Suggestion: Pound Pet Messages

[lil rascal]

That's an interesting old post about the pound, I had no idea it was originally against the rules to trade pound pets. I don't trade gifts but have always treated pound pets as just another pet. Imagine the difference it would make if pound pets were somehow actually incapable of being traded

[Shian]

It was later argued to be against the idea of making it a rule to not be able to trade the pound pets.
After all, what's the difference between getting a wanted pet from the pound or getting a pet from the pound and trading it for a wanted pet? So that's why the pound no longer says the pets are from banned players.

The compromise to the issue was the PM from your pet.

[Eaglespirit]

So that's why the pound no longer says the pets are from banned players.

I think it still says they're confiscated from banned players xD
And just my two cents, Im fairly new, and the first time I got the message it was kinda cute. but now its more annoying as it gets my hopes up that I got a trade or someone accepted my trade xP

[Keir;]

Just giving my personal experience with these messages, because I can see them being harmful to some people.

I do wish there were an easier way to turn them off rather then having to set up the rule to delete them, or rather, I'd love them to be removed completely. When I first joined and ended up getting that message, it sent me into a panic attack -- I was upset for probably the next 2 or 3 days, because of a simple message from a fake pet on the internet. Totally unnecessary. And for months I never knew how to turn it off, because I didn't really use PM's - only when I got a message from someone regarding a trade or something. I didn't know there was a way to set certain messages to be moved or deleted, so for months, I got panic attacks every time I got one of the messages (probably 3 or 4 times). I tried not to trade pound pets, but do you realize how hard it is to check each and every pet in a trade? Sure, they could all be put in a locked group as you get them, but if you have a lot of unsorted pets, it could be hard, or if you want them in with your collection.

I agree that they are very upsetting and should honestly be removed. A pet site should not be sending sad and upsetting messages to it's users for just trading away some pixels. For people with metal problems, or even someone who is just going through a hard time and is upset already, getting one of these messages can be a very bad thing.

I get the intent behind the messages, but is it really worth hurting some members like this? I am not the only person on this site with depression, anxiety, or other problems - I'm sure other's have had problems as well.

Of course, most probably don't get how harmful these can actually be, because they do just see it as some "annoying" message you get, with no real meaning. But trust me, stuff like this can really set people off.

[Shian]

I have my own phobias but I don't expect every site to cater to my personal issues. I'm sorry, but I don't think using mental illness or people prone to panic attacks as the baseline is reasonable. Otherwise the site wouldn't have spiders, scorpions, Halloween pets or anything else that might be upsetting to anyone at any time.

[Keir;]

Yes, but there is reason behind the animals - as this is a pet site where you, well, collect animals. And if you don't like a species, you simply could not collect it - it is very easy to get rid of pets. Trade, gift, send to pound, or even delete them. There at least needs to be an easier way to disable these messages, as most new players, and maybe even some older ones, probably do not know about the process of deleting certain messages, there should be a way to just turn them off. I'm also saying that I don't truly see why we need these messages in the first place. As you are trading away pixels for more pixels. They are not actually real animals. I really don't agree with the messages because they talk about "putting to sleep" a.k.a killing the animals. As CS is a pet site - and a kid-friendly site at that, I was very surprised to see them actually speak about killing of animals. If they really do not want people to trade pound pet's so badly as to make these guilt tripping messages, just make them untradable. Or else make an easier way to be able to turn them off. Or at least in the message give the steps to be able to do it.

[nickjr]

I have my own phobias but I don't expect every site to cater to my personal issues. I'm sorry, but I don't think using mental illness or people prone to panic attacks as the baseline is reasonable. Otherwise the site wouldn't have spiders, scorpions, Halloween pets or anything else that might be upsetting to anyone at any time.

Yeah, just a testimony of this: some CS Halloween pets give me literal nightmares and sometimes I have difficulty breathing because I'm just that freaked out by some CS Halloween pets. (I can't handle horror movies or some real life Halloween costumes, either, so I don't even pass out candy at the door anymore.) Going through the archives to find the cute or otherwise bearable Halloween pets is very tough to do.

Similarly for the FNAF things (and other things, but FNAF is common) that people put in their signatures. This is actually the reason I turned off signatures completely. My reaction to FNAF things is more extreme than my reaction to certain CS Halloween pets.

(edit: Yes, for me, this also means I have to avoid shopping from July to November due to all of the Halloween things that the stores sell in that timeframe. If you're confused... I live in the US. We like getting ready for holidays very early.

I've also been old enough to vote in the US for quite a while... so yes, for quite a while, I have at least been considered an adult, if not actually been an adult. At this point, I don't think I'll "grow out of it" lol)

That being said, I'm aware that this is a very singular reaction, so rarely do I even talk about it, and I certainly never complain about it. I just deal with it. The thing is that I can't predict when scary things will appear, so I have to half-ignore my peripheral vision (after God knows how many years, I still haven't mastered this) in the archives and on user profiles and also turn off all signatures. But people can predict when they'll see the Pound pet message after the first time. So there's really only the first time to deal with for them...

I don't know if enough people have extreme reactions when they see the Pound pet message. If a lot of people have extreme reactions, we should at least alter the content. Otherwise...

[Keir;]

Some ways that I've thought of to fix or help with the messages would be; (some are probably not possible or highly unlikely to happen though)

- Have a warning of some sort when you try to send a trade with a pound pet in it. Like "are you sure you want to trade this pet?" and something about it being from the pound. Nothing guilt tripping though.
- Reword the message. No killing, and try to make it let saddening.
- Adding a disable button visible on the message where it cancels all ones after.
- Or if not that, add a link to a guide telling how to disable them in the message, so that users can at least prevent further messages. Because some users may be unaware of how to disabled messages, considering some can barely figure out how to post on the forums.
- Make pound pets untradable. Wouldn't like for this to happen and it probably wouldn't, just thought I'd list it.
- Get rid of the message entirely. Probably won't happen either.


I think a combination of the first three would really help, or even the addition of one or two of them.

[Aaron✦]

- Adding a disable button visible on the message where it cancels all ones after.
- Or if not that, add a link to a guide telling how to disable them in the message, so that users can at least prevent further messages. Because some users may be unaware of how to disabled messages, considering some can barely figure out how to post on the forums.

Support for either of these. As a mentally ill person, while I don't expect sites to cater to my needs, I very much appreciate it when they do (I deserve to use sites comfortably as well, and we cater to the needs of such things as epilepsy here; mental illness is no lesser) and this isn't a difficult thing to add!

[Bilaz]

I'm an adult and I don't have any mental illness and yet the first time I saw the message it was extremely saddening. Seriously that message is heartbreaking, even though I was able to pull myself together quickly as I realized it was just a message about some pixels.

I fully support removing this message. It's rather upsetting for people struggling with mental illness, young children, people going through a rough time/who have just lost their actual real life pet and just over sensitive people who can't stand the dog dying in movies (like me lol).