Mackie: What is your clubs purpose?
Kitte: The original reason for starting the Union of Cats was because I really thought having pet cats like we have pet dogs would be so very cool and awesome. Logic told me if enough people really wanted pet cats then There would pay attention and start working on the model for them. It was after I started the UOC that I discovered that The Chaz had also started a club for the very same reason and several others too. This being my first club I had to discover that we could affiliate with other clubs like ours, so I wrote emails to TheChaz, Genessa and felinity, who all responded that they would like to be affiliated too. It was also my idea to make my club personal, so I also wrote thank you emails to everyone who joined the club and as I explored around There, I always offered to people the opportunity to join my club. If someone left my club, I wrote another emails telling them how sorry I was that they had wandering paws, but if they wanted to they could always return. Because I wanted my club to be unique, I thought it would be fun to create a cat newsletter with timely articles, cartoons, lots of cat pictures and a storyline about my virtual cat "Kitty". lol The first publication "the Mews Splash" was received with many compliments and over time became much larger. Every member had the right, of course, to refuse the mass mailing but no one did. I offered to have the members send me pictures of their precious kitties and surprisingly enough a few did.
Mackie: Does your club have meetings?
Kitte: My club does not hold meeting because have you ever seen a bunch of cats together? They tend to wonder around and have no organization to them at all, but look so cute and wonderful doing these things. lol However, a few of our members so wanted to meet each other and so I hosted a party at kitte's Park across from URU Island which was a great feat in itself because we didn't have the great mechanism to teleport to someone lots as we do now. Stungthumbz, one of the members, assisted me in arranging the teleporting of all the UOC cool cats to the club event which was called "Stuffing the Trailer". You do remember don't you all of the stuffing of the VW bugs and telephone booths back in the 70s and 80s? rofl Well, in virtual, those object just didn't work, but the trailer did.......and it was hilarious!!! At first there was only about five or six of us, but then Stungthumbz came over and was amazed that in that "tiny" trailer all of us fit nicely, so he IMed a bunch of folks and in the end we could managed to get 15 or so avatars in with still plenty of room. Now, I invited the club members to the UOT Ooo Zoo events which give information about all of the animals over in the Zoo as well as the Noah's Ark events which allow people to play Pop Cap games like Noah's Ark, Beetle Bomp and Dynamite.
Mackie: How many members do you have and is the club open for anyone?
Kitte: Right now there are 37 wonderfully patient cats in UOC and it has always been open for anyone interested in joining.
Mackie: I see you have a paper called "Mews Splash" that you write for the club members, how often does that go out, and how do you distribute?
Kitte: When the Mews Splash first came out it was send out about once a month and as I gathered information more quickly, it became twice a month. Formatting was my first issue; because I wanted it to look like a regular magazine, but setting up through an email did not allow me to present the pictures with the articles. After some frustration, I moved the format into Word and made it an attachment. Yes, there were a few who had issues with the Word format and other who complained about the size of the attachment, but none indicated that they didn't want it, they just wanted to just get at the good stuff to see what was up in the Cat world. lol
I created a database of my members and send it from my internet through the There mail to the members. The only real trick to this system was that I had to send the member an email from There first and then There would accept emails to go through its system.
As I told Stungthumbz tonight, I'm feeling more than guilty about my publication because it’s been some months now since I've managed to send out any. Because I'm currently working with Tbone4 to set up a newcomer hotel on Mystery Island called the "Great Adventure Lodge" to welcome them into the world and hook them up with developers, designers, painters, BABS, NMSS and others, I have no time to set up the publication. However, I have email folder stuffed with information that I want to send out, if I could get the time. Recently I have defaulted to sending out of the club email links to a cute cat video that I found. My heart is still with the UOC. "Big sigh"
Mackie: Do you use the ThereDoc's much for promoting your paper? 
Kitte: No, I don't use There docs for promoting my publication. I don't have to. I have a club full of members who advertise for me all of the time. If I were to guess, I would say that the reason for my membership was because of the current members.
However, let me tell you about my adventures in There with my kitty named "Kitty". One of the featured articles is the "perils of Pauline" storyline, where kitte went out into the world found a white cat, but when she went to bring it home, she couldn't find the cat. Finally, when the cat was found and named, all was wonderful in kitte's and Kitty's world. However, the adventure was just beginning as they started their visiting different sites and friends. (Yes, you guessed it. I had a 10X10 portazone where I staged Kitty and various object which stayed out for the whole two weeks while that storyline ran, so the members if the found the stage, could see Kitty in the story. [Neat idea, huh?] When Kitty stayed with Petal, I gave her the cat and she actually moved Kitty about her lot sitting her in the lovely garden and then about her house.) When she visited Shaeri's and Kaylea's houses, they actually had to keep this big, bad boy cat away from Kitty, who wasn't the least bit interested in listening to them or me. rofl Now you can see Kitty, Naughty Kat and their family of kittens at kitte's Channel Row Park at Mystery Island. So now, if you really think about this, my little 10x10 storyline paz was also one of my advertising tools for the UOC Mews Splash. Advertising comes in all shapes and sizes, it just takes imagination.
Mackie: Do you have other authors writing for your paper?
Kitte: Yes, I do actually. I think it is important to have member participation in whatever is happening in a club, so I always offered this to the members, if they would write or send me pictures of their cats, I would include them in the Mews Splash. Genesa actually wrote a few times about her many kitties. Stungthumbz has been a delight. Mostly, Petal and her wonderful love of all animals, but especially cats has been a true treasure trove of pictures and stories. I received pictures from NVS and TeriG, my real adult children. It is still true today that I store up all of the pictures so that I can dip anytime I need to get those stories into the Mews Splash.
Mackie: What is one thing you'd like to see added to There that isn't there presently? Cats, I presume?
Kitte: Absolutely, a rubbing on my leg, stretching up with paws to get my attention, meowing at imagine birds, and wandering away from me when I call it, cat! Rofl. While I was on the MAB, it was the pet cat that I had the opportunity to ask about and Vash indicated that There staff was working on it, but it really acted too much like a dog and they really wanted it to act like a cat. Well, I'll give them that, if it looks like a cat, but did everything like a dog, we cat lovers would not be very amused.
Mackie: What is your favorite thing in There?
Kitte: Oh I love the content in There, the new objects that builders make, the wonderful new clothes, new islands, paz building, but mostly......I so love the people. Is there any where else that one can meet people from around the world and actually take an English lady as your Therian sister? I don't think so. I have Therian daughters, Shaeri and Kaylea. I have over a hundred teenagers who look to me for fun and an occasionally guidance, but keep it at a minimum. The Therians are wonderful, amazing, interesting, sad, happy, intelligent, average, old, young, silly, diligent, patient, nervous, and always available in There, it’s one of the marvels of the "real" world. Who would have thought that these new fangled computers would bring into homes the possibility of meeting from around the world at so little expense? It is cheap at full price.
Mackie: Do you have a favorite place?
Kitte: Yes, my favorite place is where my friends are when I log into There. I spend so much time with my friends that sleep gets put on hold, which is not a very good idea when one has to drive to work the next day. "omg"
However, let me explain that when I was spawned into this crazy world, I decided that I would be a vagabond and as such I climbed mountains on foot mind you, buggied from island to island, teleported to pegs on the There map to explore some more, tried out the bike and buggy tracks, until I was given a casual portazone and raze purple couch by a delightful individual known as "Audrid". At that point, I was exploring then into learning how to decorate and exploring the auctions. During my vagabond days, I found islands that had jungle sounds and ones that had seaguls sounds. Those were very special. Nothing was as different as Tyr with a full moon and starry skies. That is why I still own "kitte's Lazy Lavender in Tyr.
Mackie: What's your favorite There Drink?
Kitte: Without a doubt, my most ultimately, superb refreshment is the Triple Root Burp. rofl Just ask my teens what we think about root burp. Remember what they, those stanch critics, say "don't knock it until you've tried it".
Mackie: Anything you'd like to add?
Kitte: Well, I would like to take this opportunity to let all of the staff of There know how much I appreciate all of their efforts and attention to details in There. Every evening I'm blown away about the natural reactions of my avatar kitte: the natural movements and stance depending on the situation. When I sadly tell my tales of woe (lol, pun...), my cute avatar looks ‘sad and in the same token, when I tell that absolutely off the wall joke to the delight of everyone around me, my avatar is grinning from ear to virtual ear laughing as you will without the emote. There is the second kudos to the staff that create the ‘emotes. ‘clap’ ‘clap’ ‘clap’ Thank you all.
Mackie: Thanks so much for taking the time to return this to me; I can't wait to see you as the club of the week!
Kitte: I appreciate the opportunity to tell you, Michael Wilson and staff about my time in There. It is because of all of your efforts that stories like mine can be told, because what could we do without There.com?
There is the most natural, virtual world we have. For me, you have opened up my world, both real and virtual.
Thanks again. "Hugs",
kitte
(P.S. - any chances of getting a "hugs" emote? Lol, Just asking!)
Accounts & Billing
