Help us out with Canine Kisses.com
By Gina Spadafori
July 29, 2007
To the right is link to CanineKisses.com. It’s a page we put together for fun, and with the idea of maybe getting a book out of the pictures (with the owners’ permission to use the images, of course!)
But … it just hasn’t taken off the way we hoped it would. We’d like to know why.
Check out the site, and tell us what works, what doesn’t what you’d like to see, and so on.
I have a meeting with Black Dog (our fearless Web guys) tomorrow to talk over some ideas, and I’d like to have as many as possible
Leave your suggestions in the comments, or drop us a line.
Thanks!
i think it needs a gallery so you can scroll through all the images, not just the top rated ones :) and perhaps a monthly contest to draw interest? you know the ones where every one emails their groups to get them to vote for their dog. lol!~
Comment by straybaby — July 29, 2007 @ 11:48 am
Have you considered that not everyone who uses your site may know how to post/download pictures?
Comment by elizabeth — July 29, 2007 @ 12:32 pm
(Bias alert: Cat person. Have some salt.)
I dunno. It’s cute. I’m not really into rating the picture’s cuteness, though. I mean, they’re all cute, and I don’t really like the competitive aspect. I don’t want to rate them, I just want to look at them.
I also think that the competitive aspect is kind of the only identity the site has. It’s not really, you know, “OMG LOOK HOW CUTE MY DOG IS!!!!!” Which, you know. Maybe it should be. Maybe you could have a “Click for more pictures of Heather!” link under pictures, or something. I don’t know. You don’t want to be dogster on account of dogster already existing, but maybe something else to draw us into caring about the particular dog in the picture.
It seems to me that there’s a fairly static overall level of cute rather than peaks and valleys that would break things up.
It also feels a little artificial. Instead of “OMG SEND ME YOUR CUTE DOG PICTURES I LOVE THEM!!!” we have links to our sponsors. This is clearly not a grassroots site, you know?
I really think it’s identity. Why do I WANT to rate this dog kiss? Why submit my own photo? What exactly does this site DO that I can’t get from slapping my hypothetical picture of Fido on my own site?
Sorry. I hope that helps.
Comment by Katherine — July 29, 2007 @ 12:38 pm
I think it needs a gallery also, people may think the picture shown is the only one. And, I agree with straybaby - rescue groups, etc. need to find the site it would get them to compete with one another. Perhaps a samll prize to the rescue or shelter that wins; and if it’s an individual they could donate their prize to a shelter or rescue of their choice.
Katie
Comment by Katie — July 29, 2007 @ 12:39 pm
Maybe saying on the site that you’re collecting for a book would help. I do think people would want their dog’s picture to be in a book.
Comment by Katherine — July 29, 2007 @ 12:41 pm
Ya, I agree that you need something to motivate people. Either a contest or that the person’s dog could be in a book.
The biggest reason I am not thrilled with the site is I AM A CAT PERSON. I realize there are dog lovers and cat lovers and dog and cat lovers. however. And I was very thrilled when Itchmo posted by Batman on the website.
I guess I am not much help, really.
Comment by Evelyn — July 29, 2007 @ 3:04 pm
Maybe it is me, but I would not know how to get the picture on the website.
Itchmo made it very easy for me to send in my Batman’s picture with a cute comment (he always wears his mask because he is BATMAN).
Comment by Evelyn — July 29, 2007 @ 3:39 pm
Hi,I’ve been to the site a few times and I’m always frustrated that I can’t look at all the pictures. I think it would be great to be able to see all the pictures kinda like the daily puppy site: http://dailypuppy.com/
Comment by Ana — July 29, 2007 @ 4:32 pm
Anyone want some sheet rock or yellow highway paint in their medications?
VERY disturbing report be Chris Hansen. He’s undercover buying fake medication from China.
No surprise — U.S. suckers are their biggest customers!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13137839/
Comment by Kat — July 29, 2007 @ 5:40 pm
Thanks, Kat, for recommending that great report about fake medication from China.
Wow, it is scary. My husband takes a lot of drugs but I hope he never is given a fake drug.
He does not order from Canada, does not do mail-order, but he still is at risk. Unbelievable!
Comment by Evelyn — July 29, 2007 @ 6:21 pm
Well - it is confusing for one thing. It says rate this picture but when you click on it - you get a different picture and no way to find the one you wanted to rate.
Comment by cheryl — July 29, 2007 @ 6:26 pm
When I rated the pictures, some repeatedly came up. I never saw many of the top rated but some of the lesser rated were displayed again and again. I spent about 5 minutes rating the pictures.
Also, I agreee on the gallery idea.
Comment by Sylvia Teague — July 30, 2007 @ 6:23 am
just my personal feelings/use of the site… i thought it was kind of a cute idea - went to the site - can’t really remember it now - seemed a little useless???
One thought - if you didn’t post the pic here but rather “click here to see todays dog kiss” with an eye catching banner/box thingie… I might be intrigued enough to check it out daily. I doubt I would rate though - wouldn’t see the point… I do like Itchmo’s caption contest - but - I haven’t actually added one :))
Don’t know if this helps, and I have my suspicions as to how typical I am - so this is just one tiny perspective…
(I sure do like Pet Connection though!! Thanks for all you guys do!)
D
Comment by deej — July 30, 2007 @ 7:46 am
I’ve directed some people to the canine kisses website, but most of them said they couldn’t figure out how to vote. I like the gallery idea - I’d love to be able to see thumbnails of all of the photos and then click on the ones I really want to see.
If you’re interested in making it into a book, you might talk to the people who did the Dogs 24/7 book (www.dogs24-7.com) and get some tips from them. They got over 50,000 photo submissions and put 500 in the book (my Simba was one of them).
Comment by Debra — July 30, 2007 @ 8:29 am
I love the canine kisses site! The photos are high professional quality, and I think voting is very easy. I hope you can put the book together-that would be great. But the widget looks like it could be too big and bulky for my site, and may not even fit (what are the pixel dimensions??) and it would take over my own content.
Comment by Molly — July 31, 2007 @ 7:49 am
————————————————————————————————————————
July 31, 2007
Editorial
A Factory Farm Near You
Once upon a time, only a decade or so, it wasn’t hard to know where factory hog farms were because they were nearly all in North Carolina. But since those days, the practice of crowding together huge concentrations of animals — hogs, poultry, dairy cows, beef cattle — in the interests of supposed efficiency has spread around the country.
Wherever it appears, factory farming has two notable effects. It threatens the environment, because of huge concentrations of animal manure and lax regulation. And it threatens local political control. Residents who want a say over whether and where factory farms, whose stench can be overwhelming, can be built find their voices drowned out by the industry’s cash and lobbying clout.
These farms are spreading so rapidly that it’s been hard to get an accurate, up-to-date picture of where they all are. A research and advocacy group called Food and Water Watch has released an interactive map — http://www.factoryfarmmap.org — that allows users to track the proliferation of factory farms by state and county, number of farms, type of operation and even number of animals. The only thing that would make this map more useful — and we hope it will be an ongoing project — is the ability to track changes over time, showing how rapid and pervasive the growth of factory farming has been.
It’s important to read this map not as a static record of farm sites or a mere inventory of animals. It is really a map of overwhelming change and conflict. It raises two of the fundamental questions facing American agriculture. Do we pursue the logic of industrialism to its limits in a biological landscape? And how badly will doing so harm the landscape, the people who live in it and the democracy with which they govern themselves?
Comment by Elaine — July 31, 2007 @ 10:35 am
Provide a link to the article, please, Elaine?
Comment by Gina Spadafori — July 31, 2007 @ 10:37 am
Here it is, Gina.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07.....ref=slogin
Comment by Elaine — July 31, 2007 @ 10:43 am
Recalled food products still showing up on store shelves.
http://www.ellinghuysen.com:80.....4942.shtml
Comment by Elaine — July 31, 2007 @ 10:57 am
limiting the site to canine kisses is … well … limiting.
It is pretty difficult to get a picture of a dog kiss (unless you pose it by putting a little peanut butter on the kissee’s nose). People could have thousands of pictures of their dog, and not one of him/her kissing.
And if you do happen to get a dog kissing picture, chances are it is not as cute as many of the other dog pictures you have.
Comment by Mike — July 31, 2007 @ 2:19 pm
I like the Kiss photos - so darling. I don’t have a true kiss photo and the one that came the closest to a “kiss” the format was wrong so was rejected.
I wanted to scroll through all the photos and maybe read a caption - would be nice - but what I did see were just so great.
Comment by Jamie — July 31, 2007 @ 3:28 pm
OT- this is off topic but i just found out that Va. Beach SPCA has a Katrina cat. It’s black and white. They showed it on TV.
Comment by Trudy Jackson — July 31, 2007 @ 5:45 pm
I watched the show on fake medication from China. what an eye opener. Very scarey.
They even said the USA- Were very Easy.
Comment by Trudy Jackson — July 31, 2007 @ 6:19 pm