[urgent] this site really is actually dying

[snowdrake]

don't mind me I'm just putting my mark down on this, I really want to read what everyone has to say! but I'll have to go sleep first ndbsjsbsj

[Moiraine]

Just a quick observation about the site being hard to get into-

Any site/community that goes for as long as CS will develop its own little culture with all the lingo and the terms that people within that community understands. I've been here since 2009 but only recently became active/interested in trading, and it's so hard to break into the culture, so to speak. The site isn't laid out clearly enough for it to be understandable to brand new users. I've been reading all this "worth x nons" etc and going "but what does that even mean?" and it's really hard to find any answers.

My suggestion would be completely refreshing the help page and/or all the stickied threads, maybe combining them all into one big "getting started on CS" guide that you really can't miss!

Bolded the relevant bits for skim reading

[Valentinez]

Just a quick observation about the site being hard to get into-

Any site/community that goes for as long as CS will develop its own little culture with all the lingo and the terms that people within that community understands. I've been here since 2009 but only recently became active/interested in trading, and it's so hard to break into the culture, so to speak. The site isn't laid out clearly enough for it to be understandable to brand new users. I've been reading all this "worth x nons" etc and going "but what does that even mean?" and it's really hard to find any answers.

My suggestion would be completely refreshing the help page and/or all the stickied threads, maybe combining them all into one big "getting started on CS" guide that you really can't miss!

Bolded the relevant bits for skim reading

Randomly adding my two cents, but I agree with this 100%!!
A complete guide in one place would be very helpful.

[macintalk]

Just a quick observation about the site being hard to get into-

Any site/community that goes for as long as CS will develop its own little culture with all the lingo and the terms that people within that community understands. I've been here since 2009 but only recently became active/interested in trading, and it's so hard to break into the culture, so to speak. The site isn't laid out clearly enough for it to be understandable to brand new users. I've been reading all this "worth x nons" etc and going "but what does that even mean?" and it's really hard to find any answers.

My suggestion would be completely refreshing the help page and/or all the stickied threads, maybe combining them all into one big "getting started on CS" guide that you really can't miss!

Bolded the relevant bits for skim reading

this is definitely true, i started playing last year. i now fully understand all the rare terms and stuff like that and can add up high value trades, but when i first started the game (and for almost that entire year) i had no idea how to comprehend any of that. it took me a while to learn it all. now that i've learned it i love trading high value pets, but i can agree it was really hard to break into that when you have no idea what any of these new terms you're just learning mean.

[DisneyLuv]

Just a quick observation about the site being hard to get into-

Any site/community that goes for as long as CS will develop its own little culture with all the lingo and the terms that people within that community understands. I've been here since 2009 but only recently became active/interested in trading, and it's so hard to break into the culture, so to speak. The site isn't laid out clearly enough for it to be understandable to brand new users. I've been reading all this "worth x nons" etc and going "but what does that even mean?" and it's really hard to find any answers.

My suggestion would be completely refreshing the help page and/or all the stickied threads, maybe combining them all into one big "getting started on CS" guide that you really can't miss!

Bolded the relevant bits for skim reading

Randomly adding my two cents, but I agree with this 100%!!
A complete guide in one place would be very helpful.

There is one, here.

Actually, that’s pretty out of date. There’s a good layout of definitions and worths in this thread.

[Moiraine]

Randomly adding my two cents, but I agree with this 100%!!
A complete guide in one place would be very helpful.

There is one, here.

This is great, and thank you for sharing it, but the fact that I looked multiple times for something like this and couldn't find it indicates that the site isn't laid out clearly enough for a total beginner who's just clicked on for the first time. Maybe there ought to be some kind of master post, if there isn't already?

[TruthBomb]

I've been on this site for 9 years. I originally joined in 2013 with my brother, but he stopped playing years ago. I took my breaks here and there but tended to come back a few months later.

In 2019-2020, I gave away all of my pets and items. I had discovered the toxic side of CS and.. that was it for me. Some of the users on CS are so cold and mean. I was gone for a year and a half, I think only visiting three or four times to accept new trades.

I came back, wanting to just collect pets. I had collected all of the uncommons and below before, I wanted to at least do that. I joined the CSTM discord again and something felt different. The people I had issues with before had gotten bored, I guess, and moved on. Either that or they grew up. I received a lot of open arms, kind words and, of course, gifts. CS made me happy again and still does.

The main problem I see is like what most users have mentioned, nobody wants to trade anymore. Whether it's because of the list being crazy or finding no one to trade with. I have a 33 page wishlist. I bump my thread pretty often and I make it clear what I'm trading for. I still have people try to get me to overpay or I get nothing. Whatever it is, no one wants it.

I'm not here just to rant, but if you have a site like CS that doesn't require much from you on a daily basis, hardly anyone will log on daily. Some things that could be added are:
- mini games
- more coders to implement ideas faster
- items (and item sets) in the CS store!! and make them stay there
- more reasons to buy C$ (custom stamp maker?)
- staff interaction from higher ups (Seasonal, Lacuna, Sorren Fey, Zeena, Simon, Nick and Tess)
- merch (pins, plushies, etc)
- etc

all of this. I quit several times due to toxic users, and honestly.. it doesn't seem to change. nobody really seems invested in trading or playing anymore, and i don't blame them. i lost my interest for trading too. it seems like trading is almost impossible now.

i used to have a lot of valuable pets and gave them all away or traded them away etc, because they used to be so easy to obtain, now i have to trade my entire account for 1 pet.

and honestly? the staff not interacting unless we need to report something, get striked etc, feels wrong. i feel like if they interacted with the community it would bring back a lot of the activity. it feels like we are ignored a lot of the times, i love the staff dont get me wrong, but we need some interaction sometimes.

[hypmic]

I'm just going to do devil's advocate and say that I feel the opposite? I got into CS in 2017, went on a hiatus, and came back and it seems MUCH more lively now. I've had a much easier finding people to talk to and trade with now than I did in the past. Now, I'm not saying that my experience is universal, but nobodies is, including those that have negative opinions. I do agree that the sort of starting guide area of CS could use some touching up on, but I don't think saying that this site is "dying" is necessarily accurate, and honestly just comes off as fear-mongering (Especially if you preface it with [urgent]). A dying site isn't active, there's forum posts being posted every minute, if not every few seconds. I do think the trading economy needs a little work, but like I said, it isn't like the site is dying and becoming a ghost town. There's hundreds, occasionally thousands, of people on at any given time. As someone that's been on actually dead sites, that isn't dying IMO.

[good vibrations]

i quit this website back around may for good after eight years of playing through this and a previous, now deleted, account. if you don't start out with 20 nons worth, you're screwed. there's no way to profit on here without being a total scumbag, or being a god at art, and flight rising gems and C$ are inflated to the point that a non will set you back $100. there's rarely any new players, driven away by the toxicity, greed, and generally closed-off, elitist nature of traders.

this game is becoming unplayable, to say the least, and this comment will come off as rude and abrasive, but i'm hoping people will see that i care about this site, even though i can't see a light at the end of the tunnel, unfortunately. without art and closed species this website would be entirely, completely, and irredeemably dead, and big closed species themselves are always funneling themselves offsite anyways.

[DisneyLuv]

Yeah, I’ve felt it die. I only joined in late 2019, yet things seem to have changed a lot within the past few years. The trading community makes up such a large chunk of CS, yet it is so difficult. Coming back for after about a year, why are the recent store pets going for so much? Why is it so hard to trade for a normal rare dog, or a very recent event pet?

When I first joined, I wanted to collect all the store pets. It wasn’t so hard to trade normal rares for store pets, but now? It feels impossible! Collections are so hard to complete and trading has become difficult and boring. Not to mention what someone else did here, the auctions are completely dead. I don’t remember having to wait almost a full day to bump my posts in there. The most active it really gets is at rollover for a short amount of time, while I’m asleep or during events, and it’s a shame when I really loved my time on this site

I agree about the auction threads, nobody seems to be bidding. I’m currently auctioning a popular OMGSR, but nobody has bidded on it and it’s been a couple of days. I feel like a lot of users will feel the same way.

As for a store pet collection? You’re correct, it’s very much improbable. You also have to include the Skelebun which is worth like 12+ nons now. No wonder you can’t bid on that, nobody has nearly enough pets to cover that gap.