"Gaia is going to become Neopets"

[Tanasha]

Kava

The point the person who posted about 'freedom of speech' made was, I believe, that 'freedom of speech' according to the constitution refers specifically to the freedom to speak out against the government. It does not grant the freedom to say 'anything and everything', and even in the real world, there are some things that can get your butt hauled into jail for saying them.

No, freedom of speech *is* the freedom to say whatever you want. *However*, limited restrictions are allowed, such as the infamous "fire in a crowded theatre" example, or asking somebody to kill somebody else.

"freedom of speech" is defined in the constitution only as "freedom of speech", and to say that it means this or that requires looking for deeper meaning on the works of the founding fathers, who were mostly fans of Voltaire.

Kava

And if you re-read what I said, Tanasha, I said that you were able to post it here "in an entirely different context". I wasn't disagreeing that it would have been deleted if you'd actually tried to make a joke out of it. I'm sure it would have been if you had, and as I said before.. if you think it shouldn't be on a PG-13 site, you've got a rather warped view of what PG-13 means.

And as *I* said, it's impossible to have free speech while conforming to a PG-13 rating, by deffinition. 3nodding

Kava

MY point is that in a place like Neopets, your post would have been deleted, regardless of context, as soon as you said that. HERE in Gaia, since it was used in the way it was, your post is still sitting there for everyone to read.

However, lets take a look at the trends.

Back in '03, SanchoJewboi posted some highly offensive content which was by no means within the PG-13 limit. He was banned, but only when he began harrassing one guild for a period of several days, posting pictures of human feces and the like in their thread, and not for the content, but for harrassing other users. He created a new account and resumed being far beyond the PG-13 limits, but was not banned as he did not harrass anybody else. He was the first person to be banned from Gaia.

Ergo, we have gone from unrestricted-save-harrassing speech in '03, to no-offensive-or-harrassing-content at the end of '04/beginning of '05. This indicates a downward trend, which may eventually result in a neopets-like facist state.

I've made one of my goals on Gaia stopping this downward trend, and find it ironic when people complain about my goals but not my methods.

[Cassidy Peterson]

NeoPets is so family-friendly, it's offensive.

Personally, I consider Gaia's PG-13 rating, and the fact that there are entire forums dedicated to subject matter which has been banned on NeoPets, as proof positive that Gaia will not become NeoPets.

However, the biggest fallacy I see in the "Gaia is becoming NeoPets" argument is the specific games that may or may not be released in the future. Most if not all of the games on NeoPets existed long before the internet came around. NeoPets is hardly the only website to feature logic puzzles, crosswords, or poker. I recently discovered that a game added some time last year is nearly identical to a game some schoolmates of mine had been addicted to since around '00. They've got bloody solitaire, blackjack, and mancala.

edit: Sweet, just got a Gold Trophy for clearing the pyramid two times in a row! I'm 1.5k closer to getting a Hidden Tower weapon for my Zafara! (sorry, couldn't resist - evil/loser side of me took over)

[Tanasha]

Cassidy Peterson

However, the biggest fallacy I see in the "Gaia is becoming NeoPets" argument is the specific games that may or may not be released in the future. Most if not all of the games on NeoPets existed long before the internet came around. NeoPets is hardly the only website to feature logic puzzles, crosswords, or poker. I recently discovered that a game added some time last year is nearly identical to a game some schoolmates of mine had been addicted to since around '00. They've got bloody solitaire, blackjack, and mancala.

By the same token: "Gaia Fishing!".

[Zeek Slider]

You know what's the main differance between Neopets and Gaia?

The fact that one of them is aware of the other. 3nodding

[Purple Ducky]

Storm Rao

I haven't yet read the entire thread, so I don't know if anyone else has said this, as a regular Neopian (go ahead, flame me if you want, that's not the point of this thread) and a regular gaian.
Yes, there are well known artists on Neopets, they do comic entries nearly every week and have a cult-like following, they are Neopian celebraties

Purple Ducky

C'mon, has anyone here heard of a Neopian celebrity? Are there well-known artists? Are there famous oldbies? Are there cults of personality surrounding certain users? Are there user-run organizations that have become indispensible to the fabric of Neopian society? I haven't seen any. If you've seen 'em, please tell me! I'd like to see it with my own eyes.

Thank you kindly, Storm Rao. 3nodding My curiosity has been satisfied.

And while I should stay out of that "Gaia pretty much sucks" conversatonal tangent... but c'mon, just because you can't say any dumbass thing that you please isn't an inherently bad thing. Freedom of Speech is most important to have when your own personal rights and civil liberties are being threatened. Not when you want to post tasteless jokes. And shall I haul out the old chestnut about Gaia being private property, and freedom of speech is a govermental thing, and people owning private property can lay down whatever "you can and can't talk about this" rules that they want?

And hey, at least Gaia lets us talk about mature concepts, and curse.

It's an Internet forum for teens, here, people. neutral And hey, you want an adults-only, mature, tell off the idiots forum to abide in? Something Awful. No. No, really. Although THAT probably wouldn't be satisfactory, either, as the moderation policies are astonishingly merciless... but that lack of mercy also filters out the dumb and disruptive people that would make the place suck.

But anyhow. That's massively off-topic.... sweatdrop

[Feather]

I think there's lessons to be learnt from some of the failings of Neopets, so I never get annoyed when worried users make the comparison. They're only trying to show the results of mistakes that may come into place.

[niai]

I agree, gaia is cool, gaia isn't neopets... This could be better, and it will be in a short time, sure 3nodding

[Dantess]

I'm on both neopets and Gaia..and gaia keeps my attenion better than neopets..cause basical..well its just more interesting.. 3nodding

BUT wouldn't it be cute to see little Lanzer plushie's and all our favioute Admins and Mods whee heart

[Shihouin Yoruichi]

I read through parts of this thread and I agree - Gaia will never be like Neopets. Nothing much I can add to it, but I was on Neopets since January, 2001, and after a few friends pushed me to join Gaia, I caved, left Gaia, returned, and here I am. whee

I also agree that Neopets has become way too commercial - back in 2001, it was so much more fun than it is now, even though the sponsor-sign-ups existed back then, too.

Well, those are my two cents, and hopefully it makes sense (no pun intended). sweatdrop

[DrLavitz]

Exellently written. I read the entire thing and was enticed by it. Gaia is gaia and will always be.. well gaia...

PRAISE GAIA FOR GAIA!!

(Gaia in this sense being the godess of the earth)

[Crystal^6]

Yes.. I'm back. All I'd like to say is nothing is ever perfect. Nothing never really goes the way things are planned. So ya... ya probably get what I mean by now. sweatdrop

[Kinneas]

Feather

I think there's lessons to be learnt from some of the failings of Neopets, so I never get annoyed when worried users make the comparison. They're only trying to show the results of mistakes that may come into place.

Agreed to it's fullest.

I don't find that you should be annoyed at users for comparing the two, I myself am guilty of saying that having certain things would bring us closer to matching Neopets. It's not purposely meant to insult to Gaia, it's just trying to show people that certain idea's may result in making us slowly become something we may not want to be. You could compare Gaia with many things, but Neopets is so well know that it's the easiest thing to mention. If someone was to say 'But that'd make us like warp1', I'm sure half the users would be like 'wtf is warp1?'..
People will never agree on the matter because everyone has different opinions, but comparing the idea's with something similar is an easier way to put your view across.. not to mention it sounds better than going 'OMFG0RZ DAT IDEA IZ SO STOOPID'

Ok so none of that made any sense.. but I'm hoping it gets the point across roughly.. :B

[Mr.Lucifer]

gaia is a forum and neopets its a...uhm......kindergarden xd in the "forums" you cant say "********". Thats so ******** stupid.

[Death in tight pants]

Gaia is basicly Neopets, don't deny it. Also who cares? This is totally pathetic, Gaia is a kid site and you b***h and moan about how babyish neopets even though it is basicly the same thing, a forum site with crappy games.

[i like burnination]

Quote:

What Gaia *NEEDS* is an adults-only section that requires a credit card to enter. As everybody there would be legally-in-a-court-of-law confirmed to be over the age of 18, there would be little need for mods. It would be a place of thread-owner moderation, flamewars, *true* free speech, and porn. I doubt the admins will do so, however.

lol

That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard of. Being 18 somehow makes you eligible to flame another user? And what do you mean by *true* free speech? Have you been in the General Discussion forum? As long as you have a discussion, you can post pretty much anything.

Porn? *raises the "WTF" flag*