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January 30, 2012 3:12 PM

"Note (January 26, 2012): Some people have complained that this site has been sending them texts. If you're one of them, then someone else might be playing a prank on you. This Cat Facts page does not gather people's emails or phone numbers and has no technology capable of sending out messages. Sorry, there is nothing we can do to help since we aren't the ones sending the messages."
posted by Potomac Avenue (48 comments total)

I don't know how these people got cat facts onto thier phones, or why
posted by The Whelk at 3:18 PM on January 30 [12 favorites]

Obligatory:

rick
rick
rick

etc.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 3:20 PM on January 30 [9 favorites]

You know what would really suck? Cat Fax! with hourly cat fax updates.
posted by 2bucksplus at 3:20 PM on January 30 [15 favorites]

It's Reddit fad right now to prank people this way and post pics.
posted by The Thnikkaman at 3:20 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

I love people.
posted by six-or-six-thirty at 3:20 PM on January 30 [3 favorites]

So my little cousin posted on Facebook that he was bored and gave everyone his new phone number.

Huh? I don't understand.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 3:21 PM on January 30

Huh? I don't understand.

Send me your phone number and I'll text you the explanation...
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:26 PM on January 30 [20 favorites]

Cat facts is my new favorite meme. I am currently working on a cat facts IVR app, call and get a fact or have it call a friend and stick them in an endless cat facts phone tree.
posted by Ad hominem at 3:30 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

Potomac, I inferred that the cousin was doing the trolling.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 3:30 PM on January 30

Saw this the other day. It's the best trolling I have seen in quite some time, possibly ever.
posted by maryr at 3:33 PM on January 30

The best Cat Facts screen captures usually show something about the subscription expiring on something like March 1, 2024 in addition to not allowing a cancellation.

Still, as often as I've seen these, I have no idea if Cat Facts is real or not... the meme sites haven't caught up with this one.
posted by crapmatic at 3:33 PM on January 30

Ad hominem - I hope you are serious. Especially if it will also somehow include the buttered cat poem.
posted by maryr at 3:34 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

A++++ Would LOL again!
posted by jeffburdges at 3:36 PM on January 30

Is this like an inverse alt.tasteless vs. rec.pets.cats war?
posted by feckless at 3:36 PM on January 30

You know what would really suck? Cat Fax! with hourly cat fax updates.

by suck you mean BE AMAZING
posted by The Devil Tesla at 3:40 PM on January 30 [5 favorites]

It is funny, but I don't understand how it can possibly last beyond a couple of messages. Can you hide called ID on texts?
posted by vidur at 3:42 PM on January 30

Caller ID, even.
posted by vidur at 3:42 PM on January 30

To exit this thread, please type jfknsiu r382y9dio 23nu9832nu894u98ndhwuedihd ijefwiuhfeu
posted by lalochezia at 3:44 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

To explain what's going on in laborious detail.

Someone in a reddit comment said that he started doing this to a stranger

Someone else on reddit copied him and posted a screenshot, which promptly went to the front page. (to make it painfully obvious exactly what happened, his little cousin posted his new phone number on facebook, so he started pretending to be an automated service delivering cat facts).

Other people reddit thought that it was a fantastic prank and copied him. Then 9gag picked it up, which started it spreading around facebook.

And now the meme is well and truly over.
posted by empath at 3:52 PM on January 30 [3 favorites]

. Can you hide called ID on texts?

Yes, there are ways.
posted by fshgrl at 3:54 PM on January 30

Oh empath -- if only explaining a meme caused it to be over.... wouldn't the world be a happier place?

MetaFilter is far from the place where the go to die. When I see it on the local news, it will be over.

(Actually, it won't be. Because then it will be on the local news in the broadcast market where I grew up. THEN it's over.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 3:57 PM on January 30

jfknsiu r382y9dio 23nu9832nu894u98ndhwuedihd ijefwiuhfeu
posted by Big_B at 3:59 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

It doesn't work!!!
posted by Big_B at 3:59 PM on January 30

Cat Fax! with hourly cat fax updates.

Cat Fax Fever....

(And my SO claims there was no sending an SMS "I am at the cinema" - yet shows on both cell phones. Things can be spoofed.)
posted by rough ashlar at 4:02 PM on January 30

jfknsiu r382y9dio 23nu9832nu894u98ndhwuedihd ijefwiuhfeu
posted by chundo at 4:03 PM on January 30

Because then it will be on the local news in the broadcast market

Cat flacks?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:09 PM on January 30

Cat Facts at Midnight?
posted by swift at 4:16 PM on January 30

You know what would really suck? Cat Fax! with hourly cat fax updates.

Where suck == awesome, absolutely!
posted by gjc at 4:16 PM on January 30

Ad hominem - I hope you are serious. Especially if it will also somehow include the buttered cat poem.

Just don't get me in trouble with the FTC, k? =)
posted by mie at 4:43 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

Not to mention the ASPCTSA!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:47 PM on January 30

Cat Sacks?
posted by The Whelk at 4:48 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

MetaFilter is far from the place where the go to die.

Yeah they tend to die the year before. ;)
posted by june made him a gemini at 4:52 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

Caller ID, even.

Don't you mean Collar ID?


I'm going to the corner...you don't have to shove.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 5:18 PM on January 30 [7 favorites]

It is funny, but I don't understand how it can possibly last beyond a couple of messages. Can you hide called ID on texts?

There are many services where you can send a text from a computer. I would hope they are using one of them, otherwise the jig will be up pretty quickly when someone calls the number or starts texting them back something even more obnoxious.
posted by drjimmy11 at 5:49 PM on January 30

...backs slowly away from this thread...
posted by thanotopsis at 6:12 PM on January 30

...backs slowly away from this thread...

Exit not recognized. Did you know that the scientific name for "cat" is "felis catus" or "felis silvestris catus?"
posted by Joey Michaels at 6:49 PM on January 30 [3 favorites]

Twilio + too much time on your hands + cats
posted by ryoshu at 7:02 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

I don't know how these people got their cats to send them faxes or why.
posted by marsha56 at 7:05 PM on January 30

Don't tell anyone but you can very easily spoof CallerId using a service like teleku to send the SMS. If you want to get replies, you are going to have to do some work.
posted by Ad hominem at 7:09 PM on January 30

Cat fhoax
posted by blue_beetle at 9:26 PM on January 30

Felis Cattus, is your taxonomic nomenclature,
an endothermic quadruped carnivorous by nature?
Your visual, olfactory and auditory senses
contribute to your hunting skills, and natural defenses.

I find myself intrigued by your subvocal oscillations,
a singular development of cat communications
that obviates your basic hedonistic predilection
for a rhythmic stroking of your fur, to demonstrate affection.

A tail is quite essential for your acrobatic talents;
you would not be so agile if you lacked its counterbalance.
And when not being utilized to aide in locomotion,
it often serves to illustrate the state of your emotion.

O Spot, the complex levels of behaviour you display
connote a fairly well-developed cognitive array.
And though you are not sentient, Spot, and do not comprehend,
I nonetheless consider you a true and valued friend.
posted by ianhattwick at 10:14 PM on January 30 [8 favorites]

If you want to get replies, you are going to have to do some work.

Yeah, that's what I was wondering about.
posted by vidur at 10:40 PM on January 30

I sort of edge away stealthily whenever Mefi jumps on a reddit meme and tries to riff on it.

Feels like my mum and dad have followed me to a rave.
posted by dontjumplarry at 2:23 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]

(And my SO claims there was no sending an SMS "I am at the cinema" - yet shows on both cell phones. Things can be spoofed.)

Wait, he told you somebody spoofed the message to you and then snuck it on to his phone? Technology is mysterious, but I'd love to hear his explanation for how that happened.
posted by mad bomber what bombs at midnight at 6:34 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]

You credit Data when you quote him, dammit.
posted by maryr at 7:56 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]

This really made me laugh. Thanks!
posted by onlyconnect at 9:04 PM on January 31

You credit Data when you quote him, dammit.

True. Luckily I don't have to worry about hurting his feelings, since he has none.
posted by ianhattwick at 9:48 PM on February 2

Or does he?
posted by maryr at 8:29 PM on February 3