The Daily Neopets
The Daily Neopets, or TDN (and previously 'TheDailyNeopets'), is a Neopets fan site which began in late 2005. Formerly a subsidiary of PinkPT, for which the owner and administrator of TDN, Ian, had previously run a commentary, it was bought its own domain name by Yukio. As PinkPT did not post unreleased Neopets news at the time, TheDailyNeopets' main purpose was to do so. Over the coming year, TDN blossomed into a fully independent fan site, with its servers formerly based in the lounge room of its Administrator, Tipem, in Ohio, USA. Now, however, it is hosted on external servers to compensate for disruptions.
History
TheDailyNeopets was a branch off of PinkPT, with very little content and viewers of similar numbers. Its original layout consisted of sky-blue colour and a sponge Blumaroo.
PinkPT continued to support The Daily Neopets through a facelift, which was not much more pleasing to the eye as the previous one, and new guides and graphics were added as part of TDNSUW, or The Daily Neopets' Super Update Week. This endeavour helped boost TDN's popularity.
Despite helping to bring more visitors to the site, the super update week complicated the site's navigation: this was remedied in version 3 of the site, which brought along with improved page navigation an eye-catching layout and an overall more study, functional site. More members were added to the staff in order to write more guides.
At the end of January 2006, The Daily Neopets ran a survey to ask the viewers of the site what they wanted to see. They received a very high amount of replies in a very short amount of time, but got lots of new ideas for version 4, which was released on the 11th March 2006. It was an instant hit with all of the viewers, as it included almost all of their suggestions sent to Ian through the survey.
Version 5 was introduced in late July 2006, and, even with a bumpy start, had a good chance of catching on quickly. This version introduced a new banner, moving TDN's Hissi mascot to the forums but preserving Jerry the red Pteri. It was the first Neopets helpsite to include 'tabs' - content came under a particular category, and right-hand navigation changed depending on which content you had selected to read. 'News', 'Game Guides', 'Helpful Articles', 'Safety', 'Avatar Solutions' and 'Forums' made up the tabs list, but seasonal or special tabs were added in for various plots and activities, to better allow users to access special content on the site.
TDN Forums were relaunched and revamped a few days after the main site was relaunched, and had this time moved to Invision Power Board, a much more powerful package, on which it remains today. A few weeks after launch, TDN's name changed to include spaces - The Daily Neopets - because of the old feel given off by a name with capital letters in the middle.
TDN's Version 5 layout lasted for around a year, before a new layout was introduced. Dubbed TDN Y2 - Y2 meaning TDN's second year of operation - was launched in September 2007, and included a more modern, web 2.0 feel. The site was reorganised, subcategories were added, a search engine was included, avatar solutions were revamped, and the site was given a much more updated look.
Following the year naming theme, TDN released yet another layout during it's third year in operation, Y3. The site was yet again, reorganized, subcategories were organized in a better fashion, and the site layout, overall, became much more pleasing to the viewers eye!
Features
The Daily Neopets boasts features other fan sites may not offer. Along with updated and helpful content, the latest unreleased Neopets news and a dailies list that's even more popular than it's main page, it had its own Editorial so that regular Neopians that cannot get their question answered officially can receive a helpful reply. Unfortunately, the editorial was cancelled, to the disappointment of many users. The Daily Neopets is also one of the few Neopets fan sites to offer a complete, step-by-step Altador Plot guide with many readers. An Avatar Lending Account was set up to reward its readers with aid to get the most sought after avatars for use on the Neoboards. With a first attempt at this proving unsuccessful, two loyal members of the sites forum offered to revive the service. The Avatar Lending Service is now very popular and has led to other sites - such as NL Avatars - following up on it's success. The "Where's Jerry?" plot (See below) was a big hit, and TDN's first plot. The second plot was titled "The Scattering of the Stars" and received equal prestige. Recently, TDN has added several new features including their new Y3 layout and tdnBP where users can now enjoy a pleasing to the eye, easy-to-use, and up-to-date battlepedia. Also with the new Y3 layout, NeoAvatars was released. NeoAvatars is TDN's very own avatar checklist, and has been a huge success since it's release! Another massive project for TDN is TDN Customization, released in September 2008. New projects are in the works.
Staff
The Daily Neopets employs an active group as members of staff. Currently, there are twenty staff members:
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Ian Xepha Content Team
Animetriplicate Forum Moderators
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Superfly News Team
HBK
Battlepedia
Amanda
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Interested in becoming staff at TDN, check out our Neopets Community for what positions are currently open and how to apply.
Where's Jerry?
On June 1, 2006, The Daily Neopets began an on-site plot to find Jerry, the red Pteri, their mascot. Set up by Samuel, a former staff member, the plot involved various puzzles and was quite challenging. At the start of the plot, Bob the Detective Wocky was introduced as the crime-fighting guru. The solutions of the plot were held in topmost secrecy, with the threat of disqualification used as a deterrence to spreading them. After much working at different clues all around the site for two weeks, the final part was released and everyone rushed to finish. After the prizes were awarded, Jerry was returned to the banner safe and sound, and the Jerry-napper, Commander Garoo, was apprehended.
Space Faerie Plot: The Scattering of the Stars
Soon after the release of The Daily Neopets fifth incarnation, a plot was released to find the hidden stars the Space Faerie had lost around the site. She crashed into the site while falling through a vortex and losing all of her stars. Complaining that her power was failing, the person had to locate a star and solve the puzzle to retrieve a code. Speaking to the Space Faerie would reveal a clue as to where a star could be found. Numerous red herrings were thrown into this plot, therefore changing a rather simple task to one more perplexing. The player then had a set time to send in their codes to receive a prize. First place received 60K, second place received 40K and third place received 20K. Everyone who entered was rewarded for their efforts.
The Search For Ian
On Halloween, TDN staff gave hints that the site manager, Ian, had gone missing. The next day, a website was set up specially for the plot to take place. The person undertaking the plot had the chance to use a TDN-only version of the Haunted Woods to follow clues and, along with interviews from the staff members, find out where the owner of the site had gone.
Kalium Echo
On 1st November 2007, TDN launched it's third major plot activity, dubbed 'Kalium Echo', which was almost entirely Flash-based and proved a big success.