I'm sorry... I'll try to follow your eloquent example of how not to post a confrontational statment on a public forum.

While you see my style of writing as confrontational it is meant to be thought provoking in the fewest words possible.

It is usually directed at the statment the OP or similar has posted and it is not... not... directed at the person personally... unless I've met them or have been given a reason to address them personally.

Ummm... how did you read my comment as 'sarcastic' without adding your own inflection?

this is exactly what i mean about people being taken the wrong way. Inflection and implication is very difficult to get across in the written word. People take offence at statements that have been typed when no oral inflection or mannerisms have been involved. People automatically assume that somebody is being an antagonist simply for stating a fact or expressing truth becaus of a percieved 'tone'. tone does NOT exist in writing, it is down to personal interpretation. Just because one person chooses to be offended by a none-threatening statement doesnt mean others will take it in the same manner, not unless an aside is type to explain it!

Another point as far as shops go...

Petshops are in the business to make money. Reptiles are coming into there own... Some old time shops see this as a new product... They call up their supplier and ask them about the product... The supplier trys to sell the relatively new product to the relatively new customer... Anyway... the supplier gets his critters from either a breeder or a collector... the collector is sometimes a poor country man (sometimes called a RedNeck in the states where these particular critters come from...) who is trying to feed their 10+ kids... Well... the redneck only knows those critters as sliders and cooters... he labels them as such... 30 cooters (which can contain up to 5 or more different species. This is not done internationally much anymore because of the USFW requiring specific lableing but locally this is done quite ofter by accident and sometimes not by accident... this is what usually leads to the misnaming of species... or so I guess...

That is the one faction of turtle and tortoise keepers. I don't think that will ever change... but... the more normal people are starting to get involved as evident in this and similar forums. Keep in mind that there are also those in the other extreme who kill for the sake of killing for food or tropy... they still need to be heard to make it completely ballanced.

I don't ever plan to change... but who knows.

Your right, Ive been speaking to a lot of shop owners and it seems that in certain cases wholesalers are responsible for calling things different names to get over the stigma attached to RES in the UK. The more unusual the name...the more they can try to charge. Perhaps im just a secptic though, and these are honest mistakes...

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Again, the wholesaler might be getting them under that name...

Wholesaler:I can't sell RESs!!!!! Shipper(I can't sell the millions of sliders I have...): These are Cooters(he's not lying... that's what the locals call them... just being a little deceptive)... Consumer: That's not a Cooter... That's a RES.

It works for a little while. The internet makes that little while that much shorter.