Dear Pet Talk people, old and new

[Karen]

Dear Pet Talk people!

We are writing to all of you for your thoughts, ideas and input!

We know a lot of you rarely come to Pet Talk any more, even though I see you over on Facebook, and you participate in the FB community there.

What could we do to improve Pet Talk so more people would participate here? I worry that most of the forums are very quiet, and while a pet may get "likes" over on Facebook, and on Google+, the people whose pets are being featured cannot see those. They can see posts on Pet Talk, even if they do not join themselves. I often get emails from people saying thanks for the comments, who never join the forum but "lurk" on their pets' day.

Would it help if we added Facebook integration to the Pet Talk forum so you could log in with your Facebook ID?

Since we came late to Facebook, it is almost impossible for others to find the Dog, Cat and Pet of the Day pages on Facebook. If you think them being there has any value, please let us know or "like" these pages.

Also, what could we do to improve Dog, Cat, and Pet of the Day to attract more people to the homepages? We make sure the Pet, Dog and Cat we feature are loved pets already in homes, and the photos and stories are of good quality. We celebrate the love and relationships between people and pets, and know how important folks pets are to them, and want to keep the websites going, and growing!

We appreciate you "Liking" "Plussing" and sharing the Dog, Cat and Pet of the Day. And we know that dog lovers and cat lovers and pet lovers are a group that is diverse in every other matter, with widely varying musical and cultural tastes, politics, religions, nationalities, ages, genders and everything else.
But we know our love for our pets can unite us, and make the world a better place for people and the animals too.

Please let me know how we can improve by writing to me at [email protected] or here on Pet Talk.

Facebook
Dog of the Day - https://www.facebook.com/DogoftheDayOfficial
Cat of the Day - https://www.facebook.com/CatoftheDayOfficial
Pet of the Day - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pet-o...16055821791272

Google+
Dog of the Day - https://plus.google.com/104780259361843036149/
Cat of the Day - https://plus.google.com/+CatoftheDay
Pet of the Day - https://plus.google.com/+PetoftheDay

Twitter
Dog of the Day - http://twitter.com/dogofthedaycom
Cat of the Day - http://twitter.com/catoftheday
Pet of the Day - http://twitter.com/petoftheday

Pinterest
Dog of the Day - http://www.pinterest.com/dogofthedaycom/
Cat of the Day - http://www.pinterest.com/catoftheday/
Pet of the Day - http://www.pinterest.com/petoftheday/

[Randi]

Dear Karen and Paul, to be honest, I miss PT as it was in the old days, but of course, some members drift away and new ones join. I do come here every day, though, but don’t always have ideas to post anything. It also has to do with my loss of Fister. However, I do post when I catsit. I do miss quite a few of the oldies. Some died and others left because of certain other members. I sometimes feel like a stranger myself.

For me, it won’t help whether I can log on from FB or not - in fact, I’m not very happy with FB at all, it’s often quite a nuisance! I think that most people post on FB because it’s easy and you tend to just make short comments, and there may be a group you agree with.

I like to reply to COTD, I remember how much I enjoyed reading the replies when Fister was COTD, but I don’t always get around to doing so, and I have wondered whether people who has a pet featured actually see the replies.

Sometimes, my computer acts up and I give up.

Well, I can’t think of how to improve PT, there are forums for just about any animal subject, plus a few more.

Btw, someone (Danish) I know just got a dog and I am going to write up a reason for him to join PT and nominate his dog.

[pomtzu]

That's a tough one, Karen. I personally prefer PT over FB, and it's discouraging coming here every day, only to find that more and more people have gone m.i.a. I always said I would never join FB, and it was my son who pestered the daylights out of me to sign up. He felt it would be a good way for me to keep up with "home" since I was living in NC. I reluctantly agreed, and it was in January when I joined - and also January when I left NC and came back here to DE - so IMO it was really a waste of time. I continue to this day to check in at FB, but I'm very quickly losing interest and patience with it - it is VERY time consuming to check thru all the new posts that land on my page every day - and at least a couple of times each day too - to see if there is anything REALLY worthwhile. A lot of cute pictures posted and also some interesting articles - but for the most part it's just not worth my time. I find it's more of a place for people to boast, bitch and complain, cry the blues, act like total asses, and in general, create a lot of drama. I just don't need drama - I had more than a lifetime's worth in the 3 months in spent in NC.

I have a few fiends left here on PT, that have not gone to FB, and for that I am very grateful. I'm actually sorry I joined FB, and had I known it wasn't even needed, then I never would have in the first place. What we won't do for our kids.......

I said all along that FB killed PT. You remember that song, don't you??? - "Video Killed the Radio Star". Just put FB and PT in place of "video" and "radio star". Sad, but true.

I hope that collectively, we - meaning you and other dedicated PT members - can come up with some ideas for rejuvenation. I would not want to see this community fade away - I love it here.

[Bari_d]

Hi Karen,

My husband and I visit Cat of the Day most every morning, but you are correct, I haven't participated in Pet Talk for a long time. I used to have a number of friends there, and hope your posting this will bring some of them to the surface as well.

Part of the reason I don't participate on PT any more is time online...I go through 200 or so animal rescue emails a day - share them nationwide in an effort to get orphaned pets new homes. I do have a facebook page, but it too is mostly for animal rescue, and I really don't post there as much as I'd like to. I wasn't even aware that there were facebook pages for Cat/Dog/Pet of the Day. I've just now visited your Cat of the Day fb page...very nice.

Integration of the other entities might work. Would it be possible to have a link from the facebook page, etc., to pet talk and maybe a note on the top of the pet talk page for the day about "visit us on facebook" and others giving the link? Going back and forth might draw people who list their cats/dogs/pets to check out the facebook page and others to see comments there. Not sure how you'd do all of that, but I know you and Paul are very online savvy.

I will try to visit more often and make a comment, although I admit that we only visit Cat of the Day, rarely taking time to visit dog or pet pages.

I would be happy to post a comment on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/baris.r.page encouraging my friends to visit your pages, but again, I really don't have that large a following - mostly just family and rescue people. I discourage most postings not relating to animals.

Let me know where this leads...maybe you'll get some good comments from other pet talk people.

Good luck.

Bari DuBois

[phesina]

Dear Karen, I visit Pet Talk every day and just about always say something, at least respond to the Cat of the Day. I'm most active in the Cats area, as those are the animals who have so graciously allowed me to share their lives.

I haven't joined Facebook, Google+, Twitter, or Pinterest, have not yet heard and cannot imagine any reason why I would ever want to, and do not intend to ever. ..so I don't really have any ideas as to how to lure people from those sites or back from those sites.

I miss many people who no longer or rarely participate now. (lvpets2002, can you "hear" me?) Aside from those who have passed away or whose life circumstances no longer allow them the opportunity, I have no advice on how to lure the others back.

I love Pet Talk, the friends I've made and the community I'm part of here, and all the hard work you do and have done to create this site and keep it going, Karen and Paul. I hope it will keep going for a long time yet.

God bless! and loads of {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, ~~~~PURRS~~~~, and from Pat, Poppy, Elmer, Bob, Sparkler, and the Angels

[Roxyluvsme13]

Karen,

I spend more time on Facebook than PT mainly due to the fact the forums are no longer as active as they used to be. Facebook is easier to access plus I usually don't have the time to be on here anymore like I used to. I rarely use my laptop and rely heavily on my iPhone. And it's not very easy to sit here on an iPhone and type out a really long post as such. I like that the site has a mobile version now but maybe you could integrate an app or tapatalk or something into the forum? That might bring some people back. I am always on Facebook though and that is the easiest way to reach me. I just don't have time anymore to come on here and post pictures of all the critters like I used to and take all that time uploading photos when no one even really notices.

I miss PT the way we used to be though and I miss a lot of my old friends. I have been a member going on 9 years now, but it's just not the same. I do check in every once in a while though, just not as often as I should.

[lonnykitten]

I forgot my user name. Now that you emailed me I will be on more. I love this site.

[Miss Z]

Karen,

I post a lot less than I used to, but that is mostly due to time. I had a lot more free time to browse threads as a teenager, and now work and student life takes priority. I do pop in now and then, although I find I need a good deal of time to read threads thoroughly and to post an appropriate reply. That is less the case with Facebook, on which I can simply scroll through my newsfeed, see what catches my eye, and a short response or even just a 'like' will suffice. The laziness of the modern era!

Saying that, I don't think PT should become like Facebook, or necessarily have it integrated into the system. It is, of course, far better to read threads to catch up on how everyone and their pets are doing than a fleeting glance at a status. Occasionally, I will see a post on Facebook and follow it up to PT, so in that way, Facebook acts like a flag for a thread that may be of interest to me! I think the PT pages are doing that very well as it stands.

The boards are a lot quieter than they used to be, which makes the place less lively. I used to enjoy the mix of characters we had here, even those I had my spats with, funnily enough. However, I think I may have been one of those that drifted away in the first instance, and came back to notice a lot of people were missing, rather than noticing the gradual drifting away of members. I wonder if that may explain why it seems fewer people frequent the boards - most of us are still around, but keep missing each other.

[Litterati]

Hi Karen,

I responded to your PM e-mail, but for the record want to publicly thank you for taking the time to source out members past and present for their input. Maintaining a site takes a lot of effort and you and Paul deserve a big kudos!

[Karen]

Hi Karen,

I responded to your PM e-mail, but for the record want to publicly thank you for taking the time to source out members past and present for their input. Maintaining a site takes a lot of effort and you and Paul deserve a big kudos!

Thanks everyone for your comments! We do value each and every member, and are glad you are with us! We know, in our hearts, that Pet People really are "a breed apart" and the best kind of people that exist!

[momoffuzzyfaces]

I don't belong to facebook myself but I do have a twitter account. I just started following you. I did not even relize you were on twitter. Probably won't help much because I only have 4 followers and one of them is already a Pet Talk member and another is a penguin.

I've not been on Pet Talk much lately mostly because of computer issues. Having trouble getting used to my new computer. I got a lap top. While I do love that I can move it from room to room that keyboard is hard for me to type on. Plus the smaller screen is harder on my eyes.

I am just so tired and depressed lately I've not been interested in much. But I'm still here!!!

[cheche]

Like others, I kind of drifted away because I no longer had the time to sort through all the new posts and I had also gone back to work. I mostly followed the cats, as they are my first love.

I do use FB and log in most every day, but mainly to check on statuses of a couple of people and sometimes to chat. I don't think I would use it to access PT and I say this because I'm a member of another forum on FB that I've not accessed for over a year. I did join pinterest, but don't follow that either.

I watch "My Cat from Hell" when ever I see it's on. I've gotten so many useful tips from following Jackson Galaxy. I've tried talking to other PT members with some of the issues I've had, but don't seem to get much for a response. I know that having and experiencing our different pets gives us knowledge that sometimes helps others and I love sharing and learning. That never gets old.

As to how to draw people back to PT, I'm not sure. I felt so honored to have had Simba as COTD and I wanted to return the feeling I got to others. Now that I'm back at home more, I'm hoping to spend a bit more time visiting.

[momcat]

Hi Karen,
As you already know, I absolutely detest computers and all technology because my experience has been extremely negative since this crap was first shoved down our throats. Pet Talk is the only computer site I access simply because this is the ONLY positive computer experience I've ever had and it's the only site that can be trusted. This is the only place I don't have to worry about hacking, identity theft and all the other problems technology has inflicted on us with no end of damage to our quality of life in sight from the idiots that come up with this nonsense.
I do not and will not get mixed up with Facebook, Twitter or any other "social media". They're all nothing more than trouble waiting to happen. My fear is that incorporating them into your wonderful site will do much more harm than good.
I've made some wonderful friends here, learned a lot about cats, and love seeing the unusual pets on Pet of the Day. We adopted our Amigo from a PT friend. You have so much to offer to all animal lovers.
Pet Talk is perfect just as it is and I'd hate to see any changes. As for increasing participation, maybe it would help to advertise at places like PetCo, Pet Smart and other large pet supply businesses. I often see different websites on receipts, a possibility. There may also be other ways of making PT known to more pet people, worth looking into. I know there would be cost involved, I'm more than willing to contribute if it will keep FB and the like away. It doesn't belong here.

[jackiesdaisy]

Karen I'm not good in computer stuff unless it's very easy, I was coming in to Pet Talk but not sure sometimes how to post and did try to post on the Dog of the Day, you do a really wonderful job, my problem is that I needed something very basic and easy and that's why I'm on facebook. You both have done a wonderful job all of these years, I'm just barely computer compatible, but if its simple I'm in.
Jackie

[Asiel]

I've answered your mail about PT Karen but from reading all of the above posts I see most members feel much like I do about Facebook... those sites are the places that I will never join myself. I thought I might just be a bit silly about the way I feel but it seems others don't care for Facebook either.
I won't even join for my kids . I'm sure that's when the members started to dwindle....if it is maybe you could all just come back to the original PT?