Updated T&C - Now with FAQ!

[Erin]

Hurraaaaaay for TNT!! At long last, it's finally here! It's not the comprehensive list of do's and don'ts that a lot of people have been asking for, but the FAQ is certainly very helpful. Thank you, TNT!

http://www.neopets.com/terms.phtml

[Cranberry]

Heh, you beat me by three minutes, and now I have to copy and paste my whole huge post in here. Bah.

I like the new Terms and Conditions and FAQ -- for the most part, they're really straightforward and make sense. But there's one thing I'm unsure about.

One of these accounts, your main account, can do everything on Neopets. The other four accounts (except if one is a guild account as explained below) can adopt Neopets and maintain a gallery but cannot have a store, play games or any other activity that earns Neopoints or participate in any voting activities. You may freely transfer items among your accounts but they should be on the same e-mail address as your main account.

If we can't have a store on our other accounts, how can we sell any items we receive through random events? Also, if we want to put our other account's pets in the neolodge (which is what I do, to keep them full and happy), where are we supposed to get the neopoints to do that? And what if our alternate account already has a store and is on a different e-mail address, because we created it a long time ago?

I am really glad they added this:

Q. My friends and I have been purchasing all the Dr. Sloth Costumes and then jacking up the price. Is that okay?
A. No, you cannot conspire with others to corner the market in an item and then artificially raise the price. This is called price fixing which violates Neopets' Terms and Conditions. If we detect this, we will either freeze all the players involved in the conspiracy or delete all the items they are hoarding. However, in anticipation of a war or other event, you can, by yourself, purchase unlimited quantities of an item in the expectation the price will rise. This is called price speculation, which is fine.

We all knew that, but it's nice to have it up there so we can point artificial inflators to it.

Q. A friend taught me to put a heavy item on my "refresh" key overnight to get random events. Is this considered cheating?
A. Yes. You cannot have your computer play the site without you.

Nice to have this spelled out, too.

Q. I was unjustly frozen. Do you think your freezing programs might be imperfect?
A. Contrary to urban myth, we do not use automated programs to freeze users. Though we have numerous programs that monitor the site and the game play, live monitors make the final decision as to what punishment, if any, is appropriate.

Maybe they don't have freeze bots now, but I think they used to -- when I was unjustly frozen for "cheating" at Volcano Run a couple years ago (I was just good at it... stupid buggy game), I believe it happened late at night when no one was in the office. Took me three months to get my account back, too. And it worries me that I've been frozen in the past, because look at this...

BEWARE: If you do any of the above we may suspend you from using your account for up to 72 hours or freeze your account permanently. Please note that depending on your account history and the type of infraction, you may be frozen or suspended for breaking the rules and that you WILL be frozen for multiple infractions. Also, you will not necessarily be warned prior to being frozen. This is your warning.

It looks like they keep a record of any and all warnings and freezings we get, so they may be less "lenient" if we get in trouble again. This is... well, good in some ways (those who really do cheat shouldn't have free rein to do it over and over), but bad when people honestly were frozen unfairly.

For the most part, though, these new rules are great.

[Trick]

If we can't have a store on our other accounts, how can we sell any items we receive through random events? Also, if we want to put our other account's pets in the neolodge (which is what I do, to keep them full and happy), where are we supposed to get the neopoints to do that? And what if our alternate account already has a store and is on a different e-mail address, because we created it a long time ago?

You aren't supposed to sell RE items you get on other accounts, you're not even supposed to move them to your main. They rot in your SDB as far as I'm aware, which is quite frankly just poo. You get the nps to put side account pets in the neolodge by being able to transfer items between accounts. Send a pile of dung to your side account then put it up for trade and make an offer with the nps from your main, at least that's what I do =) You can change the e-mail of accounts and I have one shop on a side account named "Empty" with a note inside saying it was created in error and is not used. I wish you could delete shops though :S

I'm impressed with the new t&c and faq, I yayed out loud when I saw it The clarification of what is and is not allowed on side accounts is most welcome, that clears up a lot of problems. And I am glad that they have spelled out exactly what is not acceptable on fan sites that have neopets images.

[Erin]

So sorry. hehe

I agree wholeheartedly about the price fixing thing. I can recall at least one memorable occasion when someone came here to this forum and tried to get people to help him price gouge, and kept insisting that it wasn't/shouldn't be against the rules. x.x

[Asparagus Queen]

11. You Are A Guest.
Remember, this is a free website and we reserve the right to prohibit the use of the site to any user at any time. Be a good guest.

Is that new? [sarcasm]I love it.[/sarcasm] What about all those premium members who pay? I've seen some get frozen, then have been unable to cancel their service, so they keep getting charged for something they can't access. Not to mention all the merchandise people buy in real life.

[Cranberry]

If we can't have a store on our other accounts, how can we sell any items we receive through random events? Also, if we want to put our other account's pets in the neolodge (which is what I do, to keep them full and happy), where are we supposed to get the neopoints to do that? And what if our alternate account already has a store and is on a different e-mail address, because we created it a long time ago?

You aren't supposed to sell RE items you get on other accounts, you're not even supposed to move them to your main. They rot in your SDB as far as I'm aware, which is quite frankly just poo.

That's what I thought, too, but the "you may freely transfer items among your accounts but they should be on the same e-mail address as your main account" is interesting -- it makes it sound like we can send things from secondary-main if we want. If we really can't, they should clarify that.

[Erin]

11. You Are A Guest.
Remember, this is a free website and we reserve the right to prohibit the use of the site to any user at any time. Be a good guest.

Is that new? [sarcasm]I love it.[/sarcasm] What about all those premium members who pay? I've seen some get frozen, then have been unable to cancel their service, so they keep getting charged for something they can't access. Not to mention all the merchandise people buy in real life.

Premium members don't pay for Neopets.com, we pay for the webmail and portal package. We just get perks on the website. So technically, they're covered there.

And it's true that they continue charging you for Premium if you're frozen, but I've never heard of a frozen member being unable to cancel their service. Premium tech support doesn't operate through neopets.com at all, so cancelling is handled by an entirely different group of people.

[Asparagus Queen]

One of my friends is going through that right now. She's going to call her credit card company and get a hold on it, because she can't get anyone who will cancel it.

I do like the basic set up of the rules, it's a lot better than it used to be. But it says you can't post link to third party commercial sites. What about non-commercial sites? It won't let you post those either, but it doesn't say you can't.

[Trick]

That's what I thought, too, but the "you may freely transfer items among your accounts but they should be on the same e-mail address as your main account" is interesting -- it makes it sound like we can send things from secondary-main if we want. If we really can't, they should clarify that.

Ooh, that's interesting - I'd missed that bit. It sounds like it does indeed mean we can transfer RE items to main accounts It seems like the kind of thing they would have made clear was an exception if it isn't allowed.

[Asparagus Queen]

Wait, I just saw this:

Q. I recently got a warning for putting a picture of myself on my user page. Why can't I do that?
A. We don't allow people to post any personal information on Neopets, including such as name, address, telephone number, email address, instant messenger username, or pictures of themselves or their friends. We want a safe site and that is why we do not allow anyone to share any of this personally identifiable information. Additionally, don't try to circumvent this rule by linking to your picture off site. Neopia is a safe world and we want to keep it that way.

But I see people all the time with their real name in the name spot on your user look up.


Edit: And this one

Q. I am throwing a huge party on the boards and want to invite Lawyerbot. Can he come?
A. Sorry to be a party pooper, but we don't allow parties on any boards in Neopets, even if we are invited. This includes Guild parties, slumber parties, house parties, spin the bottle, truth or dare, beach parties, hot tub parties, parties in role play, parties via instant messaging (aim/msn/yahoo), etc.

What's a "party"? We have parties in our guild, but that just means we all try to get on the message board to chat and to talk about old times. That's not really a party, but what is?

[mogster500]

Wait, I just saw this:

Q. I recently got a warning for putting a picture of myself on my user page. Why can't I do that?
A. We don't allow people to post any personal information on Neopets, including such as name, address, telephone number, email address, instant messenger username, or pictures of themselves or their friends. We want a safe site and that is why we do not allow anyone to share any of this personally identifiable information. Additionally, don't try to circumvent this rule by linking to your picture off site. Neopia is a safe world and we want to keep it that way.

But I see people all the time with their real name in the name spot on your user look up.


Edit: And this one

Q. I am throwing a huge party on the boards and want to invite Lawyerbot. Can he come?
A. Sorry to be a party pooper, but we don't allow parties on any boards in Neopets, even if we are invited. This includes Guild parties, slumber parties, house parties, spin the bottle, truth or dare, beach parties, hot tub parties, parties in role play, parties via instant messaging (aim/msn/yahoo), etc.

What's a "party"? We have parties in our guild, but that just means we all try to get on the message board to chat and to talk about old times. That's not really a party, but what is?

1. I have my real name on my userlookup, should I change it? It doesn't really bother me.

2. In my guild, on fridays we throw a bunch of junk items at each other and have fun. Is that considered a party?

[everconfused]

Ah, but AQ, that wasn't in the rules before - the not putting your pics, personal info of any kind anywhere - but people have been warned, lookups, etc. have been cleared, I know of a couple of people who got warned and their siggys cleared because they had their LJ or DJ names in them. Maybe they should change it so your real name never shows up on your lookup? I honestly think it would be safer.

I will say alot of us have our real first name in our siggy somewhere. I wonder if we should remove that? It made things so much more personal when there's a big board going and everyone kind of knows each other.

I am so glad for that clarification. I just hope people will actually read the new T&C and the FAQ. It's written so much more clearly. Maybe we'll see less of the boards/neomails asking for peoples' emails and IM.

Outside links of any kind are and have been a no-no, I think PinkPT or PPT is allowed on the boards now, but I remember when it wasn't. Then again, I recall you couldn't type the word cookie on the boards.

The clarification on bad words is good - but I really think they need a filter for people when making up user and/or pet names to stop some of them before they get made. Way too many "inappropriate" names on the site.

Cranberry, I remember the summer of the mass "game cheat" freezings - that was so horrible, and some people never did get their accounts back. I know what they say and they've been saying it - that there's no such thing as a freeze bot and that mass reporting won't get you frozen. But considering some of the freezings I've witnessed, I'm sorry, I have to wonder about that.

Parties - I think that got put in the rules because of the silly people trying to have things like "slumber parties", things like that. Never say anywhere that there's a party for anything. For your guild, just have someone post that whatever day is important to post on the guild board, I gues, something like that.

The whole multiple account thing is very good - I would have liked to have seen an inclusion of You can send enough np from your main to your other accounts to support those accounts ... something along those lines. That question did come up on the boards earlier.

The only thing that wasn't touched on at all and something that affects alot of us is ... sharing a computer. People with separate emails, but on the same IP.

For example, I have a few things sitting in my SDB that I'd love to give to my roomie for her gallery. She's told me she has some things (don't know what) in her SDB that she has no use for. So, what I'd like to do is set up a trade with the items I have for her gallery, she could bid with the items she has and doesn't want. Sounds simple, right?

But since we do share a computer and therefore an IP, I won't do it simply because I don't want our accounts to end up frozen for "multi accounting".

All in all though, I must say I'm impressed. Things have been made very easy to read (no legal-speak ... party of the first part, party of the second part blah blah blah stuff) and some of the big issues were addressed.

[TyRazzle]

Q. I recently got a warning for putting a picture of myself on my user page. Why can't I do that?
A. We don't allow people to post any personal information on Neopets, including such as name, address, telephone number, email address, instant messenger username, or pictures of themselves or their friends. We want a safe site and that is why we do not allow anyone to share any of this personally identifiable information. Additionally, don't try to circumvent this rule by linking to your picture off site. Neopia is a safe world and we want to keep it that way.

I find this kinda of funny seeing as how my account username is my name. Mind you it is only my first name and I never divulge my last name anywhere but there are many people who have created their accounts using their names in some form or fashion.

[zer0ordi3yo]

I think it's funny how when you sign up they ask for your first n last name and then they put it on your userlookup, and then say "you cant post your name on neopets"...

Unless they changed that feature.

[Sylence]

well I sent in a question to the editorial wanting clarificaiton about auctions and trades especially trades I agree and was thinking that same question how do we get points to the other account if we cant do anything and my shop was made before galleries were made now I use it for guild stuff from time to time a member will kick up points and I'll go on a buy and give away spree but thats not a party.. we have guild get togethers and events once a week where we just share things.. so now they are gonna have people living in party fear (again) ugh