WHY PEOPLE ARE QUITTING CS- A Discussion

[ShadowKatto]

Hey!! Im not trying to be rude- but could anyone who has had a blunt/rude message from mods post them for clarification? Im just curious as to what was being said exactly! Obviously take out any sensitive info (names, dates, places, etc) but i think that could help make things more clear! I understand it is likely that users no longer have the message but i just wanted to shoot my shot lol

Sure, I guess I’ll share one…

Hey there,
Please make sure you only post once instead of double posting, you can edit your post to add what you wish to say. Additionally making multiple posts of just quoting things to ensure others see it is spam. If you have more to add then feel free to, but trying to bump up a suggestion by spamming the forum is not going to make staff or users see it more.

This was regarding the “What would be your dream summer event theme?” thread. I dunno if this comes off as “rude” or “blunt” to anyone, but I was really scared when I first received this. I was still pretty new to CS at the time, I think I’d only been there for about 3 or 4 months.
I really hope I’m not breaking any rules by posting this this here.

[Darni]

I just logged back in and I'm glad this thread is still up and going! I'm glad everyone is still sharing their thoughts and suggestions. You guys are great

[Fierce Wings]

I have no idea how to word this or even if I'm making sense here so if I'm not just ignore me. ;w;

It's been brought up before on this thread from what I've seen and skimmed through but more frequent updates and communication with Tess and Nick would be nice. I get that they have their own lives and can't put their focus all on some silly little adoptable website but as others have pointed out the site itself is still stuck in the past and communication is nearly nonexistent. The majority of the user base are adults and I think it would be amazing if the rules got a bit of an update? A touch up?? Be at least a little less strict and punishing and a little more catering to the adult users as well. I'm not saying to allow any inappropriate content or anything. Just be a bit more... free, y'know?

I can understand if Tess and Nick genuinely don't want to focus on the site anymore or they may not want/have the time to change things too drastically themselves but if they aren't interested in running things more efficiently and affectively they should find someone they can trust to pass the torch to, so to say. Someone who does have more time to spare to work on the site and who cares enough to at least try to make changes for the better. Not just for the site itself but for the people here who still love it and don't want to see it die off completely.

I love and care for this site. Probably much more than what I should and I would personally be absolutely distraught if it just fades into nothing or it just shuts down completely. I'm one of those people who have the time to spare to be on here whenever and however long I'd like and it's a big part of my life. Has been for nearly 12 years now. I've seen many amazing suggestions here that could help with rebuilding the site and make it stronger and more active than it has been in years. Maybe even more than it ever has been.

Just the existence of this thread proves that so many people still care for and love this site and want to see it reignite. I just hope it gets the chance to. It deserves it.

Please don't think I'm being rude as I promise I'm not trying to sound that way! I just wanted to put my thoughts here as well. If any of this comes off as hostile or if it doesn't even make any sense I apologize. I'm not good at communicating. ;w;

[howlingwolf909]

I've seen some mentions of taking pets from old, inactive accounts and redistributing them back into the economy somehow. Although I see why people want that, it would really suck to be one of those old, inactive accounts, if the person ever comes back online. I left for a few years and came back, and I wouldn't have been happy to find everything gone.

However, I know the number of people who leave for 10+ years and come back is quite small. So, I have one possible idea, though it might be hard to code.

Duplicate the account's pets and release those. The most likely outcome is that the account owner never comes back, meaning those pets stay on the account. Since they've been duped and released, this is functionally identical to the account's pets having been taken. On the rare chance that the owner does come back, they still have their pets, and no harm has been done- the chance of that happening would be low enough that the overall number of pets which are duplicated, and then later come back into trading, would be pretty small. One out of every few thousand or so.

I also have an idea, unrelated, that I suspect might help with the trading thing. Namely: a petdex. Described here: Forum/viewtopic.php?f=119&t=4842798&hilit=suggestion
In short, make something that, like a Pokedex, tracks what pets you've owned. If you trade away that pet, you still have its entry in your Petdex. That way, people can collect an entry for every pet, without having to actually own every pet at the same time. Just imagine how many pets are sat in groups somewhere, not because their owners particularly want them, but because their owners are trying for a full collection. Now think what it would do for everything if all those pets were suddenly available again. This would also solve the problem of there being only a limited number of rare pets- now you don't have to keep every, say, 2008 Tess horse. You can get one briefly, then trade it off to someone else who needs it. And if someone does want to collect and have one of every pet, not only can they still do that, but it should be easier (read: not functionally impossible) due to the greater amount of pets being traded.

wow, i personally love this idea!
im a player from 2015, and i've been an on-and-off user constantly over the years, and I know that coming back to my childhood account to see all my sentimental, memory-filled pets missing just for the sake of an economy I was never really apart of would be /devestating./ I think this idea perfectly shoots all the shots and is a huge win/win that with some tweaking would be amazing!

[barbwirebrat]

my friend wound up quitting due to the staff and he wanted me to share his own testimony here so i thought i’d do that for him!! please don’t take this as attacking the mods because that’s not what this is by any means, i just figured because we’re on the topic of our poor experiences it would be worth sharing.


- i was temporarily banned for disagreeing with some action taken against me over my artwork, and the ban was because i spoke out about how i felt like i was being targeted/like i was literally being bullied and harassed by mods for doing quite literally nothing wrong; apparently i "insulted the staff" and was being "belligerent" simply for not agreeing and bringing up other issues about how i was being treated unfairly when half the time other issues regarding the same subjects were literally being performed by other users but they wouldn't receive any issue or feedback, especially if they were a popular artist

- i'd get in trouble for having a certain profile picture on th (which wasn't even a bad profile picture, it was literally an album cover), when i didn't even have my toyhouse linked on my profile. i was told to "either change my profile picture on toyhouse, a site they don't own, or figure it out" aka either change my profile picture on a site that wasn't even linked on my profile or posts and they didn't own, or get in trouble.

- got in trouble for details on my art like pink tummy on a flat pelvis on an anthro adopt, which apparently is "against cs rules because it's too human and looks like nsfw".

- they allowed someone to get away with lying about me regarding nsfw when the user literally edited screenshots and also i showed proof that it literally wasn't true and that the user had also been totally dishonest with me and the mods, yet i still got in trouble and effected by it.

- also allowed my stalkers have access to me, didn't allow me to take safety precautions.

[LittleMaple]

Hey!! Im not trying to be rude- but could anyone who has had a blunt/rude message from mods post them for clarification? Im just curious as to what was being said exactly! Obviously take out any sensitive info (names, dates, places, etc) but i think that could help make things more clear! I understand it is likely that users no longer have the message but i just wanted to shoot my shot lol

Sure, I guess I’ll share one…

Hey there,
Please make sure you only post once instead of double posting, you can edit your post to add what you wish to say. Additionally making multiple posts of just quoting things to ensure others see it is spam. If you have more to add then feel free to, but trying to bump up a suggestion by spamming the forum is not going to make staff or users see it more.

This was regarding the “What would be your dream summer event theme?” thread. I dunno if this comes off as “rude” or “blunt” to anyone, but I was really scared when I first received this. I was still pretty new to CS at the time, I think I’d only been there for about 3 or 4 months.
I really hope I’m not breaking any rules by posting this this here.

Please make sure to not include the poster's user as i dont want your post to get reported or something to happen /gen!!!! It doesnt come off as rude to me but i understand that to a newer user it could startle them

[cats135]

Just gonna throw 2¢ in quickly lol bc this is a sensitive topic, but wAy back when I was a wee bean, not even 13, I posted a "statement post" (me just saying something, not discussion) in the forums before fully understanding what forums were for. I was a Child who had never used internet before.

My post got closed and I got some warning I don't recall word for word, but it freaked me out so bad I stopped using forums for months, maybe more.

I don't recall if the mod was rude, but it was stern enough it scared me from trying to post for ages. So, as a certified Teacher myself, there is professionalism without sounding scary, rude, or blunt. Even just adding a "thank you!" at the is enough sometimes.

this is the kind of stuff that had kid me first playing on the website avoiding even TRYING to learn the forum. i think if i had given it a go and accidently did something wrong in my child naivete, and gotten what everyone is describing as the usual mod response which is stern, cold, blunt, and unforgiving.. i really think I would've quit the game much sooner just out of anxiety.

OH YEAH. I even remember it so well because it rattled me so bad, it still makes me a lil uneasy over 10 years later. Back then, to me who was Babey, and new, and this was my *first* internet experience, being "scolded" like that really was upsetting. I don't even make new forums now really, I just comment in existing ones and lay low out of worry for messing up.

[Lex.]

We shouldn't have to trade hundreds of pets for 1.
I have had multiple OMGSR and ended up trading them for several store pets because the demand and list is so difficult to understand. It takes the fun out of the game.
Plus lots of rude kids and people in general.

Well, that's just how rarity works. When there is less of something, you pay more purely because it's hard to find. That's just a basic economic thing IRL and online.
As for the rude kids, that is very frustrating.
I've stated this before, but having a "Report this trade message" button in the trade interface would be great.

And as for the not following a "3 strikes your out" system, it honestly just seems like it allows people to get away with certain things that others can't. It's better to just treat everyone the same, so that at least every person here is treated equally.
If board warnings are just an artifact of old forum websites, than remove it. It's a red herring. Plus, a lot of things you can get a board warning for really only require a verbal warning. That needs to be worked on as well.

Also, a condescending message from staff. Not my image, though it was shared with me from the OG recipient!

If professionalism is so important, then surely there was a better way to respond that was more professional.
That last sentence was completely unnecessary. [This message was sent by a site admin, for reference]

[Ziggy Stardust]

Just gonna throw 2¢ in quickly lol bc this is a sensitive topic, but wAy back when I was a wee bean, not even 13, I posted a "statement post" (me just saying something, not discussion) in the forums before fully understanding what forums were for. I was a Child who had never used internet before.

My post got closed and I got some warning I don't recall word for word, but it freaked me out so bad I stopped using forums for months, maybe more.

I don't recall if the mod was rude, but it was stern enough it scared me from trying to post for ages. So, as a certified Teacher myself, there is professionalism without sounding scary, rude, or blunt. Even just adding a "thank you!" at the is enough sometimes.

this is the kind of stuff that had kid me first playing on the website avoiding even TRYING to learn the forum. i think if i had given it a go and accidently did something wrong in my child naivete, and gotten what everyone is describing as the usual mod response which is stern, cold, blunt, and unforgiving.. i really think I would've quit the game much sooner just out of anxiety.

Fairly recently, I thread I posted on about lucid dreaming was locked. People were discussing whether or not they could lucid dream, what it was like, techniques to do it and so on. The thread was locked because "there is already a topic about dreams" (the "dreams you've had" thread), which was not quite the same thing. There was no opportunity to explain why we thought it was different and deserved its own thread and we did not want to take it to the dreams youve had thread because we did not suddenly want to start spamming about lucid dreams and going off topic, since the discussion was not strictly explaining lucid dreams you've had.
I took it in stride, but I hoped it wasn't the thread owners first attempt at making a topic, because being shut down so remorsefully without a chance to defend your thread's purpose is incredibly discouraging, especially to new users.
I feel bad whenever I see someone post a thread like "hi, i'm new" or "looking to make friends!" since those do not have a clear topic of conversation and quickly get locked. It does violate rules, and users should be aware of forum rules before posting, but it is a shame to see new users get shut down so wholly when they are likely just young and don't understand forum sites very well.
There was a time when the forums were absolutely hectic and this strict level of moderation was 100% necessary, but the user base has shrunk since then as well as forum activity, and it still seems as though some mods are still on edge from the times when threads were all over the place with redudant ones popping up everyday and users discussing completely irrelevant things.
I do think there needs to be more leniency, not with what is allowed to be discussed or language used, but with the margins that define what an acceptable forum topic should be. If someone in anime fan club asks another user how there day is going, if they did well on that test they were worried about, that should not be entirely discouraged. I know things on the forums have gotten out of hand before and that thread topics devolved into unrecognizable conversations, but it seems like new users are being punished for old users' mistakes. That is just my perspective, though.

[howlingwolf909]

my friend wound up quitting due to the staff and he wanted me to share his own testimony here so i thought i’d do that for him!! please don’t take this as attacking the mods because that’s not what this is by any means, i just figured because we’re on the topic of our poor experiences it would be worth sharing.


- i was temporarily banned for disagreeing with some action taken against me over my artwork, and the ban was because i spoke out about how i felt like i was being targeted/like i was literally being bullied and harassed by mods for doing quite literally nothing wrong; apparently i "insulted the staff" and was being "belligerent" simply for not agreeing and bringing up other issues about how i was being treated unfairly when half the time other issues regarding the same subjects were literally being performed by other users but they wouldn't receive any issue or feedback, especially if they were a popular artist

- i'd get in trouble for having a certain profile picture on th (which wasn't even a bad profile picture, it was literally an album cover), when i didn't even have my toyhouse linked on my profile. i was told to "either change my profile picture on toyhouse, a site they don't own, or figure it out" aka either change my profile picture on a site that wasn't even linked on my profile or posts and they didn't own, or get in trouble.

- got in trouble for details on my art like pink tummy on a flat pelvis on an anthro adopt, which apparently is "against cs rules because it's too human and looks like nsfw".

- they allowed someone to get away with lying about me regarding nsfw when the user literally edited screenshots and also i showed proof that it literally wasn't true and that the user had also been totally dishonest with me and the mods, yet i still got in trouble and effected by it.

- also allowed my stalkers have access to me, didn't allow me to take safety precautions.

wow. that is.. that's pretty bad. id even say awful tbh.
mods are human, yes, and sometimes we can't all fit a cookie-cutter rim of how to interact with each player and what the right thing to say is, but as a mod i feel you should still have the responsibility and duty to make your users know you're their ally. this doesnt seem like an ally. this seems like a system actively working against their playerbase, and apparently its not even intended, which means there's just an issue overall in how the staff sees the playerbase. communication isnt being dealt with properly. i hope staff can take the aftermath of these experiences and learn from them.
questioning authority is more often than not actually trying to /understand/ authority.