Rule Changes to Address Misleading Trades +Spam Guide Update

[Simon]

Please note we've made very minor tweaks to word choice and arrangement of the new rules to help with clarity since the original announcement, but for the most part everything has remained the same.

Q&A Regarding Recent Rule Changes


Key Points:

Clarity over Terms: The terms "MA," "Non," and "Old Rare" are not outright banned from your vocabulary, but they are no longer allowed to be used as official units in trading guides. Guides must now use unique names for their values to prevent scammers from using vague language to trick people. When referencing a trade guide, users should use the unique terms from that guide.

Personal Values are Safe: You are still allowed to value your pets how you like. You will not be punished for disagreeing with a guide, provided you aren't pretending to follow a guide while intentionally inflating its numbers to deceive someone.

Protection for Inexperienced Traders: We are taking a firmer stance on "Ninja Trading." Targeting inexperienced players, particularly around our rereleases, by trading low-value pets for pets that will likely grow into high-value outcomes without transparency is now a punishable offense.

Transition Period: No rules will be enforced regarding these terminology changes until April 8th, 2026. This gives guide owners and traders a full month to adjust.

Why were these rules added? What is the point and how is this helping anything?

Behind the scenes, our staff has struggled to handle scam reports involving vague terms like "MA," "Non," or "Old Rare." After a lot of discussion, we realized we needed this update to moderate these reports effectively.

We felt it wasn't fair that a lack of clarity was preventing us from confidently identifying scams, and this was the most practical solution. Additionally, we’ve updated our rules to explicitly state that anyone targeting inexperienced users, whether through misleading trade terms or "ninja trading" (as defined in the announcement) will be penalized moving forward.

Are MA/Non/Old Rare banned terms entirely?

No. The general use of the terms MA, Non, and Old Rare is not banned. Users may still use these terms for personal trading and discussion. The change only affects how they may be used in value guides (For example, Horror’s “Guide to Trading Every Pet on CS”). Guides may no longer use MA, Non, or Old rares as their official base units. And if you are following a trading guide, you should use their units instead of MA, Non, and Old Rares.

Why can individuals still use MA/Non/Old Rares, but guides cannot?

MA and Non have existed on the site for a long time and were used informally well before the most popular guides were created. Users have historically used these terms to describe their personal values, sometimes based on the old trading guides, successful trade threads, or their own experiences. Because of this long history, MA and Non never developed a single consistent meaning across the site.

The issue arose when some guides began using MA and Non as official base units. When this happened, it created confusion because one user might be using MA or Non according to a specific guide, while another user might be using those same terms to refer to their own personal valuation system. This led to discrepancies where both users appeared to be speaking the same “language,” even though they were relying on different definitions.

The same applies to "Old Rare". Of course, users can still describe a pet as an "old rare" (e.g., "Trading this old rare dog"), but guides cannot use it as a math unit (e.g., "This pet is worth 2 Old Rares") as we find this to be vague and confusing when evaluating scam reports.

Restricting guides from using MA and Non and Old Rare as official units helps prevent this overlap. It ensures that guide-specific units are clearly defined and not mistaken for broader site-wide standards, while still allowing MA and Non to continue functioning as informal personal values in trading.


Will guides related to item rarity, C$, or user made scripts made to help with trading be required to use unique trading units? How does pricing pets for C$ fall into all of this?

The ban on MA, Non, and Old Rare terms as units also applies to these threads and tools. However, trading guides or scripts designed to complement an existing pet guide may use that guide's specific units, provided they don't contradict the original source.
For example, an item value guide can use units from a popular pet guide so users can easily understand an item's worth in pets. The same goes for user-made scripts; if a script is based on an existing guide, it can use those units. Keep in mind that the original guide owner has the right to ask you to stop using their units if they don't agree with how your tool or guide functions.

Finally, users are always free to price pets at any amount of C$, since it is an official currency and not a community-created trading unit.

What is a “personal value” and how can I communicate them without being misleading? I’m worried I will be punished for valuing pets differently from popular guides.

Personal values can be expressed in pet names, trade messages, trade rules, and trade threads. A user may state that they personally value a pet differently from a guide. The important factor is that personal values must be clearly presented as personal rather than implied to be an official guide listing.

An example of an acceptable way to express a personal value:

“Trading guide X values a sunjewel as worth 10 (guide units), I personally value it higher and I’m looking for 15 (guide units)”

This is acceptable because you are clearly communicating how the trading guide values the pet, and that you are looking for “overpay” by the trading guide’s standards. If you were to say "worth 15 (guide units)" or “seeking 15 (guide units)” while advertising the sunjewel for trade without any additional context, it would be considered a misleading use of that guide’s units and not an expression of personal value.

As always users are allowed to navigate trading without using any trading guide and just working out whatever they think would be fair with their trading partner. These rules aren’t meant to be a “gotcha”, staff will use common sense and judgment when enforcing them. As long as you aren’t intentionally misrepresenting language from the trading guide in order to mislead other users, you do not need to worry.

How will staff determine fairness if everyone has personal values?

Staff do not determine whether trades are subjectively fair. Differences in personal value are not rule violations. Staff involvement occurs only when there is clear rule-breaking, such as misrepresentation of guide values, deceptive trading practices, scamming or other violations of trading rules.

Will we be allowed to vary slightly from the values on a guide we are following to account for natural pet growth?

Guide owners have discretion to allow deviations to account for natural pet growth. Additionally, as answered previously, you are always allowed to personally value your pets differently as long as you are very clearly expressing it is a personal value. Again, we are only looking to punish people who are clearly intentionality using guide terms inaccurately in order to scam other players.

Does this mean the player-based economy is being removed?

No. This update does not introduce an official CS value guide and does not remove player-driven trading. Users may still create guides and assign personal values. The change only affects how guide-specific units are defined and represented so that they cannot be mistaken for site-wide standards.

Won’t this cause confusion for users who are on hiatus and come back to the site?

We understand that adapting to these changes might be confusing for returning users, but it has always been necessary to brush up on trade values after a hiatus. Because community pet values fluctuate naturally, players returning from a break usually need to re-read trade guides anyway. The only real difference with this update is that there are a few new terms to learn.

We aren't outright banning the terms "MA" or "Non" in part because we know many inactive users still have their pets and groups labeled this way. We won't punish returning players while they are still catching up on these changes.

What about ninja trading? Do these rule changes do anything to help with concerns around ninja trading?

Yes. The following rule was added:

"Anyone found trying to take advantage of inexperienced players to exploit their lack of knowledge, particularly around our rereleases, may be subject to punishment."

Moving forward after this update, we will punish users who are obviously targeting inexperienced users with ninja trades (Ninja trading is when someone offers pets of a lower rarity, usually in bulk, in exchange for a pet that is likely to grow into a higher rarity outcome, without pointing out that difference and relying on the trading partner’s lack of knowledge). Yes, this includes trades sent with no message or just a message saying something like "Are you okay with this". We will use our discretion and judgment when making these calls and take into account the user's trade history and other factors that would help inform us of malicious intent.

How long is the “transition period”?

We will give an entire month from the time we publish this Q&A for trading guides to update their terminology and users to transition to follow them. We may extend this if we deem necessary, but as of now we will start enforcing these rules starting April 8th 2026.

Will this update be rolled back?

We recognize and acknowledge that many users disagree with this update, but we ask that you first give it a chance. After reviewing the feedback threads, it’s clear that the intent and nature of these changes may not have been fully understood. We apologize for any confusion and hope this Q&A has helped ease your concerns.

We ask for your patience as we implement these rules. If major issues arise over time, we are open to revisiting the discussion. However, because we currently see no other way to fairly moderate trading disputes, we do not intend to roll back these changes at this time.

I've read everything carefully and I am still confused or have a question regarding this update.

In order to keep this Q&A highly visible and avoid misinformation spreading, we've decided to keep this thread locked. If you still have questions please send in a help ticket. If there are questions raised to staff that we feel are necessary to answer publicly and we haven't addressed yet in this Q&A, we will reply to this thread with additional clarifications.