The Current State of Neopia

[_B4U_]

- HUGE Banner Ads

Easily avoided with the css formatting trick. They still load, but you can't see them.

Yes, but they still take up ... visible space.

They don't take up any space on the browser when blocked with the css formatting. (Note: I am not in any way defending the banner ads, I hate them)

[Fishblade_Bluestream]

I think the only recent con is the Hannah plot, but this new Maraqua one looks fantastic, and now Neo know how to do wars.

Besides, the more mistakes they make, the smarter they get!

And how can you say the mechindise is crappy? They have PPTs, people! PPTs!

[_B4U_]

Besides, the more mistakes they make, the smarter they get!

O_o

Do you have proof of this?

[tezeti]

Oh will you stop the constant whining? Neopets was created for fun, the least the creators want is for them to be bashed on a site where it's FREE to do fun stuff. Hell, if you guys didn't have Neopets you'd be slumpin' around the house cryin' "Wahh. Mommy, I can't do anything. It's so BORING!"

Here you are complaining so much about so-called "bad-service" on their site, hey, I am sure some people were unrightfully banned here, PPT made a mistake, does Neopet's bash us? No. Sure they make mistakes alot, but, what do you expect? ROBOTS?! They're humans like you and me! They have to handle such a big site! C'mon, you'd make mistakes too, admit it.

At any given time, they can explode with all the bashings, when they do.....No more Neopets...Which would mean no more PPT. Slumpin'. I don't think TNT likes being called "idiot" sometimes. Or "moronic", "idiotic" "stupid" or "dumb". Right, Adam? Right, Donna?

Call me a suck-up, I kick you. I am just trying to stop the flaming that some of you do. Not all of you, some of you.

----------------------------------------------------------

Anyways, I am quite proud of Neopets now, they have improved from when they first started! Remember those old neggs? Remember the color jobs? Heh. Look at them now, they are awsomeley awsome!! I don't know why you guys think that Maraquan Gelert is bad, I think it is the best Gelert color, right? The new thick lines on those shopkeepers give more life to the image, right? The games now are so detailed and tricky, I bet they got smarter than before! The new server is very fast, except for the odd laggy day, but who cares? Atleast it isn't DfM!

FYI, I like everything Neopets is doing, WHO HERE AGREES?

The locking of useless topics seems like an idea of PPT's. They must lurk here. I love whenever they spoof us in one of their products. Frozen Accounts and Banner Ads!

Of course they need ads, they need them for the site to stay alive. I for one am glad they do ads.




Evil or Very Mad LONGEST. POST. EVER. Evil or Very Mad

There are many alternatives to Neopests which are better. A site must be able to take suggestions/comments from both Ne00bs and Anti-Neopians. A few mistakes on their part would be fine, but not when they have banned me on numerous occasions when all I did was dislike Neopests. Neopests does NOT need the ads to stay around since they had already advertised TOO MUCH before and it is run by a millionaire. Does Powerpets, a better site than Neopests in many users opinions, have as many banner ads as Neope$t$? And the "improved" artwork does not mean the site has improved. It went from a fair site to one where people can't say "Merry Christmas" without getting warned and where 45 percent of all users are frozen.

- Tezeti, An Antineopian

[Fishblade_Bluestream]

Besides, the more mistakes they make, the smarter they get!

O_o

Do you have proof of this?

Well, it works for most people. XD

As for Mr. Hate here... listen, we're not making you play Neopets. You're also not making us quit. Please don't rant about how much Neopets sucks here. And upgrade your "statistics" so they're a little bit more factual than, say, the Today-Tonight conspiracy. Thanks.

[Morningstar]

Hafta throw my two cents in. Personally, I think Neopets is going to go where it is going to go. I know that sounds a bit strange, but, honestly, it has nothing to do with what we think is great/horrible about the site. All sorts of number crunching, ad space, business talk that we users know nothing about influences whether the site makes it or not.

And, to tell the truth, I really like the site now. I put up with way too many glitches in the past (ask anyone around here how much I complained about the items I had lost to glitches). And, now that they have outsourced their computer programming, it seems a lot better. Sure, it is slow at times--but at least you don't have to hold your breath every time you do a quick stock--which I know some of us did there for awhile. And, this comes from a person who participated in the Day of Action after having three major glitches hit me in a 24 hour period.

Ads--yes, I hate them. But, they do need to be there if you want to play for free. I see them on other game sites--like zone.com and popcap.com, so they really are no big deal. I don't like how they clutter up my cookies and temp files, but once again, price you pay for free stuff.

It seems to me that with their suspension rule, the staff is becoming more responsive. And that they are really trying to get rid of scammers/hackers/autobuyers, so I have to applaud them for that.

So, call me crazy, but I think that the site has come around. It isn't like it was when I first started playing Neopets, but it seems much better than it was a year ago.

[Erin]

Thank you, Morningstar. I agree with you completely.

So, call me crazy, but I think that the site has come around. It isn't like it was when I first started playing Neopets, but it seems much better than it was a year ago.

To add to this last part - Everything's a trade-off. Sure, the site might not be as intimate or user-friendly as it was 3 years ago. And yes, it's bigger and therefore requires the installment of banner ads. I know this bothers people. But look at how much higher the quality of the content is now! There are tons more activities now than there were back then, the art is better, everything is more interactive. The site has so much more potential now. I love it, personally. I wouldn't spend so much time on it if I didn't.

Of course, there's just no pleasing some people, I guess.

[Cyanna]

I thought the suspensions were a good thing because it didn't mean getting frozen for a first offence....which is a very good thing if that "first offence" was accident, unintentional or even nonexistant as they have been for some people.

[whitesandy]

Ads--yes, I hate them. But, they do need to be there if you want to play for free. I see them on other game sites--like zone.com and popcap.com, so they really are no big deal. I don't like how they clutter up my cookies and temp files, but once again, price you pay for free stuff.

It seems to me that with their suspension rule, the staff is becoming more responsive. And that they are really trying to get rid of scammers/hackers/autobuyers, so I have to applaud them for that.

So, call me crazy, but I think that the site has come around. It isn't like it was when I first started playing Neopets, but it seems much better than it was a year ago.

As usual i agree with your post. Ads R a small price to live with IF u want to play for free and mind u most viable games are pay2play and many have died once they started charging. If neopets started charging i guess the uproar would be worse than the 'oh so many ads' whines now. Who loves ads? Not me! But its part and parcel of a business to survive. And heck we arent paying customers so why should they listen to us in the first place? Some online games dont even listen to their customers who PAY.

The improvements on neo are obvious. No more scammers hackers and autobuyers. Those whining abt these changes are either those belonging to the groups mentioned above or they dont know abt the old problems. Many have quit neopets due to the above mentioned reasons... I think neopets has improved tremendously and despite the glitches it remains one of the most entertaining and innovative websites to pass my time away.

Sure nothing is perfect but like morningstar has said earlier neo has been improving by protecting their players and meting out justice the way they deem fit. At least with the temp suspensions it gives those who think they were wrongly frozen to plead their case. So kudos to TNT staff for all they have done

[hydruxo]

PPT uses banner ads so why can't Neopets? o.o

[WIS]

PPT uses banner ads so why can't Neopets? o.o

I think the biggest concern is the leftover trash from the ads. PPT just uses one type of an ad, and its not all that big to begin with.

Anyways, I really dont mind the ads much. I've been on the internet long enough to just blank out the ads.

As for Powerpets, I think they are planning to have big ads too. They said it in the news somewhere. =\

If Neopets is ran by a millionare, I'm sure that millionare would like to keep his millionare status. He is only human, he doesnt want to lose all his money by cutting off all sponsers. I mean, be reasonable here. Neopets has also been trying to come up with other ways. Merchandise, TCG cards, the best and most effective way is banner ads. I don't mind them at all except for the occasional Neoquest game.

[TDG]

Pro - Mod G.zip

Cons -

Stupid Sidebar change
Breaking almost every promise they make
Nowhere near enough sidebar themes
Lack of a decent site guide for newbies
Freezing people unfairly
Lack of editorial search feature which would avoid the same questions each week
Changing the site from a college students site to a 4 year old girl site
Cancelling the sloth plot to make a plot better only to have the second plot suck
Ruining the HC from the good ol' days
Ruining Emplyment agency
Creating pet after pet after pet without focussing on the first few
Letting absolute bull like THIS into the NT whilst rejecting good articles written by people that know what they are talking about
Drop in quality of recent art (Polarchuck shopkeepers, Baby Koi, Maraquan Gelert etc...)
War "prizes"
Crud support crew
User-lookup contest being ignored
Releasing a TCG pack every three months causing them to focus less on the site
Doug Dohring
Easy-to-get avatars with no challenge
Accepting my article at exactly Dec. 18th, 2003, 05:39 pm and then never publishing it into the Neopian Times

[cipher_text]

what i want to know is if anyone is gonna do anything about this

[Asthaloth]

PPT uses banner ads so why can't Neopets? o.o

note neopets' pageviews, consider the bandwidth cost.
note ppt's pageviews, note its lower cost.
now note that the most cynical person you could ever hope to meet (or never meet depending upon your alignment) isnt complaining.. why you probably dont care?
because i know the costs of running such a massive site, paying the wages of one hundred known people (i just counted, though i ahve a sneeky suspision i counted adam and donna twice..) and maintaining a sucesful site (for the most part pretty well) inspite of many peoples best efforts (case and point: go on the neoboards about midnight..)

inspite of some peoples belief, they are only human.
now cue the two dozen responses regarding me as an idiot and or ignoring me altogether.

[TDG]

PPT uses banner ads so why can't Neopets? o.o

note neopets' pageviews, consider the bandwidth cost.
note ppt's pageviews, note its lower cost.
now note that the most cynical person you could ever hope to meet (or never meet depending upon your alignment) isnt complaining.. why you probably dont care?
because i know the costs of running such a massive site, paying the wages of one hundred known people (i just counted, though i ahve a sneeky suspision i counted adam and donna twice..) and maintaining a sucesful site (for the most part pretty well) inspite of many peoples best efforts (case and point: go on the neoboards about midnight..)

inspite of some peoples belief, they are only human.
now cue the two dozen responses regarding me as an idiot and or ignoring me altogether.

In an article published in 2003 Doug Dohring released the info that $11 million US wouldn't be far off for the 2001 figures (I think, I may be recalling incorrectly but I'm 99% sure thats what he said). Since then they've increased popularity and revenue. We're now just in 2005, you can't tell me paying 100 staff, some of which do not work full time or in jobs that require large amounts of money, and hosting costs $11 million US.

Remember that that was a figure essentially from 3 years ago.