Caucus Critters: Brainstorming!
Last week's introduction of Caucus Critters was a roaring success, I would say!
Roaring?
Fans were quite enthused.
Critter diaries! High five!
Now we want to give them a particularly c99 signature look, rather than copy too closely that other place. So it's brainstorming time!
You wanna do something Gnu? Go Wilde!
Please note that there won't be any reference to TOP or anyone exclusively over there in critter diaries after today. But please don't call these MY diaries. They are OUR diaries!
It's a Group Effort! (Would this make a good Logo?)
So question: Caucus Critters: The name was suggested to me and I like it, but I'm not wedded to it. Other suggestions?
Related question: Over there, they have:
Moondai Furbutts
Toosdai Critters
Woozle Wednesday/Wednesday Woozles
Fursdai Furries
Freidai Furbutts
Caturdai Pootie Diary
#sekritarmy (Sunday)
Personally, I think we should have our own, at least slightly different titles, and I prefer a dae ending because it reminds me of sundaes, which are one of the necessary food groups!
Did you say Sundae??
And I adore alliteration. So here are some possibilities I came up with:
Sundae Sekrit Staff
Moondae Moppets
Toosdae Trouble
Wensdae Woozles (really, if any day should not be spelled "properly"...)
Thursdae Things
Freidae Furries
Caturdae Kitties
Over there, they use PWB Peeps as the group, as we could use Caucus Critters. But they don't use Peeps to title the diaries, using the above instead. They start with one of those, then add to it the topic of the day. So we can get into the pattern of, for example:
Caucus Critters: Moondae Moppets: Brainstorming!
or
Caucus Critters: Brainstorming!
or
Moondae Moppets: Brainstorming!
I do think a common title, be it for every critter diary or for each day's critter diary, is needed to help them stand out, so that fans can find them easily with a quick scan down the right-hand column.
So that's my two cents, which can be completely outvoted if you prefer. Please comment: How can we best do diary titles?
Ooh! Ooh! I Know!
Next: "Teh Rulez":
I used Tricia's rules last week, which made sense to me. But then again, we have no flags for enforcing rules! Should they be "The Recommendations"? Over there, as I posted last week, the rulez are:
No trolling the diary.
•If you hate pootie diaries, leave now. No harm, no foul.
•Share any and all pootie/woozle photos or issues that you would like.
•When it comes to problems, we may just have someone with experience who can help.
•Whatever happens in the outer blog STAYS in the outer blog. This is a place to relax and play; please treat it accordingly.
•There is no such thing as stealing a photo around here, but if you would like a pic from the threads, please ask the poster. He/she may have a copyright to those pics. Many thanks!
•It should not need to be said, but ANY/ALL photos that imply or encourage human violence against an animal will be considered verboten! Whether it is “comedic” or not, it will be frowned upon and considered out of bounds.
Don't make us come over there and Enforce teh rulez!
Do we need these rulez? Do we need to change these rulez? If so, how? If not, will we still be a safe space as the site numbers grow? Your thoughts?
Next issue: LOLspeak. LOLspeak did not originate at TOP, per Wikipedia, but most likely on 4chan, and then popularized on I Can Haz Cheezburger? As far as I know, there are no standard spellings, the point is that pooties can't spell. Personally, I think the silliness is part of having a safe space that is a stress break from the grim politics, so intend to continue, although I will try not to do so much that it becomes unreadable for the uninitiated. But I figure other diarists can do as much or as little as they want. Will that work?
Today's Cheezburger entry from their site:
You Pawmise?
Next: Politics. Critter diaries over there have been apolitical. But it has been pointed out that there are lots of issues where politics and critters intersect and we may want to talk about them. OTOH, such are often sad. On another hand, we often discuss sad things in comments anyway to offer each other support, such as when a member loses a pet. Then again, politics is likely to create more controversy than condolences do. So. Keep the politics out or bring them on in?
I think a good compromise might be to allow any critter diarist who wants to discuss issues to do so, and then readers would learn that this particular diarist does more serious, less silly critter diaries. On that day, commenters could have full-blown discussions of the tragedies of animals and politics. But then I would say leave such topics out of the comments on other days because people will not be forewarned. But again, I am willing to be outvoted. Will this work?
A mild example: To be Vegan or not to be Vegan?
Next: Timing. This time works for me, but had the site not been down yesterday I would have created this diary then and scheduled it for this afternoon. Hopefully that will not happen again.
We haz your new Blog Security, Sir!
Usually I will be able to create diaries on Sunday and then schedule them for whenever, rather than taking most of Monday to create them for Monday late afternoon. So I am extremely flexible on when my diaries post. Of course I really want lots of exposure for the critter diaries. OTOH, last week there was participation for more than 24 hours, so a little lag Monday around suppertime didn't seem to hurt it any. So what do you think the best times to post are? What do you think the best day of the week is, until we have more participants? I want the time to be whatever most people would think would be the most convenient for future diarists to sign up and post their own critter diaries, so that if we have enough people, critter diaries will show up every day at the same time of day.
Waitin for the Critter Diary! Is it the right day and time yet?
Everyone please consider: I can only take time to post once a week. Please join me in being a critter diarist!! It would be the awesum if we had a critter diary every day! If they can do that in the midst of melodrama at TOP, surely we can manage it here? Please let me know if you'd like to be a diarist, be it regular or irregular. If you want the Monday slot you can do that too, I can move to a different day. If you want to be irregular, you can of course post whenever you see fit on diary days not yet volunteered for, and/or you can sign up for certain days, and/or you can provide diaries and ideas as backup for days my brain fails to work, and/or please feel free to email me! What do we call it here anyway, Caucmail? Help the little fella out. You know you want to:
I can write Diarees!
And finally, any other issues that should be raised? Now is your chance to make the critter diaries everything you want them to be!
Let's Make Something Beautiful Together!
UPDATE 8:30 PM: I pulled a muscle in my back this morning so I am getting increasingly uncomfortable sitting here. I think I'm going to have to go lie down. Please carry on without me! I will definitely keep track of comments starting again Toosdae morning and will uprate everybody and respond.
Meanwhile, if you need any last-minute Father's Day gifts, please check in with Snoopydawg and Michelewln
Thank you everyone! See you tomorrow!
Comments
I could use tech assistance
to upload pix of my adorable (but very bitey) pup and other wildlife encounters. Is it best to go through a vetted source like Photobucket? I need someone to walk.me.through.steps.
ec, baby possums are cute, adults (at night) look like creatures from Jurassic Park. Weather nice today? Nice here, cooldown for a few days like highs in the 50's (10 for you C folk) and lows lower and I have tender plants deployed outside and no smokepots or other methods other than sheets to keep them warm. But I live hillside, cooler air drains down, my first frost date is late for the area.
I got FB about Lyoki yesterday, still guessing some are PS'd. But my registered Cairn pup is coyote colored and mews like a cat so I could imagine cats developing coyote behaviors too.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
RL, I have been clicking on the pic photo to the left of the
tools bar, then clicking on browse, then waiting for the list of photos to appear along with the headings above the list that allow me to upload, then clicking on upload, then clicking on browse, then picking the photo from my hard drive, then clicking on OK, then clicking on upload, then clicking on "send to editor".
I'm hoping someone will be able to tell us an easier way??
Please check out Pet Vet Help, consider joining us to help pets, and follow me @ElenaCarlena on Twitter! Thank you.
Here's How You Use PhotoBucket/Post Images on c99%
If you have an account on PhotoBucket and have your pics saved on them, it's easy to post pics on c99%. If not, create a free account. I have long had a paid account on PB as I (literally) have tens of thousands of editorial cartoons and other images saved on it.
1. Open the saved pic in Photobucket.
2. Click the 3rd icon ('Insert/Edit Image') above your draft comment in c99%. A dialog box pops up.
3. In the 'Image URL,' copy and paste the 'Direct' code of your image in Photobucket. It is on the top right of the PB page.
4. In the 'Width and Height' column enter, say, 400 and 300. When you 'Preview' your comment, you can change width and height.
5. In the 'Position' column, choose 'Left' or 'Right.' You can also center pic by clicking the 'C' icon.
6. 'Preview' pic and post.
7. You are done.
A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma
TY, JnH
I have bookmarked this for explicit directions. First, off into .pdf land to try to send a contract to Canada. Later.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Please feel free to Caucmail me at any time!
I'll help with tech thingies as much as I can.
Please check out Pet Vet Help, consider joining us to help pets, and follow me @ElenaCarlena on Twitter! Thank you.
"I refuse to join any club..." - Groucho Marx
A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma
Oh, JnH, you would be perfect!
You could do an all-cartoon version if you wanted.
Please check out Pet Vet Help, consider joining us to help pets, and follow me @ElenaCarlena on Twitter! Thank you.
Groucho
"I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member" I think that's right.
“Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say.” - Edward Snowden 2016
LOL..eom
Community Lynx! Do we need a place near the top of the
Comments for Community Lynx?
Please check out Pet Vet Help, consider joining us to help pets, and follow me @ElenaCarlena on Twitter! Thank you.
Politics
I like the idea of limiting political comments to diaries devoted to animal/political issues. I'm very interested in the subject but it can be very dark and often contentious. So, yeah, limit is my vote, although as a very new person here not sure what that is worth.
I love the titles including dae, and Caucus Critters is lovely.
The rules look reasonable as well.
And opossums are adorable, we had one who stopped often in the winter and we fed him/or her, on our back deck. Our cat would lie down with the possum when it was sunny. Sadly after he brought his mate to share a few meals they both disappeared. I like to imagine them snug and safe somewhere. I hope that's the case.
Thank you! All opinions are appreciated and will be taken into
account. Seniority is not necessary. There was quite a bit of agreement, so that helps. .
I love the opossums too! We had one that found its way into the house at one point, came and went at will, I have no idea where it came from or where it went. But it got along quite well with my pets too, after an initial hissing phase that set "the rules". We'll say your possums are safe, yes. Maybe they found someone with better food!
Please check out Pet Vet Help, consider joining us to help pets, and follow me @ElenaCarlena on Twitter! Thank you.
I likez Toosdae Trouble
Trouble. It saved my life.
ALF/ELF/EF! forever. No compromise in defense of Mother Earth.
You have totally scrambled my mind...
who knew critters were so complicated. I like Caucus Critters too. Whatever else you create to go with it is up to you. I'm still trying to figure out what you said. Here is my two cents on what I do understand:
I love your pictures. For a logo, I like the green one. Easy to pick out, and I like this: Let's Make Something Beautiful Together!
Rules? We don't need no stinken rules. Definitely not theirs. I think we start without rules and add them as the need arises.
I cannot volunteer to do one. The last thing anyone has ever accused me of being is "cute". I will definitely comment in our critter essays, but I could never put one together that didn't sound like it came from an operations manual. I will practice after you guys develop a model or two. If I can pull it off, I will offer my services.
Thank you EC for leading this. I think the critter essays are so "cute". They make me go awwww.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Ha, DKM! I didn't mean to scramble your mind. I thought it might
be a touch long (EDIT: "It" referring to the diary, not your mind!)
But then I wanted to get all the logistics fully worked out so that we can proceed forward, know what we're doing, and just have fun. So take your time and come back often. All comments will be fully considered until I get ready for next week!
I don't know, I think you're pretty cute. Kinda like this:
So I know you can do it. Please do play with some ideas and feel free to take an irregular day and/or Caucmail me if any questions.
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This is really cool
Can't contribute much other than comments and lots of moral support - I will definitely be cheering you on from the sidelines
“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” -Voltaire
Thank you! Well, you have your own daily diaries to keep you
busy, so I can understand that. I hope these are a good stress break for everybody!
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Originally the photo threads
were meant to be a group thing - not all about me
I am working on ways of making them more democratic.
“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” -Voltaire
There are worse punishments than flags, trust us
hint
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
It's the Men in Black
That's what I call my two black pooties (with tiny white bow ties). One of the outside ferals I feed is a full brother who got away before I could tame him, also black with a white bow tie. Since the inside boys are Zeno and Zoroaster, the outside boy is Brother Z.
There's not a mean bone in any of their bodies. Zeno runs away from even the slightest unexpected noise to hide under the bed, and Zoro is completely Zen about everything.
Black is Beautiful!
littlevoice, who loves all her pooties equally, but had to stand up for her Z boys
Ooh, those are just gorgeous!
I bet they know how worshipped they are, too. Ha, I like Men in Black, that's a good name for them! And you're right, we can do better than getting flaggy.
Please check out Pet Vet Help, consider joining us to help pets, and follow me @ElenaCarlena on Twitter! Thank you.
Hey, EC! A lot to chew on, hope we can take
a little time to digest everything you've brought up.
As for the 'title,' I tend to like Caucus Critters, since it bears the blog name, and 'critters' is inclusive--pet/domestic and wild animal. To me, as a lover of all animal life, that's important.
OTOH, whatever makes the masses happy, is fine with me.
Gotta think about the logo, a bit. I would like one that has a dog and cat in it--like the one you suggested. OTOH, the tropical jungle scene is quite striking, with the gorgeous vibrant colors.
(Full disclosure: I'm a 'Tiel Mom, and get into all birds--so I may be biased.)
I'll get back to you on my vote on that question.
Regarding serious dog topics--I sorta thought about cross-posting a couple of essays about K-9 Officers killed in the line of duty.
The subject matter would clearly be very sad, but the intent is to pay tribute to, or honor them. And none of the photos would show them injured (at the vet's office), although I have a couple photos of them with their officers/handlers after they were wounded.
If that sounds dicey, let me know--I could run the photos by you, first, for approval.
Gotta go feed our critters their last feeding for today, and/or put out their morning feeding.
Thanks for all the hard work you've done on this, EC. It shows!
I'll catch Everyone again, later, after mulling over everything a bit.
Mollie
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."--Lao Tzu
Visit Us At Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD)
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Hey there, Mollie! Yes, please feel free to take some time.
I won't make any final decisions until I start writing this coming Monday's diary, which I will probably write on Sunday. Also, if someone has a strong opinion about something after that point, they should still feel free to share, of course, and we can discuss.
I'd like another opinion about the K-9 story. Wounded to the point that they didn't make it? I don't know about that. I think I'd be okay with a wounded dog who survived (as long as it wasn't too graphic) or a hero dog pictured back when s/he was in good health. Hopefully we'll have more visitors who will weigh in (we had quite a few after the day of the diary/essay last week). It is an important subject.
Thank you for your feedback! Keep it coming! I think it will wind up being an awesome series.
Please check out Pet Vet Help, consider joining us to help pets, and follow me @ElenaCarlena on Twitter! Thank you.
The Caucus
Critters is purrfect (what the hey - start right). The rules should, imo, stay as they are. Inappropriate comments and/or behavior should be registered or in some manner removed and that person's participation be refused.
The dae's are great. Just got to add to the dictionary. Keep the politics OUT. I get more than enough from the front page and once in a while the orange rind has something worth looking at.
Otherwise, keep up the good work.
“Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say.” - Edward Snowden 2016
Whatever the group decides is fine by me, but...
The rules are written for the hostile environment in which the diary exists at LOF. That environment is not here and not welcomed here. In all essays, we are expected to be civil and to respect our different voices and opinions. Here is my suggestion for operating guidelines.
•This is a place to relax and play; please have fun.
•Share any and all pootie/woozle photos or issues that you would like.
•When it comes to problems, we may just have someone with experience who can help.
•There is no such thing as stealing a photo around here, but if you would like a pic from the threads, please ask the poster. He/she may have a copyright to those pics. Many thanks!
•We love critters so any/all photos that imply or encourage human violence against an animal, comedic or not, will be frowned upon and considered out of bounds.
I do have a question regarding the last rule. I understand the intent, but I have questions about interpretation and application. Someone mentioned including politics regarding animal rights. Is that allowed? If someone wants to post something from PETA depicting violence against animals is that against the rules? Are political posts and pictures regarding animal cruelty, say the dog meat trade in viet nam, allowed? What about fundraising to feed or treat abused animals? Those are some pretty sad stories and videos. I think the rule speaks to intent, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions and never forget that one mans treasure is another man's trash talk.
I am not a regular of the animal diaries at daily kos. Once in awhile when the place was more awful than I could stand, I would pop in get out of the mean and ugly that consumes that blog. I always found it to be "cute", fun and playful. If that is what people want it to be, I would suggest no politics of any kind including those meant to help animals. Anything serious, sad, or rescue/reform minded should be its own essay in the blog queue. What if rescue involves culling a herd of horses or deer?
Something to think about.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
I'm hoping people can stop by and help us clarify what we want
in the rules/recommendations. Good point that we're more civil around here. OTOH, if we're going to get into animal politics, we need to figure out how far to go.
I would think stories that make us sad or angry are OK in Critters essays with a warning in the title; but still, photos to do the same, not. Because photos pack a more emotional punch. I would like to read and comment on such stories, but only want to see animals healthy or healing. I can imagine the rest, unfortunately. But a graphic photo makes it worse. And we're writing as an animal-loving group, so it won't take a graphic photo to convince our readers.
Also, where possible, I would like to see stories that propose a solution, even if it's just a petition to sign. Yes, I'm aware petitions are of limited value, but they're a start. (We did get that psychopathic Texas vet fired.) Bigger and better solutions are of course welcome.
What do others think?
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No political jokes in the animal world?
oh, no...
can you believe elenacarlena said that?
Don't tell me I can't be wise and cute at the same time ...
That would be my dream date...sigh so much elegance in the dance...
That's my neighbor. He always pokes his nose into something significant and can't wait to tell me all about it. Sometimes I just like to push him under water and hold him down there. But then he always comes back up. Whattado about him? He is really my neighbor, not only him, but his whole clan, in our lake nearby. They eat all the trees' bark. Beware of your neighbors. They look cute, but wait til they show their teeth.
Now I am getting serious. This fellow is my father's family mascot animal. We are all in the same boat with him. Little prickly hedgehogs. Outside prickly, inside softly, sitting on a hedge not knowing which side to be on and imagining how it would be to be a real hog. I have a stuffed one inherited from my father and its sitting on a little pedestal on the wall.
But, no, we aren't
hogshawks, because we never write diaries.Can I have the little one up there? I want to save him from writing diaries. It will kill him. Poor thingy. May be, if I treat him well, he could write diaries for me. May be even some that are not hogwash. Sigh. Ah, no, I it would break my heart. This little fellow would only reach all the exclamation and all the question marks on the keyboard and then he would be told by serious people that he should behave here and not shout... The people world is just so cruel sometimes.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Photos
For the life of me I can't do photos!
Asahiyama Zoo critters in summer
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTwYbimrHxk]
“Last known 9/11 search dog dies”
http://www.bradenton.com/news/nation-world/national/article82189622.html
Love Caucus Critters. And the day suggestions.
I believe here the writing is called an essay or post. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Also, don't use PhotoBucket. But am on SmugMug, Can we use that? Or direct from Lightroom, an Adobe product.
If anyone can help with how to load photos either directly from our own computer (Mac Mini, Chrome, Light Room for photo managing and SmugMug for photo sharing - usually a slideshow) I would be grateful. Never have been good at this.
There are critter-related issues: like the bee die offs, feral cats, industrial farming. Should they be somewhere else? We are seeing the beauty of raising beef, chickens, and other on grass and open yards, pastures and fields. The happiest critters around. It can be done. I'm seeing it.
Thanks for doing this so much.
You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again you did not know. ~ William Wiberforce
If you can donate, please! POP Money is available for bank-to-bank transfers. Email JtC to make a monthly donation.
I Caucmailed the admins. They will stop by at some point to
provide technical guidance. My method (I upload from my hard drive) is upthread, and JnH was kind enough to post his Photobucket method up there. But hopefully we'll receive guidance on the easiest ways. These are photo-heavy diaries/articles/blogs... essays/posts, for sure!
I think there's enough interest in animal issues that we can post animal politics under the Caucus Critters umbrella. Just mention that it is such in the title, so any who want to avoid animal politics can do so.
Gratuitous pootie pic, just because I can:
Please check out Pet Vet Help, consider joining us to help pets, and follow me @ElenaCarlena on Twitter! Thank you.
There is instructions...
in the FAQs, "How To Embed an Image". It is instructions for using the "Image" ink below the editor, but the instructions also work for the Image icon above the editor.
Thank you, JtC! That's what I've been doing. It seemed
like a large number of steps to take, so I thought there might be an easier way. Next question: Is there a way to organize the images so that I can find those I've uploaded previously for reuse? Or a search function if I see someone else's photo I'd like to reuse? Also, when I cut and pasted from TOP for the first pootie diary, the photos didn't transfer and I uploaded them separately. Is there an easier way, or does cut and paste not work now that they have a WYSIWYG format where you can't see the address the photos come from?
Did you see your new Blog Security I gave you in this diary? I think you need one (or more) of those sheep soldiers!
Please check out Pet Vet Help, consider joining us to help pets, and follow me @ElenaCarlena on Twitter! Thank you.
To copy/paste...
use this Firefox addon, it will copy all images, text, HTML, youtubes, etc. You don't even need to go to the editor, just highlight the whole diary, text and all, and then paste it into the editor here. It might take a while to get used to it, but it's a miracle of a little program.
I like 'caucus critters' too
and the jungle pic. Don't like rulez much. Do we really need them? Everyone here seems to be tolerant and willing to agree to disagree without the nastyness we've known in other places. But what do I know!? I can obey rulez if I have to.
I can contribute some,but not on a regular basis since I don't have much of a internet connection.I'm paying Netzero for access right now. It sucksI tell ya! Only when I'm taking care of my grandson,Ibn, (at my son's house) do I have time to work ,unless Ibn has other ideas.
" El pueblo unido jamás será vencido. The people united will never be defeated "