[urgent] this site really is actually dying

[Asinine]

I personally find that the whole “can’t block mods” thing to be problematic for the site. If I ever find myself uncomfortable with a moderator,I’d be out of luck so it discourages me from interacting with any. Mods are just normal people to and not all are going to act in a way a mod should. It happens on any site. Any time I visit the setting for blocked users,I am always reminded that mods cannot be blocked. If mods can block us,we should be able to block them as well. I understand that moderators need to be able to do their job and interact if need be,but i don’t think that is really a good reason to render them “unblockable”. If mods don’t have to interact with people they are uncomfortable with ,I don’t think Normal members should have to interact with mods that they aren’t comfortable with just because of their account status. Just a personal thought,I know there are probably problems with this,but I don’t have much else to say about it.

This. One mod makes me uncomfortable and I would prefer they don’t interact with me but I can’t do anything about it and I hate it.
And asking them to just not interact with me is out of the question for me cause of my issues. It’s terrifying.

[Halfmask]

I feel like it's too little too late for trying to slow down C$ inflation. The only way IMHO to solve the C$ issue is to go the way of Gaia Online and get rid of it/do a huge overhaul. Not Gaia Cash but when they absolutely destroyed their economy with the gold generating items.

At the risk of sounding crazy, my potential solution would be to stop selling C$ and then announce some dump for C$ IE a one-time premium surprise box which would renew the pool for some of those older pets. I don't mean one box, I mean a random past store pet. Maybe tiered boxes so one tier would be store pets from 2009 and backwards being 10x more than a previous store pet from current to 2020.

IE: newer box could be 50 per pet
oldest box could be 500 per pet.

If anyone's worried about the children missing out, and devaluing old store pets, those are non complaints IMHO. Maybe that sounds harsh but it won't do the users who have drink me/eat me dogs any good if people stop coming to the site. If anything this would probably revitalize the community with a big event/overhaul, getting rid of the issue of people buyin C$ and never spending them. If there's a slight influx of these never re-released pets then it'll be easier for the people without C$ and COPPA users to try to work their way up to them, because I think our current situation is worse.

I don't think it's in the site's best interest to weigh the needs/feelings of the minority with old store pets over solving all kinds of sore points. It would suck for sure, but I think this would be a way to do it.

After the C$ premium box purge, people could come back and get a watered down version/there would also be a version for smaller amounts of $

IE, if the smallest store pet box is 50$ there should be a random UC for $5 etc, that way people can hit 0.

I'm sorry if that sounds crazy, feel free to disregard.

[yharnam boy]

Just want to clarify, if you could block moderators it would be very easy to block ALL moderators, which is clearly a problem. If there's someone specific you don't want to interact with you can send in a help request about that so an admin can inform them.

i don't see a problem with blocking mods as long as infos, warnings and announcements are exempt from it.

[LilMissFerret]

At the risk of sounding crazy, my potential solution would be to stop selling C$ and then announce some dump for C$ IE a one-time premium surprise box which would renew the pool for some of those older pets. I don't mean one box, I mean a random past store pet. Maybe tiered boxes so one tier would be store pets from 2009 and backwards being 10x more than a previous store pet from current to 2020.

IE: newer box could be 50 per pet
oldest box could be 500 per pet.

If anyone's worried about the children missing out, and devaluing old store pets, those are non complaints IMHO. Maybe that sounds harsh but it won't do the users who have drink me/eat me dogs any good if people stop coming to the site. If anything this would probably revitalize the community with a big event/overhaul, getting rid of the issue of people buyin C$ and never spending them. If there's a slight influx of these never re-released pets then it'll be easier for the people without C$ and COPPA users to try to work their way up to them, because I think our current situation is worse.

I don't think it's in the site's best interest to weigh the needs/feelings of the minority with old store pets over solving all kinds of sore points. It would suck for sure, but I think this would be a way to do it.

After the C$ premium box purge, people could come back and get a watered down version/there would also be a version for smaller amounts of $

I think if they did a poll, more people would be on board with rereleasing the store pets than they realize. Staggered priced mystery boxes definitely sound like a good idea to me. I think I’d put a limit on it though, to keep the rarities from nose diving. Maybe 3 boxes for the newer store pets and only 2 for the older ones?

[iHolli]

{I play another site called 4dopt and the spotlight contest just ended and I think it's worth suggesting a similar concept to help with both the C$ problem and the activity problem. The way the contest works on the site is every week you pay site currency to enter pets in a voting contest, the users spend the week using their limited votes to choose their favorite pets, and at the end of the week the winner gets the whole pot of currency [plus exp etc etc for the site use]. there's also smaller prizes for those who win individual species voting.}
{For CS I think a similar weekly pet contest would help with things. Every user could have one free entry a week [so even those with no C$ can join] and to buy more entries you pay C$. Maybe half could go to the winner's pot and half back into the site, to curb inflation. It's worth noting that on 4dopt you're allowed one entry per species and one vote per species [and you can't vote for yourself ofc]. Users would be encouraged to get on CS at least once a week to vote and see the newest winners, maybe even spend more time online while they work on dressing up their own pets, and by putting C$ back into the game for extra entries not only does it help inflation but also gives a chance for users who don't have C$ at all to get some.}
{I don't know how it would be set up to vote-- on 4dopt it's coded to simply press a button and the site & staff tally them up at the end of the week-- but I think it's a great concept that would help with all the current issues. Maybe once inflation settles down the price for more entries could be lowered, or more free entries per person could be given, or something.}
{I hope that all makes sense XD I have a ton of fun on 4dopt working on pets and even just throwing some in just because for the contest, so it feels worth considering!}

.Holli.

[Oddity-Lad]

Just want to clarify, if you could block moderators it would be very easy to block ALL moderators, which is clearly a problem. If there's someone specific you don't want to interact with you can send in a help request about that so an admin can inform them.

i don't see a problem with blocking mods as long as infos, warnings and announcements are exempt from it.

The issue is that many people who are asking for the ability to block mods wish to do so because of warnings they have recieved that left a bad taste in their mouth.

Perhaps the training for staff just needs to be updated and improved. Though I do think there is stuff users can do as well. Obviously times change and it's a well known fact that with the development of the internet we've entered an age of instant gratification and artificially accelerated maturity due to the accessibility of the world via the internet. This has lead to younger generations having a hard time over coming making mistakes. I do personally think the rules for CS are rather tight compared to other platforms accessed by people of the same age whether they're supposed to or not. I had just recently gotten a warning for making a joke popular amongst the Gen Z's which completely slipped my mind because it's never been an issue anywhere but here.

On the flip side the rules are posted everywhere. Each forum has their rules and any changes are posted as updates. If a rule is broken and a user receives a warning that's something that has to be accepted regardless of who you are and wanting to block a mod because you broke a rule and didn't like that you received a warning isn't going to work. Yes a mod can be gentle about saying you broke a rule but at the end of the day it is something that has to be said. You can't dance around it with "well yeah technically you broke a rule but it's okay. Everything's fine. Keep being awesome" because then nothing really changes.

[shepherd's dog]

Just want to clarify, if you could block moderators it would be very easy to block ALL moderators, which is clearly a problem. If there's someone specific you don't want to interact with you can send in a help request about that so an admin can inform them.

i don't see a problem with blocking mods as long as infos, warnings and announcements are exempt from it.

The issue is that many people who are asking for the ability to block mods wish to do so because of warnings they have recieved that left a bad taste in their mouth.

Perhaps the training for staff just needs to be updated and improved. Though I do think there is stuff users can do as well. Obviously times change and it's a well known fact that with the development of the internet we've entered an age of instant gratification and artificially accelerated maturity due to the accessibility of the world via the internet. This has lead to younger generations having a hard time over coming making mistakes. I do personally think the rules for CS are rather tight compared to other platforms accessed by people of the same age whether they're supposed to or not. I had just recently gotten a warning for making a joke popular amongst the Gen Z's which completely slipped my mind because it's never been an issue anywhere but here.

On the flip side the rules are posted everywhere. Each forum has their rules and any changes are posted as updates. If a rule is broken and a user receives a warning that's something that has to be accepted regardless of who you are and wanting to block a mod because you broke a rule and didn't like that you received a warning isn't going to work. Yes a mod can be gentle about saying you broke a rule but at the end of the day it is something that has to be said. You can't dance around it with "well yeah technically you broke a rule but it's okay. Everything's fine. Keep being awesome" because then nothing really changes.

i've dealt with sketchy moderation in many websites, as well as being under or part of poorly trained staff/mods, and i'm personally very happy with how self-regulating cs is. it is definitely restrictive- but i've never found the staff to be anything but personable and professional while doing their jobs, even when leaving reminders on rules that shouldn't need to be pointed out. (we've all been there); i'm comfortable with being able to escalate an issue to a different member of staff if needed. but i've submitted a ticket over website format issues that ended up being my signature coding breaking the format, and staff have helped me pick through lines of sig code to find the problem. truly that's above & beyond hahah

i don't think blocking mods is a good idea or feature. it's standard across nearly all platforms and websites that blocking mods is a no-go. i definitely am inclined towards oddity's points here. understanding how to accept criticism is part of being able to push in life, and cs isn't somewhere it comes down in any weight. navigating potentially upsetting conversations is going to happen anywhere; blocking mods doesn't do anything truly productive towards resolving the issues.
if it's a case where mod is handling things excessively poorly, there are other members of staff that can help.

[Calliope13]

Okay so, everything I've seen on this thread had seemed pretty negative. I'm not denying that there are problems, but I think those problems are a lot more evident to those who have been around a while. I'm coming up on almost a year since I joined the site, and honestly I don't have any major problems with it. The free adopts section helped me a lot early in to fill in my collection, and there are still so many pets I don't have that it's not particularly difficult to find ones on my WL. That being said, I'm not super active on the forums except when I happen to see recent posts on the home page that sound interesting. I also don't trades whole lot except for current month/event, mostly because I don't have a lot to trade and I don't really know the value of what I do have. BUT, I think gifts are a really important part of this site for new players and the fact that lots of people are still giving gifts is a good sign. Not to mention, when stone sends you a gift, it makes you want to send someone else a gift. I'm sure if I were an older player with only a few WL, I would be a lot more frustrated, but I thought I'd throw in my perspective here since I haven't seen many super positive posts. That being said, maybe getting more new players is a good way to revitalize the site.

[huskyhiccups]

The issue is that many people who are asking for the ability to block mods wish to do so because of warnings they have recieved that left a bad taste in their mouth.

Perhaps the training for staff just needs to be updated and improved. Though I do think there is stuff users can do as well. Obviously times change and it's a well known fact that with the development of the internet we've entered an age of instant gratification and artificially accelerated maturity due to the accessibility of the world via the internet. This has lead to younger generations having a hard time over coming making mistakes. I do personally think the rules for CS are rather tight compared to other platforms accessed by people of the same age whether they're supposed to or not. I had just recently gotten a warning for making a joke popular amongst the Gen Z's which completely slipped my mind because it's never been an issue anywhere but here.

On the flip side the rules are posted everywhere. Each forum has their rules and any changes are posted as updates. If a rule is broken and a user receives a warning that's something that has to be accepted regardless of who you are and wanting to block a mod because you broke a rule and didn't like that you received a warning isn't going to work. Yes a mod can be gentle about saying you broke a rule but at the end of the day it is something that has to be said. You can't dance around it with "well yeah technically you broke a rule but it's okay. Everything's fine. Keep being awesome" because then nothing really changes.

i've dealt with sketchy moderation in many websites, as well as being under or part of poorly trained staff/mods, and i'm personally very happy with how self-regulating cs is. it is definitely restrictive- but i've never found the staff to be anything but personable and professional while doing their jobs, even when leaving reminders on rules that shouldn't need to be pointed out. (we've all been there); i'm comfortable with being able to escalate an issue to a different member of staff if needed. but i've submitted a ticket over website format issues that ended up being my signature coding breaking the format, and staff have helped me pick through lines of sig code to find the problem. truly that's above & beyond hahah

i don't think blocking mods is a good idea or feature. it's standard across nearly all platforms and websites that blocking mods is a no-go. i definitely am inclined towards oddity's points here. understanding how to accept criticism is part of being able to push in life, and cs isn't somewhere it comes down in any weight. navigating potentially upsetting conversations is going to happen anywhere; blocking mods doesn't do anything truly productive towards resolving the issues.
if it's a case where mod is handling things excessively poorly, there are other members of staff that can help.

The issue for me is that there are a handful of mods and admins that enjoy something which is a trigger for my PTSD. They post frequently about it, have it in their icon, signature, etc.
I want them to be able to enjoy these things, but I don't want to see it.
I think the amount of people who would block a mod/admin over a warning is smaller than you think it is.

I agree with a previous post that, even if blocked, mods/admins will still have the ability to PM, make announcements, etc.

[Lanayru]

Just want to clarify, if you could block moderators it would be very easy to block ALL moderators, which is clearly a problem. If there's someone specific you don't want to interact with you can send in a help request about that so an admin can inform them.

i don't see a problem with blocking mods as long as infos, warnings and announcements are exempt from it.

The issue is that many people who are asking for the ability to block mods wish to do so because of warnings they have recieved that left a bad taste in their mouth.
-snip for length-
On the flip side the rules are posted everywhere. Each forum has their rules and any changes are posted as updates. If a rule is broken and a user receives a warning that's something that has to be accepted regardless of who you are and wanting to block a mod because you broke a rule and didn't like that you received a warning isn't going to work. Yes a mod can be gentle about saying you broke a rule but at the end of the day it is something that has to be said. You can't dance around it with "well yeah technically you broke a rule but it's okay. Everything's fine. Keep being awesome" because then nothing really changes.

I generally agree with some points but again - what about those of us uncomfortable with individual mods for whatever reason? Why are mods granted the permission to curate their experience by blocking users they don't wish to see but we aren't? While again people blocking every staff member is on paper an issue... how are mods meant to be able to moderate properly if they have half the site blocked? Either both parties should be able to block mutually or neither party should be allowed to, why are the staff getting special treatment on this?

Ideal solution would just be to make warnings, announcements etc go through a separate, unblockable channel while allowing BOTH mods AND individual users to block freely if they wish.