Dogster

Catster/Dogster
URL	http://dogster.com
Status	Community is Closing
Archiving status	In progress...
Archiving type	Unknown
Project source	https://github.com/ArchiveTeam/dogster-grab
Project tracker	http://tracker.archiveteam.org/dogster/
IRC channel	#rawdogster (on hackint)

Dogster.com and Catster.com are social networks for pets.

Users of the site create a pet page which is a customizable web page for which they can give treats or purchase virtual items using what are called zealies. This virtual currency can be given to the users after engaging in some of the website activities, using PayPal or by purchasing a Plus subscription.

Dogster won the 2005 Webby category for best community site. It was acquired by SAY Media in 2011. On January 16, 2014, SAY Media declared that all the social networking and forums would be removed from Dogster and Catster.

Shut down

Community Areas of Dogster and Catster to Close March 3

It is with a heavy heart that we announce that we will be closing the Community areas of Dogster and Catster in March.

John Vars | Jan 16th 2014

Dear Dogsters,

Today we are announcing some changes at Dogster and Catster. While the Dogster and Catster sites will continue to exist as daily magazines that serve the worldwide community of dog and cat families, it is with a heavy heart that we announce that we will be closing the Community areas of the sites effective March 3. This means that members of the Dogster Community will no longer be able to see Pet Profiles, Forums, Groups, Answers, Local Listings, Photo Galleries, Games, Quizzes, Adoption, Dog of the Day, Diary Central, the Gift store, and the Community homepage past that date.

Dear Catsters,

Today we are announcing some changes at Catster and Dogster. While the Catster and Dogster sites will continue to exist as daily magazines that serve the worldwide community of dog and cat families, it is with a heavy heart that we announce that we will be closing the Community areas of the sites effective March 3. This means that members of the Catster Community will no longer be able to see Pet Profiles, Forums, Groups, Answers, Local Listings, Photo Galleries, Games, Quizzes, Adoption, Cat of the Day, Diary Central, the Gift store, and the Community homepage past that date.

Site structure

• sitemap not useful. also it's malformed because its gzip within gzip.
• profile ids are unique within the dogster/catster universe. eg: http://www.dogster.com/dogs/562072 = http://www.catster.com/cats/562072
  • ids appear incremental : http://www.catster.com/cats/1213153
• gallery is javascript powered, but it seems like its the same photos to the profiles
• videos are flash: eg http://www.dogster.com/video/982893/harley_play_with_trixie_at_the_dog_park
  • <embed name="player" src="http://content.fliqz.com/components/5d248aaf154d4fa7aae86ad370a85e69.swf" width="450" height="392" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" flashvars="file=a50121b89a3c36cabd705dc08eaad843&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer">
  • http://content.fliqz.com/components/5d248aaf154d4fa7aae86ad370a85e69.swf
    • 301 Moved Permanently http://applications.fliqz.com/5d248aaf154d4fa7aae86ad370a85e69.swf
    • 302 Found http://cdn9.fliqz.com/809bb886820e4ad1bb4f43daec94fb1c.swf?a=5d248aaf154d4fa7aae86ad370a85e69
  • loads another flash scene: http://cdn9.fliqz.com/1ba0d486276041f88031aabc5a058009.swf
  • video: http://cdn9.fliqz.com/9ee4cc098f42424a83fc1cfb996761b4.flv
  • use https://code.google.com/p/get-flash-videos

chris@kaiju13:~/Desktop$ get_flash_videos http://www.dogster.com/video/982893/harley_play_with_trixie_at_the_dog_park
Downloading http://www.dogster.com/video/982893/harley_play_with_trixie_at_the_dog_park
Using method 'fliqz' for http://content.fliqz.com/components/5d248aaf154d4fa7aae86ad370a85e69.swf
Downloading http://cdn9.fliqz.com/9ee4cc098f42424a83fc1cfb996761b4.flv...
Harley_play_with_Trixie_at_the_dog_park.flv: 100% (5624.05 / 5624.05 KiB)
Done. Saved 5759032 bytes to Harley_play_with_Trixie_at_the_dog_park.flv

• forums appear to be separate: http://www.catster.com/forums/Cat_Health vs http://www.dogster.com/forums/Cat_Health

How can I help?

You can help us by downloading the Warrior. It's working when it says its running the Dogster and Catster project.

Alternatively, you can run the scripts manually.

If you have questions or problems, ask us on IRC.

Things to do

Currently, the warrior scripts are grabbing only the profiles. The forums and remaining community sections still need to be downloaded.

External links

• "Dogster" at Wikipedia
• "The Death of Dogster"