Quote Originally Posted by Jenn View Post
I think it's great that we can all laugh at someone getting bit by a snake. But when some Legislature who knows nothing about snakes, needs to make an informed vote on whether to outlaw our hobby, and visits our site for information... Will they laugh too?
I agree with this, although I also agree with Nathan saying that a forum is probably not the first place a politician comes to gather information. I'm more worried about the teen who is trying to convince his/her mom/dad to let them own a snake, and shows them this site, and so the mom/dad gets pushed further in the "no snakes" direction.

As far as Connie's post about "some of us are jaded about snake bites" and "those who are offended shouldn't own snakes"... wow. That seems a bit over the top considering Jenn and I have both said we aren't personally offended, just concerned about the impact it may have on who knows who might see it. (For the record, neither of those 2 quotes are word for word Connie's, but I believe I kept the meaning the same. If I didn't, Connie please clarify.)

Yes, I agree that showing this clip of a snake biting will get clicks and will get people to watch snakebytes. But are the ones who are hoping to see "more snakes biting people and blood", the same ones we, the herp community, want to attract? IMHO, showing the public what they want to see is not always good. Shock value may lead to clicks, but it is not a good thing. I find it very ironic and hypocritical that the herp community as a whole complains a lot about the bad press that snakes get. But when snakebytes puts out an ad that shows that being bitten by a snake is 33% of what owning snakes is about (based on it being one of 3 brief clips), that is just fine. Huh?

I absolutely agree with all of those who say that we should not try to hide that snakes bite sometimes. Some bites can be really bad, even fatal, and potential owners need to know that. But I'm not sure that getting that knowledge out there (as if it isn't already) will result in fewer irresponsible owners. Many of the irresponsible owners are the same ones who are attracted to snakes because of their big bad reputation. This kind of goes back to showing the public what they want to see (lots of dramatic snake bites) instead of the truth (yes, it happens, but it isn't what snakes and owning snakes are all about).

Connie suggested that if someone asked Brian he might change it. I will agree that at the very least he should be made aware of this thread just in case he isn't already, so I'm going to send him a PM, to avoid any possible "talking behind his back" type thing. Then changing it or not will be his choice. I just started talking about it here because the thread was already started. Also, I do think talking about what the herp community should be presenting to the public is a valid topic here, and it just happened to come up because of the snakebytes ad. Actually, to me, it is more HOW it is presented rather than WHAT. I have NO problem with the clip... just that it is a very major percentage of a very short video loop which is displayed on the home page of bp.net.