First of all let me begin this by saying that, I am an 03'er. I was here nine million years ago in a wonderful little time where Gaia Online was different!!!

Gaia's new updates

When the updates first began, I was one of those "Go-with-The-Flow" people that thought nothing of it.
This, this mutiny, destroyed my personal favorite page on gaia.

Gaia as a business

I hear this alot, "Gaia is a business, they have to make money"
True, however, in corporate consideration, the customers keep you afloat. Unhappy customers leads to corporate failure in the end. As a business Gaia should be focused on what we want to see, not depleting the reasons most of us even log in.

The marketplace inflation

Most blame the greed of the general public. Since a vast majority of the users here are United States based and Gaia being started in California, the real life economy comes into play here. Currently the states are in a rescission which, while that hasn't effected everyone, most of the families here are cutting the unnecessary products such as gaia cash.

Gold VS Gaia Cash
Another important issue here is the forcability of the needs of Gaia Cash to get anywhere. Let's take a look at the aquarium shop run by Mirai. The aquarium is probably the most key gold making tool on the entire site. Allowing us to purchase fish using either gaia cash or gold would give gaia's users a how to say, equality. Denier Cri, the millions of gold it takes to get items from there would be better suited to have a cash option added. this alone woul increase profit for both the site and the company.

Evolving items
Lets look at this logically for a moment.
An EI cost's 749 gaia cash. Being a dollar (american wise)
for each 100 gaia cash. this is $7.49 for a virtual item.
this is ridiculous and is half the reason for the marketplace inflation. Lowering prices to about three maybe four dollars would alot for more of the item available to those who cannot afford Gaia Cash.

Earning Gold
I may sound rather greedy here, but it woulden't kill anyone to increase the given gold amount for respective activities.

Compaired to Myspace and facebook
I first joined because this was a place that was different.
A place where other intellectuals would do as we are at this very moment and run our own little world like a respective democracy. As the years passed this began to change. by about 2007, when I began to learn about social networking sites outside my paradise of Gaia, I noticed a trend. Gaia was becoming one of them.
"No, I shudder the thought." I recall mentioning as I was discussing this with a friend in the forums. A year later it started to become more apparent, I wasn't imagining anything.
then 2009 hit.
I recall the announcement.
"Link your Gaia to your facebook"
Really Gaia, really?
This was it, I was ready to quit, but having to many people I cared about kept me from doing so. So I stayed, continuing my escapades on the forums. Then 2010 hit. This is what were given. I won't lie, it looks like Myspace, Twitter, and Facebook all had a mass orgy and had a baby and couldn't figure out the corresponding parental units.

Feel free to respond to any of my statements. All views expressed were relative to my own mind and no one else's. I will end this useless rant now and ask that you post your opinions on gaia's new direction.