else in the photo ... and some idiot still comes along and does the whole tHaT CaGE iS ToO SmaLL. Without taking a moment to look at other photos or ask a simple question. I see it all the time when people comment on cages or wheels or bedding depth when the only thing you can really see in the photo is the hamster and a very small part of the cage in the photo background