I originally joined Reddit in 2011, and in the beginning it was dominated by cat content. It was rare to see a post about dogs. Sometime in the mid 20-teens this phenomenon reversed. It’s always been a “pet theory” of mine that this reversal was due to Reddit becoming mainstream, and that it’s initial nerdy/techie user base preferred cats to dogs.
I think my theory is further supported by Lemmy. It’s pretty clear that most of Lemmy’s user base are techies, and currently it’s dominated by cat content. Just a shower thought. May be wrong.
NOTE: I love dogs and cats. This post isn’t arguing favoritism.
Are you saying that nerds don’t like going out, and can get too buried in their hobbies, so having a pet you need to walk several times a day is a no-go?
If you aren’t, well I am!
I love walking and I do it every day, but I don’t want to have to do it.
I got a cat at 18 for the same reason I don’t want kids lmao. I like kids. I also like dogs. But I like leaving the house for more than 8 hours more and for that you need a cat.
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We must set ourselves apart from reddit. Birb content only.
Birb tax! This is my handsome muscovy duck Antonio. He’s great
Antonio is an excellent name for such a dapper duck.
Thank you!
I was physically harassed by the last muscovy I encountered…
Like aggressively, or did it just wany food? My boy harasses me when he wants snacks lol
Aggression is in the eye of the beholder.
He wanted food, I wanted food, and he wasn’t getting my food. He could have taken the rejection a little more politely.
I see lol. They are dramatic birds. I gave mine the last of their food one day(I picked up more later that evening) and Antonio got into the empty bag and pouted. I removed him from the bag and he grabbed it and threw it and looked grumpy. Mind you, he had a bowl full of food. He just likes eating from a bag. When I brought the new bag of feed home, he got super in my face and was hella impatient when I was opening it.
Hah! Antonio sounds great.
He is lol. He’s by far my fave out of my 10 ducks. He’s also the oldest. He turned 4 this year but still acts like I’m his mama lol.
Why do you have a pet dinosaur?
Just for fun
Birbs are at the very core of the internet. They are the stuff of the deep web.
I’m picturing some sort of high tech containment field. Perhaps somewhere deep in a sub-basement laboratory at the Gore Naval Research Base in Antarctica. At the center, held aloft by powerful magnets, are two birds rapidly spinning, emitting an eerie blue glow. A series of tubes, illuminated from within by this mysterious ether, branch off in all directions. This is the core.
It’s the Ornitho-Accellerator
Ah yes… 👀
Hi there! Looks like you linked to a Lemmy community using an URL instead of its name, which doesn’t work well for people on different instances. Try fixing it like this: !birdsarentreal@lemmy.world
That gives me an error the URL did not. Idk what I’m doing I guess.
Yes, I see this is a bot, but not sure if other users have this issue too?
Using Voyager (Wefwef), the second link opened for me directly on my Lemmy instance. So I could directly comment / subscribe etc.
Liftoff handled both URLs and gives an option to view it on my home instance.
That’s handy! Voyager/Wefwef doesn’t have that yet.
Yeah, the “fix” the bot provided is just text for me in Memmy. But the URL I posted works perfect. I imagine from the web this is more useful.
That includes birds with arms, yeah?
Arms are not mandatory but they are encouraged.
Kbin agrees. Robin is our unofficial mascot (I think)
I’m struggling to figure out how much of this is photoshop
It’s a birb eating an apple.
Ik it’s probably real but something about it feels pretty unnatural. Maybe the background’s contrast against the birb, the smallness of the claws, the apple looking really smooth, the birb looking really smooth…
I think the apple looks so evenly lit it seems unreal, but a bird holding a piece of fruit is such an easy situation to create I feel like it’d be harder to Photoshop that than it would be to just give a bird a piece of fruit for real.
I have noticed a similar correlation, at different places and in different times. The internet loves cats. Humankind loves dogs and cats. You switch from one to the other at some point of growth.
No offence to dogs, but cats are perfection.
Biased view from owner of 2 asshole cats.
The cats own you. You are their CatGPT. Thats why tech people are surrounded by cats.
This is true. When I meow back to cats I base my next meow on probability read out from the cat’s reaction
So internet people = cats
Humane people = dogs*
*(and cats)
What does that make the cat lady with 10 cats?
A sysadmin.
10 internet.
Pure toxoplasmosis
Finally proof that the ancient Egyptians had access to technology beyond their reach.
Introverts are more likely to be online, and also more likely to have a cat than a dog.
I have learned to love both equally after being raised mostly a cat person, meeting MANY dogs as a lucky thing through work… and now I find myself on Lemmy.
I have come full circle.
Where do you work and are they hiring
So what you’re saying is when dog content out numbers cat content, its time to look for the next new platform?
I just don’t share pictures of my dogs because it would be easy to identify me (to anyone who knows me or lives around me) based on their unique appearances and names.
Dog and social security card tax!!
You all don’t even know what you’re missing out on! I have the most beautiful little ladies. Alas.
You can just share the picture but mirror it horizontally then nobody will be able to tell it’s you. #forehead
Also just regular tax or else you’ll go to jail
Still waiting for the Bunny Communities to lift off.
Not enough people understand buns. It’s like being the BSD user in a room full of Linux and Windows users lol.
That is so spot on! I’ve not met so many people that have had bunnies but I basically grew up with them.
I read that as BSDM and was wondering what bondage and sadomasochism had to do with bunnies…
(But, hey, who am I to judge?!)
/r/snakes was surprisingly active given our fairly niche position in the greater pet community.
bunnies rise up
Bun bun.
IDK, I am a pretty big tech nerd and still prefer dogs but that doesn’t mean you’re wrong: There’ll always be outliers.
As a techie that doesn’t like cats (people seem blinded by their cuteness even when every other personality trait is negative, they destroy things, only look out for themselves, don’t care about you whatsoever, will refuse to be trained and not learn boundaries, etc) this saddens me.
I much prefer dog content personally. Where can I go for the latest hot dog content on this platform? 🔥
While I think your opinion is whack, I respect it. I’m glad there are dog people out there even if I think they are crazy.
You think dog people are crazy?? I assure you, there is nothing crazy about the chewed up baseboards and furniture in my house from when my dog was a puppy. Nothing crazy in the slightest about having a dirty floor 24/7 because she brings mud and dirt in from her walks. I feel prefectly sane when she wakes me up barking in the middle of the night because she hears noises outside. Calm and collected when she chews up fresh sticks all over the bed.
You’re the crazy one, my friend!!
It’s the barking that gets me mostly. I don’t want a pet who greets me (and everything) at the top of their lungs every time
That’s one of my favourite things about my pup 😂 It’s funny how people disagree on these things.
am i a joke to you :O
All the negative traits you list are my favorite things about cats! I love their independence and fuck you attitude.
Yeah same. I’ve lived most of my life surrounded by cats, and I thought they were enough until I moved in with my partner+dog, and I realised I was wrong. Now I’m 100% a dog person, though I still enjoy a cat’s company, but it’s just not the same.
I think this may apply to some cats, but certainly not all. I used to think like you, but I’ve met plenty of cats that clearly have imprinted on their owners.
I think dogs have a greater capacity for this bonding, especially on average. But dogs understand humans/our body language better than any other species, including other great apes.
We co-evolved with wolves/dogs for thousands of years before cats started being domesticated. We started domesticating wolves when we were nomadic hunter-gatherers. It wasn’t until we had our agricultural revolution and started settling and farming that we started domestication of other species.
It’s believed we domesticated farm animals like goats before cats as well. It is believed that our domestication of cats began once we started having food/grain storage, and pests like mice started showing up. Cats started to hang around the food storage eating the pests, which is what is believed to lead to the domestication of cats.
I love animals, including cats, but I’m so allergic to cats that my throat will close up… I’m so glad that I don’t have that allergy for dogs, because I definitely prefer them over cats. There’s simply no other animal that can interact with us on the level of dogs. We’ve coevolved with them for at least 20 - 30k years!
Not all cats are heartless assholes, but cats inherently lack the deep level of communication and bonding that is possible with dogs. I really value that level of connection that cannot be had from any other species. A cat doesn’t watch a person’s eyes glance away, and then proceed to look where our eyes are pointing. Hardly any other great apes species are even capable of that level of understanding of human body language.
If that is what you’re going for, dogs cannot be beaten. But that’s not the only factor for people to have an animal. There are definitely times I wish my dogs were more independent/less needy when I’m busy… Cats are a great pet for someone who isn’t able to be present enough for a dog. Some people don’t want a pet like a dog that wants to be with them all the time. They’d rather have a pet that is content doing it’s own thing.
You can compare and contrast dogs and cats all day, but at the end of the day it’s all just a matter of personal preference.
Edit: Some sources to back my claims. Dog domestication. Cat domestication. Canine comprehension of body language.
Comments like this demonstrate how people just don’t understand cats.
If you don’t bond with your cat that is a YOU problem. You are doing something very wrong.
Dogs can be just as destructive if not more destructive than cats.
I think ultimately you lack experience and have never had your own cat.
I think it’s great that you love dogs so much, but every single person I’ve ever met who thinks dogs are flat out better than cats are people who always lack experience and don’t actually know any better because they are ignorant and won’t accept anything else.
I don’t think he’s saying they’re better, he’s saying it’s a preference thing and he prefers dogs because you can bond more with them.
Cats are way easier to take care of because they don’t need as much attention, which makes them better for a lot of people
people seem blinded by their cuteness even when every other personality trait is negative
Yeah, that’s not just a preference.
That’s not my comment, genius…️
I thought you cat people were supposed to be the tech guys! How come so many of you can’t even keep track of who you’re arguing with here!?
It’s because their minds are riddled with toxoplasma gondii, obviously
Did you respond to the right user?..
I have had cats in my household when I was a kid before my allergies presented. I’ve been around cats a lot (wearing a mask) as many of my family has them.
Maybe you should refrain from pre-judging me and jumping to conclusions. I’ve cited the claims I’ve made above. Whether you want to believe it or not, dogs are capable of understanding human body language better than cats, or any other species on our planet. I value that deep level level of connection, which definitively exists.
Cats are like a mirror. If you love cats, they will give you love back. If you respect them, they will respect your boundaries. If you’re strict with them and want them to respect you just for being their owner, they will look at you like wtf and won’t care about you at all. If you mistreat them once, they’ll remember.
I agree with everything you’re saying. I responded to a user hating on cats telling them not all cats are like that. But because I shared scientific information about dogs/domestication, people are responding to me like I’m the user who was hating on cats.
I love cats. I am just severely allergic to them and admittedly have a preference for dogs. I also acknowledge science and anthropology. Apparently some people are just biased and only capable of emotional reasoning in the face of information they don’t like. I was not saying dogs are an objectively better pet; that is down to subjective individual preference. But dogs having a greater ability to read human body language than cats is supported by overwhelming scientific evidence. I personally value that in particular. It doesn’t make them the best pet for everyone tho.
I just find that subject fascinating and wanted to share. Crazy cat people can stop acting like I hate cats now… Talk about blinded by emotions…
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For sure… but I think the percentage of extremely toxic users (e.g., racist trolls) on Lemmy pales in comparison to reddit. But this sort of defensive emotional arguing transcends social media and is so pervasive in our societies now…
People have grown conditioned to segregating themselves into echo-chamers thru various social media over the last 2 decades. But I see that in the real world now (in the US) in work settings, families, fucking beer brands…
We have grown to insulate ourselves from opinions and information we don’t like. We’re conditioned to believe that disagreement in conversation is a bad thing and unhealthy. We have grown to both struggle to differentiate opinion from fact, and to internalize our opinions/beliefs so deeply ingrained into our personality, that we interpret any challenges to our beliefs as a personal attack.
This makes dissenting on the most trivial issues immediately devolve into emotional reasoning, personal attacks, and just toxic behavior… Our society needs to deprogram the dysfunctional thinking instilled in us largely thru social media. Our levels of empathy in our societies have deteriorated in conjunction with the growth of social media into what it is today.
I don’t know how we change this when it’s so pervasive throughout our world… I guess acknowledging the problem exists is a start…
“i literallly meow just for you”
- catbut cats inherently lack the deep level of communication and bonding that is possible with dogs
inherently
nah
Yeah you definitely know better than the cumulative research of scientists around the world…
Glad you cleared that up!
scientists
yeah those would like to distance themselves from the nonsense YOU just made up rn. Citing non-related articles wont help you defend YOUR point.
All you’re telling me is that you need to work on your reading comprehension ability…
I’m not going to perform a literature review for you. If you don’t trust my words or links, look into it for yourself. Just try not to engage in confirmation bias with your search queries.
I’m not going to perform a literature review for you.
Well unlucky for you i will. And i conclude that you dont need more than celsius room temperature IQ to figure out that its a rather unscientific idea to make an totalitarian point about cats based on an article for dogs that does not mention cats once. If you wanna discuss your point then im open to do so, but dont try to hide behind other peoples work.
Deceiving approaches like this are the reason people dont trust science anymore.
Where can I go for the latest hot dog content
oh boy you in for a rickroll level misdirection
only look out for themselves, don’t care about you whatsoever, will refuse to be trained and not learn boundaries It is incredibly difficult (like more difficult than training an attack dog to be a lap dog), but I have seen it. Cat that obeyed and loved.
What we need is more rabbits. Make it so.
More rodents in general, where are the rats and Cavies. I want Capybaras and hamsters.
Fun fact: Rabbits/hares aren’t actually rodents. They’re one of two kinds of lagamorphs, the other being pikas.
Pikas rock!
and guinea pigs
ferrets too!
I have a bunch of rats living under my shed. Does that count?
Very interesting observation. Alternative theory: cat vs dog prevalence corresponds with users who live in rentals vs owned homes (homeowners or people living with their parents, etc). Cats are often the only animals allowed in rentals. It’s often not until you buy your own home are you “allowed” to have dogs.
But I think this still follows from what you suggest. People living in rentals are often younger (and more attentive to tech and culture generally, so more likely to be early adopters) and/or often live in big cities which obviously have higher percentages of tech workers than rural areas. When you say reddit went mainstream, that could mean more older people joined (more likely to be homeowners) as well as their kids (living at home with the family dog).
In my very scientific survey of me, I rented for a long time and had cats, and loved cat posts. One day I got old and bought a house and a year later got a dog. Now I like dog posts more.
I’ll go now, I’ve given this far too much thought.
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Lol fair enough! I’ve never been at a place that allowed dogs, only 1 cat (with extra deposit). I’ve seen some places that allow dogs under 30-40lbs, but I’m not interested in those kinds of “dogs”.
Why do you put “dogs” in quotes? Do you not think they’re actual dogs? Why would you gatekeep a species?
Wait, didn’t you hear? You must be part of the lucky 10,000! Scientists discovered last year that dogs under 35ish pounds are actually classified as birds!
Does that mean puppies are actually chicks and that puppies can evolve from bird to dog in a single life? Does this mean that small dogs, like other birds, aren’t real?
The implications of this are endless, thanks for the insight!
I know it’s hard to believe, but bare with me. Puppies are actually lizards. It’s a weight thing. They don’t have enough gravitational pull to keep their own internal heat, so they need to absorb it from the sun. You’re probably wondering why they’re okay indoors, but that’s because the light molecules reach them through the air.
Source: I read a LOT of /r/shittyaskscience back in my day and I remember how this works trust me.
Secondary Source: Scientists.
Tertiary Source: When I say scientists I actually mean the Bible.
Quaternary Source: When I say the Bible, I really mean the voices in my head.
You understand that young people who joined digg, then migrated to Reddit are quite older today, right?
Fair, but with this housing market higher than average number of millennials are still renting.
We need a grand unified pet theory.
That’s a really interesting thought. I’m in a STEM field so definitely understand the importance of correlation VS causation.
I just think it’s a fascinating phenomenon. I remember Old Reddit was like 100% cats, and at some point a switch flipped. Lemmy reminds me of old Reddit in more ways than one, including this one.
I posted a theory that dog owners are out and about doing things with their dogs and have less time and fewer hands free to make and post photos but I like yours better.
There may be an American bias here, where owning your home has more chance to mean having a garden compared to EU, which is more adapted for a dog.
r/BlueHeelers, r/RedHeelers & r/ACD were my copium for not having enough space for one and I miss it a lot
I really want a heeler but I’m not subjecting those guys to a small apartment when they needs acres.
I love my doggo. She is adorable and loving.
Wife had two cats. Combining the animal families is… still a work in progress. Kitties are growing to like me more though, one actively seeks me for cuddles now!
Most of us with dogs are lazy to post their pics I think. Also my dogs hate cameras. They know when I’m about to take a picture so all my pictures of them suck.
Most of my pics are of them sleeping like this one
Who wouldn’t want this?Guinea pigs owners, rise up!
But not too high.
hehe
Eww, Twitter.
Unfortunately when I searched the meme in question the options that popped up were Twitter or Reddit, and I decided to go for the lesser evil.
