Dear Pet Talk people, old and new

[Karen]

Hi Karen,

I will try to get back to posting on here daily as I really do love this crazy, animal loving community

I think all websites have taken a big hit since Facebook
and Twitter; dogster has been all but dissolved. But...your site is still
active and well loved by your loyal followers. I will try to brainstorm for
some new ideas...

And we love you!!!! And your crew!

[TopCat3]

Hi Karen and Paul and all POTD folks,

Thank you for your email Karen. I think it is easier and less "isolated" in feel and more friendly to reply on this post rather than privately in an email.
I cannot remember when I was last on here. Even when I stopped posting I used to dash in and check the POTD DOTD and COTD pics for a while until life sort of took over.
Life has been busy for me and I have been through many changes. I turned 60 (aaarrghh!) two years ago and as a 60th birthday present to myself I moved out of my apartment in the city (Sydney) to the lower Blue Mountains (right where all the bushfires were last year) bought and renovated a house with a garden all of my own ! and am sort of semi-retired and planning a retirement and have reconnected with a gentleman from my past (found him on FB lol) and ... who knows... so life has certainly been busy.

I first found this site through a book I got out of my local library on how to use the internet and what sites to go to for particular interests, it was in there. That was waaayyy back in 2005 when I got my first laptop and got connected to the internet.
In 2008 my blue point Siamese became paralysed and I did post on here about it and a long fight with a petfood company and Australian Quarantine ensued which took up a lot of my time and it was then that one of the other cat owners whose cat also became paralysed suggested we set up a group about it on Facebook to raise awareness about the issue and I looked after the FB page. That's how I got on to Facebook and got lured away from here. As someone else said previously on this thread, it is quicker to check into FB, scroll thru quickly and 'Like" or comment briefly on posts. This I think must have killed a lot of chat forums as people just set up group pages on FB now and it's a convenient one-stop-shop to stay in touch with friends and family far and wide, My sister and niece for example, in UK. Chat forums now, after FB, feel "clunky" and unwieldy and (sorry!) old-fashioned.

The other thing is that since I got an iPad mini about 18months ago, I use the Facebook App and my Email App and my iMessenger App and that's about all. I find it much more convenient than the laptop and Apps are great. If Pet of the Day had an App I would definitely make it something else to check into each day on my iPad and if it was the kind of App that was able to be posted on as easily as Facebook is I would definitely use it. I too am getting annoyed with a lot of things FB does and its advertising and pushing stuff onto your pages (suggested friends, posts you may like, repeating posts out of order just because someone comments on them etc etc and the privacy issues that keep being eroded) I only stay on there to stay in touch with my sister and niece and a few political activist type pages/alternative news, and there is a really lovely small closed secret group for Siamese cat lovers who post pics and anecdotes which is where I spend most of my time. However now I know there is a POTD FB page I will hit LIKE so it comes up on my newsfeed.

I hope that helps. In no way am I critical of the POTD website I think it is a lovely warm fuzzy, it is just that one cannot keep up with everything and as I say, FB as a one-stop-shop seems to be where everyone is these days whether they like it or not. I have no interest whatsoever in Twitter I hate it.

Looking at todays bunny rabbit POTD and the cat and dog reminds me how much I used to look forward to checking in each night and having that warm fuzzy (lots of pricklies on FB sometimes). It all just seems such a long time ago now. Nine years!

Best wishes to everyone on here and their pets.

TopCat3
xxx

[Catty1]

Hi Karen.

I love it here and have no ideas of my own to share. One idea that someone else mentioned - here or on FB - was to make the forums less "cluttered" or something like that.

To that end - perhaps "Health and Behaviour" could be one heading, as often the two are connected; in Cat, "Cat Games" could be mentioned under General, maybe; Breeds, not sure on that one.

These are just off the top of my head - maybe PT Forum needs no simplifying. Facebook may have spoiled some people with their 'one-click-instant-info' system.

I ain't going anywhere!

[Freckles]

I've read where some people report they only look at cat topics, for example.
Not me. I start with "Today's Posts" and read down the list. I usually open all of them. And I check back to PT two or three times daily.

[Randi]

Freckles, I too start with Today's Posts and just scroll down - so much easier. You can always skip what doesn't interest you.

[Karen]

TopCat, glad you stopped in, we do understand how busy life can get sometimes. We are glad to hear from you, and hope you will keep checking in now that you remember we are here!

[TopCat3]

TopCat, glad you stopped in, we do understand how busy life can get sometimes. We are glad to hear from you, and hope you will keep checking in now that you remember we are here!

You're welcome, nice to be back. Xxx