Suggestion: Hide the Pound's 'Adoptions' Group?

[Pyromaniacal]

I don't often use the Pound, but I support this! It preserves the principle of the Pound more and seems like it will prevent the users who come out with rarer pets from being spammed nearly as much.

[piggie]

I always thought that many players weren't aware that you can see the 'adoptions' group- well, at least I didn't know until last year. For me, it's great that you can see the pets available to adopt; it gives me something to look forward to! Also, not every pet you have your eye on displays on the page, unless you're really lucky!
.....but I really dislike it when you get a large amount of trades for an awesome pet you just received from the pound.
Hmm, I guess I'm somewhere in between (:

[*JACKAL*]

There are jokers in the pound? I've honestly never seen anything past uncommon since 2011.

[myth;]

There are jokers in the pound? I've honestly never seen anything past uncommon since 2011.

The pound has at least one of everything, but it's only very infrequently that an extremely rare pet even gets into the adoptions group. And the pets you see are completely random, so the chances of seeing that rare pet is very unlikely.

Also, there was once someone who got a joker from the pound. The most valuable thing I ever got was a rereleased advent dog. c:

[Shinryu]

I support this suggestion! Probably because I'm a cranky veteran who wants to preserve the spirit of the Pound as much as realistically and reasonably possible lol and I think this is a realistic and reasonable suggestion for doing that

Hiding the group alone isn't going to help much with this sentiment IMO.

It would put new/inexperienced users at a greater disadvantage.
If you close the Adoptions group from public view the experienced players would still go for the rares, knowing they're rares, while newer users are left to guess the value of the pets they see.
I don't need to look at the adoptions group to know what's rare and valuable. I recognize these pets on sight and will click them out of instinct. (This has gotten to the point where I accidentally pulled 09 rare doubles from the Pound because my fingers moved faster than I could realize I already have the pet.)
But for people who aren't as knowledgeable about rarities, having the option to see the rarity of pets in the Pound gives them a chance at memorizing a few pets, which can be a huge help at giving them a shot to take a valuable pet home.
Closing the group won't stop people from trying to "farm" rares from the Pound. It just makes it harder for the inexperienced to compete with the oldies.

I like looking at the Adoptions group beforehand so I can see if there's anything in there that interests me, and if it's worth for me to keep refreshing a half empty Pound for ages in the hopes of having a hoardie or missed outcome show up.
The "you're supposed to adopt something you like" argument only does go that far.
The idea that closing the group from view will suddenly make people want to pick up a very common rat from the last month is pretty... optimistic. People will still refresh multiple times in the hopes of seeing something "better" show up. Seeing the group will merely save them time. ^^

I do agree, however, that it would help to cut down on trade offers towards people who snag valuable pets, and I can reasonably see why these would be super annoying.

[myth;]

I support this suggestion! Probably because I'm a cranky veteran who wants to preserve the spirit of the Pound as much as realistically and reasonably possible lol and I think this is a realistic and reasonable suggestion for doing that

Hiding the group alone isn't going to help much with this sentiment IMO.

Firstly: It would put new/inexperienced users at a greater disadvantage than others.
-snip-

The "you're supposed to adopt something you like" argument only does go that far. Why not let people look at the group to see if there's something they want to wait for?
-snip-

Those are some extremely good points you have there...

However, personally I've only known that you can see the pound's Adoptions group for a few years (I think it took me three years before I figured it out?) but by that time I had gotten accustomed to what was 'rare' and what wasn't. Though there is a trend going around through newbies and those who aren't familiar with rare pets; they go through the archives and add any/their favourite rare pets onto their wishlists so that if one does come up they will be able to recognize it. It would be the same for any wishlist pets, as they do show up in the Pound.

Even if they do get to look, it doesn't necessarily mean that that uncommon> pet they saw will come up, so even then waiting around may be in vain. Then again, you may be lucky enough to find a rare+ pets, or a WL pet or even something appealing, but it isn't necessarily going to appear. I think it would be far less frustrating in any case to not be able to see what's coming because then you're not expecting something big and come out with something small... if that makes sense?

[Shinryu]

It's true that not everyone knows about being able to view the Adoptions group, but imo that doesn't diminish the fact that for those who do, it can be a huge help.
The wishlist thing may work for some people, but I also know that not everyone wants to clog their wishlist with every rare ever, as it can interfere with trading and keeping track of actual wishlists.
Personally when I see someone asking about tricks for the Pound I always bring up the adoptions group, and I've seen tons of people do the same. The info is out there for those who ask and look. IIRC I've even brought it up in help tickets about the Pound before.
I simply feel like the fact that there is more than one trick to recognizing rares doesn't mean one of them has to be eliminated^^

I think by looking at what's available, it's easier to prepare yourself for reacting if the pet does pop up. For me this reflex is easy, but for someone less experienced, seeing the pet before can give their brain the necessary cue in case it does show up.
Every player has to decide for themselves if they find it more or less frustrating to know what could show up but might not.
I, personally, would much rather know what's in there, but be prepared not to get it, than to sit in front of the Pound for ages, refreshing and refreshing. I have on occasion waited 30+ minutes for pets that I knew were in there - I wouldn't want to spend that much time on the pure hope something nice will show. I'd be much more likely to skip a half empty Pound than to adopt anything at all.

Again, though, I do think that the point about preventing people from tracking the owner of a pet is important. I personally like being able to view the group for reasons mentioned, but I'd be willing to sacrifice this comfort to make it harder for people to bother new owners with trades.
I'm not saying I don't have any support for the suggestion, I just think the argument that it'll help to stop people from treating the Pound as a rare farm is weak.

[myth;]

I see what you mean.. hmm..

The only other way I could think of (that would still allow people to see the pets in the pound) is if the pets in the adoptions group couldn't be clicked on. There is a setting that makes the pet's rarity come up underneath it, so clicking won't be necessary, and it stop people from book marking and thus tracking them around. Though I'm not sure if it possible or easily done?

[nickjr]

On mobile so it's a pain to quote just a part of a post, sorry

Re: the info is there if you look for it

It's not intuitive at all that you can look for the info to begin with. To a new user, the Pound may look like a site-generated thing, like how other pet sites have on-site stuff generators (shops, official random giveaway, etc), even without making that comparison. Somehow I'm doubting that it will even enter a new user's head that it is possible to see Pound pets in advance. To look for info, first you have to actually wonder if the info exists.

(Somehow I'm doubting that people will automatically read AND process the text on the Pound page, judging from some of the posts I've seen from less-experienced players over the years about the Pound... I hope I'm wrong and was just seeing an extremely tiny minority)

And not all (I don't mean this as a technicality) new users are exposed to the info despite the efforts of some of you guys to spread the word about the Pound's Adoptions group. The new users we see are the ones who aren't afraid to post on a new forum. Even among them we see so many who are hesitant to *post* (not just do, but *post*) something they shouldn't. Somehow I feel like we have a ton of users who just don't do the forums at all.

If it weren't for that I would completely agree with what you said because you have good points @ZEL

Okay I think I'm done editing

[Shinryu]

I think you may be misunderstanding my original point.
I wasn't saying that the adoptions group is the perfect help for new players because they obviously must know it exists.
What I was saying is that the idea of closing the group to prevent people from using the Pound as a rare farm (or, to use your words "preserve the spirit of the Pound") won't work, because people will go for the good stuff first anyway, and experienced users don't need this option to recognize rares.
Whether you keep the group open or closed, people will go for the rares either way. It's just that with the group closed, experienced players have a clear advantage. So even if not all new users know about the adoptions group, for those who do, it's a help, and it's a help I wouldn't want to take away on the basis of "it's because the Pound isn't a rare farm".

I completely agree with most arguments people presented here for closing the group - just not that one^^