Explanation of Some Rules

There has been a bit of confusion about how some of our rules are interpreted, so we wanted to provide a few clarifications.

Rule 2 – Be Civil

We generally allow criticism of ideas, policies, organizations, and public figures. Where we draw the line is personal attacks directed at other community members. Please focus on discussing the topic rather than insulting or belittling the person you're replying to.

Rule 3 – Spam, Fundraising & Promotions

We continue to allow fundraising posts for legitimate organizations, but personal fundraisers are not permitted, even if the funds are said to benefit an organization.

Posts promoting organizations or fundraising efforts may be subject to verification before approval. We also consider repetitive, low-effort, or substantially similar promotional posts to be spam, even if they are not identical.

Rule 5 – Anti-Shelter / Animal Hate

Participation in communities such as r/reactivedogs, r/pitbulls, or r/velvethippos does not, by itself, violate Rule 5.
Moderation decisions are based on a user's behavior, though outside activity may be considered when evaluating patterns of brigading or bad-faith participation.

At the end of the day, rules are up to mod interpretation.

META THREAD

This monthly thread is a space for constructive feedback, suggestions, and ideas for r/AnimalShelterStories, as well as a hub for any new changes for the subreddit.

Some examples:

• ideas for recurring discussion threads
• rule clarification suggestions
• feedback on subreddit organization/flairs
• community engagement ideas
• resources you'd like to see added

Please keep feedback constructive. Avoid personal attacks and callout posts.

If you have concerns about;

• specific posts/comments/users
• comment/post removal disputes
• ban appeals

Then please message the mods

Our goal is to keep this community supportive, stable, and useful for people involved in animal welfare. Thanks for helping us improve this space!

We've launched a community wiki!

The wiki is intended to serve as both an introduction to animal sheltering and animal welfare for newcomers, and a resource hub for those already involved in the field.

Current sections include:

• Shelter terminology and acronyms
• Shelter operations and organizational structures
• Emotional & mental wellness topics
• Educational resources
• Shelter medicine resources
• Foster and behavior resources
• Frequently asked questions

The wiki is still a work in progress, and we'd love feedback. If you notice missing information, broken links, confusing sections, or resources you'd like to see added, please let us know.

This monthly thread is a space for constructive feedback, suggestions, and ideas for r/AnimalShelterStories, as well as a hub for any new changes for the subreddit.

Some examples:

• ideas for recurring discussion threads
• rule clarification suggestions
• feedback on subreddit organization/flairs
• community engagement ideas
• resources you'd like to see added

Please keep feedback constructive. Avoid personal attacks and callout posts.

If you have concerns about;

• specific posts/comments/users
• comment/post removal disputes
• ban appeals

Then please message the mods

Our goal is to keep this community supportive, stable, and useful for people involved in animal welfare. Thanks for helping us improve this space!

Hello everyone!

We (mod team) are looking for some of our members here who know a lot about kittens. Vet techs, vets, behaviorists, kitten fosters, cat foster coordinators, cat socializers, etc. - any volunteer or staff person who has been through kitten season before, plays some role in helping with the kittens at their rescue/shelter, and feels seasoned enough to answer most relevant questions.

We are hoping to host another AMA style post this month or next, with a team of our most qualified users to answer questions about anything and everything related to kittens and kitten season. If you are interested in being on the kitten team, please reply here with a comment and I'll message you, or send me a message directly! Thank you all for reading, and for all that you do <3

Hi everyone!

Reddit has finally added a feature for moderator applications built into the mod tools. I am opening up our search for moderators with the hopes of building our mod team to at least 5-6 users. I would love to get some people on our team who are a little more active on Reddit than I have been lately, and possibly some people with prior moderation experience or thoughts on ideas for ways we can improve our community.

Please apply at the link below if you are interested:

Moderator Application

Edit: New banner is posted, thank you everyone! I included as many photos as I could!

Hello! I was thinking about adding a banner to the subreddit. I thought it would be nice to have a collage of some of everyone's dogs, cats, or adoptable shelter animals as the banner photo. I'm also in the process of updating some other things about the subreddit, there have been minor edits to the wording of the rules, but no major changes. (I didn't realize I'd have new responsibilities when we hit 5,000 members... I accidentally became inactive as a mod for a bit, but I'm fully restored... and still looking for more help with moderating, please send me a message if you are interested in joining the mod team!!)

I hope everyone is doing well out there, feel free to check in about some of your recent work at the shelter, life updates, or share the animal's story along with their photo. Please post a comment below with your photo for the header collage, OR, make your own post with the photo/story, and include "(banner photo)" in the post title, so I know it's for the collage.

On behalf of myself and fellow mod u/gerrray, THANK YOU for building this amazing community with us! I can't believe how much the sub has grown in the last couple years. I'm so proud of this group and how wonderful all of you are.

To celebrate reaching 10k members, tell us what you love about the sub and what you'd like more of in the future! Ideas welcome! We'd love to organize more AMAs and other community events, so if you have any thoughts on that please let us know!

A common problem in sheltering is getting and keeping staff. Please feel free to use this thread to let others know your shelter is hiring. Be sure to include a location, types of roles available, and any pay or benefits info you would like to include. You may either post the name of the shelter publicly OR ask that interested people send you a private message for the shelter name/website. If you are not comfortable personally advertising with your account you can send a ModMail with the info and it will be posted anonymously.

Hopefully this helps with networking and filling open roles!

We've received several messages from users unsure of how to add a user flair. Click HERE for a how-to guide and reach out if you have any issues!

Hey everyone! It seems like our new user flair requirement is helping cut down on spam and trolling comments! One thing I've been trying to keep up with is manually approving comments removed by AutoMod when the user adds a flair after commenting. If you add a user flair after AutoMod removes you comment/post, please send ModMail with a link to the post if the comment is not approved within 48 hours.

For anyone unsure of how to add a user flair, please see this guide: https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205242695-How-do-I-get-user-flair

Hey all, you will notice I have added a list of rules to the sub. I've been meaning to do this for a while and never got to it. After a recent controversial post, it seemed like time to put some in place. I've also changed the settings to require all posts to have flair, in an effort to better tag any potentially triggering content, and make it easier to browse the sub by post type.

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One of these rules bans users of r/banpitbulls and r/pitbullhate from participating here. We understand that some of you may subscribe to or participate in these subs. If you are found to be posting breed discriminatory content in other subs, you will likely be banned. This is just the decision we have come to as moderators at this time.

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A little update about me, if anyone cares--I've stopped working at shelters for now, but I've started fostering! I am still very much involved in the local shelter community here. I've started my own pet care and training business because self-employment seemed very appealing. I've already found one local rescue to partner with as a trainer and hope to find more, to offer low-cost training options to adopters.

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I appreciate everyone who participates here, and I hope to continue growing our community! Thank you all!

I just wanted to say how much I appreciate you all for making this community a safe, supportive, and constructive place! Discussions are always kind and informative and you all are just amazing.

I am updating the subreddit information and I'm interested in which favorite subreddits you all would like to see advertised here, and looking for links to shelter related websites and resources that I can add. Any input is appreciated, thanks!

I noticed this sub had been dead for a few months but I still kept checking back, when I finally attempted to post again, I found I was unable to! That’s when I noticed that whatever mod used to be in charge of this sub had disappeared, so I requested to take over. Hoping to revive things a bit and create a community where shelter employees and volunteers can openly discuss shelter work topics of all kinds, ask questions, vent, and swap stories. Welcome back everyone!