Ask The Admin (03/26/2012)

[Smashing o__o Pumpkins]

Also.
When can we see an inventory update?
I think it's about time.

[Windi43]

Hi everyone!!
I'm curious what is happening with the data you are collecting in Aquariums when the tank doesn't update and you don't get the gold.

1)If you are collecting the data "Enter the gold you didn't get". I thought you were collecting this data to fix the glitch..(no gold). When.... if ever....will the glitch be fixed?....OR is this just a way to collect data to see how much gold in NOT getting into the MP??

2)Regarding the "Lite Fish": While I can understand offering the Lite Fish to bring down the gold being given out; I'm concerned that a Booty Grab player has no way of knowing that the tank MAY be all lite fish and offer no gold, before playing the tank...or have I missed something. Can a flag be attached to those tanks to allow players to know?

On a positive note: I love the items admin has been giving in the Daily Chances as well as the Dumpster. Booty Grab appreciates the attention.

Thank you for your time.
Windi

[Existential Existence]

#3 seems like a happy medium.
In SF you can talk with users about keeping it mandatory/optional over there, but in other forums it would be great if people had the choice of whether they wanted this option on their thread or not, because in other forums it doesn't share that premise of meaning "agree"/"disagree"...it could mean anything, including "hate you/like you". Even in SF sometimes it's used as a 'hate you/like you' button.

I don't think people will complain about you turning into facebook. If you made it optional, there is still that </3 button (dislike button) that people will have to contend with. Facebook has a <3 only button (no </3)

People complain about you turning into facebook because it's a train to hop on. Youtube allows people to disable the like/dislike...so one could say you're turning into Youtube. Whatever is the case, a lot of people would be happier if the rating system were optional, regardless of whether it makes you guys look like another website or not.

Panagrammic

Yeah, it was originally only "like," but feedback before we shipped was that people wanted both "like" and "dislike." (I don't remember where that thread was, it very well might have been site feedback, but I think we also put a pointer in GCD or something).

There are three possibilities, I guess:
1. leave as is
2. leave <3 and </3 only in Site Feedback
3. allow users to turn off likes / dislikes

The second one is pretty straightforward; the third is definitely more work. The problem with either 2 or 3 is that people will complain that we're trying to turn into Facebook!

Existential Existence

A lot of people have frustrations with the <3/</3 thread rating system. It's an effective system in SF because <3/</3 has an accepted premise of meaning "i (dis)like this idea", but everywhere else the rating system becomes ambiguous. Also a lot of people tend to perceive </3's/dislikes as social feedback rather than feedback about the threads people make themselves.

Over the past months complaints about the </3 system, or people wanting an option to disable </3 in their threads, have been constant:

2.9 days ago
7.1 days ago
2.3 weeks ago
2.7 months ago
2.8 months ago
3.7 months ago
4.7 months ago
7.3 months ago
10.9 months ago
15.3 months ago
16.5 months ago
16.9 months ago

I found these threads via using the search word "dislike" for thread titles...there are probably more out there.

The thing about the </3 system is that in SF it is particulary useful, so every time someone makes a thread about wanting </3 optional, of course the idea is going to get downvoted to hell, which I think gives passing staff the impression that people don't want it optional. But that's SF. That's not the rest of Gaia. The only time ya'll ever looked for feedback on the </3 system is when you guys made that one thread asking for input before the rating system was pushed out...additionally, that feedback thread was, of course, placed in SF...where a <3/</3 system is useful.

But other forums areas on Gaia have held complaints about how other users are abusing the </3 system as a way to harass others. A lot of times, </3 is used as a way to vent against topic creators if people do not like the topic creator as a person...not because they dislike the topic itself. This has created a rather negative experience for people who make/create topics around Gaia.

QUESTION: Is there any way to get devs/staff to re-evaluate this rating system, taking into consideration feedback from other forums, not just Site Feedback (where in SF, </3 is particularly useful and even justified to have...everywhere else it is used rather crappily)?

The biggest suggestion going on out there is to make it an optional feature, where thread creators can opt in/opt out of allowing a thread rating to apply to their thread.

You guys may not know it but a sizable number your users are hypersensitive to social feedback/indicators social judgment. The </3 button is a real big issue when it comes to contributing to real anxiety for making new topics around Gaia. Not everyone wants to see this type of thing in their daily forum experience. Not even facebook has a dislike button, and they seem adamant that one will never come to their social network website. Youtube allows it's video-makers to disable liking/disliking.

The <3/</3 dynamic does not have the same premise or interpretation in any one forum or any one thread, except in SF where it's universally accepted to mean "agree/disagree" (in most cases). In some threads, such as quest threads, the </3 button is even useless and IMO is only used by people to hate on other people's quests.

According to what staff has said in the past, people wanted the dislike button. However, that assumption was made before <3/</3 was pushed out, and that assumption was made in a thread in SF where a dislike option is actually useful. Every time someone makes a complaint about the </3 button in SF, of course the thread is going to get a lot of </3's because in that forum the feature is actually useful/doing it's job. However, clearly, via the steady/constant complaint threads that pop up by users about the <3/</3 system, not everyone wants the dislike button.

biglanky14

Hi EE,

I <3 the suggestion!

Ok, I'll have to check around b/c there's probably reasons behind the way it's coded right now, but that's definitely worth us discussing. Thanks!

[Mrs Blunder]

I'll keep my petition running then. :3 I know there's lots of other things needed to be fixed, as well. Thanks for your time.

Panagrammic

Well, we actually have some code, although it's been on the back burner for a while.

Mrs Blunder

So does that mean there is one in development? Or is it still at the "idea" stage?

Panagrammic

An Android version of our Gaia app is definitely something that's been requested frequently, and we know that users are looking forward to it. There are some features which have special mobile versions to make it easier for all platforms (i.e., Forums Lite in Labs), which can help.

Mrs Blunder

Hello, admins. I've got a question, on behalf of myself and many other users:

Why is the Gaia Online App not available on the Android Market? You've made Monster Galaxy available to us, after all.

How likely is it that the app will be released to other markets, rather than just iTunes?

I've recently started a petition asking for it's release, because a search of threads hinted that the admins had no intention of releasing it to the Android Market without explicit interest. Is this true?

gaia_nitemareleft gaia_nitemareright

[iiCr33p]

-[will there be any mobile support any time soon]-
-[like the ability to make gold]-
-[either through a gaia app that supports/run mini games]-
-[android user btw]-

[Zero Omega]

Jackson-Leia

Okay I've never done anything like this before but I have a question. I put in a ticket about two months ago and it still says it's a work in progress but there's been no movement in it for about a month and I'd really like to know what's going on with this.

Send me over a PM (man I am sensing a theme here tonight...) with the ticket ID, I'll take a look into it.

[Uncle Kenny]

Yuki the Third

Oh, also.
THIS NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED.
The ongoing necro-glitching issue, where users are somehow able to necro threads from 2004 without actually posting in those threads, and causing any posts after in those ancient thread to poof. That issue? Yeah, I have tried to ask a few mods about it and all I get is the normal "report and wait" response. Few months later, here we are, nothing has been done.

Anyone able to explain what's going on and maybe get some help?

Awhile back in '04/'05 we migrated the forums to a newer system. Not everything could be migrated though so some things don't completely play nice with the current forum structure. The users are actually making posts, they're just not being displayed. This only affects '04 and earlier accounts though as far as I'm aware so avoiding those threads should keep you from running into those issues.

An actual fix for this has been tossed around but is not currently in progress. We'll likely let everyone know if/when a fix of some kind of put out. In the meantime, just keep reporting the threads so that the Moderator team can handle them.

[Kloob]

Zero Omega

Kloob

Zero Omega

Kloob

Lanzer! Did you see hunger games!?

I totally did! Loved it.

You are now my favorite admin!

I'mg lad somebody liked it. Everybody in the Hunger Games forum is complaining about horrible it was!

I totally thought your post said, "Did anyone see Hunger Games?" And not just Lanzer. xd emo

I made a few posts in the forum explaining why I enjoyed the movie.

It applies to you now since you replied first! XD

Anywho, I've been explaining to people the reason they cut things out, or why couldn't have them. At one point I created an entire thread.

Linkage: clicketh

[ScarredRavens]

DJ Helsing

Nikolita

ScarredRavens

I was wondering~ Is Gaia thinking of coming to western Canada for Real live event like a con?

Ei:
-Vancouver
-Edmonton
-Sasktoon
?
We're really close~!

Vancouver would be awesome! There was a Gaia panel at Anime Evolution a few years ago (2009 or 2010?) but no Gaia staff or admin were actually there from what I remember.

there are no events planned for 2012 BUT your local conventions can always pm me for free prizes and support!

But why don't you come to Vancouver? I mean we're in the same time zone.. sweatdrop

[Blackgry]

umm...not sure if this is where I should post this, but my marketplace preview is still broken...

[on that day]

I've been following this entire mess concerning item alchemy and I have just one question: do you, the staff, have the ability to track and replenish cash items destroyed by alchemy in a way that does not require additional cash purchases and/or extreme luck & wealth?

Because if you have no intention in recycling cash items in a free, accessible manner, you might as well scrap the entire system right now.

[siskataya]

Ridley Starsmore

hotelite

Ridley Starsmore

Hey guys.

1. Y U NO HAVE EIs?!

2. White Dander Recolor, can we make this happen?

3. Could we do another "win a halo" contest so some of use have a snowball's chance in hades of getting one?

4. Alchemy updates, if you please?

captcha? FACE THE MUSIC.

what about a diapered egg white recolor with bluefin instead of ash and an angel instead of cupid

You don't understand. i would punch several people's grandmas to get these ears in white.

Oh my - you really want those ears! But you might not want to punch my grandmas - they are both dead, so it would be a really creepy experience for you! eek

- Sisky

[Armour of Light]

Hi Lanzer and the Gaia Online Staff and Developer Team.

May i ask you some questions?

1)Why don't you guys make those Animated Items come to life on The Flash Rooms like Mtvhills and Rally etc.?

2)Did you guys forgot about the Crosstich Store Item Apply?

3)You guys should make the guilds like the guilds you let us create more fun like for example you know the Moderator Panel in the Guilds Once you get promoted to VC by the captain it says *GENERAL ERROR*,Could you guys make the guild update like to put the vc's Position incase the user doesn't want to be in the guild but have to actually wait for the captain to get online and remove you from the guild could you guys update the guild Update or actually start making the guilds more interesting


4)Could you guys make the Banners for the guilds located on the right top of the guild home has a picture the picture is a banner picture could you guys expand the size of the pictures we want to use for the guild because i recently notice this for the past 3 years on my gaia life that Gaia Guilds should get update.

5)Could you try and update the Item nano-c (Any) gen,It seems that the nano-c had been not evovling i mean what are we gonna do about the nano-c item? Are you guys just gonna forget about that item,Because that nano-c item all of it's gens including the original 1st gen have the same items in it i think you guys should update or add some items to it that would be nice.

[AA Kimchi]

Yuki the Third

G-Dragon Has Arrived

Yuki the Third

G-Dragon Has Arrived

G-Dragon Has Arrived

I was wondering if you guys plan on making a music rig any time soon if so would you be considering making A Bigbang or Shinee item?

International licensing with YG would be a pain, so I doubt it would be official.

does it matter if it's official we got an item based off of 2ne1.....

Unless Gaia wants some legal issues, it does matter.
And we did? wut?
Link please?

legal issues? look at all the unofficial anime items we have I don't belive gaia has delt with any law suits yet
http://www.gaiaonline.com/marketplace/itemdetail/77781