I am bothered each and every time I see a lost pet poster that does not include either the date when the pet went missing or when the poster was put up. My internal voice shouts "Help us to help YOU!"
My assumption is there’s a kid involved, and the parents know it’s unlikely to be found, but putting in an effort to find it by putting up posters helps to not feel as guilty about losing it.
what difference does the date make? you are seeing a picture of the dog who was last seen/lived in that neighborhood, have you seen it? if you care to, bear it in mind over the next hours while you are in that neighborhood. I don't think a lost pet poster is supposed to accomplish more than that, you don't need to draw a circle on a map based on how many days it's been
Common courtesy would have one remove the posters once either the animal is recovered or hope is abandoned. That's a pain in the ass though and you likely won't remember everywhere you posted bills while distraught.
The next best thing is putting a timestamp or expiration date on it so you don't waste the time of the samaritans willing to dragnet for you.
I do get where you're coming from though. Dates don't really matter to me since I habitually check corners and undercarriages at night looking for lost anything (I know where all the rabbit warrens are and have found two dogs, many cats and an unconscious human), but if I know there's a current/recent APB, I'll focus my attention while I'm out and about.
I'm not following your argument in the least. My point is about time management. I am a habitual dog walker/hiker and need to know whether I can offer a quick search as close as possible to the time the pet went missing, or whether I should carry on as usual knowing that my dogs seem to notice all living and recently demised earthbound things in our travels. If a tropical bird has been lost, the minutes and hours are critical, while the days and weeks missing are just plain sad.
EDIT: I also live in a wintery climate, so yes, posting the date gone missing is critical information.
I think it's a safe assumption that by the time someone got around to putting up a sign, you're at least hours if not days after the fact. The "everybody go out and search" stage happens well before the "I guess we should put up posters" stage. If you're seeing a poster and not a search party, it's been at least a day.
The post you're replying to covered it. They're meant to ask you you to keep your eyes open in the area, not stop and search. They're not asking you to interrupt what you're doing, just pay a little extra attention while you're doing it.
> by the time someone got around to putting up a sign, you're at least hours if not days after the fact
Not a safe assumption at all, and your term ''got around to'' seems to imply that those who have lost a pet might be lackadaisical i.e. I finally 'got around to' taking out the garbage.
Everyone needs to put the date-gone-missing on their missing pet posters.
"Got around to" means "did alllllll the other things they thought might find a pet more quickly." There's nothing lackadaisical about it. It's just well down the list of things you try immediately after a pet is lost.
I have never seen a date on such a poster and it would never have occurred to me to expect one or put one if I lost my own pet. You seem to be the outlier with this expectation.
