ANGRY!!! Cancelled?!

[OmniIcyshelf]

You know what I see happening here? The marketing guys at Neopets inc. are breathing down Adam and Donna's necks, telling them to hurry up and maket he plots so that they co-incide with the TCG.

This is NOT the fault of Adam and Donna. I mean, why would you screw up something you spend time on working on? The Hannah Plot had potential. A lot of it. But I'm guessing those in higher authority told Adam and Donna that it needed to be out ona certain date, finish on a certain date. But what do you expect? Some people, especially those with little understanding of the site, expect quantity over quality. Those marketing guys couldn't give a damn if the plot was great or mediocre or downright dissmal. So long as there was a plot and people were clicking on the page, and buying their products, they were happy. That's my theory at least.

So Adam and Donna = 1337ness
Marketing guys and Doug Dohnut = Honourary pain in the donkey

It surprises me how people can have such a clear understanding of the inner workings of Neopets Inc... you do need facts to support your statements you know.

It manifests itself in the way the corporate execs at Neopets present themselves to the media. Read the articles about and interviews for Doug Dohring- He paints a picture of Neopets that is VERY different from the one we have now, sugar-coating things such as the way advertising is run on the site- As I understand it, this interview was done three years ago, and you'd think from the way Dohring responds to the interviewer that things like the crappy banner ads we get today would never show up on the site.

[Twisted Sanity]

You know what I see happening here? The marketing guys at Neopets inc. are breathing down Adam and Donna's necks, telling them to hurry up and maket he plots so that they co-incide with the TCG.

This is NOT the fault of Adam and Donna. I mean, why would you screw up something you spend time on working on? The Hannah Plot had potential. A lot of it. But I'm guessing those in higher authority told Adam and Donna that it needed to be out ona certain date, finish on a certain date. But what do you expect? Some people, especially those with little understanding of the site, expect quantity over quality. Those marketing guys couldn't give a damn if the plot was great or mediocre or downright dissmal. So long as there was a plot and people were clicking on the page, and buying their products, they were happy. That's my theory at least.

So Adam and Donna = 1337ness
Marketing guys and Doug Dohnut = Honourary pain in the donkey

It surprises me how people can have such a clear understanding of the inner workings of Neopets Inc... you do need facts to support your statements you know.

Well unless you work there, you can't make many statements that are probably incorrect. I'm just stating my opinion. I see you're not going off at all the people bagging out Adam and Donna. I just see it as if Adam and Donna are being pushed into making this new content, and are being told to do it as fast as possible. And it would make a lot of sense.

The big executives probably have no idea aobut how Neopes works on the inside. I'm doubting even Doug knows more than what he gathers. He probably wouldn't know the difference between a Kacheek and a Skeith. But again, this is an assumption with no evidence.

It manifests itself in the way the corporate execs at Neopets present themselves to the media. Read the articles about and interviews for Doug Dohring- He paints a picture of Neopets that is VERY different from the one we have now, sugar-coating things such as the way advertising is run on the site- As I understand it, this interview was done three years ago, and you'd think from the way Dohring responds to the interviewer that things like the crappy banner ads we get today would never show up on the site.

That's one of the reasons I'm being led to believe what I believe. If you can't trust the Head Honcho, you can't predict what he will do next, as his promises are usually empty and meaningless. But then, try to think in his perspective... You own a whopping massive company with over 20 million mindless drones at your bidding with which you can force any manner of advertising upon. But you gotta keep em happy. So, you get those in charge of content to spew out as much stuff as possible, as fast as possible to keep them interested, as you continue to force ad after ad upon them. I can see this as a very real possibility.

I also agree that the marriage of content updates to merchandising seems to be the source of the problems. I hope they manage to get that worked out better. I don't mind at all if content is related to merchandise, as long as it's properly planned out.

This is the source of all evil Neo-related. Those in charge of merchandising are pushing Adam and Donna to make content to match the merchandise so that people will buy it. And it works. I mean, if the TCG game gives you a bigger insight to the plot, some people will buy them, just for that. And it raises awareness of the merchandise.

I mean, seriously. All those people that bag out Adam and Donna have to remember that even thought hey control content, they aren't the people in charge of Neopets. And sometimes, the big honcho might ask for the plot to be over in time for some reason, and they have no choice but to oblige.
Because, I mean honestly, why would TNT want to finish the plot so fast? What good would it have done, other than annoy everyone? You'd think that after several years running this site, Adam and Donna would know that a good plot is not one that annoys people. I'm positive that they're not stupid.

[everconfused]

Chiming in here ... I didn't follow the whole Mystery Island plot. I just got too confused (big surprise, right?). But I did start to follow the plot that went with the last war. It was rushed, it was sloppily done. And then the plot part was never finished.

That is disappointing and people have the right to feel the way they do. On the other hand, I would imagine that the staff right up to Adam and Donna are also disappointed with the way everything worked (or didn't work) out.

I agree that alot of the decisions on what gets done, what the time frame is and whether or not something actually IS completed or completed to the satisfaction of at least most of the members (and staff) does come from the "higher ups". And those people probably are completely clueless about what the heck the site really IS about. I just can't see DD or any of the other suits sitting and actually playing on the site for any length of time. If they do cruise the site, it's to see what ads are where, how many page hits, etc. They, I would suspect, don't give a hoot about whether or not the members are happy. And they won't - unless and until people start leaving in droves and stop buying any and all merchandise.

I wish Adam, Donna, et al. still owned/had control of the site. Even with the growth and popularity I feel that it would be a different place with different priorities ... yes, making money - that's a given that money has to be made and deserves to be made. But I think they truly do care about the members ... the reason the site is actually there. Not just as a vehicle to the next TCG or RL plushie release.

[Qanda]

I'm just getting tired at people always lashing out at Doug Dohring and blaming him for everything and anything that goes wrong. It is as if he is this evil menacing mastermind responsible for all the failures and disappoinments on Neopets.

I am in no way defending him, and he probably is guilty of many of the faults he is constantly accused of, but there is no simply no excuse for slandering someone without having proper facts or an in-depth understanding of the Neopets corporation at all.

Even Adam himself made promises and broke them before. And the illogical thing is when Adam breaks a promise, who do people blame now? Doug Dohring. For all you know Adam and Donna have their own failings too. Remember how we had to remind him to update the plot by clicking on some gimmicky link? And even that didn't work well.

So please, stop the childish flames and name-calling (Doug-Doughnut, Honorary Pain in the Donkey etc) which are based on empty assumptions. I know it makes people feel better to attribute all the blame to some tyrant figure, but even Donna says that

A lot of unforseen things happened both work and non-work related that prevented us from completing it.

[o_0]

A lot of unforseen things happened both work and non-work related that prevented us from completing it.

That could be anything from too many artists moving to TCG making to an overload of holidays in the winter season (in which you must have work parties for ).

[Medusa]

Are you ever going to finish the guildmasters dinner? - Coww_coolie_o4
I have updated the guildmaster's dinner. Unfortunately we do not have time to finish it, it was bad timing on our part. A lot of unforseen things happened both work and non-work related that prevented us from completing it. Now it is better for us to move on and make sure it never happens again.

From the Editorial

"...never happens again..." is it just me, am I going mad or have we heard that before?

[OmniIcyshelf]

I'm just getting tired at people always lashing out at Doug Dohring and blaming him for everything and anything that goes wrong. It is as if he is this evil menacing mastermind responsible for all the failures and disappoinments on Neopets.

I am in no way defending him, and he probably is guilty of many of the faults he is constantly accused of, but there is no simply no excuse for slandering someone without having proper facts or an in-depth understanding of the Neopets corporation at all.

Even Adam himself made promises and broke them before. And the illogical thing is when Adam breaks a promise, who do people blame now? Doug Dohring. For all you know Adam and Donna have their own failings too. Remember how we had to remind him to update the plot by clicking on some gimmicky link? And even that didn't work well.

So please, stop the childish flames and name-calling (Doug-Doughnut, Honorary Pain in the Donkey etc) which are based on empty assumptions. I know it makes people feel better to attribute all the blame to some tyrant figure, but even Donna says that

A lot of unforseen things happened both work and non-work related that prevented us from completing it.

We're not blaming everything that goes wrong on him. I myself do, however, blame him for the heavy commercialization that's been gradually ruining the site, for the banner ads (I could understand those if they weren't from crappy advertisers and didn't kill page-loading time), poor management of some of the staff... Sugar-coating problems when addressing the players (Nearly ALL of the staff have done that), etc., etc., etc.

[Twisted Sanity]

I'm just getting tired at people always lashing out at Doug Dohring and blaming him for everything and anything that goes wrong. It is as if he is this evil menacing mastermind responsible for all the failures and disappoinments on Neopets.

I am in no way defending him, and he probably is guilty of many of the faults he is constantly accused of, but there is no simply no excuse for slandering someone without having proper facts or an in-depth understanding of the Neopets corporation at all.

Even Adam himself made promises and broke them before. And the illogical thing is when Adam breaks a promise, who do people blame now? Doug Dohring. For all you know Adam and Donna have their own failings too. Remember how we had to remind him to update the plot by clicking on some gimmicky link? And even that didn't work well.

So please, stop the childish flames and name-calling (Doug-Doughnut, Honorary Pain in the Donkey etc) which are based on empty assumptions. I know it makes people feel better to attribute all the blame to some tyrant figure, but even Donna says that

A lot of unforseen things happened both work and non-work related that prevented us from completing it.

We're not blaming everything that goes wrong on him. I myself do, however, blame him for the heavy commercialization that's been gradually ruining the site, for the banner ads (I could understand those if they weren't from crappy advertisers and didn't kill page-loading time), poor management of some of the staff... Sugar-coating problems when addressing the players (Nearly ALL of the staff have done that), etc., etc., etc.

In the end, everything that goes on can be controlled and stopped or rushed by Doug. So he is the one people blame. And it's a natural instinct almost, blaming those in authority, especially if they're an unknown force.

I mean, Microsoft is gaining a bad reputation, and so is Bill Gates. Neopets is gaining a bad reputation, and so is Dohring. Those in authority gain or lose their reputation according to the errors and gains of their product/service. That's why everyone blames Dohring.

While I cannot say for certain that he gave the thumbs-up for the ads, I'm almost certain that he had a say in it, and that he supported it. I mean, I KNOW that Adam hates banner ads. Don't ask me for references or links, for I do not have them. But I have read somewhere that Adam hates banner ads. So the decision most likely did not come from him. And since we don't know the name of any of the suits above Adam, other than Dohring, guess who we blame? If knew the name of those in charge of marketing and money issues, I would be bagging them out, because it is THEIR fault. But since I don't know them, I will blame Dohring because he most likely gave the thumbs-up.

[OmniIcyshelf]

Well, Qanda does have a point. We don't know ENOGUH about the power of the lower-downs- We already know Dohring's attitude, though, and we can make unreasonable judgements based on that attitude without knowing what the rest of the system has done- Like how some people will blame anything that smacks of negativity directly on Bush without considering or even knowing the way the system works.

If I sound like an idiot, It's because I'm up early.

[Twisted Sanity]

Maybe, I admit that I have been bagging out Dohring quite a lot recently. But the fact remains that he is still in charge, and so, we still have a right to blame him for a variety of different things.

Whilst I do not know (not do I care) about his personality or what kind of person he is, I do know that he has approved of some rash decisions regarding the site. Therefore, I blame him. He can stop the ads anytime he wishes. But he won't, meaning he approves of them. That's why I blame him.

[Qanda]

Maybe, I admit that I have been bagging out Dohring quite a lot recently. But the fact remains that he is still in charge, and so, we still have a right to blame him for a variety of different things.

Whilst I do not know (not do I care) about his personality or what kind of person he is, I do know that he has approved of some rash decisions regarding the site. Therefore, I blame him. He can stop the ads anytime he wishes. But he won't, meaning he approves of them. That's why I blame him.

Ok, fine, I understand what you mean, but you have to agree that other people may be at fault here too, including Adam and Donna. Perhaps Adam was just lazy as usual and would rather spend time munching on asparagus than doing the plot.

[Twisted Sanity]

Maybe, I admit that I have been bagging out Dohring quite a lot recently. But the fact remains that he is still in charge, and so, we still have a right to blame him for a variety of different things.

Whilst I do not know (not do I care) about his personality or what kind of person he is, I do know that he has approved of some rash decisions regarding the site. Therefore, I blame him. He can stop the ads anytime he wishes. But he won't, meaning he approves of them. That's why I blame him.

Ok, fine, I understand what you mean, but you have to agree that other people may be at fault here too, including Adam and Donna. Perhaps Adam was just lazy as usual and would rather spend time munching on asparagus than doing the plot.

Yeah, I can't deny thats a possibility. But, I still reckon that the plot was rushed on purpose, so that the users could have some time before the next TCG comes out.

I don't think that Adam would purposefully give himself a bad reputation by rushing the plot. After running Neopets for a couple of years, he'd know that rushing anything leads to complaints. Which is probably why he's avoiding PPT right now

For the sake of not having to lock this board due to flaming, lets just agree to disagree on the matter.

[TDG]

"We don't have enough time to spend about three minutes adding the clues that should have been prewritten onto the site..."

PPT needs a Quatsch! smilie (German...look it up)

And since it fits the mood so well I'll post my lookup notice...

My congratulations to The Neopets Team for a wonderful war.

I loved the way you rushed the plot, and rushed the war as well,
The way the boss was never slayed really was quite swell

Closing the dome after mere days,
of fiercely fighting second waves

Made my heart just leap for joy,
I love my cruddy icy toy

I'd like to thank every writer,
For patience of all the fighters

This really is the final straw,
One more failure and I'm out the door

Who cares about the points I spent ??
With my prize my tensions went

The prizes were so worth the wait
My plushie is worth in gold it's weight

I thank thee writers who do not care
About the players that keep them there

Without our pageclicks you'd have no job
Make better choices you lazy slobs!

Your idea of a prize is not that great
I hope you've made a large mistake

Not worth my time are you my friend
So like the war I'll rush the.

[Magica]

I wanted that Battleduck avatar

[Tizzy]

Ahh, I LOVE the feeling of angry vibes here!