It has recently come to my attention how out of hand adoption rules have become. I don't know exactly when and where this craze started, but ever since it seems to have grown into this creature that demands your first-born child simply to qualify.

How many times have I seen the following situation happen:

Fluffy is up for adoption. Fluffy is your dream pet, and you've got great ideas for her and have a wonderful home ready. You neomail the owner to say you're interested and tell them a bit about yourself. You receive the reply:

I'm sorry, your application has to be on a petpage. You did not state the secret word, and I'd like to see some artwork and poetry.

Fluffy ends up going to the creator of a mind boggling petpage application. Fluffy goes to said account and sits there. Fluffy sits there some more, without a description, petpet, or even that lovely petpage that had won Fluffy. Fluffy's new owner gets frozen. Fluffy goes poof into the voids of Neopia.

I, for one, would like to see an end to these insane rules for adopting pets. Ultimately, it comes down to the fact that they're only pixels. Yes, I know you want to find your pets a good home. There's nothing wrong with that. But people are getting these power trips by making others create elaborate petpage applications at their every command. It's ridiculous. I've seen demands that most wouldn't ask of someone adopting their child.

Merely having the time to put together an astonishing petpage does not mean they're automatically the owner of your dreams. It could be some kid with coding skills and a lot of time on their hands. A neomail should suffice to see what a person's like, as would a tour of their accounts. Requesting for a list of their current/past accounts is not too much to ask. There's no need to go into all these confusing steps and mandatory regulations. Most of the time seeing the word 'rules' on a foster pet discourages potential applicants. I know there's been many a time where I've wished to adopt a pet out of sincere love of the thing, but I'm bombarded with these military-like requirements that don't even let me take a breath without decking it in artwork and poetry.

I've always thought that if you can't tell if a person would be a good owner based on a little snooping, your expectations are too high or your observational skills are questionable." – Silva

The other day I saw a purple meerca up for adoption. Absolutely hideous name, complete with underscores and numbers. The owner was demanding a petpage application. Who do they think is going to put in that much effort for a common, horribly named pet? It boggles my mind! The only reason they're doing it is seemingly because everyone else is, and they want that little bit of authority by outlining their own set of sophisticated rules.

With something like a krawk or draik I can sort of understand, but as an admin on neo.oddones.org it's my job to look at lookups of pets up for adoption and undesirable pets like robot moehogs have hugely sophisticated rules and then the owner wonders why they haven't found a suitable owner!" – Madge

It does seem a bit insane to put so much effort into a pet you have no guarantee of getting. It's not worth the crushing realization that you just poured 3 days of your life into a complex layout that loses against another's, and the pet ends up intercepted in the pound anyways. The same thing goes with artwork and written material. A picture takes time to do, especially a very good one. Now maybe there are people who have the time, skills, and boredom to create works of art for potential pets…but I'm not one of them. Why spend all that work on a mere chance? And writing out the history of this foster pet, creating an in-depth personality, and dedicating stories/poems/whathaveyou to it is absurd. Maybe once you have the pet. But certainly not when you're only being considered…a potential candidate with no real guarantee.

People have to think more logically. The more who continue with these rules, the more are likely to follow suit, progressively making it harder to adopt a pet.

Well, a lot of it is ego inflation, isn't it? I mean, the person adopting out a pet has a bit of power, because they have something that other players want. But often they take it a bit too far. Big applications are really like asking people to kneel at your feet and grovel. "Please, please, I really want your pet, oh please, I'll do anything."- and most people get an ego boost from having people grovel at them.

I think there's been a slight shift in expectation, nowadays most players (except newbies) aren't really that bothered about basic colourfills because they don't have a very high status factor, so expecting a massive application is stupid for your shadow lenny/white uni etc. (not to say those pets can't be important, they're just an example) If the pet is that precious, then don't give it away. Chances are you labbed it, so really you didn't pay anything for it, and if you don't want it then fine, give it away. If you really want to get a home for your pet, then don't put people off with massive lists of requests." – Daisy

So if you have plans to foster a pet in the future, maybe stop to think before you put up that list of demands. There could be a wonderful, caring owner out there that would love to send you a heartfelt neomail, but is completely discouraged at the amount of work they have to do just to qualify to get a chance to adopt their dream pet. Remember, you're adopting out this pet because you don't want it anymore. If you're looking for such a fantastically perfect owner, then you obviously care enough about the pet to be insanely picky. And yes, sometimes pickiness is warranted if you've had the pet for a very long time. But even that shouldn't require this mountain of work. In the end you are getting rid of the pet. If you have second thoughts, then perhaps the pet shouldn't be up for adoption.

Again, it's not as though you can't leave a petpage application as an open option. That way if there are people who feel like doing one, they can make it of their own free will, whereas those who don't have the time or skills can still apply without feeling discouraged or driven away. You have to remember not everyone can make a fantastic petpage layout with ease. I mean, since when has a knowledge of HTML/CSS equaled fabulous ownership?

When I had a massive pet clearance, I had A LOT of people begging me to accept Petpage Applications (I had said no), so I said yes, emphasizing that it won't give them ANY sort of advantage and yet, a lot of people still did them. The Ego Inflated Trolls have affected the masses, making them think they have a much better chance of getting a pet by jumping through hoops and spending hours working on an application." – Jamie

So there you have it. My rant on this trend of pet application rules. Just to clarify, I'm in no way trying to protest against specific adoption agencies or anything. I have no problem with them. They can't control who joins and what the people write as their rules. I don't want people to get the wrong impression. I'm not out to abolish any sort of application, I just thought some were getting out of hand and people need to take a look at them. The reason I'm putting up this page isn't because I'm "bitter". The members of the Neocolours forum and myself have adopted wonderful pets without applications through each other. We're in no way upset because "our applications weren't good enough". The reason for this page is the same reason none of us ask for more than a PM: because mandatory petpage applications are pointless and turn away a lot of good owners who don't want to get attached to a pet they probably won't get anyway. If you agree with it, then I'd appreciate if you linked back to this page with one of the buttons below, or even a text link. Even better, if you're planning to put a pet up for adoption then make it clear that you're against insane rules. Maybe if we spread the word people will come to their senses about the whole thing.

<a href=http://www.neopets.com/~Sagewood><img src=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v51/mistressmorbid/stirbadge.png border=0></a> <a href=http://www.neopets.com/~Sagewood><img src=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v51/mistressmorbid/stirbutton2.png border=0></a> <a href=http://www.neopets.com/~Sagewood><img src=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v51/mistressmorbid/stirbutton1.png border=0></a>