Site cha-cha-cha-changes, updated 3/25/09

[Kiarusiumaru]

Is there a reason some of the fish drops wont open

[Heart_Broken653]

good job!!! xd

[skymoonlight4]

wow

[Ruben_spartan]

uieh

[Epic Facefighter]

cool. smile

[autumn sexy_girl]

okay...thanks for tha heads up!...and i love this topic cause it gives u a heads up on on the site changing.....well thanks for tha heads up!...byeeee biggrin

[II_black-ribbon_II]

please rate me in arenas xxxx-love ya's heart whee

[Princess Gina and Rosa]

eaTaiaG

Hi everyone,

It's easy to get "tunnel visioned" on the site things that need updating, fixing, or changing (we will keep doing that to continue improving things), but it's equally important to note/communicate some of the good site cha-cha-cha-changes that got implemented recently. The following list isn't all-inclusive, but it's some of the ones that I thought you might like to hear about.

Please note the new format: Recent updates highlighted in the box below, followed by previous updates.

Recent Updates
3/25/09

Quote:

New zOMG Tab in Inventory View
Tired of having your zOMG items lumped in with everything else when looking at your Inventory? You're in luck! We've added a new zOMG tab so you can see everything you need to squash some gnomes and garlics in one convenient spot.

Previous Updates
3/18/09

Quote:

Convention Page Updated
Our Convention Page has been updated so that we can hang out with you in person! i like this

Mouths in New Order
No, it's not a really weird band name. We've re-ordered the way that avatar mouths are arranged so it's easier to figure out the one you want - they're now ordered by type, not by size.

Less AdBlock interference in My Gaia when using Firefox
Some members trying to access My Gaia and using Firefox with AdBlock couldn't get the page to load (only the top navigation bar). That has been fixed.

Option to turn off background when dressing avatar
If you prefer the blank white canvas on which to dress your avatar, you can now choose to switch off the background if you'd like.

3/12/09

Quote:

More Profile Choices - New 'Friends Only' Option
We had a bug where if you chose to set your profile so that no one could see it, people on your friends list still could. We've both fixed the bug, and added a new option in the drop-down so that only your friends can see your spiffy profile. To do so, go to Account Settings and look for the "Allow Public Profile" option.

Booty Grabbin' on Safari
We've made some improvements so those of you using Safari as your browser will be able to Booty Grab with the best of them.

More math-related info in Marketplace PMs
Now when you get a PM after one of your items has sold in the marketplace, you'll see an extra line confirming exactly how much gold you netted from the sale. For instance, if you sold an item for 100 gold, you'd previously just see that a 2% marketplace fee of 2 gold was removed. You'll now see a line that lets you know that you made a total of 98 gold from that sale.

3/4/09

Quote:

Guilds Improvements!
You'll now find a character-counter when creating your guild description, so the days of entering too many and crashing your browser should come to an end. We also pushed a fix to stop the random "broken code" that would sometime appear on Guild homepages.

Wishlist Fix.
Some members couldn't see the items on their wishlists - this should now be fixed.

Titleless Threads.
Nobody likes these, so the bug allowing people to post threads with no titles has been fixed.

Gold for puzzle completion!
Some folks weren't receiving gold correctly when they completed a puzzle - that bug has been squashed.

2/27/09

Quote:

Updated Terms of Service and Rules & Guidelines
We've updated our Terms of Service and Rules & Guidelines for the site to make them more clear, and to better outline what is (and isn't) allowed on Gaia. Click on the links in the page footer to check them out.

Better Error Page Info
No one wants to get to a 404-type page, such as when you type in the wrong URL. But when you go, you want to get somewhere helpful easily. We've fixed the error page we show when that happens so you can easily find your way to where you want to go.

2/11/09

Quote:

Easier to Find Report Forms
-The URLs to some of our important report forms (to report Hacking, Scamming and Abuse) have long been impossible to remember, meaning you had to have them bookmarked or go find them again to file a report. They've now become very memory-friendly: www.gaiaonline.com/hacking, www.gaiaonline.com/scamming, and www.gaiaonline.com/abuse.

Guilds
-We fixed a bug that was preventing Crew Members in Guilds from accepting Join requests from other members.

Journals
-We fixed a bug that caused some comments on journals to display incorrectly.

Quote:

Account Settings:- “Account Alerts” have been updated in Arenas Entry Comments.
-We have now made it so you can change your user name, gender and birthday on the same page. Check it out if you need to make life changes ;o)
-Do you have a really long username? Did you find that it was extending outside of our text boxes? Not anymore. No more broken text bubbles on your long user names.

Arenas
-Couldn’t see what your rating is? We have now changed your rating, it is now larger and more prominent. You can also see what date the rating took place.
-Seeing funny or no images in Arenas for updated events? The images have now been fixed, no more wacky graphics!
-Don’t have any fans? Well now, its not in your face that you don’t.

GIM:
-Do you have Safari ? Were you having problems with having one conversation and then going to the next conversation and having to scroll all the way from the top to the bottom of your conversation? This now has been fixed.

Journals:
-Did you submit your signature in a comment to your friends journal, and it gave your friends signature?? Confused? Not anymore, your signature will now show in journal comments.

Even More Previous Updates

Account Settings

BUG FIXED: Do you hate your avatar? The bug has now been fixed! Start over fresh, by using the delete button!

BUG FIXED: - When you set privacy to "show online only to friends" or "do not show online status," it also applies to the teleport "Join" and "Send IM" links in the forums.
- Birth year change is no longer an option.
- Ability to block users from sending you gifts is now re-enabled
BUG FIXED: - Name change was previously not saving, but gold was being removed from accounts. This is now fixed so names are saving.
BUG FIXED: There were problems with saving account settings like Daily Chance, Gold Notification, etc. If you checked the box and clicked "save," it wouldn't necessarily save the new settings. This issue is now fixed and new settings are being saved.

Aquarium

IMPROVEMENT: Fixed the layering issues when adding decorations to the tank to make arranging the items easier.

Arenas

BUG FIXED: The bug has been fixed for the Week 46 original avatar arena. It was only displaying 1 winner, now it is back to 10 winners!
IMPROVEMENT: Don’t like using the back button after rating a piece of art, or poetry? We now have made it easier when rating something, use the arrows to browse forward and back.
IMPROVEMENT: We now have two tabs in Areanas for “Winners Circle”. One for original avatars and the other for cosplay avatars. Enjoy!
BUG FIXED: The Areana search tool is again up and running for “All Categories”
BUG FIXED: Colored backgrounds have been added to Avatar Arena (black is the default color).
BUG FIXED: The links to Avatar Arena is working properly again.
BUG FIXED: Avatar Arena was showing the progress of winners for the current week. This no longer happens, now you can select previous weeks from a drop down menu.
BUG FIXED: When viewing "past winners" in the Homes section, the text was overlapping.
BUG FIXED: Arena contest ranking results were allowing alterations of entries which was changing the overall ranking. This is no longer allowed. Once a contest is over, the entries and rankings cannot be changed.
IMPROVEMENT: Avatar Arenas - Updated instructions when uploading avatars -- they’re much more clear now.
CHANGE: Gold granting turned off in old Arenas (in preparation for migrating the content).
IMPROVEMENT: You can now “idol”-ize artists and save them to your “My Stuff” page.
ANNOUNCEMENT: Sept 7th beta test end. Start migrating submissions from old Arenas.
IMPROVEMENT: There's now a "tab" button in the writing editor tools so you can indent your paragraphs (if you wish).
BUG: Intermittent performance issue with poetry submissions. In some instances, Arenas will time out or won't load fast enough when submitting poetry. Dev is working on this issue -- be sure to save your work when submitting.
BUG FIXED:Users couldn't delete their own submissions in Arenas 2.0 and now they can.
UPGRADE: We overhauled and expanded Arenas with a major re-write (in open beta now)

Celebrity Snare

IMPROVEMENT: -Guest can now access Celebrity Snare. Have your (non-Gaia) friends check out what they are really missing on Gaia.

Cinemas

ANNOUNCEMENT: We are not currently supporting FireFox 3 and therefore, Cinemas do not work for FireFox 3 users. We are working on a patch for this.
IMPROVEMENT: Invite Friends -- now when you're watching a trailer/movie, you can invite your friend to join you. Click on "Invite Friends" and you will get an URL which you can SMS/IM to your friend and they will link direct to your room.

Clans

BUG FIXED : Did you want to create your own clan? Well now you can. The link has now been fixed!
BUG FIX: Hidden clans no longer show up in Search.

Customer Service

BONUS: Our customer service response times are now MUCH faster than just 6 months ago (the admins/mods really kicked some serious butt!). See the chart that shows just how much better.

Evolving Item Museum

BUG FIXED: -Links from EIs in the Evolving Item Museum were broken in Gaia Cash Shop, but now they work again. Yeah!

Forums

IMPROVEMENT: -Send your friends text from the Avatar drop down menu. Gratification now!
IMPROVEMENT: -Equip List is now a part of the Avatar drop down menu. View what others are wearing and go straight to the shop to purchase the items.

IMPROVEMENT: - There is now a link in the thread that lets you attach your post to Facebook/Myspace pages!

BUG FIXED: - When rolling 20 of the 100-sided dice, the numbers and total listed were being cut off. Now, they all fit in the window.
BUG FIXED: - Broken tags in posts no longer break posts.

Gaia Cash Shop

IMPROVEMENT: - Best Buy, CVS, Rite Aid, and Staples have all been added to the page, as you can now buy Gaia Cash Cards from these fine retailers.

IMPROVEMENT: - Introducing the Evolving Item Museum! Check out all the EIs and all the exciting changes.
BUG FIXED: Some Gaia Cash transactions were deducting GCash, but not awarding the item(s).
FIXED: Bug found and squashed quickly. Now all Gaia Cash transactions are deducting cash properly and awarding the ordered item(s). Business as usual.

Games/Towns/Rally

BUG FIXED: - Now, when you add a user to the Ignore List, the system checks to see if you are on the list and removes your own username so you definitely cannot ignore yourself (anymore).
BUG FIXED: - Users can no longer be added to their own Ignore List.
BUG FIXED: Items and gold are granting properly again.
IMPROVEMENT: In Jigsaw, you can now invite a friend to the room you’re playing in (if there’s a seat open).
IMPROVEMENT: We’ve added more security to the chat in Jigsaw.
IMPROVEMENT: The "stacking bug" is now fixed in Jigsaw.
IMPROVEMENT: There are more background colors to choose from in Jigsaw.
IMPROVEMENT: We reduced the file size of puzzle images so they should load a bit quicker now.
IMPROVEMENT: We made our games and towns/rally load faster by a lot.
IMPROVEMENT: We chased the cheaters out of Fishing in a major way (so that it's fun again and you now have a fair chance at winning trophies)
FIX: Not only fixed an issue in Fishing, where turning in items to Logan or Bludeau resulted in an error saying that you didn't have enough items, but it's much faster now too.
IMPROVEMENT: Invite Friends -- When you're playing in rallys (Scion rally, MTV world, KFP), but you can't find your friends, click on "Invite Friends" and you will get an URL which you can SMS/IM to your friend and they will link direct to your room.

GIM

BUG FIXED: You can now teleport to hang with your friend in MTV Virtual Hollywood.

Guilds

When requesting to join a Guild you no longer see “array” when you type too many characters. The error issue has now been fixed and will show "Your reason text is too long. Please keep your reason below 2000 characters."
BUGS FIXED - Link to the Captains’ Guild has been removed from Guilds since the Captains’ Guild no longer exists.
BUGS FIXED: We experienced many challenges with Guilds, including inability to invite users, ban users, delete post made guild members, and non-members couldn't send a request to join. In addition, Guilds were disappearing from users' "My Guilds" list and they were disappearing from the GGN list. After kicking a few things back into shape, Guilds are behaving nicely once again.

Inventory

BUG FIXED: - The “organize my inventory” button was split on several browsers. That has now been fixed.

Journals

UPDATE: ] Oh no! No more Domo_Kun available to add on your journals. Someone bought the rights!
BUG FIXED: - Deleting comments in Journals works properly now. It was previously loading a blank page.
BUG FIXED: Font size in the header was too big on Journals pages.
FIXED: Reduced font size so the text from the notifications text bubble (you have 4 announcements), and the "there are X users online" no longer break into two lines.

Marketplace

BUG FIXED: User store display was broken in the transaction screen and user store screen and now the display is fixed.
IMPROVEMENT: Now showing Gaia cash amount in item detail, along with the existing gold amount.
BUG FIXED: Marketplace graphs were out of date, but now they are automatically updating again.
IMPROVEMENT: We are removing a boat load of botters every day (to help improve the economy further and lower market prices).
IMPROVEMENT: We've fortified our site even more to make trades safer than before

Manga

BUG FIXED: -All Storylines have been updated and now load!

My Gaia

IMPROVEMENT: -Under "Preferences" we now have a Security Warnings listed in Red!
CHANGE: Swapped out Rally Prize Wheel link in the to do list for a new Mischief Makers link.
IMPROVEMENT: New forum feed- User creates a new topic in the forum.
IMPROVEMENT: New profile feeds- When a user comments on someone's profile the friends of the user who commented will be notified. When a user updates their profile their friends will be notified.
IMPROVEMENT: Friends Section added, highlighting 10 of your friends that are currently online and allowing you to teleport to where you are. (Known Bug: cannot teleport to Kung Fu Panda or Cinemas)
UPGRADE: New Marketplace feeds added: buy notification, auction complete notification, and bid notification.
UPGRADE: New Profile feed added: receive info on Wishlist items that you do not have.
IMPROVEMENT: Older feeds now cover a span of 7 days instead of 5 days.
IMPROVEMENT: Updated the colors, margins, borders and font size for the drop-down navigation in the MyGaia tabs.
IMPROVEMENT: If there are no feeds to display for "Yesterday" and "Older," the headings no longer show up.

Private Messages

BUG FIXED: -When quoting in a PM, there was no longer a border or background color around the message and now there is (again).
IMPROVEMENT: - Now, when you want to send a PM to a friend who’s on your Friends List, you’ll see that all of your friends who’s usernames that start the same way will auto-populate underneath the “Username” box.
BUG FIXED: When quoting in a PM, there was no longer a border or background color around the message and now there is (again).

Profiles

BUG FIXED: You can now add multimedia links to Classic profiles. Go to "My Gaia"/ "Account Settings" and there is a small line of text under "Timezone."

Search

BUG FIXED- When searching for a user, the first search would work fine, but the second search would land you in your own profile – doh! This bug has been fixed.

Shops

IMPROVEMENT: -When viewing items from the Equip List, the items have direct links to take you to shops/marketplace. It’s easy to buy what other Gaian’s are wearing!
IMPROVEMENT: - Prize & Joy now has a “preview item” button for any items that can be equipped on your Avatar.
BUG FIXED: In Barton Flowershoppe, Rina’s speech bubble contained strange characters, but they’re now replaced with ellipsis (...).
BUG FIXED: Link to Gaia Towns from Moira’s bug exchanges was broken, but now it’s fixed.
IMPROVEMENT: Want to learn the Gaia story and get the "skinny" on our NPCs? We added links in each of the Shops (under the NPCs) to display each NPC's story by linking to their corresponding Mangas.

Site Performance

IMPROVEMENT: The Gaia logo brightens up when you hover over it with a mouse. Clicking it takes you to the homepage.
IMPROVEMENT: Google ads removed from threads.
IMPROVEMENT: The "Home" link is back in the site navigation. (Back by popular demand.)
IMPROVEMENT: We made parts of the site much faster by a noticeable 20% or so
WIN: We had a significant Gaia phishing site taken out of service via legal means.

Towns

BUG FIXED: -Reporting for houses and towns works again.
IMPROVEMENT: The fountains in Towns have been replaced with swimming pools. Check out the two new emoticons created just for pools (eeek!) and be sure to visit the snack shack, you'll find water balloons and water guns for free!
IMPROVEMENT: New search box in town directory where a town address can be entered directly -- If you know the zip code you're looking for in towns, just go to the directory, enter the zip code and you will be taken to that zip code.
IMPROVEMENT: Town directory - highlight topic -- When you go to the town directory, now you can rollover a topic and see which zip code you will be going to on the map (so you'll know how many people are there).

Every week, we fix a bunch of bugs to make the site better, faster, easier, so we'll list the ones here in this easier format. Some of you have been asking for that and we agree that it'll be helpful, so we'll do it.

There's more that I'll add later, but these are the ones that come to mind now. I'm sure my co-workers here at Gaia HQ will remind me of others I should add. xd

Are we doing enough? Not in our eyes, so we'll continue working on doing more and more. We're getting faster at fixing things so that everyone can enjoy Gaia even more -- thanks for being patient and hanging in there with us.

I'll update this list regularly so that it grows over time. Subscribe to this thread if you're interested in keeping up to date on upcoming site cha-cha-cha-changes (click the Subscribe to Topic button at the very bottom of this page).

Do you find this info helpful? Boring? Interesting? Want me to keep it up? Leave me a comment here.

Thanks,
Tae

[Xxhelga iiixX]

gonk

[Duv]

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♬:Have you seen all the angry people in the new Justin Bieber hot topic? It's understandable since none of the know who Justin Bieber is. Just thought I'd give a heads up.:♬
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[Blond_Sakura]

is this topic still being used for announcements....?