Neopian Times

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	Dates and sources of changes needed, and condensing/rewriting sections

The Neopian Times is the weekly Neopets newspaper first released on January 25, 2000. Released every Friday (unless time constraints can't allow it), the content of the newspaper is all user submitted, ranging from articles about certain Neopets features or fan fiction told through stories or comics. It also features an editorial by site administrator and Neopets co-creator Donna Williams, which answers user submitted questions about Neopets, making it the best source of information about Neopets straight from The Neopets Team.

Contents

Originally featuring only a few articles in the beginning, the Neopian Times has become a large weekly project filled with user submitted articles, stories and comics. There are 4 categories user can enter there submissions into: Articles, Short Stories, Comics and Series, each of which having their own different content.

Articles do not tell a stories, but act as informative writing teaching users about a certain aspect of Neopets, such as its games or certain characters and giving tips of how to enjoy Neopets more. Articles can also contain ficticious news coverage of Neopia, including interviews with characters such as Sloth's Mom. Articles are between 1,000 - 50,000 words long.

Short Stories contain Neopets-themed short stories ranging from many different topics (comedy, adventure, horror, etc.). Stories can be about anything the user chooses so long as it stays Neopets-themed and is within the guidelines of the Neopian Times. Short stories are between 1200 - 4000 words long.

Comics contain pictures or art drawn/animated by the user depicting Neopets situations, usually containing jokes or a serious plot line. Users can also submit other forms of art besides pictures, such as photos of Neopets merchandise or Adobe Flash animation. Comics are accepted in GIF and JPEG format, ranging 470 pixels in width and 200 KB in file size.

The final category users can submit to is Series, which is the most difficult to work for. A series is a fictional story far too long to be a short story (more than 4000 words), and must be told over a series of parts. When a new series is submitted into the Neopian Times, it continues to feature in the "continued series" section in the following weeks Neopian Times until its final part is shown. Series average 6-8 parts (the number The Neopets Team asks for so other authors have a chance to be published), with a limit of 12 parts, each of which can be 1,500 - 50,000 in size.

Along with all the user submitted content, users can ask questions straight to The Neopets Team through the Editorial. Questions that are picked are usually random, but are hand picked by the TNT if they deem it necessary to be answered. Questions from game play, real life merchandise, rules of playing Neopets, suggestions or simple praise of Neopets. Jokes with questions are prominent in many of the answers, but all the answers give some insight to Neopets. The Editorial is perhaps the most popular feature of the Neopian Times, due to the fact TNT is directly interacting with the community.

Appearance

Over the years the Neopian Times has gone through many appearance changes. The first few issues appearance had a banner of a man and a woman in 80's style with the text "For an easier life". Users could send in short stories, series and comics (comics section didn't appear until a later date). Pages still exist, but the links to the stories and comics don't work any more.

The second version was released on (need date) and was made out of tables. While continuing to showcase stories, an official comics section was introduced in issue 57. This version also had a Guild Spotlight, showcasing certain guilds on Neopets, but was stopped in issue ?, around the same time the banner was replaced with a gold engraving of a Jubjub reading the Neopian Times. The link to these issues do not go to the old issues, but redirect to the newest version of the Neopian times.

The third look was a bigger version of the second look. A Quote of The Week was added, which quoted a line of text out of a story in that issue, along with a sidebar on the right which contained direct links to stories/comics, saving the user time by not having to search for individual stories in their own sections. Also, if a user was reading an article with a certain character in it that was in another one that issue, a direct link to it would appear on the sidebar as well. the buttons used to navigate the sections were made smaller, and the banner with the Jubjub was now changed to how many Neopians had read the Neopian Times instead of just saying 12,500,000.

The most recent version is similar to the third design, but it is easier to navigate (The featured stories on the front page are in a blue table for example). The navigation buttons were replaced with text and a random caption was posted on the left under the banner. The banner read The Neopian Times with a blue quill on each side.

Editors

The first editor of the Neopian times was Josh, or better known as Mr. Shankly. His trademark was his love of dung and most of the submissions in his last issue, issue 75, contained dung as a farewell gift, such a hippiesoul's short story The Dung Hero. The Editor who replaced him was Felicia, better known as Ms. Snowflake. She worked at Neopets in various roles (such as Email Support) and rose the ranks to become the Neopian Times Editor until she left on issue 195 to become an accountant. Droplet, Snowflake's assistant, continued as editor and has been they editor of the times up November 2006.

Inside references

Over the years as the Neopian Times community grew, the writers began to have an influence over the content of the Times, the White Weewoo being the most prominent example. The author laurensama, also known as Linny, wanted a White Weewoo to resemble Hedwig from Harry Potter so much, fellow authors hid White Weewoo references in their stories, comics and articles, and even made it one of the symbols for the Neopian Times Writer's Forum. An official drawing of a White Weewoo was finally seen in the story The Weewoo of White, and an official item image was found on October 23, 2003. Snowflake gave the authors who were published in that week's issue a White Petpet Paintbrush, and the White Weewoo was released on October 28 (or 26/27), and could be seen as an Neopets holiday for writers.

There is also Chet Flash, a fictional and non-existent character in the Neopian Times, who is seen pretty much everywhere in comics, articles, and even stories. The exact date of Chet Flash's first appearance in the Times is currently unknown but the idea of such began at the character began in a NTWF forum thread.

Criteria for publication

Forbidden

• hybrids (Neopets or humans mixed with different species)
• anything too bloody
• dating, kissing
• referring to time periods that occurred on Earth and not Neopia, stories that take place on Earth, Neopets discovering our solar system and Earth, or anything specifically from Earth
• explaining humans' origins in Neopia
• articles discussing the new NT rules
• hybrid pets (two Neopets species combined into one)
• cults (but 'leagues' and 'clans' are okay!)
• buses
• sponsor stuff
• two story series by the same author going on at same time
• Neopets drinking from the toilet
• the phrase "Shut up"
• Neopets eating out of dog bowls and acting like Earth pets
• faeries of a type not mentioned on the site
• killing off most of the characters
• a made up, non-human, non-Faerie, non-Neopet monster that was never mentioned on Neopets before
• seances
• Neopolice (Instead, we have superheroes in spandex.)
• writing about a pet painted a colour that doesn't exist yet (such as an Asparagus Kacheek)
• two parents in a custody battle over a child
• uniquely coloured pets (ie: Fire pet with green flames)

Allowed

• Exploring a totally new made up world either in Neopia or on a different planet
• Alternate realities (depends)
• character crushes and infatuations
• telegrams, newspapers, messengers
• humans, as long as they are owners or characters on the site that are human-like
• anthropomorphic animals
• anthropomorphic Neopets
• magic
• high-tech security systems (because it's in NeoHomes)
• technology that came specifically from the Space Station
• time travel
• speakers
• security guards
• pets in the hospital
• journal style stories
• pets moving from their Neohome
• the phrase "I love you" only if its a fraternal/friendly relationship
• inventing new creatures, just as long as they aren't the main characters
• owners transforming into pets
• dedicating your story to someone
• cameras
• talking to ghosts
• rare diseases that don't exist anywhere else
• pets with disabilities
• mind control
• pets dying
• LCD screens, ray guns, space ships, radar, and other things sold in the Space Station
• marriages
• families of Neopets (as long as you don't mention where the babies came from.)
• non-helpful or parody articles
• characters being consumed by dark magic
• holographic pets
• comic series
• non comical comics
• wagons
• slide projectors, as long as they're antiquated
• series of unrelated short stories featuring the same characters
• petpets can die, but only if they're eaten by Turmaculus, or a Skeith or Grarrl
• stoves (as long as it's not mentioned that they're powered by electricity or gas)
• kidnapping
• bribery
• birthmarks, scars, clothing, hair, accessories, tattoos
• dyed fur
• extreme weather (ie: tornadoes, waterspouts, earthquakes)
• pets wearing glasses
• overweight pets
• insane pets
• hybrid pets that The Neopets Team has created (ie: Geirrod Sternhoof)

Debatable

The following are items that are debatable in if they will be accepted in the Times or not, as data within the Neopets website shows it's okay to talk about.

• cars
• computers
• jail/prisons
• Jelly World (Unless you're saying something like "It doesn't exist.")
• male faeries (Debatable, as Jacob wrote 4 stories with such a character)
• permanent injuries, amputations, etc.
• phones
• planes
• radios
• the phrase "DIE!" or "Prepare to die!"
• TVs
• two/three headed Neopets unless they're already on the site
• video games

Trivia

• The issue count (week 1, week 2, etc.) was reset in the third version of the Neopian Times.

External links

• Latest Issue: The Neopian Times
• Neopian Times Submission Form
• Help File: How do I get my story or article in the Neopian Times?, Where can I see the old issues of the Neopian Times?, How do I get a subscription for the Neopian Times?, How do I submit a comic strip to the Neopian Times?, Tips for getting your submission in the Neopian Times, I was looking at someone's record and it said they had a Neopian Times trophy. How do you get those?
• Editorial: 28, 30, 40, 52, 58, 69, 71, 74, 117, 123, 133, 135, 137, 153, 166, 169, 177, 184, 198, 199, 205, 207, 215, 218, 231
• Selected Fansite: Neopian Times Writer's Forum