comton, maybe you should send the question into Donna's editiorials in the Neopian Times. If anyone should know the answer, it would be her or Adam.
By the way, I was attempting to find something about it in the news for the year 2000. No luck, but anytime you have a few moments, you should take a look at the news from way back when Neo first started. It is quite interesting to see just how fast Neopets grew and how the original people (Donna, Adam, and a few others) tried to keep up with the scammers/cheaters and bugs while adding new items, pets, games every day.
Tested made this fabulous set for me!!! Isn't it great?