Pink Poogle Toy Forum

I remember that too. One word as to why: Viacom. Adam and Donna are no longer in charge of the site. Viacom is. And my guess is that when you are the person who gave it life, as Adam and Donna did, you stay more in touch with the users and you want to make sure that your "baby" looks as best as it can. Because it's a personal reflection on you. So, your heart goes into it. I haven't seen too much "heart" since the site was sold. Though I will say this, when the site got outsourced, the glitches really died down--until now, that is.



Rant away. Because it has come to the point where you just don't know if the next move you make will cause you to lose something to a glitch. And, we shouldn't be afraid to play this game. I mean, honestly, how hard can it be to write something about it in the news.

I was tempted to rant at them in my letter. I will say that. But, I have been hit with many, many glitches before this one, though not for as many nps, and have had two family members frozen (and unfrozen due to my letters) so I have learned that honey goes over much better than vinegar. But my heart goes out to those people who don't have alot and lost a bigger percentage of nps than I did. I can easily make it up. But a new player or someone who isn't on Neo too often, well, they are the ones I feel for.

Instead of doing surveys about their lastest products and advertising schemes, they should really try user satisfaction surveys. Just so they could hear what we have to say. They seem disinterested. That makes me wary of going Premium, actually.

I have to say that my heart goes out to everyone who's been having problems. I'm knocking on wood like mad over here, but I've yet to have any issues.

I have to say, though, that I noticed I haven't been charged for Premium yet this month. I'm 100% that my billing has always been on the 8th (plus a day or two for my bank) but...here it's the 11th and no charge? Anyone else notice this who's billed around now-ish?

Well, Angisfab, to tell the truth, I am pretty much close to quitting. A premium member should at least be able to get a response to a complaint. Every other company in the world will do so. If my cable goes out, I have a number to call and my service will get restored. If my bank balance is off, I have a number to call and my account will get reconciled. Shoot, even if I buy something as cheap as milk at the store and it is spoiled, I have a human being who will listen to my complaint and reimburse me for my loss. $8 a month doesn't seem that much to some people, but it is alot to others. And regardless, if I am suddenly now paying for something, I expect satisfactory customer service in return. A human response. They were able to get away with this email support stuff when the site was free, but it is a whole different ballgame now with their premium customers--particularly since it has affected so many people.

And, they should be doing something about this whether a person is premium or not. We pay for their site, if not in money, then in time. Every time we view a page, it generates revenue for Neopets from their sponsors. The more time we spend on the site, the more revenue they get. That million I lost represented x number of hours when I could have been doing something else. That 100K sigh_driven just lost represented y number of hours when she could have been doing something else. Perhaps Neo's management should take a few classes in economics and marketing.

The only upside to this whole mess on Neopets is that my Subeta pets are getting double the attention.

The bottom line is, I can't play on Neopets under these conditions; it looks like hardly anyone else here can. Every time I refresh a page I increase my odds of being randomly hit by this horrible glitch. I'm afraid to store NP in case my bank savings disappear, and I'm afraid to leave it out in case THAT disappears (due to evil REs or otherwise).

What are we supposed to do, TNT? What does it take to get your bloody attention?

The paper airplanes they released in the news today--set aflame. And frankly, I don't even think that would work. I am really surprised by this. Because they were so forthright in May and June of last year when so many people got hit by the auction and tp glitches.

From the 5/9/06 news:

From the 6/20/06 news:

I wish there was some way to organize/formulate a complaint that would be presentable and recognized to TNT. I can't believe that they don't have something akin to a functioning Customer/User Relations department, or at least one that I know of.

Really, the biggest thing keeping me from committing to Premium at the moment is the site's increased iffy-ness over the past few weeks. Hello, lost revenues! Eight bucks is a lot to me (I am a college student, after all, and I can make $8 go pretty far), and I won't have it wasted on something I don't feel safe using.

*sigh* I'll stop ranting now, just had to get that out because I've otherwise remained relatively quiet about the glitchyness.

*nods*
know EXACTLY what you mean. that's 4 meals for me lol.
i get the chicken sandwich at mcdonalds with a small fry. 2 bucks.
which is why i haven't signed up for premium.

A few of us actually tried doing something like that in June 2004. It was called a Day of Action. We were so fed up with the glitches, downtime, and the 4/4/4 fiasco and one brave soul took a stand and planned it all out. I actually participated in it. And am still proud of doing so. On the Day of Action, those were in support of it refused to go to Neopets the whole day. It probably didn't make a difference as far as Neo was concerned but it did make a difference in my psyche. I felt good taking a stand, albeit such a little one.

And $8 is a lot to many people. People on a limited income, students, those on disability, worker's comp or retirement insurance. Those who, if they are lucky, make $7 an hour as a worker at McD's. Which is why this glitch goes beyond the premium vs. nonpremium issue. We all pay for this site--some of us in dollars, some of us in having to look at those ads, all of us in time invested.

And hey, don't ever feel like you have to stop ranting. Oh gosh, ask anyone who has been around PPT for a while about me and they will say, phew, she has quite a mouth on her. But, I do seem to get heard by TNT more times than not. Squeaky wheels and such . . .

I completely 100% agree with you that they need to have a far better link with the consumers of their product. They need to have ways that mean we get through to them, bug reports should be fixed ASAP and we should be informed of any major bugs that threaten out accounts.

However, I've realised it ain't going to happen anytime in the forseeable future. Neopets is a business, we have to deal with that. If the business can make money by not revealing bad things that will deter potential sponsors, so be it. If Neopets doesn't wanted to increase costs of production by not hiring more support staff, that's their choice. However, what I object to is the fact that (as far as I can tell) they lie to their customers.

I remember when the banner ads were increased in size, and they offered an explanation and tried to reason with their consumers. I thought that was good, apart from the fact they were lying. They don't need banners to keep the business afloat. They also don't need to increase the size of the banners. What they wanted to do was capitalise on the HUGE number of pageviews they receive, and I can't blame them from that. They receive 2.7 billion pageviews a month in the United States alone according to one article. Who can blame them for wanting to turn that into liquid assets

Its a fact we have to accept, Neopets is a business, now more than ever. They operate in the service industry, and as a result, you can't expect them to proclaim how bad they are in areas. You wouldn't see a shop with a large billboard reading "we're having problems with the new stock boy. He's putting expired products on the shelves"

Its a shame, and I don't like it. But I accept it. If they feel that they need to put their profit above their customers when it comes to things like bugs/glitches/customer support, so be it. They're a business, they have every right to. It'll just be a shame when it comes back to bite them in the proverbial, because eventually it will. Whether or not the site survives the ordeal remains to be seen. Hopefully it will. Hopefully they'll learn from it and correct their flaws. If they don't, hopefully we'll be able to get as much out of the site as possible before things turn belly up.

Everything that has a beginning, has an end Mr Anderson.

I think they are sliding down a slippy slope (climbing up a slowly burning rope...get that reference and you get a cookie!). Eventually pageviews as well as profits will drop if the glitches are severe and persistent enough.

You've been around as long as or longer than me, the_dog_god. You remember what this site used to be like. The heart and soul put into it. Because what you just stated was my feeling as well. There are only a finite number of people out there who will even think of trying Neopets. And, if you keep ticking them off with a lack of customer service and a "we don't need you" attitude, sooner or later, no one is left.

Oh and no offense to anyone who hasn't been around as long as the_dog_god or I. It's just that when I started playing back in December 2002, there was a different feeling on Neopets than now. Adam and Donna ran the site--with Doug Dohring at the helm. And we tolerated loads of glitches, bad ones, but there was always a feeling that those in charge were doing the very best they could. So, we tolerated lots of things because we knew that the creators of this didn't ever anticipate for the site to grow by the leaps and bounds that it did. And gosh, there were lots of glitches. Oh my. And lots of downtime. But always the feeling in the backs of our minds that the people running the place were doing the absolute best they could given the circumstances. So they got our respect and our loyalty. And now, I just don't get that feeling.

I agree with you, Morningstar. I have been using Neopets for over 6 years now, and the whole "feel" and ambience seems to have changed.

*Pretends the thread is still about the news*


This thing brings back many fond memories of elementary school... I bet I can still make one. I'll try next time I'm around a scrap piece of paper. ^^

I haven't been around as long as you two have, but people have been complaining about how much better the site used to be for as long as I've been around. When Dohring was in charge people complained about him and how much better things were when Adam and Donna actually ran the site, when the next person replaces the woman who now runs the site we'll probably be going on about how much better it was when she was in charge. :-)

I don't want to minimize the problem of the current glitches -- I've been lucky and only got hit with an extra 90k that duely vanished again. However, I've also been around long enough to remember when you constantly heard about people having items glitched away transfering them to/from equipment, their shop, or their SD box. I haven't heard about one of those in ages. Neopets has been having more problems with cookie grabbers of late, but all and all I think the site is a lot more stable now than it was when I started 3.5 years ago.

Again, not to minimize the problems, I have a lot of issues with Neopets, but overall site stability isn't one of them at the moment. As I said, I think that's actually improved considerably since I joined.