Inquiry: East Tennessee Reptile Rescue

I really have to say after spending about 45 minutes reading all of these post I find it ridiculous. As I posted before, I know Larry at Critter Barn and he is a VERY WELL KNOWN herp seller and a very knowledgeable man. He has told me himself that Sonnie is excellent with her herps and that she helps any that she can.

If I get banned for this post then so be it but I find it ridiculous that the admins/moderators of this forum has not got a handle on the flaming and bashing on this thread. I would NOT tolerate something like this on my forum. Sure maybe Sonnie should have did things a little different with her website as far as the 501C but did it ever occur to any of you to send her a pm or an email giving her advice instead of automatically assuming the worst of her. I know there are scammers out there and lots of them, but why automatically assume someone is a scammer without proof. No where have I seen Sonnie lie about anything she tried to do. She posted what Mrs. Elliot had posted on my forum and I would have taken it the same way Sonnie did. But I also know Mrs. Elliot and she wouldn't steer anyone in the wrong direction but I feel Sonnie just misunderstood the whole working under her statement. So does that make Sonnie a bad person NO.

Some of you here haven't offered the first word of help but only FLAMING AND BASHING!! What kind of forum allows that. Some of you did offer some help to her and that is great. She said she wanted any advice she could get but most ALL of you still degraded her intelligence to the herps and to this rescue. I know a rescue takes alot of money and is time consuming but she was willing to do what she had to do to make it right. She even stated she would take the non-profit statement off of her site but you kept bashing her after she said she wanted to do the right thing. To me, some of you need to get a life and stop trying to cause trouble for others just because YOU DON'T have the facts because YOU chose not to pm or email Sonnie and ask questions.

I know she is intelligent when it comes to herps because she has helped alot of members off of my forum and she has offered help to the ones that are killing snakes in their yard due to being scared of them. One member she offered help two lived approximately 1.5 hours away but yet she chose to offer to drive down on her own expense to get these snakes instead of the member killing them. Like I said if I stepped over the line sorry, but I feel this thread should have been toned down along time ago. A true successful forum don't allow this kind of behavior from members that are suppose to be adults but yet act like a child.

Originally Posted by EastTnPets

A true successful forum don't allow this kind of behavior from members that are suppose to be adults but yet act like a child.

The B.O.I. isn't your everyday forum. It is here for a distinct and unique purpose; letting people know about the good guys and the bad guys in the hobby. It has also been around for a long time, probably longer than your forum. Most would call it a success; unless you were to ask one of the many scammers that have been outed here.

where is all of this flaming that i hear about? no one has said anything in any post i have read that is hostil, other than the few people that are coming hear defending Sonnie saying that the people of this forum are acting like children or that we have low IQs or that we are just flamers. you might want to re-read all of the posts and see who is looking for answers and who is causing problems.

[quote=EastTnPets]I really have to say after spending about 45 minutes reading all of these post I find it ridiculous. As I posted before, I know Larry at Critter Barn and he is a VERY WELL KNOWN herp seller and a very knowledgeable man. He has told me himself that Sonnie is excellent with her herps and that she helps any that she can.

If I get banned for this post then so be it but I find it ridiculous that the admins/moderators of this forum has not got a handle on the flaming and bashing on this thread. I would NOT tolerate something like this on my forum. Sure maybe Sonnie should have did things a little different with her website as far as the 501C but did it ever occur to any of you to send her a pm or an email giving her advice instead of automatically assuming the worst of her. I know there are scammers out there and lots of them, but why automatically assume someone is a scammer without proof. No where have I seen Sonnie lie about anything she tried to do. She posted what Mrs. Elliot had posted on my forum and I would have taken it the same way Sonnie did. But I also know Mrs. Elliot and she wouldn't steer anyone in the wrong direction but I feel Sonnie just misunderstood the whole working under her statement. So does that make Sonnie a bad person NO.[/qoute]

Sorry to jump back in this, but reagrding the above paragraph, did you read teh title of the post? As I recall it says pretty plainly, "Inquiry-East Tennessee Reptile Rescue", not "Accusation-Scammy McScammer Pants will Scam You Out of Your Pants". If I mis-typed, and that is the title, I apologize.

What I posted was an honest inquiry, presented to people who are much more knowledgable in the world of rescues, scams, and many other thing I'm certain, for their opinions on the apparent legitamacy, of the rescue. Thats it, never did I say, "Hey John Dove, hey Seamus Haley, hey everybody else, lets completely torpedo this seemingly well intentioned attempt at a rescue. It will be HILARIOUS!" All joking aside, I requested information, and opinions, concerning an issue, that I personally don't have much experience with,(other than getting scammed out of some animals, when I lived Texas, a long time ago), so I came to a wellspring of knowledge. If anyone took this as an accusation I apologize.

I have read all the post and I have read the flaming. When someone calls someone names and such that is flaming in my eyes. This forum might have been here for awhile, but there is still no need to down grade someone before you have any PROOF of things which no one does because no one knows Sonnie here personally. I did come here to just let everyone know that Sonnie is NOT a scammer but you all are dead set on thinking you KNOW her and such. It's funny...that there is only a few here from Tennessee and the people Sonnie said to contact about her still hasn't been contacted. That seems fishy to me because you would think if this site was catching the good and bad, then someone would have tried to find out themselves about her but everyone just threw accusations. If you don't see the flaming/bashing in these threads, I suggest you go back to the beginning and read them all!!

Dustin I understand your concern with it being a new rescue but that was still no reason for others to jump the gun and start calling her a scammer. Just because someone is trying to start a rescue, and she thought she was getting guidance from someone that already has a rescue (which she did get some guidance from), but as Sonnie stated she mis-read what Mrs. Elliot was saying and frankly I would have read it the same way too. But that still doesn't give the other members here the right to down grade her and automatically assume she is a scammer. She got some wrong info and posted it on her website. She said she was sorry but you still never gave her any credit. She said she would change her website, but nope she still didn't get any credit. If all of you are so into herps, you would think everyone would give her guidance in the right direction seeing that we don't have anything like that around here that I know of. Just like Max going to help her and her seeking guidance from another known rescue which someone tried to degrade Mrs. Elliot as well if you go back and read the post.

I just don't see where the members here are very helpful at all except for a couple. Most of the others are throwing accusations. And another thing that was ridiculous is when someone posted about Sonnies personal life. I think this member may know Sonnie but that is no reason to bring her personal life into this. Her having a child and her sickness is NOBODY'S business but Sonnies and if she wanted it aired, she could have aired it herself. I just think it is very disrespectful and again childish.

Originally Posted by EastTnPets

I have read all the post and I have read the flaming. When someone calls someone names and such that is flaming in my eyes. This forum might have been here for awhile, but there is still no need to down grade someone before you have any PROOF of things which no one does because no one knows Sonnie here personally. I did come here to just let everyone know that Sonnie is NOT a scammer but you all are dead set on thinking you KNOW her and such. It's funny...that there is only a few here from Tennessee and the people Sonnie said to contact about her still hasn't been contacted. That seems fishy to me because you would think if this site was catching the good and bad, then someone would have tried to find out themselves about her but everyone just threw accusations. If you don't see the flaming/bashing in these threads, I suggest you go back to the beginning and read them all!!

There was no need to contact her friends and ask about her. Everything needed to form an opinion was posted right here on this thread by her and her friends. She may not be a scammer, but she was shown to be poorly equipped and lacking in resources to run a rescue. She also was poorly advised, perhaps even deceived, by someone she trusted. Information was presented, questions were asked, minds made up. It was shown, and she admitted to the fact, that she was representing herself as a legitimate not-for-profit rescue when she wasn't and for that matter hadn't even taken steps to become legit. You standing on your soapbox, oozing hypocrisy, and berating everyone who doesn't agree with you doesn't do much to aid her cause.

Actually I was making the steps. HECK i only started this on thursday...nite. its not like i had a long time to do it. I had a emergency situation after i got home on thursday night, my friend called mea t 2am, him and his 15 month old son were walking down the street in the middle of maryville TN! there were no shelters and no place for them to go, thats a hour and half drive for me so i got up at 2am and went after them, i did not get home til very late, i had to set up a place for them to sleep. espically for the 15 month old considering he could get into things and my house is not little child proof yet. I didn't get to call any places offices of laywers or do much of anything other than figure out what my friend was going to do and such. SO..here it is MONDAY, my small rescue, that couldn't even get started has already ended. So...it was a non for profit. i took the advice of someone, and it wasn't obviously to you people wasnt the right way to go. SO..i stopped what i started, and here we are. its over, And as far as being poorly equipped, I have room, and all the equipment needed to house animals. i already set up extra tanks, with setups, without aniamls in them for this. SO..you can't dare say i hadn't took the steps, as i was following advice, and doing what i was told to do to get started. UNDERSTAND THAT FOR THE LAST TIME!

First of all nobody is standing on their soapbox. She simply asked some people to come here and give our opinions about her. I don't know her personally on from my forum but I have talked to several people about her because a good friend of mine deals with herps. So I talked to Larry at Critterbarn regarding Sonnie because she had gave some advice and Larry said that she was a very respectable herps owner with lots of knowledge and he would recommend her to help anyone with their herps. So that is why she had asked some of us to come here just so you would know she is not a scammer. That is not a bad thing!!!

Originally Posted by TrulyRare

Actually I was making the steps. HECK i only started this on thursday...nite. its not like i had a long time to do it. I had a emergency situation after i got home on thursday night, my friend called mea t 2am, him and his 15 month old son were walking down the street in the middle of maryville TN! there were no shelters and no place for them to go, thats a hour and half drive for me so i got up at 2am and went after them, i did not get home til very late, i had to set up a place for them to sleep. espically for the 15 month old considering he could get into things and my house is not little child proof yet. I didn't get to call any places offices of laywers or do much of anything other than figure out what my friend was going to do and such. SO..here it is MONDAY, my small rescue, that couldn't even get started has already ended. So...it was a non for profit. i took the advice of someone, and it wasn't obviously to you people wasnt the right way to go. SO..i stopped what i started, and here we are. its over, And as far as being poorly equipped, I have room, and all the equipment needed to house animals. i already set up extra tanks, with setups, without aniamls in them for this. SO..you can't dare say i hadn't took the steps, as i was following advice, and doing what i was told to do to get started. UNDERSTAND THAT FOR THE LAST TIME!

Are you familiar with the old adage "Putting the cart before the horse"?

You could have avoided this had you been patient and gotten your ducks in a row BEFORE putting up a website and soliciting donations. No one here is responsible for your impatience and lack of due diligence except for you, not your friends, not your advisers, and not the general public. You are the only one here that can, and should be held accountable. You admitted yourself that you don't have the adequate financial resources to start a legitimate rescue, you have also shown to be irresponsible and immature. Perhaps YOU should try and UNDERSTAND that, for the last time...