Charter boards?

[jamboree]

It seems that a fair number of you guys are Premium subscribers, or at least have been in the past. May I pick your brains for a moment? (Hm. That's kind of a gross expression when you think about it.)

I've been vaguely thinking about subscribing to Premium for a while now - not so much for the SSW as for the Charter boards. The Tarla event developed in me a taste for board chatter, but the level of unpleasantness on the regular Neopets boards is so often unacceptably high that I've started avoiding them again. (Negative vibes, man.) That's rather a lonely way to play the game, though, and I was hoping that the Charter boards might be a bit more enjoyable, with fewer trolls, less spam, and, most importantly, a little less random hatefulness and spite.

The trouble is that I've heard mixed things about the Charter boards. Some people say they're amazing and a great way to spend your time. Others say that the members anyone who doesn't have an ancient account filled with expensive pets and super-special coding.

My account is young. I have no Draiks. I'm not an HTML whiz kid - it's simply not an area of interest. But I like talking to people and can (usually) converse with a reasonable degree of fluency and, sometimes, even some wit. I do, however, have an extremely low tolerance for snobbery, and would hate to pay for four months of Premium subscription only to loathe the Charter boards on sight. It's not just the money - it'd be four months of eager anticipation followed by a huge letdown. So I'd like to get a feel for the place before deciding to subscribe.

What's been your impression, Premium users? Are the Charter boards a land of milk and honey, or middle school all over again?

(Note to admin: this may be a bad time to ask this, as some folks go offline for the summer. Permission to bump if dust gathers?)

[clsimmons1985]

I personally love the Charter boards, and find them very friendly. I haven't seen anyone say anything negative about another person's pets there, and anyone who posts regularly is readily accepted regardless of their pets or account. My own userlookup is very basic, but no one has ever made any comments to me about it I think you would like it there!

[Fury]

The Charter boards are A LOT better than the regular boards - that is certain!

I never used to chat on the regular boards for the same reason as you, that being that everyone is either: A. a gobby 12 year old who thinks they know it all, B. someone who thinks they're God's gift to the Neopet world (elitists) and C. the unbearable teen drones who act as if nothing bothers them yet still start fights for no reason at all. /rant over

The majority of Charter members are very lovely indeed. I've witnessed a lot of kindness (I lurk more than I post) and generosity go largely unnoticed because the user hasn't pasted over the board that they just lent someone this or bought someone that and bloody hell, aren't I just amazing? An example would be the RAOK (Random Act of Kindness) board that appears on a Friday where users, publically or not, gift others or help them out in the Caption Competition or Beauty Contest.

Like anywhere on Neopets, you're going to get bad apples. There are a few, although even they're not quite as malicious as BD Chatters, that try to ruin everybody elses fun but you must not let them spoil your view. I think you'd fit in just fine! You must not worry about your account status! Most Charter members aren't bothered about that sort of thing and the ones that are aren't worth talking to. Charter will only turn on you if you show up as a newcomer and then start asking to be lent various expensive avatar items/pets etc. I've certainly seen that happen before also. But I'm sure you wouldn't do that!

tl;dr - Charter is awesome, come and join us!

[Fjorab_Teke]

I also love the Charter board and pretty well entirely avoid the other ones. It's also much easier to keep track of what's going on since there aren't 10,000 people posting messages at once.

However, there IS occasional drama there, though it's pretty easy to avoid if you know who is posting and what is being posted about. There are a lot of "high profile regulars" so to speak, and if something bad happens that involves one of them, it gets a bit out of hand.

Generally, though, people are very friendly, figuring someone is mature enough and serious enough about the site to be around Premium that long that most of them will go out of their way to help you out. In general, stick with being polite, mature, and helpful, and you'll be a welcome addition. I haven't seen snobbery, and my account, although old with somewhat-expensively painted (and one trained) pets, isn't fancy. I have no special coding except making my pets' images bigger, and none of my pets are limited-edition of any kind, unless you count a mutant Peophin and the PBs.

If that's the main reason you want Premium, either make sure you want it THAT much THERE, or make sure the rest of it will make it worth it to you...or just not bother because it's a good chunk of real money for a community you might be able to find similarly elsewhere for free.

[jamboree]

Thanks for the advice, you guys! I think I will subscribe to Premium after all - I'm so fed up with the regular boards. The "unbearable teenage drones" (as Fury so aptly put it) are the WORST - they make Neo so very unpleasant. What with moving, studying for my boards, and starting rotations, I have more than enough stress in my life. I'll be chatting with you on Charter soon, then!

[mellaka]

I'm a bit late but I like the charter boards overall too. I've found the best thing for me is to find a few ongoing threads that I'm comfortable in and mainly stick to those. For example, I usually chat on the Plushie Tycoon help thread, the malling upgraders thread and then on the Darigan thread for the AC. There are lots of things I don't like on charter, but I've learned to ignore what I don't like and contribute to the things that I do like to help them continue. It still can be very busy since it covers all aspects of Neo (be prepared for tons of BC, selling, NC trading, pet trading and Caption Contest threads) but not nearly as bad as some of the more active main boards.

Oh and anything that can be said for charter as far as being mature and polite goes doubly for the Main Hall, if you plan to chat there while you're waiting. Some there can be very diligent about keeping their board orderly.