Welcome to Gaia! ::

Why Are We Doing This?

On Monday, June 15th, 2009, Gaia released a series of Announcements. One of which stated that they would now endorse off-site surveys and offers so that we could earn Gaia Cash more readily. This news upset many Gaians and sent the GCD into an uproar. Many threads popped up bashing or supporting this idea.
One Gaian made a thread asking, "What would you do instead?" Answering this question was actually kind of difficult. If I owned a business that also was a community, how would I earn money while keeping every user happy?
So we decided we would make an event to bring more users to the site and hopefully provide a way for Gaia to earn more money. Even if each new member doesn't run out to get a Gaia Cash card, advertisers will still see that Gaia has an enormous amount of users. So if advertisers spend more to get advertisements on Gaia, Gaia gets more money.
This is not a riot against the Cash Offers. We are merely offering a way to help out so Gaia will no longer have to resort to these things. However, some users do like the offers. And I suggest that if you do use them, be safe. Make sure you don't give out credit card information or anything else that they could use to charge you with. If you notice new fees on your card and you don't know where they came from or what they're for, then you should contact your credit supplier. Giving your information out to anyone, a business or not, is dangerous. So read up on the facts.


Now for the Naked part.
------If you would like to keep on items, please limit it to 2-3 items (Minus your underwear). We can't all look equal if everyone still has on 10 items when they're naked. :3 ------
Why would we possibly decide to go naked for this week? Aside from being naked for the luls, we figure that if we bring a lot of new members to the site and these new members see that everyone has so many nice items, they might get disappointed when they find out the cost of said items. So to support our new users this week, we will all either run around in our underwear or wear starter clothing and inexpensive items. Not only are we being helpful, but it's so much fun to be free of clothing for a week!
You can be naked early if you want, since I know Gaia loves to be nude for a good cause. If you do choose to be naked early, just think of it as you're spreading the word about this event! I've already been asked a few times why I'm naked and gotten some supporters that way. So it's great if you stay naked until the 15th too!
We won't be mad if you wear your favorite item though.

Why July 13th-19th?
I think that by July 13th we could have the word spread enough to be able to get at least 100 supporters. The date was actually set to be around July 15th because I want all of these new members to see the opening of the Monthly Collectible, hopefully fueling some of them to purchase one. This date is unofficial so far, so if you think you have a better date then PM me. The date can also change if I feel the event hasn't gotten enough people knowing about it. I hope we do though! I'm pretty sure we'll keep this date, so unless you have a good reason, we'll probably keep the date.

(( The origional date 8th-15th was changed due to interference with Spirit Week. ;3 We don't want to steal their thunder! ))

RULES

This thread looks so lame with me being the only one designing it. I'm an organizer, not a designer. So please help me pretty up this thread to attract the eyes of many.
We also need banners for our signatures to we can get others informed of our idea. There will be a prize for the best banner sig at the end of the event week!
Contest ends Wednesday and a poll will be set up Wednesday. Good luck to everyone! Be sure to get your banners in by Tuesday night at midnight PST. We simply have too many banners already so voting will already be difficult. To dull it down a little, I will get 2 other Gaia members to help me narrow down who the best is then we'll post the top 10 or so in a poll for user voting. I will also disqualify those that are too big to be used in a signature. Thanks to everyone who has made one and I'm sorry to end the contest so early. It's just far too many to keep up with!
Contest is over! Any Entries not already posted or PMed to me will NOT count. Thanks for all who entered and good luck!!

Winners have been Chosen!



By Dinotoes ::




By Hug Stealer ::


or


By prettypaws2000 ::


and



By Ah Key You Key :: ((Paid for by Syhne)) Made Smaller By A Purple Duckie :: (thanks so much!))



By Dinotoes ::


and



By Lar-uhh ::


and



By MinaMouse ::
(This is too big by 300 width and height for your signature, so I would suggest you place it in your profile. ^0^ )



By Willamena ::



By ShePlaysByEar ::



By xKiwiTastic No U-R-Eshiix ::



By Wildstarberry ::



By Monster-Kun ::


and



By The Pepermintcandy ::



By PachiiRiisu ::



By faire du leche-vitrine ::



By TheSilverExplosion ::



By i R-a-w-r xoxo ::


and



By Slowly Fading Away ::



By myarukawa ::



By Sushi-kaichou ::



By cast the shadows ::



By Kawaii-Fluffy ::



By x-stefii ::



By snufflezzz ::



By twilight teacher 101 ::



By bubblexteaangel ::



By ii-Smilezz ::



By A Heart Broken Teenager ::



By xVampire-SaKu ::




By Lynneesha ::



By Neon-Natzi ::

Since the actual week isn't for a few more weeks, we need some things to get started.

exclaim So far few have drawn art of an Gaia Staff member. That's one of the biggest things we have to show the staff we support them, so if you can draw (even if you can't) make up a picture of your favorite Gaia Admin or Mod and send me a picture! exclaim
idea If you can't draw then write! I want to quote people telling Gaia how much they love them. Write out a story of how they've helped you before, or just tell them what and why you love about Gaia! They'll appreciate it. :3 idea

exclaim Supporters. They are our biggest need. Without support, we'll fizzle out!
exclaim Donations. I can't do contests without prizes. Please help!
exclaim Banners and Headings. We could use some more pretty things for the first page. Help me spruce it up.
exclaim Anyone who wants to help me keep this organized and under control. I would love to have some help to make sure all of this is running smoothly so PM me if you're willing to work this thing out.
exclaim Ideas. If anyone thinks we need something, tell me! I'll be sure to work something out if possible.
exclaim We need to be an affiliate in some popular threads. Find someone and ask to be affiliated so we can get the word out!

Underwear Auction
Don't like the same old gray underwear? Nothing to spend your money on? Not sure how to help the cause?
Then buy some underwear from us! We have all sorts here so take your pick! Auctioning starts now and will end July 13th so you have some underwear to brag about.
Every pair not bid on at by July 13th will be donated to a new member who needs nice underwear to be nekkid in. >;3
All bidding is over. I have sent trades to everyone. Please accept them now. :3

My Views on the Issues
of Gaia
I have had to post and repost why I believe what I do and it gets me heated and unnerved to do so. I enjoy debating but I'm really quite tired of explaining the same thing over and over. So, I'm making a nice handy package for people to refer to so I don't get upset so much.
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exclaim NOTE exclaim
These are my views alone. These are not the views of everyone who supports this event, this is just how I feel on these subjects. I understand if it interferes with you wanting to join, but please don't let how I feel make you not like the idea. :3
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Q:Sponsor offers are evil. They give us viruses and we don't want them. How can you be ok with Gaia having these?
A:This is one of the biggest questions lately and I have had to answer a form of this many times already. I am not supporting these offers, I think it would be better if they didn't have them. However, I will not run around bashing them and making my life miserable over it. First, Gaia does need the money and this is a way for them to get it. Second, even though Gaia did it, they got a company that allows filtering. One moderator stated that they looked at many companies and none would let them filter which offers were available. This company makes it so that if you do get scammed or get a virus, you can submit a report to Gaia and they will shut down that offer so no one else has to go through with it. I personally have filled about 10$ worth of offers and have not gotten a virus or scam. Not even junk mail. If you are safe about it, you can do them just fine. However there are only about 10$s worth or offers that you can lie about your name, address, and phone number on. They do not require any other information. I advise against offers needing a credit card, cell phone number, or social security number. You should know not to give out personal information to anyone. Even if it's a company, they are still strangers. Your personal information is PERSONAL. Keep it that way and you can make a few quick bucks without any harm. :3

Q:Gaia is money hungry! Why do you think that they aren't?
A:I live in Florida and here to live a middle classish life it costs 30k per household. In California, for the same lifestyle, it costs almost double that. Gaia has hundreds of workers at their head quarters, almost all of which live in California. So hundreds of people times 60k equals quite a bit. Gaia has to pay each of these workers. They are not being money hungry, they merely need the cash to do what they do. The money they need to travel and do cons adds to this as well. Not to mention the servers they buy and the maintenance costs they pay for. Visit Fleep's journal for more information on this. He makes it quite clear that they do need the money they work so hard for.

Q:The new shop fronts don't work for a lot of users. It causes some users to not be able to use the gold shop at all. Gaia has to change something about this!
A:I do think it would be a nice feature for them to make it optional, however, a few user's misfortune is not worth just doing away with it altogether. An artist put a lot of work into creating the shop fronts in hopes we would enjoy them. And they get negativity in response. Until they do make it optional, you can still access the store inside. The first way is to use the tek tek toolbar. It gives you the option to select the shop directly from the toolbar so you skip the fronts. Another way, if you do not have the toolbar or firefox, is to go to the marketplace. And I don't just mean that you can buy from other users because I am away a greedy few like to place items at a higher cost than the shop. However, when you search an item, Gaia tells you where it is available from in the item info box. It gives you a lovely link to the store that holds the item and even has the item ready for you to preview or buy inside of the shop. It's more work than just browsing around, but it's a good way to make due until the feature is made optional.

Q:EI's are constantly being made. They aren't putting any effort into the gold shop. What should Gaia do about this? How can this be justifiable? Clearly it's more proof of them being money hungry.
A:I do agree that they should do more in the gold shop. My idea is that they should make some evolving items purchasable in the gold shop. However, by being available in the cash shop, it offers buyers the chance for their profit to grow as the rarity and age of an item increases. Gold shop prices are stagnant and offer no profit. But an EI anyone can get seems like a nice idea. :3

Q:It's not fair to have the cash shop. It just allows users to "buy gold."
A:Some users have jobs and families and some users are teenagers that go to school and have the rest of the day and summer to spend on Gaia. The latter of the two users has the time to post and poll and booty grab to get the amount of gold they need for an item. The first one cannot put in the same time and effort. So, the money they earn from their jobs that they have to spend their time at can be used to help better their Gaia experience. I personally have only spent 10$ of my money in the cash shop since I joined in December of 2003. However, I was 12 then and I had the time to post and post and post some more. So I was able to make about the same as the other users. I understand that there are users with the time to post and their parents buy them Gaia Cash but that's just how it is. Some people can get cash and some can't. I've noticed that the majority that cannot get cash are against cash. And I personally feel this is selfish. I cannot afford cash and I am going to college so I cannot put in the same amount of time I used to be able to. But I will not go around arguing with other users because they have something I don't. They earned it one way or another and I will respect that. As much as I hate to admit it, life really isn't fair.

Q:The two percent tax on the MP keeps users from earning the fair amount they deserve. It is unnecessary and I don't agree with it being there.
A:Now I really feel people are fetching for an excuse to be angry when they bring this one up. First of all, it's 2%. If you do not like it, you can always sell it in the exchange. And some people are willing to PM you to buy the item removing the tax so no one loses money on it. As well, it was put in place to help with inflation. The tax helps keep users from wanting to price something say in the millions because their tax will be in the hundreds of thousands. I'm not completely sure this is the reason it helps with inflation, but that's my take on it. If anyone can help me out with this (or provide a link for where the moderator stated why we needed that tax) I would love you forever. ;3

Q:Gaia cares too much about cash and doesn't try at all to make the community better! We should have administrators in the forums reading around for feedback on the site all the time to make Gaia a better place as we see it.
A:Gaia -always- works in our best interest. They do everything to make sure we want it that way. As well, Gaia needs the money they push so hard to get. If we were to get new staff for this instead of making new items or updating zOMG!, etc, then they would need more money to pay the new staff to skim through the forums. Thus they would have to push harder to get more money from us. Mmm, cycles. If you want them to pay more attention to the community, why not do something to help them get the money? So you can't throw your wallet at them. So you can't put all your time into helping users out so the administration has time for other things. So you can't work for Gaia to help them out. That's what this event is all about. We are going to bring our friends to gaia. We hope that this will give more income to Gaia so they don't need the offers or need to push so hard with the cash shop.

Have more questions? PM me! I'd be happy to add them here. :3