Wordy Wednesday Public Service Announcement: Catster's sold out to Nutro!

Attn:  All Catster/Dogster members
Re:  Catster's new policy regarding advertisers


Catster HQ has been kenneling (temporarily taking offline) member pages that post links to recalls, update others on kenneling of friends' pages, inform others of poison food (by brand name, i.e. Nutro, or in general) that advertises on Catster/Dogster, and/or post testimonials of adverse reactions to poison food that is advertised on Catster/Dogster.

By the new community guidelines, you cannot post anything that could turn someone else away from an advertiser.  See the post that Dogster founder/Top Dog/Top Cat Ted R. wrote here.  Notice that all comments will be moderated first?  They're scared, and they have a right to be!

Catster Hazel Lucy, of the famous Tranquility Blankets and the Purr List, had her diary "cleaned up" (aka censored) by HQ for listing recalls and telling others plainly about Nutro's poison food.  She has also been put on warning that she may be kenneled if she keeps this up.

Other Catsters and a few Dogsters saw this and complained to HQ about it.  Over the weekend, many names on Catster were appended with "who loves Hazel Lucy".  Cats wrote diary entries about her, and some wrote about their experiences with poison food of various brands (mostly recalled).  One cat wrote about her doggie brother who ate Nutro after winning it in a Dogster-sponsored contest (free Nutro for a year).

Over the past day and a half, the diaries that were anti-poison food were either kenneled or put on notice, and many of the cats who had changed their names were either kenneled or warned as well.  Some of the cats who had commented on censored diaries were also kenneled for commenting and agreeing with what was posted.

Catster/Dogster has prohibited anyone from commenting there on what is going on, but many have been making the new policy known other places.  There is a group on Facebook for Concerned Catsters/Dogsters.  Some of us have been posting on our non-Catster blogs.  Many people have been using their FB status updates to keep others apprised of the situation as well.

Some Catsters/Dogsters are leaving because of this.  Some have chosen to stay but not participate as much.  Some have chosen to stay and defy the new rules.  So far, only a few e-mails have been answered, of the many sent to Ted R. about the whole situation.  None of the answers are good; most state that since advertisers pay the bills, they must be respected at all costs, and anyone who speaks out against them is defying the terms of service and will be kicked off the site.

User-friendly?  Community?  Definitely not!

Thankful that the protest on Catster is mostly done!

Wow!  It was a lot of work protesting the Nutro ads that were on the Vet Blog and are on Dogster, but we are setting down our picket signs for good now!  Go here if you hadn't known about the protest before this.

Here are some of the questions we asked, and Ted R.'s answers:

1.  Why was there silence for a while on this issue?
     We didn't know what exactly you (Dogster & Catster members) wanted of us, so it took us a while to figure that out.  Also, not many people wrote to me personally, originally.
2.  When are the ads coming down?
     The Nutro ads are coming off the Vet Blog at the end of June, and the contract for the rest of Dogster is up for them at the end of the year.
3.  Will there be healthier pet food ads coming soon?
     We are currently in talks with an excellent pet food company that uses human-grade ingredients.
4.  Some of us have written a list of nationally recognized pet food & product companies.  Would you please take them into consideration for future ads?
     I will personally make sure our sales staff reviews them and cross-references them with companies that advertise online.

All in all, we're pleased with how things went!  :)  Some pets are going to continue protesting through the end of the year, until the Nutro ads are off the whole Dogster/Catster site.  We're not, though.  We're going to get back to the fun part of being Catster members!  >^..^<

Say No to Nutro Ads on Catster!

Cats all over Catster, dogs on Dogster and purrents on Facebook are protesting Catster.com and Dogster.com's decision to serve advertisements for Nutro pet food on the Vet Blog.  Why?  Because Nutro has been involved in many major recalls, both involuntary and voluntary, during the last few years.  Some pets who have pages on the site have died from eating tainted Nutro food which was later recalled!  Still, the head of Dogster.com, Ted Rheingold, made the decision to take Nutro's money!

Ted R. and co. have issued a few statements, but no apologies and no promises.  The only explanation they have given was that Dogster.com users were in favor of the ads and that the company didn't think Catster.com users would read the Vet Blog.  We say that's a load of poop!  Nutro food killed both cats AND dogs!  Most Dogsters are against the Nutro ads, so why is Ted R. saying the exact opposite?

If you have a page on Catster or Dogster and would like to participate in the strike, tag a photo "no to nutro".  There are also threads in both the Plus forums and the regular forums on both Catster.com and Dogster.com.  We don't know how long the threads will continue to be open, as the Catster police are out in force deleting posts and diary entries which expose the ad campaign.  Protesters are determined to be heard, and are reposting two or three for every one that gets erased.  There is also a protest group on Catster/Dogster and one on Facebook.