Would it help if I focused on the hedgehog?

January 31, 2013 8:22 PM

Was there an alternate way I could have formatted this post? The main link is to the promo website that will eventually have the featured cute puppy video but doesn't yet, but there are two other links (to an existing cute puppy video on youtube, as well as an associated hedgehog-interest story). Is the problem that the link to the promo site was the only one above the fold, and the main video of interest is not actually up yet? Should I just wait until after Sunday and link to the video post-Puppy Bowl? Should I have focused on the three-legged hedgehog overcoming her disability? Or is the collection as a whole just not really FPP-worthy? Thanks in advance for suggestions and constructive criticism.
posted by eviemath to Etiquette/Policy at 8:22 PM (46 comments total)

Pff, everybody knows cats are memetic snarky cuteness while puppies represent consumerism.
posted by jeffburdges at 8:28 PM on January 31

This one was really borderline, to me. I felt it was juuust on the "try again" side of the line because of the combo of: main link is to a short promo video for a tv event everyone knows will happen in a few days, plus that event is not happening now. It wasn't a terrible post, just a bit eh.

A similar post made during the event might have stood, a similar post with a little more in it might have stood, and this post itself might have stood under a different mod or time of day.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:29 PM on January 31

I feel that the antipuppy moderation on this site has taken an unpleasant turn and I suspect that this is all the shadowy work of Big Cat.
posted by elizardbits at 8:51 PM on January 31 [17 favorites]

Yeah, do you think if it was Kitteh Bowl it would have come down?
posted by bongo_x at 8:54 PM on January 31

this feline hegemony cannot stand
posted by elizardbits at 8:54 PM on January 31

smash the feliarchy
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 8:56 PM on January 31 [4 favorites]

Yeah, do you think if it was Kitteh Bowl it would have come down?

Don't you know it's Kitteh Bottle?
posted by axiom at 8:56 PM on January 31

I still never understand why there are posts about every Big Blockbuster movie. It always seems like advertising to me for something you couldn’t possibly not know about. I didn’t know about Puppy Bowl though.
posted by bongo_x at 8:57 PM on January 31 [2 favorites]

Don't you know it's Kitteh Bottle?

How do they run plays like that?
posted by bongo_x at 8:58 PM on January 31

"I didn’t know about Puppy Bowl though."

You're living in a cave, right?
posted by HuronBob at 8:58 PM on January 31

You're living in a cave, right?

That was going to be my excuse, yes. I don’t use Facebook if that matters.
posted by bongo_x at 9:00 PM on January 31 [1 favorite]

Three legged hedgehog cheerleaders and hamster blimp pilots?!?! This is seriously the first time I've regretted canceling cable last summer.
posted by artychoke at 9:02 PM on January 31 [1 favorite]

come over to my house, artychoke... in fact, I'll host the Official Midwest Metafilter Puppybowl Meetup. I have one puppy and four cats, four cases of wine, three six packs of beer, enough wood for the woodstove, and a wife who already thinks I'm crazy...
posted by HuronBob at 9:04 PM on January 31 [3 favorites]

Hedgehog: a giant dong with a well manicured bush surrounding it. Per urbandictionary.com or a weird dream I had.
posted by lordaych at 9:33 PM on January 31 [1 favorite]

So now that we've established this, imagine the title being something a clueless inconsiderate boyfriend yells to his now ex-girlfriend while she leaves his apartment for much more substantive reasons. And, scene.
posted by lordaych at 9:36 PM on January 31 [7 favorites]

Speaking personally, I go to Metafilter to read interesting articles and engage in discussion, not look at videos and pictures of 'cute' animals. If I wanted to do that, they're available elsewhere on the Internet. Much like porn.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 9:59 PM on January 31

I still never understand why there are posts about every Big Blockbuster movie.

I've never heard of this 'Big Blockbuster' series, is it any good?
posted by jacalata at 10:12 PM on January 31

I still never understand why there are posts about every Big Blockbuster movie. It always seems like advertising to me for something you couldn’t possibly not know about. I didn’t know about Puppy Bowl though.

Because people like to discuss things, and Metafilter is a good thing to do that. Even when I was away from here I popped into the Promethus, Avengers and James Bond threads because they had great discussion.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 10:13 PM on January 31

Charlemagne In Sweatpants: "Speaking personally, I go to Metafilter to read interesting articles and engage in discussion, not look at videos and pictures of 'cute' animals. If I wanted to do that, they're available elsewhere on the Internet. Much like porn."

I have a wide variety of interests which includes cute animals, especially when they're placed in scanners. Even though I have no idea how these people got their cats wedged into their scanners, or why.
posted by empyrean at 10:16 PM on January 31 [3 favorites]

The 57 Cutest Things Found Behind The Scenes At The Puppy Bowl

The Puppy Bowl airs at 3pm ET on Sunday and continues for the rest of the day and night!

posted by ob1quixote at 10:27 PM on January 31 [1 favorite]

Much as I love puppies, the thought of the various bodily functions that will be performed on that green artificial turf makes me queasy.
posted by KokuRyu at 10:31 PM on January 31

If I played in the NFL instead of pads I would wear a special jumpsuit lined with pockets filled with puppies.
posted by Burhanistan at 10:45 PM on January 31 [3 favorites]

The main link is to the promo website that will eventually have the featured cute puppy video but doesn't yet,

When I make posts, I try to link to things that are available, not upcoming things.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 12:59 AM on February 1

Speaking personally, I go to Metafilter to read interesting articles and engage in discussion, not look at videos and pictures of 'cute' animals. If I wanted to do that, they're available elsewhere on the Internet.

To be entirely fair, interesting articles and discussion is, likewise, available elsewhere on the internet - and I say that as someone how likes those things myself.
posted by smoke at 1:39 AM on February 1

Yeah, we don't have an anti-cute-animals bias, but we usually do have a bit of a standard bias against event or announcement posts when the actual main item of interest/discussion is something that will air later.

Providing good link(s) that people can engage with and discuss, and also adding on info about something upcoming is often okay, but basically the post should be able to stand alone without that, since it's not actually available for viewing.

In this case, there is some other interesting stuff out there... for example, the Washington Post has a five-page article on the behind-the-scenes, etc. of producing the Puppy Bowl (and even a Super Bowl-style Puppy Bowl IX Portraits gallery), and there is a bunch of other stuff, including, apparently, a "locker room" puppy cam that's already live (?) – though it's off-air right now, maybe just because it's nighttime in the U.S., and the hedgehog cheerleaders – so I don't think there's any problem doing a repost with cool links

I myself am psyched, since it starts early enough that I will be able to watch it for a couple of hours before bed time. woof!
posted by taz (staff) at 3:48 AM on February 1 [2 favorites]

Speaking personally, I go to Metafilter to read interesting articles and engage in discussion, not look at videos and pictures of 'cute' animals.

I know, right? It's ridiculous that MeFi has installed that malware on our computers that auto-opens every 'cute' animal link so we are forced to read them. (I have a variant of that malware that force-opens every movie and Doctor Who thread. Ugh.)
posted by kimberussell at 4:21 AM on February 1

I'll try to get a reformatted post up today!
posted by eviemath at 5:43 AM on February 1

Cool. A little paws between posting efforts fur a bit o' grooming never hurts.
posted by taz (staff) at 5:50 AM on February 1 [6 favorites]

That pun is hurting me.
posted by Burhanistan at 6:12 AM on February 1

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!
posted by taz (staff) at 6:23 AM on February 1 [6 favorites]

Wait, I meant catriarchy.
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 7:48 AM on February 1

I've never heard of this 'Big Blockbuster' series, is it any good?

No.
posted by bongo_x at 8:03 AM on February 1

The new post will have more hedgehog, and also: ice cream! But I have to wait some more hours still. Stay tuned:P
posted by eviemath at 8:41 AM on February 1 [1 favorite]

I had never heard of Puppy Bowl.
But I am now pitching Puppy Rollerball to Fox.
James Caan will narrate if we can sign him, Gary Graham if we can't.
posted by Mezentian at 8:41 AM on February 1

Charlemagne In Sweatpants: "Speaking personally, I go to Metafilter to read interesting articles and engage in discussion, not look at videos and pictures of 'cute' animals. If I wanted to do that, they're available elsewhere on the Internet. Much like porn."

Speaking personally, we don't all hate animals and the outdoors.
posted by winna at 9:29 AM on February 1

I also come to mefi to see rad animals.
posted by Greg Nog at 9:38 AM on February 1

When I made a post to share something new about something that people who'd click the link may already know about, I just said so in the post. E.g., "You probably already know about Puppy Bowl. Have you heard the neat story about this year's hedgehog addition?"
posted by juliplease at 9:47 AM on February 1

I flagged it "Other" because my dog is cuter than all those Puppy Bowl dogs and cats (way cuter, by about an infinity despite having grown out of puppydom several years ago, which, well imagine a dozen infinities cuter, any more cuter and it'd be like that miraculously beautiful daughter in Los Cien Anos who God recalls back to heaven where she may reside among her peers, the angels), cuter than that monstrous salmonella vector (that's the hedgehog, btw, ick, salmonella?), and especially cuter than any hairball please-just-let-me-do-your-bidding Corgis (two infinities cuter, at MINIMUM), and I couldn't bear the thought of you all cooing and ooh-aah SOOO CUTE! OMG! over obviously inferior "cute."

And no I'm not sharing. That's my cute.

OK, but just a peek.
posted by notyou at 11:48 AM on February 1

notyou, I hate to tell you this, it's cute and all, but that might be notdog.

THIS is what a dog looks like.
posted by HuronBob at 12:33 PM on February 1 [1 favorite]

THIS is what a dog looks like.

So fluffy! So cuddlesome!

OK, but just a peek.

Such a precious tiny! I've never seen an animal look so much like a stuffed toy.
posted by winna at 12:39 PM on February 1

Oh geez.

That wolf half breed will one day smother you in its wolf fur then devour you with its wolf teeth, HuronBob. That's not cute.

But in terms of dog qua dog, I agree, yours is exemplary.
posted by notyou at 1:05 PM on February 1

I've told my wife that it will, at some point, kill me when I'm sleeping... of course, when they look like this as puppies, you don't think ahead to the eventual bloodbath.
posted by HuronBob at 1:22 PM on February 1

the acceptable categories of dog are, based on descending size

Wolf
Dog
Doggie
Dogette
Doglet
posted by The Whelk at 7:54 PM on February 1

New version posted. Thanks for suggestions and links everyone!
posted by eviemath at 8:43 PM on February 1 [1 favorite]

HuronBob, white carpet + dog? Aiyiyi. You're a braver housekeeper than I! Do you wash her paws every time she comes in from outside? And her underside on those nice puddlesplashy wet days?

But truly, even if we didn't have a dog, white carpet is beyond my abilities. I had a pure white tile bathroom that would stay spotless for no more than 5 seconds at a time. Hardly even exaggerating.
posted by taz (staff) at 3:43 AM on February 2

I'm glad to see the new thread. I'm stuck at work at the moment, and can at least get a bit of cute until I get home later and get to catch one of the replays...
posted by pupdog at 12:01 PM on February 3