Lift

Do you all think that I'm harsh? I mean, I believe that I tell the truth that most guild leaders obviously don't want to hear, but I never thought that people would be so afraid to send in their guild for a review. Seriously. My bark is worse than my bite, honestly! I could sugar coat things if I wanted to, like disorganization in a website for example. "The website had a few dead links and the graphics were pixel-ly, but it's probably just my computer and because they are all so very busy." No. The real thing that I would write, "I wasn't impressed with the website. There were dead links, terrible graphics, and it showed disorganization." It's basically the same thing, but I could still have written, "The website was atrocious. The links were dead, the graphics were so bad that I had to go to the restroom to mop the vomit off of my shirt, and complete chaos. I'm surprised that members are still even in the guild." The last sentence is incredibly rude though! I would never, ever write that about anyone's guild. The first sentence was wimpy, the last sentence was bullying, but the middle sentence is just right. If you believe that your guild is amazing, then I most likely will too. There isn't anything to be afraid of, unless you are hiding something, of course. I would find out. xD (Oh wow, that sounds arrogant, doesn't it? I didn't mean to sound arrogant, because I'm not an arrogant person. I'm proud and dignified but not arrogant in the way that I view myself "better" than others. Goodness, why do I always have to talk about my private affairs in these reviews? No one else does it, so I probably really should stop. @__@)

The whole introductory paragraph about being afraid of me is related to Lift because the guild leader, who was at the time on one of my boards, had the courage enough to submit her guild to me. Another thing that didn't help matters was that someone had posted that after reading my reviews they were scared off and decided not to have their guild reviewed. Lift's guild leader told me that she was afraid, and that touched a nerve on my compassionate side, but I wasn't about to let that bias Lift's review. The intro was specifically about how you should not be afraid of me because Lift was and, looking at it now, I doubt that they had anything to be afraid of.
The guild's cover was excellent and whoever created it has skills far superior to my own. The coding was impeccable and perfect in the way that by default people see the regular full-page layout until they scroll over for the navigation bar to join. I love it! The simple links "Join, Chat, Webbie" catch the eye above a strategically placed brush decoration - wonderful. I really do not have anything to criticize except for one thing, the blog. The blog was put onto the regular layout without a faded set area - to be different I suppose, and because since the layout was made for one color, I doubt that they needed to - and that would have been fine if there could have been a different scroll bar. Being my perfectionist self, it irritated me that the scroll bar matched the background of the layout and that it covered over one of the paintbrush globs in the background. I barely registered in my mind that the mistaken streak over the background paintbrush wasn't a streak at all but the sidebar. Actually, I did know that it was the sidebar, but I merely wrote that to prove my point. They can't help that because the regular scroll bars were meant to be the same color as the background in order to blend in as well and I don't think that they can take exception to the blog's scroll bar, but it isn't that big of a deal anyway. I'm not going to take away stars for a silly thing like that - don't worry. As stated, being my perfectionist self, I have to at least find one imperfection because that is what I do best.
The blog, thankfully, was guild related. The welcome message made me chuckle a bit. One thing that I don't like is the team "Annoying Spammers" vs. "Silent Lurkers". Do members really willingly sign up to be part of the "Annoying Spammers" team? I guess that maybe Lift was going for irony because they are a literate guild, but since the A.Spammers have zero points at the moment, maybe they would like to change that to something as unique but more appealing? It's a shame that I'm not going to be in the guild on January 2nd for Talk Like a Pirate Day. I hope that the guild has fun with that because it at least sounds like fun.

I set my standards too high with the message board. I was over thinking because the layout and blog were so perfect that the board would be perfectly literate too. The board wasn't. It wasn't terrible, but there were a few one sentenced posts and such. I was told that the guild was literate but not very strict on the matter anyway. This is just a comment then. The guild is above semi-literacy, but it isn't a "write a novel for each post, harr harr" type of guild. I consider myself literate and would never willingly join a real semi-literate guild with "lol" single worded posts and "ONGZ I LUV U" crap, but there is a sense of freedom where a guild can meet you half way and say, "Don't be a n00b" but still let you freely talk and be yourself. I would consider joining and I doubt that if you (a guildless) were one of those who write novels for each post that you would have any trouble getting along.
I was doubtful as to the atmosphere of the guild because of my sudden disappointment with my first glance over of the message board, so I put together a test. I posted on the board that I was new, that my name was Taylor, and that it was a pleasure to meet everyone. The test would have been more successful if I could have put up the act for a longer amount of time rather than practically one minute and a half before the guild leader made the rhetorical question of me being the guild reviewer. I laughed out of self-despair, but I still came to a conclusion of the welcoming capabilities of the guild because Mew was one minute and a half late to cut it off. (I don't blame you Mew^^) As I had hoped at least, the members were very genuine, welcoming, gentle, and caring when they said welcome to the guild and introduced themselves. The message board is very active, but not so much that you would be blown away. Well, you'll be blown away if you do not keep up with the conversation every other two minutes, but it isn't so insane that you refresh and you're three pages behind. There are, after all, only thirty six members excluding myself. Guilds usually don't have the "refresh and we're three pages behind" problem until they start getting into the fifties of members.
The members are all so very active; the message board has over twelve thousand posts and they are only about two/three weeks old! If that isn't impressive, I don't know what is. The members all appear to get along and enjoy having quality time and fun together. I'm a bit envious that I cannot stay, but in return, I can suggest you (a guildless) to join in my place? (:

The website looked awfully familiar to Nova Sponge Cakes', but it might be my mind playing tricks on me. I'm so disappointed that NSC closed, so now I'm just twice as motivated to protect it's unique styles and ideas. No matter if it looks similar to NSC's website, it could still use some work. The graphic looks very novice compared to the graphic making capability I have seen with the layout. Therefore, there shouldn't be any reason why the website could be so inadequate. It's fine and I just might overlook it if I was guildless because the layout and members make up for it, but it all depends upon what you value. (That sounds like deja vu too. Why do I keep repeating myself every other review?)

The long and the short of it is that you all should have nothing to be afraid of. I was very impressed with Lift and it is another guild that I am sad to leave. It is a very fulfilling, enthusiastic, wonderfully random guild. Fill out the application for this private guild - it's worth it.

GUILD STAR CARD
Graphics: ****
Activities: ****
Activeness: *****
Organization: ****
Literacy: ***.8

I give this guild **** stars. A lovely, private, literate guild.

♥The Extraordinary Cullen♥

I must admit that I have never read a book from the Twilight series, never have seen the movie, and I've never reviewed a Twilight guild. My whole entire school is just obsessed about Twilight, including my friends, so I said that it probably isn't a good series. I usually stay away from the things that everyone loves; I don't exactly know why. I do adore vampires, however. Have you read Vampire Knight, the manga? You have and love it - *high five*. You have and hate it - *bans from page*. You haven't - READ IT. It is the best manga that you will ever read. I won't spoil it for you...
This review may not be entirely accurate because I am not a Twilight fan, but on the other hand, my review will not be biased with "OMGZ, CULLEN IS MEH HUSBAND. JOIN THE TWILIGHTS GUILDIESZ, YALLZ!" This guild, along with any other Twilight guilds of the future, will be reviewed strictly by content, graphics, member activeness, atmosphere, and just basically on how enjoyable a guild it really is. I've already agreed to review the guild, and I have said before that I will review any genre, so I certainly can't back down now. Even though I can review this guild without being a Twilight fan, I doubt that you should join it without being one. I haven't even glanced through it yet, but I have the common sense enough to know that it's true.

Graphics - "yummy". The layout had the handsome Robert Pattinson lead man carrying undoubtedly the lead woman (whose name I do not know). Even though I have not seen the movie, they are a cute couple, aren't they? x) The cover for the guild was very well put together, beautiful (if I might say so myself), and highly romantic. ^^ The colors fit together impeccably with the graphic, and on the whole it was lovely. I especially admire links galore. I advise a council member to spell "Desktop Wallpapers" correctly, but everyone makes a mistake; I almost didn't catch it. If I was Twilight obsessed, I am positive that I would greatly enjoy the wallpaper, banners, icons, avatars, teams, quotes, etc. that this guild offers. If it was a genre that I was interested in, I most certainly would consider joining.

Clicking the "Messages" button out of the oh so many darling links, I observed and saw that the message board is unfortunately not very active. For a message board not being active when the guild has ninety eight members is very disturbing indeed. I don't understand that because when I glance over the member list, the members supposedly have posted a great deal and are fairly active. Maybe the problem lies with the fact that the guild could use an inactive member clean out and delete over thirty useless members. Quality over quantity, T.E.C. Quality over quantity; let the inactive members go.
The messages aren't literate (literate meaning having correct grammar, punctuation, and more than two sentences). I wasn't expecting literate because the guild is semi-literate, but I thought that I should give due warning; this guild is not one of the high level, bordering on literate, semi-literate guilds.
An adult would feel out of place here I would imagine. The members appear to be very young (adolescent to, at the most, mid-teen years) and innocently obsessed with the Twilight series. If you are older and seek a guild with higher intelligence, this guild is not for you. Do not get me wrong, the phrase "higher intelligence" brings a bad connotation to mind, but I am only equating or referring to a literate guild - a guild with a high vocabulary where members may find intellectual maturity. Therefore, I am not calling this guild a guild with "low intelligence", just a guild that would make an adult's eyes burn, if you get my drift.

Digging deeper into the activities, I have to take back what I said about the guild being perfect for a Twilight fan. There are two teams of the main men in "Bella Swan's" life, but other than that, there isn't anything much at all! The "Meet the Member" page only has the guild member's form, the "Vampires 101" was just a short thing that didn't really have any purpose, and I detest the way that the "donation shop" creeps onto every page to push members into donating. Quoted from the main page: "Please visit our donation shop to donate to our guild. If you donate, we can add more things, so please help us out." I have never been against donation shops because when used correctly by honest people, the guild does benefit and is able to give away gifts and such things (not in the illegal raffles banned by TNT, but random gifts. I've never seen the harm in that.). When the donation shop is used so aggressively to persuade members to give neopoints, I don't agree at all. It's very suspicious and I suggest that T.E.C should just get rid of that completely or report-happies will be knocking at the door.

The pages of the guild are premade which is worthy of a reduction in the guild's rating. I don't think that I need to detail that statement. It is self-explanatory.

All in all, the guild puts on a nice show, but it's all a facade. The layout may be gorgeous, but the pages are premade. The guild has many links, but they aren't categorized as activities or even necessary. The guild has a donation shop that is forced onto members (yes, yes, in my opinion - don't bite my hands off), and doesn't even have any activities that even need neopoints, so where do the neopoints go? Except to maybe the avatar lending page, but oh wait - there really isn't any avatars that are lent out. The whole entire page is just a list of avatars and how to get them. There is a newbie pack, but full of useless junk to entice members to join? The quotes page didn't have any meaningful, thought provoking quotes, just random ones that weren't relevant to anything. Oh goodness, I don't even know what to say about this guild. Another interesting piece to this puzzle is that there are two advertisements, one for a "public guild" and one for a "private guild". The guild is public. Knowing what I know now, I'm actually making a connection that some members may go to boards seeking private guilds and put post the private advertisement when the guild isn't private at all! This is troubling and not making any sense. I understand if the guild was considering transforming into a private guild, but you don't advertise being private and public at the same time - it isn't honorable or trustworthy. If anything sets me off, it is a liar, and this guild is fake and meaningless.
Even if I did suddenly fall in love with the Twilight series, I would never join this guild even if you gave me all the money in the world. Never.

GUILD STAR CARD
Graphics: ***
Activities: .5
Activeness: *.5
Organization: **
Literacy: **

I give this guild * star. I don't join facade masked guilds and I would not ask anyone to join the guild either. I was very disappointed.

Aerolite

Humbug. It's the day after Christmas (I hope you all had a Merry Christmas ^^) and I really don't feel like reviewing. I'm forcing myself to do it because I need to force myself to do it or else it will never get done. Procrastination - have to love it.
I'm neutral on the matter. Aerolite didn't dampen my spirits, but it didn't elate me either. It's just a normal Neopets Related guild is all. It's not bad, but it's not good. It's just average. Most N.R. guilds today are average. I personally wouldn't ever join a "just average" guild, but I'm not guildless. This feels like deja vu. Have I said that already?

The layout and welcome was nice. It was full-page at least. Thankfully the guild blog box was guild centered. I absolutely detest it when guilds have a sentence or two of "OMGZ, JOINZ!" and then think that everyone wants to read about the council members' hair and how their day went. NO. I don't care about that, but rather am more interested in guild news and updates. I mean, it's the GUILD PAGE, not some gossip channel.
The guild's page was just average, as I wrote previously. I wouldn't give it a second thought if I was guildless, but this review isn't just about the guild's layout, unless you care about that most. x)

The members appear to be active. The guild leader has over one thousand posts after only about two months; that's impressive coming from a literate guild. Keeping that in mind, the message board is also fairly active. :) At the current time of this review there are fifty two members, excluding myself. They all are friendly, or so it seems to me, and if you aren't too worried about guild layouts, this guild has a very kind and loving atmosphere. They don't look like the kind of members who ignore new comers because of their large guild, and who form cliques and such. (The other pet peeves of mine)

The website was normal. It didn't "WOW" me, but it's all up to your opinion of what you value. There weren't many activities, which disappointed me. The newspaper didn't have any stories. The guild's "Creative Page" was deleted/a dead link. The "Book of Stars" was a creative twist to the over used "Meet the Members", which was different - in a good way of course.

The most unique things about the entire guild were the ranks: Star, Stern, Estrella, Étoile, and Stella. Those names were immensely creative because the whole guild's theme is light, and each of the ranks is "star" in a different language. Well done. (:

In the end, Aerolite didn't capture my eye. It's a nice, kind guild, but I wouldn't join myself.

GUILD STAR CARD
Graphics: **
Activities: *.5
Activeness: ****
Organization: ****
Literacy: ****

I give this guild **.5 stars. Two point five is half of five; average. :)

Xohlia

I have never reviewed a fantasy roleplay guild, or a roleplay guild for that matter, so I thought that this would be interesting. I've actually never been in a fantasy roleplay guild either. Fantasy roleplay guilds just never captured my interest. When I think of fantasy I think of Dungeons and Dragons, so maybe that is why I never liked the fantasy roleplay guilds. I love to write, hence being a guild reviewer (but these little articles do not in any way really compare to my fiction writing), but I've never really tried to write in a medieval setting. Well, I tried once which you can ask me about if you ever get the chance to speak with me. It was about a paragraph long for the Neopian Times but I never finished it. No wait, there was another one too which was also only maybe two paragraphs or so. Given what I've just said, I may have tried to write medieval stories, but I've never had the inspiration to finish them. I wouldn't sit down and watch Robin Hood for fun, but I think that I'd read an old castle war story. I'll basically read whatever you give me to tell you the truth. Be that as it may and I will review a fantasy roleplaying guild.

Xohlia is a quaint, small community. The guild doesn't meet my requirements of twenty members and I've come to find that most roleplaying guilds don't either. That makes sense of course. Why would you want twenty or so on members all roleplaying at the same time? (I wouldn't.) I didn't know that a roleplaying guild could hold so many natural, excellent writers. Of course that makes sense too, but the guild's story line and posts are amazing. I was going back in pages in the message board just to delve deeper into the story. Senji urged the thestral on, but he noticed it was slowing. His eyes narrowed and he jumped off and took the reins in his hands. He started running with the demon horse, telling it would be able to stop soon. He panted while he spoke, but he didn't get back on. He glanced up at Vex, wishing death to the dragon.
Avielle shook her head and held onto him tighter. She stared up into his red eyes. "Weren't you listening when I told I wouldn't leave you? I..." She ended her sentence and kissed his cheek. "Please don't push me away." "--Xohlia Member This is amazing roleplay made up by amazing literate members. They write with such feeling and I can just see everything happening right in front of my eyes. Keep up the great work! It is important to note that most of the members were open to start up new roleplay too, so I doubt that if you decided to join that you would ever be left out. They also appear to be very involved in their stories, so you most likely won't be left high and dry in the middle of a story with no one else to carry it on. (:

This guild's writing was so captivating that I started writing about the members and the story styles before I commented on the layout. This is the first time ever for me to do such a thing. Even if the layout was average, I don't think it would keep me from joining this guild. The layout was spectacular, so I wouldn't need to think about it. It immediately portrayed its theme: fantasy. The guild leader said that the guild was "mostly literate"(I believe that's what she said) and I just categorized it as literate because it appeared to be so, but the layout says "News and Other Stuffeths" in one area. It isn't something that can be easily changed because it is part of the layout, but I think that coming from a guild with so many detailed writers, I'm sure that they could come up with a different word than "Stuffeths". Still, the guild isn't really literate. The council chat box was half semi-literate and half literate - maybe that is where the mostly literate comes from.

The website is not as impressing as the guild itself was. The picture made it look as if the member had tried, but I'd give it a one star out of ten. As I have suggested before, look up GIMP (a free graphics software you can download online_ with your favorite search engine. Trust me, it's worth it - especially for a gem like this guild. x)

The guild had quite a few activities. Roleplayer of the Month, Muse of Xohlia, Fonts (I love guild fonts!), Avatar lending, Xohlian Art, and Xohlian Quotes. The character pages were simple and informative. There are enough activities to tide you over after a short session of roleplaying I would say, so you would never be bored.

This guild has opened my eyes up to fantasy roleplay; now I am all for it. I now desperately want to review another one! This is a wonderful guild. The website could use work, but I strongly suggest that if you are considering joining - just join. The graphics don't matter and don't even compare to how fascinating the actual guild really is.

GUILD STAR CARD
Graphics: ***
Activities: ****
Activeness: ****.5
Organization: ****
Literacy: ***.9

I give this guild ****.5 stars. If you love to roleplay, this guild is definitely right for you. (:

Amunet

Amunet, the Egyptian goddess of mystery." I love the guild's name! It is extremely unique and creative. KUDOS! Actually, I know what your thinking. Egyptian/Roman/Greek god and goddess names are commonly used in naming guilds, but this is the first guild I have seen that used the name to their advantage. "The Egyptian goddess of mystery" is a perfect name. You know what they say - baby names psychologically affect the child. This guild's name has set itself up for greatness.
The guild is still in pre-join and I normally don't rate pre-join guilds because they aren't finished. As you recall however, I reviewed A Mad Tea Party before they "came out". Amunet is complimented already; it appears that I only review pre-join guilds with immense potential. x)

You want to know a secret about me? I judge books by their covers. It's a bit strange because I never judge people by what they look like, and generally that's what "Don't judge a book by its cover" means. One reader said that I have weighed layouts heavily as of late and I suppose that it's true. It is the rare someone who does not judge a guild by its layout. That is really why I write these in-depth reviews. I want to write about everything a guild has to offer behind the cover. It's like fake people honestly - are you just going for pretty, or do you want character? The layout was gorgeous. It was full page, excellently color coordinated, and the blog was down to the point. It catches the eye more or less. I don't really have anything to critique and that's saying something.

The members are very kind and quite literate. I was surprised because the guild is supposed to be semi-literate. I only saw one "lol" on the first page which is impressive and promising.
On the contrary, the members could be more active. The overall statistics is 500 posts in two weeks which is amazing, but only really from the guild leader, the co-owner, and a few members with around 50 posts. Still, they are only two weeks old. At this rate, they, as I'm pretty sure I said, have great potential.

I admire whoever created the guild's website. It is ah-mazing. If I could, I'd ask the creator to make something for me. (And I'm extremely picky so that is another compliment) I wish that I could screenie it for this page, but it is so huge that I can't. I just didn't like the fact that there weren't many activities. I can't really comment on that because they are, after all, only two weeks old. But before Amunet "comes out", I'd suggest to maybe create around four more small activities. They have enough random guild events, but there still should be some left over activities. After speaking with the guild leader, I found out that I missed 10 activities! I have to take back what I said about the activities then, don't I? ;D There is plenty of fun at Amunet; guild events, activities, and Team Pirates (Johnny Depp -drool-) and Team Twilight. I suppose that I'll have to add a couple stars to the guild star card too, hmm?

I would most likely join this guild, but something would stop me. For some reason, even though the members are compassionate, the atmosphere was stale. It's probably just that new member feeling because you don't know anyone. I've felt that same kind of atmosphere before, even in the guilds big or small. With an introduction and a few posts, I'm sure that atmosphere would dissipate into thin air, but I'll leave that decision up to you.

GUILD STAR CARD
Graphics: ****
Activities: ****
Activeness: ***
Organization: ***.5
Literacy: ****

I give this guild **** stars. My eyes burn - this guild shines so brightly. xD

Ave {Ah-Vay}

Ave {Ah- Vay} is supposed to be... a French word? I hope that's the only reason why the brackets are there, because otherwise it is a bit unnecessary. Reading the guild's name I ponder on what "Ah- Vay" means. It's just a thing I do unconsciously for some reason. Me and my perfectionist self as to find out how every name came to be. (Okay not really.) It relates to "Avenue" and then makes me think of "City", "Downtown", then "Hip/Fun". Am I the only one who thinks like that?

The guild's name may lead your imagination to the hip urban society I have envisioned for you, but I was thrown with the unexpected. The layout was... average. I'm a city girl so I think everything that has to do with downtown life is extravagant and the best that it can possibly be. Average isn't what I have in mind. Average is... Amish downtown. (Nothing against the Amish.) The layout was faded out for some reason and strange pictures for links on the left side. The links had the pixel kind of look when too small of a picture is made too large. I'd advise not to do that in the future Ave. It doesn't show professionalism. I admire the guild's font for their name, however. When I create guild layouts I have the most difficult time finding the perfect font. (Perfectionist...) The color matched with the layout so kudos to that. Haha, I especially loved the "The last thing since sliced bread...". As I've said before, the whole layout would look better if it wasn't faded though.
{Cute logo. Looks more hip and downtown than the layout.}

The header was brown... I understand that the image was the harris in palm tree, but to pick that color of brown? Umm... I won't go into too much detail about the brown, but Ave would be better to pick a more lively color than for me to think of... a certain... thing. Other than that, the blog was simple, guild news/welcome related. How I've missed the nurturing guild welcome. -sobs- This welcome is nice, but a bit too cliche.

The website was organized and coded fine. I say just "fine" because I hate the websites that move the whole layout to the right. Why spend my time scrolling for the page? I say put it in the center at least.
I don't condone guilds that hardly have any activities, so thankfully this guild had a good number. I suggest more guild events though. I love guild events, even though I'm hardly ever on neopets anymore. They show that a guild is active and member focused. One more thing; PLOTS! I'm a sucker for guild plots too. It reaches writers, members who like to participate, and brings the feeling of success and self-esteem.

Posts, posts, posts. The message board is active but not too overbearing. It looks like you could join in on a conversation easily. The guild has, from observation only, dedicated members as well. The guild has only been open for almost two months and I see a range of 100 to 1,000 posts. That's an especially amazing feat for a literate guild because generally they don't post one worded spam crap.

The guild was just average. In my opinion, average isn't exactly a good thing, but it isn't a bad thing either. The members look friendly and comfy like home and if that is all you want, then be my guest; go ahead and join. The guild may not be your type if you're looking for lively "urban" fun, aka, it all. (Graphics, members, activities, activeness, etc.)

GUILD STAR CARD
Graphics: ***
Activities: ***
Activeness: ***.5
Organization: ***
Literacy: ****

I give this guild *** stars. Comfy average, but that's not my type. Nevertheless, I can't say that if you don't pick up on your graphics that you won't have potential

Phantasm

I like the layout. I cannot say that I love the layout, because I don't like the brown background color and it doesn't apply to me personally, but the layout as a whole is very well organized. The main blog's text doesn't include very much. It just has the basic welcome message, and then a council blog. I won't comment on the council blog because there isn't much to comment on. I'll give them credit though, because it mainly revolves around guild support/news. Also, they have guild team graphic boxes that include their teams' points. That was very cute. On the right: Guild goals, MOTM, Sub-council, Birthdays, and layout credit. I just... like it. :)

The message board is pretty active. Although, I don't understand how the guild can call themselves "literate" when some members post only one sentence, omg, rofl, lol, u(you), and such. I thought that literate guilds posted atleast three to four sentences and above? Maybe they should make a rule about that, but otherwise, they are not what they say to be. The members are pretty active too. The guild could use an inactive member clean-out, but I am proud to say that they wouldn't need to delete very many.

The guild website is incredible. It has a nice layout design, chatbox, guild news, guild map, and tons of activities. You would most likely never be bored. Haha, the only thing that I find odd is that an avatar guild doesn't have avatar lending. xDD Kind of funny, don't you think?

I'm sorry for the short review. School is about to start and I've been busy. I have other things on my mind like taking the PLAN and PSAT/NMSQT tests in the fall, so I'll be studying my butt off. Then in the spring the SAT subject tests and AP SAT tests. I also signed up for, most likely, too many extra curriculars. I'm sad to say that my guild reviewing days will be slower and take longer.
I guess that I also just don't have very much to say about Phantasm. There wasn't anything very special about it. It didn't bring back memories. It didn't give me anything to talk about. It's just... a nice, literate (though in all honesty should be semi-literate), not-so-unique avatar guild. If you're looking for fun, you could join this guild. If you're a serious avatar collector though, this guild might disappoint.

GUILD STAR CARD
Graphics: ****.5
Activities: ****
Activeness: ****
Organization: ****.5
Literacy: **.5

I give this guild *** stars! A fun, not-so-avatar-focused, avatar guild.

Eccentricity™

Moving along; the guild layout was... acceptable. It hasn't been the worst that I've seen, but it also was not the best. I liked the simplicity of the layout. It reminded me of the good ol' days of Neopets when full paged guild layouts were rare, and "you shouldn't have too much of a good thing" mentality. Guild layouts just weren't as complicated as they are now. They just used to have the simple banner and long table, etc. It gave you your information flat out, and didn't "hide it" with petpages, links, and it told you the truth. Nowadays, everything is so secretive and everything is hard to find. It's easy to get wrapped up in links that you lose yourself all together. Trust me, it has happened to me before with these new guilds. "Over doing it" seems to be the case of these young newbies. I cannot say that Eccentricity couldn't have picked up on some graphics though. The banner was saved as a .JPG (why everyone does that, I'll never know) which I have said before, takes away the quality of the graphic right off the get go. The banner could have easily been perked up by just adding a border to the font rather than shadowing it, and then saved as a .PNG file. Other than that and the poor quality of the other graphics, I wouldn't have anything to complain about. The table header colors were excellent, and everything just fit together perfectly. There wasn't a ton of information, but I would say that there was enough to keep you informed and knowledgeable to the guild's happenings. It gets your attention. When guilds have just /too/ much information, do you really read it all? I don't. I skim. There was just a short amount of information: the welcome message, news, and essential links. It was easy to navigate though, in other words.

All of Eccentricity's pages have the same format, and that always makes a guild look professional. Different CSS codes (and premade nonetheless) make a guild seem tacky. Organization gives the impression of guild class. Of course, there are certain exceptions to that rule. It isn't a solid rule that applies to everyone, but it is part of common sense (and applies to those with common sense), don't you think? It shows organization. Smart, eh? -pokes guild star card-

The activities are great.^^ I couldn't tell you how many activities were on the page, because I was blown away myself. They had weekly events (my favorite), daily events (my second most favorite), and then the few regular games. I especially liked how there were many graphic banners. ;D The activities weren't "kiddie". To name a few: Book Club, Wishing Fish, Festive Friday, Warty's Wanderings. I don't have anything to say contrary though. I can't name any games that /are/ "kiddie", but I just felt as though the activities were grown up. It may be because I have never seen them before, and "kiddie" games usually makes me think of the normal, over-used, games that normal kids just copy and use. I think that adults are more likely to come up with original and unique games, more than to copy. Anywho, I still think that the activities were impressive.
There really are too many to actually name here. They had a cool KeyQuest time thing going on though, and then the normal avatar lending, adoption agency, and cute Eccentricity care packages.

The message board is fairly active - for an adult guild anyways. It's not so normal that an adult can be as active on Neopets as a kid, because they have their families, work, college, etc. going on in their real life when all that kids have to worry about is school (Yes, I am talking about normally...). Most adults do have a real life, but I think that this guild is still at least average about getting on to post.
Though, some members could be let go through an inactive member clean out.

I don't have much else to say to this guild but to just pick up on their graphics, and to have some inactive member clean outs once in a while. Eccentricity seems already pretty fit to me. :)

GUILD STAR CARD
Graphics: *
Activities: ****
Activeness: ***.5
Organization: ****.5
Literacy: *****

I give this guild **** stars! Check out GIMP, a free graphics software from the internet (worth trying out), and Eccentricity will be all set.

SAKURANBO

I had a feeling that SAKURANBO was an odd name for a guild, so I looked it up. I just instinctively knew that there must be some Asian background to it. Maybe SAKURANBO was just a translated word, a manga that I have never heard of, or something. It turns out that it is a Chinese/Japanese song, or that was what I got out of glancing at the search engine's information. I've never heard it before, so I automatically felt even more lost.

Pocket usually does have layouts based on an anime or manga, more so than an actual celebrity, so I was shocked to find SAKURANBO's layout of an Asian man. Commenting on the quality of the graphic, I would say that it was okay. It takes some skill to be able to blend images together, and to see comparisons in color. I just wonder why everyone saves their images as .JPG files these days. It doesn't ever do a graphic justice, and it takes away quality. But, the organization of the image mapping links, the blog, and the advertisement boxes flowed. The beginning words, "Hello! Anyoung! Ni hao! Konnichiwa!" in the welcome blog were cute. x)
Commenting on my experiences, I do not know who he is. If I was guildless, I would most likely move on and not consider this guild because I like animes/manga artwork. This guild layout was not exactly made as a work of art. If you do not live in Asia, or you know as much about Asia as I do, this guild is probably not for you. If you do know who that is, know the song SAKURANBO, and/or speak an Asian language, etc., you should feel at home here. :)

The guild home page did contain welcoming, and solid information for both guildless visitors and members part of the guild. Its words encouraged cooperation and such. I like the second anniversary spirit week idea, SAKURANBO. ;D

This guild is extremely active. The message boards are regularly active, with the major help from the guild leader, who appears to have a great impact on it and is involved. This guild is also another one of the better semi-literate guilds. Most posts are over a couple of sentences and really don't have any use of chatspeak that I could see.
The only confusing thing is the Japanese/Chinese characters that I do not understand.

Other than what I can see to be board activeness, I cannot judge the activity of SAKURANBO members. Most of them had joined within a couple of weeks to this review, so I cannot say anything but a few members who are extremely active for being in the guild for such a short amount of time. I was just disappointed to see that everyone in the guild only just joined this guild about a month ago, when this guild is supposedly over two years old. I wonder what happened...

The guild poll was in Japanese/Chinese as well, so I wouldn't personally know what I was voting for. xDD As I have said, if you are an obsessor or something of that nature for the Asian theme, celebrities, and language, this guild could be right for you. However, this guild does not contain enough information for someone from Japan/China and could only speak their language. This guild rightly can confuse both sides. It is more like an English/Asian fuse, so if you don't know one, you won't know the other. Does that make sense? xDD

And finishing this up, I click on the link, "Webbie". I can see the forum image link just fine, but the actual website link does not show up. Yes, I even refreshed to make sure, so I have nothing to rate.

GUILD STAR CARD
Graphics: **
Activities:
Activeness: ****
Organization: ***
Literacy: ****

I give this guild **.5 stars! You should have checked that webbie link. ;) I do not take pity on things glitched and unfinished when I arrive. x) Unless in certain circumstances...

A Mad Tea Party

I know what you are thinking. "What's with the random Alice In Wonderland quote?" Haha, re-read the name of this guild, then click on its link. The whole guild is based on the theme of Alice In Wonderland, that's why! I have never seen an Alice In Wonderland guild before, and I adore the original idea of it. I always enjoyed the story when I was a small kid. Okay, I have never actually read the novel, but I loved the Disney movie. Alice In Wonderland was an excellent scheme because of what Alice In Wonderland stands for. Alice followed the rabbit down the rabbit hole, and was brought into an entire mysterious and strange world with talking cats, Mad Hatters, and the weirdest things that you could imagion. What a wonderful brainstorm, whoever thought of it. Kudos! So, lets follow the rabbit with this review.

The guild's application page was the best that I have seen by far. It immediately gives the impression of the magical world of Alice In Wonderland. The colors fit together perfectly, the text alignment was neat, and the application was split up in a way that I also have never seen before. It was split into the "Short Answers" and the "Long Answers". That gives people an idea of where to put their energy, and tells where AMTP wants to see your personality. I don't exactly know how to explain it, but I like it. x)
The application page begins with a detailed background history that captivates the audience. The rule, "Leave drama to the soap stars" made my day. xD By looking at the page, you can see the environment of the guild shine through: fun, literate, unique, and entertaining. I admit proudly that if I was guildless, I would be automatically tempted to fill out the quick application to join. The only thing that I would make me hesitate is that the guild isn't finished. The "Web and Guide" links do not work because they are under construction. I do not hold this against them though, because I know that I am reviewing this guild as a non-finished product. Don't act like, "AHH, but you gave my guild a horrible review because our guild wasn't finished. Why not AMTP too?!" This is an exception. I can go against my own rules if I want to. -glares-
After filling out the application and sending it in, and promtly receiving an escorting white rabbit invitation, you will see the guild's homepage in all of its glory.

The guild homepage, like the guild's application page, made me feel touched. It brought back pleasant memories of this apartment that I went to with my friend. The apartment belonged to my friend's cousin, and she was a professional artist. The apartment was amazing. The floor was painted with tons of different colors in waves, squares, circles, etc. The walls were plastered with band posters, weird clocks, 1900s advertisement posters, paintings. The room was filled with old 1970s pinball machines, old coffee makers, 1900s dolls... The apartment was like a living canvas. The guild's layout brought back this memory because it had that random, but beautiful work about it. It just reminds me of an art gallery - so if you like art, this guild will not disappoint. :)
The layout just flowed. I loved the flowers that dangled from the top, and that the faerie girl looked as if she was holding the bullseye web link with her hands. The graphic was just too beautiful for words. x) Since this is a private guild, you cannot see it for yourself, but I am very picky with graphics, so you will just have to take my word for it. ;D

The message board was as literate as a dictionary. (Yes, yes. Odd wording. It was the first thing that came to mind.) I didn't see one post that was less than about five sentences, and the rule is no less than four sentences. This guild is extremely and strictly, literate. The members are very mature on their message board, but the "being mature" is not enforced my an age limit. The message board also appears to be active as much as it can be, balanced with its member size and most active members.^^

The thing that I did notice, was that all members outside of council, were "Chasing Rabbits" ranks. That is their default rank. By looking at the guild website, I still liked the ranks, "Slurping Tea, and Stealing Tarts". I just didn't understand the other ranks, "Caucus racing, and ANTI IS THE WALRUS". However, the person with the most number of posts was 160+, so that wouldn't really be a promotion number of posts anyway. Considering their age though, and how the guild does not post one worded posts and such, that is still impressive.

I got a peek of the guild's website though, and it was great. It had the look of a real website, but somehow was coded excellently onto a petpage. I will not reveal too much information, for the sake of the guild because it is not finished, but it was a picky graphic member's "dream come true".

My visit to A Mad Tea Party was my most pleasant yet. I could see that the members all got along with each other, enjoyed company and newcomers, and all supported and loved their guild. I see AMTP becoming a huge success in the future. Even I was sad that I had to leave.

Quotes from Alice in Wonderland
Alice: I've had nothing yet, so I can't take more.
The Hatter: You mean you can't take less; it's very easy to take more than nothing.

If you enjoy art, graphics, literacy, privacy, maturity, and fun, then I suggest joining this guild above all others.

GUILD STAR CARD
Graphics: *****
Activities: -tba-
Activeness: ****
Organization: ****
Literacy: *****

Quotes from Alice In Wonderland
The White Queen: Can you do addition? What's one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one?
Alice: I don't know. I lost count.

I give this guild ***** stars!

[N.F]x_Neopian Faeries//....

I usually write my reviews to the order of which I see. Maybe that is why people feel threatened or weakened by my reviews - if their review was bad, of course - because I don't start off with the positive things and then write the negative things. They tell you to begin writing that way, good to bad, but I do not do that. I think that you should see the guild through my eyes, chronically. I do not want to "sugar coat" things. I do not believe in that. I wish that I did, because that would save myself time and money buying thicker armor, but I write these reviews to tell the truth. Having a guild is like having a business. Your main focus is to keep the people happy, and the guildless boards are your prey (not the same as "eating" them o_O). It's a war out there. Competition is flying! I want to tell you if you have a chance, and teach you how to become elite. I cannot guarentee you anything; "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder".
I need to write as if I was cold and guildless, if you understand what I am saying. The Neopets Guild Boards subjugate the "survival of the fittest". I just thought that I should clear that up, as to why I write as I do. Don't take it personally. :)

Primordial from me looking deep within the guild, I judged the layout. It did not move me. Don't get me wrong though, I didn't hate the whole layout. I thought that the blending and the Shenkuu items fit in with the theme of Shenkuu, but it wasn't high quality (as it was saved as a JPG) and it could have used some brushes. I cannot really judge the graphics so harshly about brushes, because I do not know what photo editting software the creator had used, but I thought that I should just include that.
The background and color scheme fit perfectly with the Shenkuu theme. The coding was also well put together, except for how the layout overlapped a part of the guild sidebar, which made it look tacky. The table fit perfectly with the banner and included much information. I loved the marquee and the team point pixel blocks. It is a nice reminder to members in each team. ;)

Neopian Faeries does have an entertaining sum of activites, but their pages are terrible. The weekly guild event, HIDE AND SEEK's (the event currently taking place while I was there) petpage layout was okay, but it wasn't excellent. Though, it was better then their normal activity pages. The pages don't contain any special CSS, so they are dull and boring. I would move on if I were guildless. The layout and first look of the guild may tempt someone, but it is like seeing the prince, joining, and having it turn into a toad. (Odd choice of words)
If you do not care about how the pages look, you are still in for a treat with the many things to do. x)
There are faerie teams: Earth, Fire, Water, and Dark, and whichever team you join, that is your rank. Everyone gains admin once they join a guild team (of which I do not approve, but it depends on what type of guild admin every member gets).

The guild message board appears to be active, but it all is how you turn upon it. What is your definition of an active board? There are regulars, but they do have their dead board silences where no one posts for a couple of minutes, a couple of hours. They aren't unactive though, so it's all about how you look at it. NF isn't terribly active, but they can't /really/ be at only around 30 members. Well, I guess that they could, but hardly any guild really is, you know? Real life calls, unless you don't have a real life. ;D

I was actually deleted a little while after I joined the guild to rate it. Promtly the guild leader neomailed me saying that it was an accident, because she was deleting unactive members. I wasn't angry as you might think. ;D I found that little happening an insite that she is active with deleting the unactive members when she must. She said that she deletes unactive member sweeps every month, but as I cannot be in the guild for a whole month, I cannot prove that.
There are 17 members with more than ten posts out of 34. I do not really understand (excluding the newcomers) who she could have deleted, because I saw many inactive members. As Nova Sponge Cakes always says, "Quality over quanity". NF should lighten up and just let go of the unactive members. I can understand how hard it is, if you're a desperate new guild trying to get members, but don't be afraid! Many people will still be attracted to your guild because it will be small and homely. The message board appears homely and everyone looks like good friends. You can also tell that the guild is semi-literate. The guild isn't too bad though, so don't get me wrong. There are those who post with one sentence posts and who do not use proper grammar, but the guild is one of the better semi-literate guilds regarding literacy.

The members seem to love their guild and support it strongly though, and the members are the core of a guild.

There is another thing that I don't understand. The main guild page says that "neopian-faeries" dot co dot nr, is their official website, but the guild leader said that it wasn't. She said that the website and the guild were just allies, so that is misleading if people were a fan of that site and thought that this guild was "thee guild" of the website, if you know what I mean. Maybe instead of underlining above "Official Website", they should say, "Neopian Faeries Ally" or something less misleading.

Neopian Faeries, don't try too hard! Just relax, and focus to appeal to your already joined members rather than to look "cool" to guildless-es. x) The only advice to you, as the only advice I can give to most guilds, is pick up on your coding, CSS, and graphics. You can download GIMP (look up with your favorite search engine), a free photo editting software. You can create, with enough practice, graphics comparable to the leading software PhotoShop and Paint Shop Pro, without having to pay a dime!

GUILD STAR CARD
Graphics: **
Activities: ****
Activeness: ***
Organization: **
Literacy: ***

I give this guild **.5 stars! Ease up, ;D

Pocket Otaku

***From the eyes of my old guildless self: When I found Pocket Otaku from my guildless board, I first of all, loved the application page. The banner was cute, there was solid and very important core information that an interested member must know! I was instantly very impressed. The thing that bit me was that you had to fill out an application that had to be 4,000+ characters long. Haha, I tried writing normally myself, filling in with detail of course, and I only barely got up to 1,500 characters. xDD
However, if you are considering Pocket, that ridiculously long application is worth taking the hour long to write.

The layouts are always amazing! They are usually anime/manga related, but the guild also puts up layouts just based on anything Asian related! When I was talking to the most famous Dark (Pocket's wonderful leader) he even mentioned that they had a sushi layout before. If you are interested in anything Asian, this guild is right for you.

I have never went onto the guild message board and found that no one was on. Someone is always on, may they be lurking with "Skitty's Disease; A raging disease that causes members to lurk instead of post" or just simply somewhere else - maybe on a Pocket GC board. The members are extremely friendly to new comers, and they don't drown you with anime/manga if you are afraid because you have never watched/read any. :D If you are an anime/manga fan, you can always start up a conversation easily though. Not /one/ person had zero posts except an old guild account. Everyone participates, and the atmosphere is kind, welcoming, and fun!

The guild website is extravagant and very well put together, as well! Not only does it contain tons of activities, games, wallpapers, userlookups, badges, and banners (the list goes on), but it has anime/manga recommendations which I, as a newbie anime/manga fan, x3, found very helpful!
The website even holds a "Guild Members" page so that if you forget someone's name by chance, as this is a large guild, you won't feel like an idiot for forgetting. =D

As I said, Pocket Otaku is a large guild at 103 members, but the message board is comfortable enough that you can chat with people on, addressing them by name, and still you won't be swept away by millions of posts or maybe even pages. The posts are also always literate, as Pocket is a literate guild.

So now that you have read the main points as to why Pocket is as great as it is, there are tons of little tid bits that would take pages and pages for me to all list, so you will just have to join and find out, eh?! -nudgenudge-
If I had a Spotlight section, Pocket Otaku would definitely be there.

Pocket, I have no doubt, will live until the end of time. They have even shown to us, by example when TNT closed down Pocket in February. They made such a huge comeback, that nothing will stop them. Join the fun, won't you? 8D

GUILD STAR CARD
Graphics: *****
Activities: *****
Activeness: *****
Organization: *****
Literacy: *****

I give this guild ************** stars! And that is out of five stars. ;D

BandWagon

Private, literate guilds always attract attention, am I wrong? For some reason, and I feel this myself, private guilds always are appealing because you can't see them. They are secret to us and to people they think are "un-cool" or "not-worthy", such as, who comes to mind? (n00bs) Private guilds are just so mysterious, so you want to hurry up and fill out the application to get a good look at them, right? I say that with Bandwagon, you would be sorely disappointed, and that you shouldn't even take five minutes of your time to fill out their application. It has the mysterious air of a private guild, and literacy attracts attention, but I found the guild was just a sham.

The application page was premade, which right away reduced some points. However, the application page was created by one of the best premade petpage makers, so the page looks good to guildless people, if they had never seen it before, of course. But the major thing that reduced points, and took my good reputation for the guild, was how it was so likely based on two other, great private and literate neo-related guilds, Nova Sponge Cakes, and Redux. On the application page, it uses the motto: "based on the concept of quality, not quanity" from Nova Sponge Cakes. I cannot say that NSC was the first to create it, as it is an olden quote from back in the ages of time, but I hate repetition. Bandwagon also copied the exact words of "a friendly, tight-knit community" from NSC as well. I found that dispicable, as I hold NSC in the highest regard. Bandwagon also copied it's last application question from Redux, "Do you think that you can comply with our posting rule (at least 2 sentences per post)?" and Redux's "How could you cope with our posting rule (3 sentences or more per post)?" I, personally, would never join a copy cat guild, as I doubt any guildless person who knew about NSC and Redux would either.

Just another quick fact, the website wasn't finished. When I clicked on the website link, it said, "The website is currently being renovated. Please check back soon. Thank you.
-Sammy, guild leader" so that would make me, as well as any another guildless person, also disappointed.

Fortunately, the teams page was finished, but it was also premade. The team names were nice, the "Top Hats, Bow Tie Brigade, and Cufflink Club", but they didn't appeal to me personally. x)

This guild has many games though, so if you like to play games, you could pop into this guild and have fun with that. I didn't see many event activities or anything other than it's gameroom for fun though, and I wouldn't enjoy that much. I personally like guilds that have all around fun if you know what I'm talking about. :)

Bandwagon has a great library though! I was actually expecting articles and journals there, but it was a library where you can check out and read to your pets by your BandWagonTokets (BWTs). I liked that idea, and I thought that it was a very well put together (though it was also in a premade layout).

After checking out what the guild has to offer, I then go to the message board.

The guild wasn't very active either. I can't say that it was totally unactive and boring though. The guild did have members who posted around the same time, but never really /talked/ together in conversation. The guild holds to being literate however! I would give them five starts for sticking to their name. :)

The guild didn't have any, but one member, who had zero posts, but the one with the most posts was the guild leader with 700+ in two months. It isn't the worst, but that certainly isn't the best show for activitiy. If you are an active member, this guild may also not be for you.

The layout also has the Redux theme of having the links up at top, then the layout, but that isn't a big thing. I'm probably just being protective because Redux is my old guild, but Bandwagon has many sly comparisons with Redux...

With its desperate premade layouts, sly comparasions to popular and successful guilds, Bandwagon has certainly jumped on "The Bandwagon".
This guild lacks originality, so be warned. :)

GUILD STAR CARD
Graphics: *
Activities: **.5
Activeness: *.5
Organization: *.5
Literacy: *****

I give this guild *.5 stars. I like orginal guilds, not copy cats.

Simply Neopets

As I now see on the right hand side -- the guild website! I click on it of course, and am lead to the guild website. My hopes sink immediately. This website, with the guild layout that was so promising, is premade. I sigh. Well, we can't dwell on the premades for long, I must continue on with my records.

I like the nice touch of "Sun Points" that the guild gives out though, and I really enjoy the island themed member ranks.

The guild isn't put together though. I clicked on "Activities" and the link was some wolf petpage, and I clicked on other important fun things, which lead to default, blank pages. I wonder what happened, and how big of a turn-off a guildless person would find that. I frankly found it a bit irritating, that I now have to give a terrible review, because I have nothing to work with!
-tear-

The guild isn't very active either. If you are a laid back person who doesn't like to chat very often, I suppose that you could slide in a Hi, but if you are an active person who likes to chat, this guild might not be for you.

I also don't know exactly when the guild poll was put up, but it was not a very promising outlook to the guild's activeness as only one person had voted, and that was most likely the creator.

I could feel this empty, cold-air gap for some reason in the guild, that I felt that I would not fit in, because I am a person who likes graphics, activities, and members having fun on the message board! There also were a lot of members who hardly had posted anything for weeks since they joined, but I suppose that it doesn't matter. It just depends on how you look at it and what you are looking for.

GUILD STAR CARD
Graphics: .5
Activities: *
Activeness: *
Organization:
Literacy: ***

I give this guild *.5 stars. Sorry, but this guild could use some improvement!

Iconic

The first look of it is a huge turn-off for guildless members in my opinion, and they are most likely going to pass the guild as a "not considering". However, if the guildless person is not interested in graphics, I say that Iconic has a chance.

The links are immediate however. Most guilds only include the main three links, "Chat, Join, Web" but Iconic was very thorough with its offers. It gives the guildless member an insite as to what they could look forward to, which is good. :)

I would suggest that Iconic would stop using premade petpage css layouts. Guildless members like to see original work, but Iconic's website and petpages do not show it. Also, I would suggest that Iconic would examine their grammar and spelling mistakes, as "Welcome" was spelt "Welocme". It would have been a huge turn-off right off the bat for literate people, but if they didn't care, they could brush that away.
The website would have been better if they would include guild links as well. It provided me with no choice but to click "Go back" with my own browser to get back to the guild.

Iconic did not have many activities I found, and I found that disappointing as well.

Iconic was not very active on their guild message board either. Their silent board sections are at random times, but I noticed that only a few people post regularily, and only four out of their 14 members (excluding me) voted in their poll.

However, I noticed that hardly any members have no posts, which made me happy. :) The highest number of posts have been 2,000+ posts in five months, so maybe that actually isn't the best. :/

As in a conclusion to this guild, if you do not mind being in a premade and not so unique guild, this guild may be for you.

Iconic, if they work on learning more about graphics and CSS, could prevail as a nice and well put together guild.

GUILD STAR CARD
Graphics: *
Activities: *
Activeness: **
Organization: *
Literacy: **

I give this guild ** stars. Nice! Or maybe not so nice...

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