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By jazzdrive3 on
PitBulls.org is a community and information site centered around the American Pit Bull Terrier, usually referred to as Pit Bulls.
Pit Bulls get a lot of coverage in the media, usually negative, because there is rampant fear of the breed. They are also often the target of Breed Specific Legislation (BSL). PitBulls.org aims to share another perspective, those of passionate Pit Bull owners. The main mission of the site is to convey that Pit Bulls make great family pets, to get the word out that a dog is only a reflection how it is treated and raised, and to provide a central hub where owners can connect and share their pictures and stories.
The site was conceived and developed by PropDrop Web Development and Marketing. PropDrop not only does client work, but also performs web niche analysis and develops in-house web properties based on that research in order to gain market share in a wide variety of areas. PitBulls.org is one of these properties. It also doesn't hurt that we are dog lovers and own a Pit Bull/Lab mix named Bauer, so we are our own audience in some sense.
PropDrop uses Drupal exclusively for its in-house projects, because we can create a community and information site with some advanced features in under 2 weeks, with everything optimized for search with little effort. It also gives us the opportunity to expand a site's feature set in the future without interfering with current functionality, taking a site in directions that might not be possible with other content management systems.
The Problem
Pit Bull owners are a passionate bunch, and there are many websites that cater to them and have information about the breed. But these sites are still stuck in the nineties. Some are just forums, and most are just static sites. There are a couple of sites that offer great information, but absolutely no user interactivity, built for one-and-done searchers and not for building relationships. A large portion also seem to be stuck in the realm of Yahoo Groups. Our goal was to build a site to match the passion of the demographic.
Showing Off
Dog owners love to show off pictures of their companions. They're like children or grandchildren. Easy ways to share pictures was a must for the site. We did this two ways:
One was the dog bio. Using filefield, imagefield, and imagecache, we let users upload a mini-gallery and give a quick description of their dog. The most recent 6 bios are featured on the front page.
Originally, we used a size limit per picture upload of 1 MB and limited them to 5 pictures. This turned out to be a usability disaster.
Most people just want to upload straight from their digital camera, and most of these pictures are more than 1 MB. We can't exactly expect users to open up Photoshop and downsize their image before putting it on the site.
So we used the imagefield setting "Maximum File Size per Node" instead of limiting the size per image. We maxed it out at 5MB. This way, users will be able to upload 2 to 3 images with no problems, which seems to be the sweet spot. If they want one big, quality image, they can do that to. But size restrictions have not been a point of complaint since changing this.
The second way we allow owners to show off is with contests. We made two content types: Contest and Contest Entry, with a CCK node reference field pointing each Contest Entry to it's respective contest.
Contest entries were listed on each Contest page with an embedded view in the .tpl.php file that took the Contest node ID as an argument:
print views_embed_view('contest_entries', 'default', $node->nid);
This was made possible with the Views module, of course.
Users can vote on entries with the plus1 and VotingAPI modules.
This would all be pointless if it wasn't easy to manage on the admin side, as we're getting at least 150+ entries on every contest so far. We used the Flag module to make it easy for an admin to choose a winner, and a view that narrows down the entries to the ones with 5 or more votes. An admin just has to click on the flag link and the winner is selected.
And More Showing Off
But only one picture is chosen as a winner. So what to do with the other great entries? Simple. Attach some taxonomy terms to them and create keyword segregated galleries.
We again used the Flag module to allow an admin to mark other entries as "featured", and these would get automatically displayed in a certain gallery on the site.
This also helps mitigate the "sore loser" problem that often crops up when running online contests.
Rescue Shelters
Right now, the United States is overrun with stray Pit Bulls. It's a problem with other dogs too, but Pit Bulls are unique because of the fear that many people have of them. For this reason, we wanted the site to promote adoption as the most desirable way to acquire a Pit Bull.
There are other listings of Rescue Shelters online, but none where users could add shelters themselves. We hope this will help bring to light smaller shelters that might not get much recognition otherwise, and help fill in the gaps for under-served areas.
With the Views and Location modules, the list can be sorted and filtered based on the State.
And some rescue shelters are better than others, believe it or not. For example, some that say they are "no-kill"...aren't. And some aren't really shelters at all. So using Fivestar, we wanted to give visitors a chance to rate and leave reviews of their experiences.
Theme
A custom theme was designed and created based on earthy but playful colors, which seems to match both breed and owner temperament. Pit Bulls are physically strong (yet gentle) dogs with proud owners.
The front page was key. We could have gone the "news layout" route with links to articles everywhere and risk information overload. That's good for a news site. But PitBulls.org would not be a news site, even though there would be plenty of information available. So the trick was to offer a portal for the rest of the site, but to keep the focus on just a few things.
- Dog Bios - Since one of the main goals of the site is to let owners show off, featuring the most recent Dog Bios on the front page was a no-brainer.
- Recent Blogs and Contests - Contests would be a major part of the user experience on the site, and the blog would be used to highlight time-sensitive news items
- Welcome Message and What to Expect - Visitors can get a clear idea of what to expect from the site
At the same time, the right sidebar highlights the most popular content on the site at the top using Quick Tabs so that new users get an immediate glimpse of exactly what the site offers. It also houses the Recent Comments block to give a quick view of the activity on the site.
These days, the footer is prime real estate. If a user has scrolled all the way down, it's a good chance they are at least somewhat engaged with your content. If you don't give them something else to do, you're losing out on a great chance to draw a user even deeper into your site. So we repeated the the top menu, added links to specific categories of articles, included the Active Forums block, and displayed a random selection of pictures with a link to all the galleries.
Promotion and Traffic
The main source of promotion so far has been through Facebook. In less than a month, it already has over 15,000 fans or "likes", which shows how hungry people are for another outlet.
SEO will of course be part of promotion, and Drupal makes the on-page portion very simple. Page Title was used to differentiate the HTML title from the actual node title. The HTML title is what is shown in search engine results, so having easy control over it is a must to ensure a good keyword breadth and an optimal click through ratio.
The site is currently getting 500 to 1000 visitors per day.
For the Future
One of the great things about Drupal is that your site is almost infinitely extensible, and so planning for the future doesn't take that much brain power. For instance, we may want to add an online store or a paid classifieds system. This could be done in under 3 days with the Ubercart module.
The site will continue to have a large number of image uploads and views, so a migration to a CDN might be in order for the future and save us from having to increase local storage space.
All in all, this was just another day's work for Drupal, allowing the development of a dynamic and interactive website in a fraction of the time it would normally take. Very little custom programming was necessary, with most of the work involving CSS and theming the overall look and feel.
Comments
Drupal's moral obligation
This article raises an interesting moral dilemma. The American Pit bull Terrier is a viscous dog which has been ban in many countries. It may seem political, but should the Drupal website be actively promoting a website which encourages dangerous behaviour like owning a pitbull or taking a picture of a "Children and babies with a pitbull, preferably under 12 years old."
As an open group we should be politically neutral but there needs to be a line in the sand morally when promoting activities which endanger children.
In the 3-year period from 2006 to 2008, pit bull type dogs killed 52 Americans and accounted for 59% of all fatal attacks. Combined, pit bulls and rottweilers accounted for 73% of these deaths.
Make your own mind up if we should be promoting this site-
http://www.dogsbite.org/index.php
Just a small selection of the news articles about the joys of owning a pitbull
http://www.theage.com.au/national/deathjab-dog-on-killing-rampage-200910...
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/pitbulls-in-attack/story-e6frf...
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/pit-bull-attacks-man-kills-dog/story-e6...
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/five-dogs-maul-three-chil...
http://www.the-signal.com/section/36/article/29946/
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Uncle+mauled+jailed+fatal+attack/309...
http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2010/05/25/boy-suffers-pitbull-attack...
http://hills-shire-times.whereilive.com.au/news/story/pitbull-savages-ho...
http://www.wanganuichronicle.co.nz/have-your-say/news/dog-attack-horror/...
http://www.fox59.com/news/wxin-pitbull-victim-dies-from-injuries-060310,...
And in the 70's it was the
And in the 70's it was the Doberman who was in the media all of the time and accounted for the majority of dog attacks.
Breed trends are cyclical, depending on the popularity of the dog and people who want a "mean dog". Ban Pit Bulls, and these irresponsible people will just choose another breed.
If Pit Bulls are so inherently dangerous, how do you explain their work as therapy dogs? Search and rescue? And how do you account for the temperament tests where they perform at 85.3%. http://atts.org/stats1.html
This is higher than Collies, Golden Retrievers, and other dogs general considered "family friendly". The average dog population is around 77%.
And what about one of the Vick dogs who was trained to be vicious? Where is he now? Oh, just making the rounds at hospitals and bringing some happiness into an otherwise sterile environment.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25214356/
And there are many more examples.
Dogs are almost 100% a reflection of their owner and training (or lack thereof).
Please do some research before you give in to blind fear.
Perhaps we should not allow the promotion of swimming pools either? Statistically, you're more likely to "kill" your child by installing a swimming pool than owning a gun. And a dog. Combined.
Yes, the breed has been banned in many countries. And you know what happened? Dog bites statistics remained the same, or in some cases, went up. Doesn't seem to get at the root of the problem does it? Maybe it's not the dog that's the problem.
http://www.pitbulls.org/article/why-breed-specific-legislation-misses-ma...
Dogs are almost 100% a
This is very true in most cases. Most any dogs can be trained to be brutes.
Good points
Good points, and an interesting site. That's a pretty great domain, too. At least your work is generating a reaction :)
"Dogs are almost 100% a
"Dogs are almost 100% a reflection of their owner and training (or lack thereof)."
Same twisted argument can be applied to guns.
...and cars, and swimming
...and cars, and swimming pools, and kitchen knives, and yes...even dental floss.
Guns are not living,
Guns are not living, breathing, feeling creatures. A gun never brought me her Frisbee and asked me to play, cuddled, nor kissed me on the cheek. Guns don't enjoy sunbathing on the back porch or trying to lick the peanut butter out of the a Kong. Guns don't learn tricks, like playing Guitar, yes my Pit Bull can strum a guitar.
I understand both sides of
I understand both sides of this argument. I think d.o content guidelines need to be drawn up as I am certain this discussion will resurface in future. We need to ensure neutrality being an open-source project (a massively popular one at that).
I think I get the idea behind
I think I get the idea behind what you are saying, and by your assertion that it is a "twisted" argument, I assume that you disagree that Dogs are a reflection of their owner.
If so, you must never have had dogs.
Funny thing though, the argument is actually more relevant for guns than dogs since guns generally don't think or have any urge to do anything but what the person holding the gun wants to do. That is not always the case with dogs at all. Dogs (particularly big ones) are responsible for a great many backs getting thrown out, chairs and shoes getting chewed to atoms, and other non-desirable and unintended effects.
I think that Pit Bulls are a-ok though; and guns are ok too. I do however have an issue with Pit bulls with guns. I am positive that would be a bad combination.
Cheers...
Breeds do have specific charactistics.
I have never seen a chiwawa maul the child of its owner to death. Pit Bulls were bread as fighting dogs. They are naturally aggressive and a danger to society. This has been shown over and over again by members of the public being attacked while simply walking on the street.
Why would anyone want such a monster? Even if they do have positive characteristics when properly trained and cared for, history shows that there will always be a majority that are outright dangerous. Why not choose a breed of dog that is naturally non-aggressive in all circumstances. There are breeds of all sizes available that meet this criteria.
The choice of breed usually says a lot about the person who owns the animal.
history shows that there will
Except this is blatantly false. Dog trainers and dog behaviorists will tell you they are actually non-aggressive toward humans, which make them horrible guard dogs. And if "history has shown", how come there were almost no pit bull related deaths until the late 70s in the United States?
Pit Bulls test better than Collies and Golden Retrievers in temperament tests.
No dog just "snaps". Unless they are rabid, there is always a reason, usually due to the owner.
And each and every one of them can be trained to be absolutely vicious if the owner so chooses, or is simply ignorant and accidentally reinforces behaviors. You do realize that other dog breeds bite and kill people, don't you?
The lies people believe to feed their own fear without any actual evidence usually says a lot about the person.
If a fighting dog (of any
If a fighting dog (of any breed, as there are several breeds used in the fighting industry) is human aggressive, it is killed. People get into the ring with these animals. If they bite their handler, there is no reason for that dog to live. Therefore, human aggression has been bred out of the dog. Dog aggression is there, but that can be said for any breed of terrier; all of which were bred to kill something.
People seem to assume that pit bull owners are drug dealers and gangsters. It's simply not true. I chose my dog because she looked pathetic, because she had a history of abuse, because she was a cheap buy off Craigslist. I didn't care about her breed. I never have when choosing a dog. I care about the individual dogs personality. I'm also a fairly smart, responsible young person. Most of the pit owners I've met over the years have been amazing owners and people. Heck, the drug dealer that used to live around here was terrified of my dog :P I doubt he would've even attempted to own a pit.
I wouldn't choose any other dog than the one I have now. The chances of another dog being able to not only sense and alert to my panic attacks and low moods, but also react in a way that helps, is slim to none without a heck of a lot of training involved. Dandi does those things - and has since day one - without any training. I got extremely lucky with her.
She does have fear aggression toward dogs, but that was triggered by being attacked several times by other dogs. One of which was a small terrier mix, which absolutely terrified the both of us. None of them were pits, pit mixes or dogs generally seen as being dog aggressive.
Speaking of small dogs. The only dog in my life I have ever been scared of was a pug cross. My friend knows someone whose pug bit their toe off over a bowl of food. Small dogs can be extremely dangerous as well. And keep in mind that most terriers are small dogs and they are bred with a killer instinct. Many of them were bred to kill things much larger than them; a baby is nothing to them.
"I have never seen a chiwawa maul the child of its owner to death."
On this note, there was a fairly popular story of a very young lab puppy not only killing, but partially eating an infant it was left alone with. It was probably the size of a large Chi at the time.
Many Chis actually have the reputation of being very snappy and aggressive dogs. All the ones I've met have been lovely, though. The issue there is that people tend to not socialize and overprotect smaller dogs, which will make them fear aggressive.
100% agree
100% agree with amazingfaces http://drupal.org/node/811404#comment-3134514
Who has been shown with facts
Who has been shown with facts that he is demonstrably false. I really don't understand the need to justify fear of something with outright lies when it comes to dogs.
Need guidelines for neutrality
I get twitchy around pit bulls but don't want to single them out as an illegitimate subject for showcasing web sites. ("Slippery slope", etc.) We just need to make sure contributors maintain a neutral tone in their site descriptions, i.e., avoid promotion of political/moral/commercial interests and focus on description and explanation of site construction. If there are illegitimate subjects (drugs, porno, etc.) we need to spell them out in d.o. guidelines.
Not a Great Promotion for Drupal
Can't say I'll be referring anyone to the d.o home page in the near future. Not really the best of subjects to championing Drupal's reach.
Home page vs. forum
There is a significant difference between showing Drupal sites in this forum vs. the front page, so your concern is premature. BTW, a stranger's pit bull dislocated the knee of my good friend while she was walking on a beach. I saw the dog body-check her from behind. I won't let my antipathy for pit bulls undermine my anti-censorship position.
Wow, I'm not sure how I
Wow, I'm not sure how I survived childhood then. I grew up around a Doberman (used to use her as a pillow when watching TV) and a Rottweiler (used to sit in his big food bowl when I was really young, I was literally asking to be eaten!). Then my first dog was a Pitbull mix. Later we got a giant German Shepard. Now, there's a Pitbull where I live and one at the office where I work!
Seriously, though, I think a lot of this "Pitbulls are inherently bad" stuff ignores a lot or cultural things. Pitbulls are a known "badass" dog, and it's true, they are naturally strong. But couldn't this have some effect on how the dogs tend to turn out/the owners that choose Pitbulls? I've seen magazines where Pitbull breeders' ads compete with each other in promoting their dogs as the meanest, toughest, strongest, etc. So if there's a whole strain of them bred specifically for aggressive tendencies, why wouldn't there be more bites/fatal injuries from them?
Regardless, I don't think the site is being reckless, it's not illegal to own the dogs in the US, and so it's basically a non-issue. If they're going to be legal to own there might as well be sites that have a more positive, nurturing outlook.
Personally, I'm more offended by the famous Drupal celebrity news community sites, but I still don't think it should be banned from the Drupal front page!
PB Owner
I'm a pitbull owner and have several friends with them. It's important to note that all large dogs CAN be dangerous, but if you raise them with love they return nothing but love.
Statistics mean nothing because they are probably a reflection on the owners of the dogs, not the breed. There are many responsible pit owners.
Here's my vicious pit: http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs351.snc3/29181_10150211594...
Here she is engaged with another pit bull: http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs301.snc3/28655_72835147080...
Those cuddles could be dangerous.
And us together http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/v223/347/75/n15602563_4932.jpg
Better watch out for her belly attack: http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs242.ash1/16944_69571130695...
FUD
In the 3-year period from 2006 to 2008, pit bull type dogs killed 52 Americans and accounted for 59% of all fatal attacks. Combined, pit bulls and rottweilers accounted for 73% of these deaths.
In that same period, automotive type vehicles killed 5200 Americans and accounted for 59% of all accidental deaths.
Combined, automobiles and bicycles accounted for 73% of these deaths.
Obviously, sites about cars and bicycles should be shunted from d.o
(above numbers are approximate)
drupal.org is a website about
drupal.org is a website about the usage of Drupal, not a website for social activists.
The OP wrote about how Drupal was used in creation of the site.
Considering that only a very small proportion of the human race visit Drupal.org, and of that proportion a small proportion are dog lovers, and an that proportion not that many would be interested in pit bulls, describing the article as one using drupal.org to promote the ownership of pitbulls is rather extreme.
Human beings suffer more fatalities both within the home and outside from other things besides pit bull attacks. Pitbull attacks are newsworthy and that is the long and short of it.
Hands off pitbull lovers.
If I do a website promoting
If I do a website promoting racism with Drupal can I be featured too?
The problem with Pit Bull is that they are powerful, so they should be banned, because if only one is badly educated, it can do much more damage than 10 crazy Chihuahua. I don't understand how such a site promoting dangerous dogs can be featured on Drupal, there have been many stories about those dogs attacking children out of the blue, and that has made this breed banned in many countries, and here on drupal.org we find a site advocating pit bulls?
This is crazy. I am shocked, seriously.
Again, Pit Bulls are not
Again, Pit Bulls are not inherently dangerous. This has been shown time and time again. The blind fear is what really astounds me. I've never met a mean pit bull, and I've met a lot of them.
But let the CDC and the AVMA do the talking.
The AVMA does not recommend any pit bull bans, nor breed bans of any kind. Rather, the association recommends enforcement of leash and anti-dogfighting laws, mandatory neutering (which minimizes sexual/territorial aggression and roaming) and instruction in responsible pet care in schools. And if you look around the site, you can see that we advocate these responsible behaviors. Always.
And "A CDC study on fatal dog bites lists the breeds involved in fatal attacks over 20 years (Breeds of dogs involved in fatal human attacks in the United States between 1979 and 1998). It does not identify specific breeds that are most likely to bite or kill, and thus is not appropriate for policy-making decisions related to the topic. These relatively few fatalities offer the only available information about breeds involved in dog bites. There is currently no accurate way to identify the number of dogs of a particular breed, and consequently no measure to determine which breeds are more likely to bite or kill."
Combine this with temperament tests, and the truth begins to come out pretty clearly.
Not to mention that breed bans simply DO NOT WORK. This is reality. Plain and simple. Dog bites and fatalities do not go down. In some cases, they actually go up. This was the case in the UK. So how are Pit Bulls responsible for that?
Yes, racism and pitbulls is
Yes, racism and pitbulls is an apples to apples comparison. That's a bit hyperbolic, no?
The criticism here is shocking and appalling. Pit Bulls are incredible dogs. Dogs are 90% reflection of their owners. Anyone who has had a dog, knows about dogs, etc. will tell you this.
As a past pitbull owner, I can tell you these dogs are absolutely fantastic. Clearly everyone who's posting negativity is blatantly ignorant.
So your not a racist but you are a breedist?
If you are comparing racism to pitbulls then I'm afraid you are taking the wrong side of the argument. I believe in the dog world racism is referred to as breedism and pitbulls are targeted most.
A person could just as easily train a german shepherd, labrador retriever, poodle or collie to be fierce through abuse, neglect or specific training. If this was a site promoting huskies we wouldn't even be having this conversation, yet they are just as dangerous as any other dog, including pitbulls. Owners have a responsibility to socialize, exercise and train any dog that they own but unfortunately lots of people just want a dog because they "look cool" and pitbulls look pretty damn cool to lots of people. They're just not always responsible people and that is what is dangerous. What we need is more education to everyone about how to properly look after a dog and this site shows how dogs should be treated and is a very positive thing.
I support pitbulls.org and I am happy to see drupal.org can help them make a great website!
Ban powerful dogs
If you want to ban powerful dogs, there are many more powerful than pit bulls. Like German Shepherds for instance.
German Shepherds are No Way Near....
Not trying to play Devils Advocate here but German Shepherds are not nearly as powerful as a Pit Bull. That isn't however to say that a German Shepherd can't do conciderable damage.
We have a terrible problem over here in the UK with Staffordshire Bull Terriers, people have mistaken them for Pit Bulls which are banned over here along with other breeds. I own a Boxer/Staffordshire cross, even my vet warned me to take care!....Ignorance has no bounds. Staffies are a known breed and were bred back in the 1800's specifically for dog fighting, they were also bred to be sociable with humans. There are only two breeds the Kennel Club recommends to be around children - one is the Staffordshire.
The argument over here is that Pit Bulls are of unknown origin and there have been many attacks on children which has resulted in fatalities and grown adults being unable to stop the attacks.
Unfortunately, their jaws are so powerful and lock, that if they do attack you have a problem on your hands. I personally think that 99% of the time however, it's owners ignorance and allowing the dog (any dog) to become the pack leader.
My dog has the Staffie jaw which is approximately 50 times more powerful than that of a German Shepherd. I watch her body language carefully as I have three children....she's a lamb. The lamb however changes into a ferocious beast with other dogs so she is kept under tight control i.e. not let off the leash and we all have more status in the home than her.
I do also believe that group mind and mass hysteria play a part too. A few years ago it was Dobermans, then Rottweilers, then Pit Bulls and now it's turning to Staffies. One report on the news and attacks suddenly start like a pandemic.
All dogs have the potential to be dangerous but the owners are the real culprits.
P.S. I was bitten by a Golden Retriever as a child - they're supposed to be excellent with children!
Not pit bulls, nor any dog
Not pit bulls, nor any dog can lock their jaw. It is a biological impossibility. They can hold on for awhile, that's for sure. While there aren't many studies on bite force, Brady Barr of Nat Geo did a segment on it and found that the German Shepherd they tested had a bite force of 238 pounds and the pit bull they tested had a bite force of 235. Now obviously since they only tested a single animal of each breed, that's not statistically valid... but surely you can't say that a staffie jaw is 50 times more powerful than a German Shep... that's just nuts.
=-=
great write up of the case study, and great dogs.
+1 for taking on the project and for putting it together.
It's a shame such misinformation is spread and absorbed and that the negative is only brought to light. Every few decades or so, someone fingers a breed and deems the breed bad. Great Danes have fallen into and dug themselves out of this bad labeling as well. I own two. I've never owned bulls but have been around many. Never had a bad experience with them. Unfortunately, the negative stuff that happens (in most of life) is believed and regurgitated more often than the good stuff. The great things that bulls, or any breed for that matter does, is rarely ever broadcast. ^5
Thanks for the
Thanks for the comments.
German Shepherds also had their day in the negative sun. And it's true that they make great guard and junkyard dogs. It's also true they make great seeing eye dogs.
Yep, breed fears are cyclical.
I love the site!
I love Pitbulls and want to have one someday when I can train them properly. And I love Drupal. This website is about Pitbulls and is made with Drupal, so why not I like the website?
Those who regards pitbulls as vicious dangerous monsters, I would recommend you to watch the TV show Dog Whisperer :-)
Yes, they have made some accidents and injured people and other dogs. But these accidents happened because they are so strong and therefore it is very difficult to train them and drain out their energy to calm them down. So at the end of the day, it is due to the owner and how they treat dogs, not dogs themselves. If you think Drupal community should be neutral, then we should not act emotionally out of unreasonable fear.
(edited by aiwata55 at 10:27 June 15th, 2010, JST)
I just remembered a good example that any dog can be a monster. A friend of mine has a miniature pinscher. It is a breed with a very tiny and skinny body. However it is small, she burked against me whenever we met, and bit me several times. It was not critical just because the dog was tiny, but any dog can be mean and violent. But at the same time, any dog can be like an angel, warming up our heart.
=-=
I don't know that the above is statistically correct. They are strong (especially for their size) but I don't know that there is any corelation between strength of an animal and difficulty in training. Dogs within the same breed can have very different personalites and dispositions. Dogs within the same litter as well. If you think about it, not much different than any living being including humans.
Being the owner of 2 great danes, one just under and one just over 200 lbs and both over 6'1" on their hind legs, I can tell you that both dogs are very strong and weren't difficult to train at all.
Animals require more than dicipline. They also require the love and acceptance of their pack (family).
I totally agree with your
I totally agree with your statement.
Yeah, there are many breeds
Yeah, there are many breeds that are larger and stronger than the Pit Bull.
I wonder if they would have got a gift card?
I wonder if this little lad would have got a $25 gift card if he had sent in his picture before he got mauled to death?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/merseyside/8413203.stm
I don't want to be a black and white person here, but somethings not right???
Richard
Richard, Something isn't
Richard,
Something isn't right. As usual the whole story is not being told, but they report just what they need to evoke an emotional response. At least the uncle is being tried for manslaughter, as well he should be. This tragedy didn't have to happen and the uncle or some other human is to blame.
What previous signs did the Uncle ignore? Dogs don't just snap all of a sudden. Unless a dog is truly rabid, dog attacks are the result of one thing, every single time: stupid and irresponsible humans. Either the owner is negligent, mistreats the dog, or inadvertently encourages negative behavior, or the victim provokes the response.
We aren't told these things, because the writer isn't interested in actual reporting.
How was the dog treated? How was it trained? Who knows?
I wonder if this infant would have grown to love his Husky if he hadn't been fatally bitten by it?
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=842580
Where's the call against Huskies?
I will say it again. Pit Bulls are not inherently dangerous. Thinking they are more dangerous or have a less stable temper than other dogs is a demonstrably false assumption. How would one explain their increasing use as therapy dogs now?
And in the decade between 1966-1975, less than 2% of all dogs involved in fatal attacks in the United States were of the breeds which today are targeted so frequently as the solution to canine aggression, (Pit Bull or Rottweiler). http://nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/canines-issues/a-historical-view/
You have a point
I also do partially agree with you, but the uncle's main negligence was in breeding which is against the law in the UK.
It is a law for a reason, not that the dogs are bad - I love dogs and I am sure I would also love a well trained pit bull. But the 1 fact being humans unfortunately can't be trusted to train them. In the right hands with the right knowledge I could go there, but it seems that a large number of owners - (sometimes you can see them coming), want the macho "I am hard image and look at my scary dog". These guys are just asking for trouble to happen, and it often does. Would I encourage such a person to become an owner - no never. The culture built around owning a pit bull in many places does not measure up to the responsibility it brings.
But maybe the tag line says it all 'Dogs for Smart People', they end up in the hands of people who aren't smart.
Yes but
Yes but there will always be a breed to fill this role. It sucks that people buy them for the "image" and the put massive heavy chains around their necks and treat them like dirt. It's unfortunate. Another problem with pit bulls is that they are so over bread. Shelters are FULL of them. I personally believe that breeding should be severely restricted, but adoptions, as always, encouraged.
Bull Dog like Great Drupal Showcase Website
Really amazing work will breed elegance like a light flower rose, congrates for a such a nice website and thanks jazzdrive3 for sharing the nice dupal site online, to admire, to follow, wish some day i also be able to make similar powerful looking websites.
I don't see how people can
I don't see how people can get so upset about pitbulls. If this was a guns site, maybe, but those are made with a specific purpose to kill things. Cars kill hundreds/thousands of times more people every year, but I doubt there would be such an uproar if the site was about cars.
Nice site, and it is good to see that you are trying to encourage positive behavior and adoptions through the animal shelters. Keep up the good work.
A little off track, are we?
Nicely designed site, and a set of comments that, for the better part, have nothing to do with that aspect of it.
I definitely agree.
I definitely agree.
Great Showcase!
This site stands above the rest on the subject with a good feature set, thanks to Drupal. It's a nice theme, and the dog bios is a fun idea.
WRT the pit bull comments, you can either feed into the fear mongering media frenzy, or you can educate yourself via veterinarians, dog behaviorists, dog trainers, and sites like pitbulls.org.
A little education for those who need it
I've followed a smattering of the links above that lead to truly heartbreaking stories of tragedy. But in none of those stories have I yet found the key piece of information I'm looking for—the DNA test that proves that the vicious dog was a pit bull or pit bull mix.
Many people think they can tell for certain when a dog is either a pit bull or pit bull mix. The overwhelming majority of them are dead wrong. It's simply impossible to tell by looking at a dog what breeds are in it. For example, if you go to a shelter to adopt a dog, someone at that shelter — their "expert" — will have named the breeds they think are in that dog's genetic makeup. In one recent study, the shelter expert's identifications were checked by running DNA analyses on the same dogs. Here's what the researchers found:
You can read the abstract of this study online. You must pay a fee to get the full report.
Think for a minute about the significance of these findings:
See for yourself: try to find the pit bull mixes in these photos. Then see if you can find the lab mixes here.
So when you read a report about a pit bull attacking a person or another pet, fill in the blanks the reporter is leaving empty: Instead of "A pit bull terrier attacked," think, "A dog said to look like a pit bull terrier attacked… ." You'll be closer to the truth.
Oh, and that's a really well designed site. Thanks for sharing it in this showcase.
– Cliff
Have you thought about adding
Have you thought about adding faceted search to this project? It might help your audience find the information they are looking for. Search Lucene would be a great option for this site.
We haven't even approached
We haven't even approached the search question yet, but it's on the radar. Should have mentioned that in the study.
Thanks for the suggestion. However, isn't faceted search kind of database intensive? We don't exactly have unlimited resources. But we may be able to do it depending on the level of traffic we plateau at.
Not if you use something like
Not if you use something like Search Lucene or Apache Solr, which are external services. They are super fast, and add a great deal of benefit to any site with content.
For a community that uses an
For a community that uses an open source project....which inherently means that it will include contributions from people with different ideas and viewpoints....it surprises me that there has been such a negative reaction to the promotion of this site to the drupal frontpage. Are folks only allowed to use drupal, be a part of the drupal community, have their work showcased, and have their site evaluated from a technical standpoint, if it is inline with a specific viewpoint? Seems to me that many of the comments in this thread suggest that, which i find strangely ironic. If you don't like the content of the site then go make an anti-pitbull website with drupal instead of campaigning for the removal of something you dont agree with.
Open minds show open hearts, and open hearts make the world a better place.
I agree
I'm completely with you on this one. What a pack of babies that you have to have someone moderate your content rather than simply looking at the process of the site design. If you don't like the content, give the site owner your feedback and stick with the site design issues here.
Great Community Site
Great to see such a well featured community site implemented so simply and successfully. It has definitely caused me to rethink some of the implementation of my own projects. Your insight into file uploads and size restrictions was particularly helpful, as I've anticipated similar issues in my own projects.
only a short statement as a
only a short statement as a former dog owner of an american staffordshire mix: remove this site from the frontpage - i don't want to discriminate somebody (it's a complicate topic) but i also don't want to see here a webpage of a lobby organisation for this kind of dogs ...
Image moderation?
It's a well organized and nice site that could lower of my fear of Pit Bulls. Great write up!
Do you have any moderation of the user uploaded images or they are published immediately? If you have moderation, how does it work?
And a non-technical question: are these dogs all Pit Bulls? For example I never tought this dog to be a Pit Bull (but I dont know too much about dogs): http://www.pitbulls.org/node/2084 :o)
We allow both full breed and
We allow both full breed and mutts with Pit Bull in them, as they are discriminated against as well.
No moderation at the moment, as it hasn't been needed. Generally the community is vocal enough that if something is posted that is unrelated or against terms, it is very quickly brought to our attention.
How do you group photos?
Am sorry to differ my question is not about the moral or ethical dilemema attached to this post but a technical one.
I would like a little more elaboration on how the contest photo gallery works. How do you group photos since you have not installed any of the gallery plugins. Thanks.
Well of course I welcome
Well of course I welcome technical questions because that's what this whole thing is supposed to be about.
We use a noderefernce CCK field to link the node with the photo back to the contest.
For non-admins, we hide this field and populate it automatically use a hook_form_alter. You can see at the end of the ADD ENTRY link has the node ID of the contest. We just pull that ID out with an arg() call within the form_alter function.
The listing is an embedded view based on this nodereference.
maybe
maybe create an uncensored section for showcases with sensitive materials (adult, PB, BP, rogue states, guerrillas, ...) but good designs and techs.
Israel and Porno . . .
Stefdario,
I'm not a fan of pit bulls and was reading the back and forth in this thread with interest, although I had no desire to comment -- until I came to your suggestion that controversial websites could be featured in a separate section. Not a bad idea. But your ghettoization of Israel along with porno and pit bulls is a shock. I notice you didn't say "hot political issues". You said Israel. I could be charitable and believe that you just wrote a quick list of the top of your head, without any nasty intent. But the result is nevertheless hurtful.
John
I'm pretty sure they meant
I'm pretty sure they meant "hot political issues" since they included guerrillas in there, too. Guerrillas, although usually associated with the Left, can go either way politically. So I'm sure they could have just as easily said Palestine instead of Israel.
Not that I agree with this "uncensored" Drupal section, that just sounds a bit hokey. But this particular showcase is just for dogs! I can't believe there's so much controversy.
Facebook
A question, the facebook box you have on your site, is it an official page, a group page, or a community page ?
Thanks
It's a Facebook business
It's a Facebook business page.
What a great site!!! I love
What a great site!!! I love the theme and the "User Experience."
Ideas by Nature
www.ideasbynature.com
This site the clear example
This site shows the clear example of power of drupal and its contributed module without much of custom programming. Great site..
Acquia certified Developer, Back end and Front specialist
Need help? Please use my contact form
Theme
Is this a custom theme? I mean... did you made it all?
Yes, I created a custom
Yes, I created a custom theme.
You have an error on your site
* warning: imagecreatefromjpeg() [function.imagecreatefromjpeg]: gd-jpeg, libjpeg: recoverable error: Corrupt JPEG data: 44 extraneous bytes before marker 0xd9 in /home/pitbulls/public_html/sites/all/modules/imageapi/imageapi_gd.module on line 44.
* warning: imagecreatefromjpeg() [function.imagecreatefromjpeg]: 'sites/default/files/100_0468.JPG' is not a valid JPEG file in /home/pitbulls/public_html/sites/all/modules/imageapi/imageapi_gd.module on line 44.
I do applaud you for the site you built it looks great!!! Other than the error which came up when I clicked on the link for A Brief History of the American Pit Bull Terrier. I don't see why this site should not be a Drupal showcase site it's and educational site about Pit Bulls. There is so much wrong information out there about this breed and they do get a bad rap from the press and in many cases incorrect information is given out. As an owner of German Shepherds for the past 35 years I've dealt with my fair share of breed ignorance so I can relate a little bit on what a pit bull owner goes through. I've met a number of Pit Bulls over the years and they have all been very sweet dogs. One friend I had use to rescue pit bulls and re-home them she placed over 120 dogs in a 4 year period and only took in those that were abused by people. One dog had battery acid poured on him but never even growled let alone bit any one while recouping from this ordeal which took 18 months to finally heal. Don't blame the breed for a bad dog owner they are the ones that should be held accountable not the dog.
I think I read somewhere that
I think I read somewhere that out of the 50 "fighting dogs" taken from Michael Vick's place, only one had to be put down. The rest were rehabilitated.
Fixed the error by updating
Fixed the error by updating all my modules. Sometimes I'm a little too lax in that area ;)
Looks like everything is fine now.
And you are right, only one Vick dog had to be put down. Some of them are now even therapy dogs. But maybe you shouldn't believe that, because everyone KNOWS they are inherently vicious animals.
Best Friends
This was the organization that did a lot of the work with the Vicks dogs.
http://www.bestfriends.org/
It's a case study, stupid!
This story is a case study about how Drupal was used. It's a case study that actually refers to a broader spectrum of the challenges of creating a website -- some of which are more than simply technical. The writer explains the situation about pit bulls, rescue shelters and so on, so that you can get a context for the character of the end user, some of the usability issues, and the nature of features on the site which the developer was grappling with. A good web developer understands the social emotional context of a website and how this affects the tools, features, usability, etc. There are so many modules a person can use, that it helps to know why they chose the ones they did.
Come on people. Look past your biases and learn from people who know a thing or 2 about development.
And I hope you can try to understand the absolute joy of walking in the door at the end of a long day to great a wiggly-butt overjoyed pit bull. Or to see an exhausted family member come home at the end of their day, and their face lights up cuz of that happy wiggly-butt pit.
Congratulations!! for nicely
Congratulations!! for nicely designed website.
Thanks for a nice write-up!!
---~~~***~~~---
aac
Surprised.
I'm surprised to see so many negative comments about such a beautiful site. Alright, as a pit bull owner, I'm probably biased. But really; I think this site just made up my mind about using Drupal.
On the pit bull topic; the biggest difference between the other breeds that were targeted in the past and pit bulls is that now we have the internet to really let that fear fester. I lost a dog to breed discrimination when I was younger - a shepherd cross. PTS because of what she was. Losing an animal because they happen to be a certain breed is hard. And no one should have to go through it.
Dogs are dogs.
Great Looking Dog Website
Great looking dog site and great breakdown of what modules you used and what features they offer the user experience. Anyone could take this idea and make a great dog site about any dog, so I don't know what all the fuss is about just because it happens to be a Pit Bull website. This is a great website in function and a great Drupal showcase. I am not a big fan of Pit Bulls myself, but it's a great looking site, so what. This isn't the place to debate your stance on Pit Bulls, or any dog for that matter.
Systems Engineer at Zivtech
congrats on a great site
Wow, almost 30,000 facebook fans, congrats.
I used to have a fear of pit bulls, until a friend suggested a Rott and I got him two years ago. Sweet dog, and I am sure most Pit Bull owners feel the same way. Thank you for spreading the word.
By the way, I am working on the web site www.missingpups.com If you have any interest in working on a "lost and found" pet web site I would be happy to include anyone. It seems such an easy concept, though I am stuck on the distance/proximity in location module. It would be great to have email alerts, etc. all of which seem possible with drupal.
human@missingpups.com
Oh, and anyone who accuses the Pit of being inherently bad after what the Vick dogs went through compared to how well they are doing now are ignoring reality. The mob mentality is dangerous.
yes and no
I've got no problem with Drupal.org showcasing this Web site -- it looks like a pretty nice site and there's certainly an audience for it. If you censored pit bulls, shouldn't you censor sites about guns, alcohol, marital infidelity, Republicans, Democrats? Everything offends someone.
Still, the people who think pit bulls are just as friendly as beagles are deluding themselves. Pit Bulls were selectively bred as fighting dogs to be animal-aggressive just like Bloodhounds were bred for their sense of smell, and Australian Shepherds were bred for cattle herding. And, yes, that animal aggression sometimes spills over to the human animal.
The bottom line is that humans bred pit bulls specifically to fight aggressively. It's not the dogs' fault. And any particular dog may live a life without snapping at anyone. But the breed can be dangerous and people ignore that fact at their own (and their family's and neighbors') peril.
=-=
Wow. Does it get any more judgemental than that? Please be careful with that broad brush you're painting with. You may hurt yourself.
The same can be said about most dogs bred to fight in war or hunt along side their human counterparts (boar hounds for example which may have become the modern day Great Dane), if you want to reach back in time B.C. as your statement seems to do.
as opposed to how many other breeds?
Humans have done far more damage. Would it be fair to blame all humans? or any specific demographic? at any given time? Arrogance, fear mongering, and the spreading of misinformation is far more perilous to oneself, their families and their neighbors.
Yes, the breed CAN be
Yes, the breed CAN be dangerous. So can any breed of dog.
But as shown in temperament tests, Pit Bulls are less likely to be dangerous than Collies and Golden Retrievers.
As always, responsible ownership is the key, and should always be encouraged, no matter the breed.
very nice looking
I'm always impressed to see pre-drupal sites get an upgrade to drupal, and keep their feel/look. Thanks for writing this up, the useability and interactivity concerns were of interest. The layout/presentation of information is pretty easy to understand. I'm liking the brown theme. A well done change from the popular white & black, white & blue, white & orange, white & red, black & white, etc. combinations.
I love how the pictures and stories are presented. Nice to see a very social/interactive site move away from a strictly forum-style approach. And it seems to be working for your users.
How are you moderating/monitoring the content of the site? And I agree that some form of search is needed.
Wanted to read more of the 'how to' comments, but was very surprised at the ..... I had to wade through.
re drupal.org
It is definitely worthy of the front page. DO NOT make separate categories for frontpage showcase sites, it is likely that it will prevent anything from being showcased on the front page. Design, use of drupal, and discussion of the goals/hurdles are very relevant.
Site issues
I know this article has been off the front page for a long time, but I just thought I'd mention that the pitbulls.org isn't working right now - it looks like the CSS has gone missing, but the content is still there.