Voice of the Neopian Pound Circulation: 196,274,205 Issue: 903 | 5th day of Relaxing, Y22
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Editorial


Hello, Gutterfoot here. We've been getting a lot of questions about the Mobile-Friendly Open Beta that I wanted to clear up. First and foremost, this entire beta is still very early on. Just because a feature isn't present yet, doesn't mean we aren't moving forward with it. Some of you have been asking why we've even opened up the beta to you if it was so unfinished. The answer to that is we want your feedback so that we can make changes earlier on in the process rather than when we're almost done. By no means is this current version a final version. Everything you see has the potential to change. We're very grateful for the dedication and passion our users have and we want to do right by you.

I would also like to address what this Mobile-Friendly business even means. We are in the process of updating the entire site to be easier to use on mobile devices, while replacing Flash elements with upgraded HTML5 equivalents. Because many browsers will cease to support Flash in December, we are focusing on converting pages as they currently are for now, but are excited to potentially add many requested features in the future. As you can imagine, there is a LOT to do here. These changes will also apply to the desktop experience, not just mobile phones and tablets, with a fluid layout that changes based on the device. We won't be able to support the classic version once we are fully converted to HTML5, but until then we will give players the option to switch between the two.

I recommend that players remain on the Classic Site for daily site activity and switch over to the Beta when there are new updates or when you wish to give us some feedback. Please don't feel obligated to stay in the beta if you don't like where it currently stands! To return to the Classic Site, please click on your Neopet icon on the left side of the screen and then click on "View Classic Site" at the bottom of the menu. This will keep you on the Classic Site until you want to switch back to Beta.

Lastly, I want to thank everyone who is giving us feedback and offering suggestions on how to improve the site we all love so much. It's been a long time coming and there's still a lot left to do, but please have patience with us as we work hard moving forward!

I'm a long-term neopets player and having returned from a hiatus. Having watched the boards for a while it is obvious who are moving these pets around. If I see something suspicious going on with a pet or an account, should I report it?
YES!!! If you have any information about suspicious pets please send in a ticket by writing to support@neopets.com and that can be investigated. We have people who will look into your report straight away.

Dear TNT, I would like to know your position on the following (some of which you might want to ask Kikocat): 1. Neopets spin-offs of existing ideas: So far I’ve seen an Art Gallery entry (AAA replacing Uncle Sam on the “I want YOU poster”) and some NT comics (which replaced people and/or animals in TV shows, movies, or memes with Neopets) that would qualify as Neopets spin-offs. Would it ever be considered plagiarism or art theft to make a Neopets spin-off? If there’s an existing craft idea that features images of animals or people would it be acceptable for a user to recreate it with Neopets, Petpets, Faeries, etc. instead of people or animals and enter it into the NT or another creative contest? 2. Elements of official Neopets April Fool’s Jokes (besides the (now real) Petpets): are references to these in creative contests (like the Art Gallery) only allowed in the April Fool’s edition? Specifically, when would an entry featuring the Marshmallow Kougra be allowed to win if at all? ~~jaylahcat
Hello, For the first part, we would need to be very careful about the copyrighted content, so you would need to watch out for that. Using the world around us for inspiration is how art is created, it's from our experience and things we saw and loved. So using something for inspiration is perfectly fine, the problem would come if someone else's work was simply copied into Neopia (so no tracing or using their artwork) and of course nothing copyrighted. Marshmallow Kougras would be allowed in the Beauty Contest but not in the Art Gallery. For entries into the Art Gallery the colour must exist for the pet, however for the BC, that rule does not exist so have fun and enter any colour of pet you would like even if it doesn't exist right now. The only rule related to this for the BC is if your pet is a Kougra, then the entry has to be of a Kougra.

Hi TnT, I would like to ask if the members that are playing in the Altador Staff Tournament are representing different Departments or just themselves? For example, Lawyerbot as a Brightvale supporter represents Customer Management, while Snarkie as a Virtupets supporter represents the IT Department. Lastly, was the Phantom Orange T-Shirt Guy(Oliver) removed from appearing after you click the eye of the Techo after a yooyuball match because he isn't with TnT anymore? Not sure if we have another Phantom T-Shirt Guy/Girl we haven't discovered in the current games or is my imagination out of control?~~ profs_isaac
Yes we have all staff members who wanted to be a part of the tournament. So we have people from several departments, site content, social media, narrative, management, development and support.

Hey, TNT. I've been contributing to the Neopian Times since issue 98 and humans as owners have always been a part of the worlds within the stories and comics of the Times. In fact, in the editorial for issue 699, it was stated that although the focus should always be on Neopian characters, human owners still play a big role in Neopets' lives. So my question is, why are humans now being disallowed from the NT? After all, the NT is a compilation of fanworks we share with each other based on our experiences on the Neopets site, emphasis on "fan". They're still different from everything in the site proper. Not to mention, it seems unfair that a couple of stories that breach the current NT rules made it into a recent issue, but after 900+ issues of being allowed, humans are suddenly not allowed in the NT. Thanks!
You are right it was a little rash to do that. We apologize for this. Honestly, some of my favourite NT comics have involved humans. After some consideration, we have decided that as long as humans aren't the main focus, any submission that includes humans will be allowed in the NT.

Hey TNT! I'm really excited for the Altador Cup to have started again, but the recaptchas can get really annoying. When playing Make Some Noise i sometimes have to spend longer on the recaptcha and waiting for the game to reload than on the actual game. It's really taking away the fun for me. Would you consider removing them again? Thank you!
Unfortunately, until cheaters stop existing we cannot do this. In order to keep the games fair and discourage cheating, this is the solution we have found works best. We appreciate the effort you are putting into playing these games fairly.

Hi there! I used to submit comics for the NT in the past and I'm still doing so now after coming back after a hiatus. I noticed that the NT comic thumbnails are now always provided by the editor/neo art team instead of how they used to be- the submitter's custom images. Just curious, why is this so? And if it's a permanent change maybe I could suggest removing the thumbnail submission on the submission page. Thanks for your time ^^
Yes, that feature sadly has been broken for a long time and we are unsure how to remove it without breaking the entire system. So if you want to submit a picture for your submission please include the link in the comment section or at the top of your entry.








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