Editorial Time!

[champagnesoup]

Well, it would seem we have confirmation that the Bonju avatar is DEFINITELY item-related at last!

[varii]

Hiya there, TNT! I'm really unsure if this is against the rules or not, so I thought it would be best to ask you. I'm in an amazing guild, and I really would like to apply for a council position. In my guild, there are some requirements if you want to apply, like being active, being willing to help answer questions from other members, etc. However, one of the requirements is that you must have an off-site messaging service [a certain service was mentioned here] so you can have council chat meetings weekly. I don't have this service, and I don't want to get it. I was thinking that requiring this might be against the rules; it doesn't seem very fair =/. I would appreciate it if you could clear this up! Please remove my username if you answer my question. Thanks. ~[username removed]
You are quite correct to think that this is against the rules. No one should be asked to leave the safety of Neopets, and certainly not by the council members of a guild! Feel free to inform them that you are uncomfortable breaking site rules and don't wish to receive a warning. We have rules in place for a reason.

I don't really disagree with the sentiment/answe, but if I was in that guild and read this quetsion I would be pissed at the little tattle-tale whiner.

[Mistress Morbid]

Ugh, the whole *gives TNT cookies/confetti/cola* thing before a question is really starting to aggravate me. Everyone is doing it and it just looks stupid.

/pointless rant

[Kantark]

I totally agree, MM. I'd prefer if TNT cut that crap out of the published answers - the trend would soon go out of fashion. With the extra space they gained they might even be able to answer another couple of questions.

[invsagoth]

I totally agree, MM. I'd prefer if TNT cut that crap out of the published answers - the trend would soon go out of fashion. With the extra space they gained they might even be able to answer another couple of questions.

I agree with that too. While they have said before that it doesn't make them more likely to answer... when almost every question has it, people are going to think that it will help their case. And not everyone is going to see where they say it won't help them. If it irritates the staff, and I'm sure it does, you'd think they'd want to edit it out.

Whoever started this fad is going to be whacked with a mechafish.

[Usul_Princess]

I was under the impression the TNT staff would completely ignore the question if you didn't word it perfectly for presentation. I'm assuming the ass-kissing introduction is to make sure their question gets placed in there. A while back we had a pretty huge discussion about feedback on Neopets VS Subeta. Unlike Subeta, Neopets has unrealistic positive feedback, and there's no way they didn't sift through 90% of pissed off users to find the remaning desperate 10% to make their site look good. Heaven forbid Neo is wrong.

Feedback is almost always negative. I've said it before that it's just criticism with a different name. It shocks me that TNT actually expects people to remember and be able to recite what, 25 core rules with countless new ones every other month? They also seem to be going to great lengths to enforce customization with an iron fist, and stop the UC demand. I never seen so many people frozen over pet trading issues. How can they justify freezing someone when it's their rule modifying that made the site erupt in this pound board nonsense.

"VWN UC UFT. Make me a VVWN draik paint it any color I want and turn around 3 times while singing itsy-bitsy spider. I changed my mind. ntygl."

The only new rule I'd welcome is to freeze people who want petpage applications. They're not required, but that person will never choose someone who didn't make one. The person putting the pet UFA will just have to choose which user deserves it without people wasting time and energy.

(/rant over)

[Madge]

They've said on the editorial before that they will often edit a question they get for spelling/grammar. I wish they would edit the stupid greetings out like they used to. That increased my sanity so much.

As far as unrealistic positive feedback goes, I've been there, and negative feedback sucks. I'm doing tech support for my university's new email system which it seems most of the users hate - but that's just because the ones that hate it are the ones who email us. The ones that like it don't. And yes, I have asked random students who are in my office for different reasons and whilst from looking at the feedback you'd believe the 90% displeased statistic, it's actually closer to 20%-40%, and a lot of that is because the system is new and still has some bugs (such as it being godawfully slow. We're working on it.). The system that came before the new one was just as hated when it first rolled out.

So, yeah, negative feedback just makes you feel really bad, even if you have no control over what a user is so sad about - the best you can do is try to explain why you did something, point out some improvements that there are, and ask them to bear with you whilst you make things even better. I think TNT did this when they rolled out customisation. It definitely sucks, don't get me wrong.

There's an adage which is that 80% of your problems come from 20% of your causes. So, 80% of your complaints will come from 20% of your users. Just because you perceive it as being 90% unhappy and 10% happy, doesn't mean it is so. It just means the unhappy people want to cause a stink about it, which is fair enough, they're motivated.

I'm not saying TNT is perfect, but I'm also saying it's not the case that 90% of their users are miserable. If they're so miserable why do they still play?

I'm certainly not miserable, I'm still enjoying the game, even if TNT can be boneheaded most of the time.

[Usul_Princess]

I'm not saying TNT is perfect, but I'm also saying it's not the case that 90% of their users are miserable. If they're so miserable why do they still play?

I'm certainly not miserable, I'm still enjoying the game, even if TNT can be boneheaded most of the time.

I concede. No one is making us play. And I still do enjoy it enough to pay for premium. It's a blessing in disguise that my personal interest has waned because I refused to get a life that didn't involve Neo somehow.

TNT has always had never ending drama, but it just seems nowadays they've incurred (sp?) much more than usual through their own flawed logic.

[Kantark]

There'll always be the opaque rules, it seems, as they try to balance a site that appears fun to play and appealing with a corporate backer who wants a 100% safe fully sanitised 'family' experience. I was under the impression that the avalanche of drama and hate had died down rather a lot recently - now that customisation, the Mall and pound trades have been around and people are used/resigned to them (i.e. they haven't done anything to majorly piss us off recently). The exception would be the recent rise in CG/phishing/possible hack activity, not that you'd know it from TNT themselves of course.

[Mistress Morbid]

Hallo. When the site was updated in 2007, every Neopet that had already been made had this displayed on their page (even though that's not necessarily what the owner chose): "... likes gathering food. When meeting others, ... would act very friendly." Is there any way to change this, or will there be in the future? Thank you very much! ~rj001261
/palmface We totally forgot about that. We'll talk to the programmers and see if it's possible to fix it.

I'm admittedly a little curious about this. I'm hoping that perhaps they might make it available to change these options, as a few of my pets have stats that do not suit them at all. I hate that they're displayed on the lookups.j

Oh, and the one time the stupid "gives TNT stuff* thing amused me:

*sets down a fish feast* Alright guys, let's get our food buffs before this encounter.
(It's a World of Warcraft reference xD)

[varii]

*sets down a fish feast* Alright guys, let's get our food buffs before this encounter. So the filters were "glitchy" this weekend - glad they seem to be "fixed," for the most part. But I have to ask, of course (and I'm sure I'm not the only one): are these "newly" blocked properties going to be disallowed for good? I am aware that these elements were "blocked" before, and that all of us clever Neopians managed to get our codes through by simply altering our style tags. However position, display, margin, visibility (just to name a few)... they're all pretty key elements when it comes to personalizing the look of one's account. So, for the sake of clarification, I suppose I should state that my question is: will there be some change in the future that allows us to use these tags on our Petpages and Lookups (at the very least), or is this a permanent setup? Also, if possible, it would be lovely to know (specifically) why these filters have been put in place to begin with. c: Thanks if you get back to me on this! (For the Horde! *scurries off*) ~l3lo0
We are aware of these issues and have our programmers working on them, but don't really have much coherent information to offer at the moment. We will try to keep you updated with information if we can, though.

I've been away from neo for a bit. Besides adding a / to our style tags, what is this question talking about?

[Jessi]

Hi, TNT! Recently I was joking on the boards about my real age, pretending I was eight. I believe a staff member saw this and decided to downgrade my age. Seeing as I'm 16, it would be weird to ask my parents to sign a parental consent form. What could be done about this? ~username removed
Sorry, but we have to go by what you posted. Please explain to your parents you were pretending to be an eight year old boy online and ask them to sign the consent form.

I laughed and read it aloud to Lindsey, who also laughed. I'd love to see him trying to explain that one xD

[Cranberry]

I laughed at that one, too. The TNT member's disdain is palpable! You can tell they would love to be snarkier.

[Madge]

And I made my parents sign a consent form when I was 17 because I'd accidentally set my age as, like, 3 . then again my parents will sign anything I put in front of them...

[Kantark]

Yep, that one made me chuckle. Best editorial answer I've seen for a while :-D