Forum Meetups Guidelines

[Alex]

Forum Meetups Guidelines

We’ve began to notice that some of our members are wanting to meet up in person to swap stories and let their basenjis play together. So we have created some guidelines to help provide a safe and fun forum members meetup environment.

HOW TO ORGANIZE A MEETUP:

Please use the following format if you would like to organize a meetup on a specific day.

MEETUP POST FORMAT

We advise all the meetup organizers to follow this format in order to make it easy for other members to use Basenji Forums. To ensure safety please do not organize meetups at your private residence and do not include personal contact information in the meetup posts.

You should title your post with City, State and Date
Example: San Jose, CA Meetup on 10/23/2008

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Organizer Username: Alex
Public Meetup Location: San Jose City Park
Address: North First Street, San Jose, CA 94030
Planned date and time: 10/23/2008 at 1pm

Additional details:

Here you can provide park photos, activity details etc..

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HOW TO ATTEND A MEETUP:

To effictively plan and attend successful meetup events please reply to each meetup thread you are interested in attending. Also, after a meetup, please come back to Basenji Forums and post your feedback and photos. This will help determine future meetups and hopefully bring more basenjis to the next meetup!

Do not forget to read carefully all the personal and dog safety guidelines outlined below.

PERSONAL SAFETY GUIDELINES:

Basenji Forums Staff would like to make sure everybody is safe. It’s a scary world out there, not at all like your backyard where the scariest thing is an occassional skunk.

While most of us here are all very friendly and well adjusted individuals. Sometimes though, you might meet somebody online who is perfectly nice and normal sounding but in reality may have other motives. Please be very careful when you arrange to meet someone for the first time.

• Always meet in Public rather than a private residence.

• Do not provide your personal contact information on the forum or via private email.

• Try and go along when there is a group of people there.

• Always tell a spouse, responsible friend or roommate where your going, when you are getting back etc.

• Always be a little paranoid. Ask yourself "Why does he/she want to meet here, in this place? Is someone going to mug me and take my basenjis, is there another way to get there?". This may sound cheesy and stupid but can potentially save your life.

• Above all just use your common sense and trust your gut. If something does not feel right then don’t think “oh it’ll be ok”, get out and get home safe.

DOG SAFETY GUIDELINES:

Please know that we want all our dogs and owners to be safe. Be sure that your dog is friendly to both other dogs and humans.

• Dogs must be fully vaccinated; preferably spayed/ neutered (if not, please use good judgement in your dog's behavior). Do not bring your dog if she is in heat!

• Owners must be in full control of their dogs at all times. If your dog gets into a fight with another dog, please keep your dog on leash and by you for the rest of the meetup. Do not let him/her have a chance to start another fight.

• If a dog seriously hurts another dog, then only one offense will be tolerated and this member will be asked to leave the meetup group. Let's remember that dogs will be dogs, and sometimes there will be fights.

• If a dog is out of control during a meetup, the owner and dog can be asked to leave the meetup by the Organizer(s). You know your dog's behavior best. Members are always welcome to attend meetups with or without their dogs.

• Please do not give out treats to other dogs , many dogs have sensitive stomachs and/or allergies you may not be aware of. Ask the owner first if it's ok for their dog to have a treat.

• Please be prepared and doggy bags for your pet. Meetups are often in public places and everyone would like to remain welcome.

These rules are created to keep everyone's dog safe. We do not want ANYONE to be afraid to bring their dog to a meetup. This is suppose to be a fun thing for all who attend.

Please be aware that you are attending events at your own discretion/risk and that Basenji Forums is not liable for anything that goes on during the meetup.

If you have any questions regarding organizing Basenji Forums member meetups do not hesitate to contact us at admin@basenjiforums.com before posting. To help build our forum community we ask everyone to use these guidelines for organizing meetups on Basenji Forums.

Thank you and have a great time!