(deleted)

[Slapperfish]

(deleted)

[Lisaara]

I only hate it when we had the burst of MMO Champ trolls join.......otherwise, I'm fine with newbie. I always tell hunters on my server to join up. :3

[lilatha]

Hey as long as they aint scamming or spamming more the better Means we will find things out faster able to help more hunters with class issues even teach new players things to save the hunters rep :p

[Gimlion]

I don't so much mind the new joiners. I think it's great adding to the community; however, I think that there is a rather large problem of duplicate and repeat posts, with information that has been out for ages being asked for. It's rather clogging, and I know that Veph/Kalli/everyone else that mods the forums can't keep up with what has or hasn't been discussed, but I do wish that people would learn to use the search tool more before creating an entirely new thread for old info, or to ask a question that has previously been asked.

Another thing I've noticed is the incline in negative/demeaning posts. Sure, it'll happen everywhere, but with the Cata influx that Petopia has seen, it's hard to ignore the people not accustom to our rules, politeness, and general sense of being a family. I think that many of these posts/posters are those who have come here from WoW forums, or MMOchamp, or other such places where disorder and misconduct is regular, so they assume it's the same here, or on any other forum. This can lead to flame wars, hurt feelings, and even in a few threads, the loss of older, seasoned members from sharing valuable thoughts/info because they had their feelings hurt by someone new who didn't quite realize what this place really is.

Regardless, I hope that the increase in population will indeed lead to more good than it does bad, and I also pray that these new members become familiarized with the community, rules, and SEARCH BAR...

[Azunara]

Yeah, I've noticed the increase of new posters as well. Generally, I don't find the flaming and hate to be too bad, and when it does, I'll try to kill the flames a little by telling folks to relax. (Or, in the RP thread, warning to lock the thread. But I've only had to do that once, and it ended up resolving peacefully anyways. *hugs her fellow RPers.*)

That said, I do think the Pet Discussion does tend to be swarmed. xD What if there's solid threads for "I tamed X!" for each continent. Like a "Post your Tames: EK Edition!", Kalimdor edition, Cata zone edition, Northrend edition. Post your screenies and whatnot, taming stories, etc. That way, it could help the huge "I tamed X" increase. And maybe a Q/A as well for various questions. Post your question, get an answer instead of having a million, "How do I -blank *insert interrobang.*- threads.

Just my thoughts.

[Gimlion]

Yeah, I've noticed the increase of new posters as well. Generally, I don't find the flaming and hate to be too bad, and when it does, I'll try to kill the flames a little by telling folks to relax. (Or, in the RP thread, warning to lock the thread. But I've only had to do that once, and it ended up resolving peacefully anyways. *hugs her fellow RPers.*)

That said, I do think the Pet Discussion does tend to be swarmed. xD What if there's solid threads for "I tamed X!" for each continent. Like a "Post your Tames: EK Edition!", Kalimdor edition, Cata zone edition, Northrend edition. Post your screenies and whatnot, taming stories, etc. That way, it could help the huge "I tamed X" increase. And maybe a Q/A as well for various questions. Post your question, get an answer instead of having a million, "How do I -blank *insert interrobang.*- threads.

Just my thoughts.

In theory, that sounds great, but it was attempted for Cata rares/releases, and, well... you can see how well that worked.

I would imagine a lot of this dies down soon, and the real 'new' members that decide to stick with the family will end up being as known and loved as any of the current members.

[Azunara]

Wait, I'm well known and loved here?

Really though, I didn't see how the Cata thread end up. What happened to it?

[TygerDarkstorm]

I'm glad to have new posters. It is a little strange when they come in with one post claiming a lack of information that has been mentioned elsewhere and then never post again.

I figure dozens of threads of "Where's So and So" and "I tamed So and So" are to be expected as it's human nature to want to share those feelings and feel special. Would be nice to have one combined thread for each rare or something, but I doubt it would last long.

Also, I think what would be REALLY nice is if we can get that post from Wain relaying Noah's message that it's okay to have the appearance buff pets. I've had to link it in about 5 or so threads because of people spreading misinformation (not that it's necessarily their fault), but it would be nice if they had looked around in the other threads that exist for the appearance buffs (or the threads with the linked post okaying them) instead of crying wolf. It's good to err on the cautious side, but as of Wain's post, it is incorrect to say we can not tame pets with appearance only effects. I just think it'd be a good idea if we could put it somewhere noticeable...if that's possible.

[Gimlion]

Well one of the blues at the time (I'm not sure who) Tried to make a thread so that everyone could get there excitement over new tames out via stories, pix, etc. It went alright, and gained up to 20 or so pages, but not everyone used it. Many threads were still popping up due to new tames, gain about three-ten responses, then just clog up space while the original space saver died out. Eventually, it got so buried that no one bothered to post there or check it anymore. So while it worked haphazardly for a short time, it just didn't last.

I love these forums, it's just sometimes I wish it wasn't a chore to go through and handpick the topics I'm involved in to read from a sea of threads, and then clear the entire forums to stop random threads I don't wish to read from showing as 'unread'. Like I said though, it'll die down eventually, especially after so many of the hunters tame their beloved rares.

[Azunara]

Well one of the blues at the time (I'm not sure who) Tried to make a thread so that everyone could get there excitement over new tames out via stories, pix, etc. It went alright, and gained up to 20 or so pages, but not everyone used it. Many threads were still popping up due to new tames, gain about three-ten responses, then just clog up space while the original space saver died out. Eventually, it got so buried that no one bothered to post there or check it anymore. So while it worked haphazardly for a short time, it just didn't last.

I love these forums, it's just sometimes I wish it wasn't a chore to go through and handpick the topics I'm involved in to read from a sea of threads, and then clear the entire forums to stop random threads I don't wish to read from showing as 'unread'. Like I said though, it'll die down eventually, especially after so many of the hunters tame their beloved rares.

Heh, at this point I just avoid Pet Discussion altogether. If you ever want to find a feral Azu, plug 82995 on your NPCscan and plop on down in either Roleplaying forum or Off-Topic forum.

(If you're curious, 8/29/95 is my birthday. Every time I refer to that as my NPCscan code, I've been asked how I got one. Just my birthday. xD)

[Teevo]

Well, I can give some feedback from the newcomers side. Call it what you will, but this is my history in a nutshell:

I've been playing WoW since stress test (Oct '04). My first character was my hunter, a night elf originally.. but I've taken a liking to them dorfs Without going into great detail, I made a dorf priest (for those of you that remember, they barely existed back in the day) and discovered what raiding was. Did that pretty hardcore for years. Had good times, and bad. Great, and terrible. Eventually I lost the passion for it, and just focused on little personal goals with my 3 toons - leveled a dorf paly at some point along the way also - (grinding for mounts, recipes, etc). Since I decided to be "casual" in my guild and pass on the raiding scene, my priest is pretty much content at the moment.

My paly was hunting for Mr. Time-Lost for about a month. After gearing up in heroics, and many Vyragosa kills.. I needed a break. So I leveled my hunter. With all the changes since Cata, I needed to learn how to play him again.. which made me look into pet skills.. which made me look at pets.. which had me notice the rare and unique ones.. which brought me back to my Star Wars Galaxies days of taming rare pets (at one time, it was my all-time most-enjoyable game.. before they ruined it by changing everything).

(My Star Wars Galaxies history for those interested):
I played SWG for about a year and a half. I was a Twi'lek Master Creature Handler on Lowca. I fell in love with searching for rare pets. I absolutely loved the hunt, and my collection to death. I had every single rare from the Great Plains Stalker, Wild Dune Boar, and my most prized possession the Bull Rancor. I still have all my screenshots saved and I look back on them every now and again. A forum friend and I created a Creature Handler guild named BEAST, which eventually spread across 12 servers and dozens of fellow Creature Handlers with the same ideal, respect, and love for their pets. I'm proud of what we accomplished in the short time that it lasted.

Thats why I'm grateful I kind of stumbled onto this community. It reminds me of the same "family" feeling. Good people sharing both the sweet and sour sides of their wild hunts.

So while yes, I just joined the forum 2 days ago.. I'm far from new to the passion for pets we all have in one way or another. Granted this isn't the case for every hunter out there.. but there are a few of us who've been doing this for quite some time.. we're just quiet.. or maybe undiscovered like our rares Hope my history was insightful. Back to my reinstall (35% of LK disk)

*EDIT* By the way, thats why I keep all of my rare tame news in one thread. I get to share my hunts, and avoid cluttering the forum with 20 threads heh

[Kalliope]

And thank you for doing that, Teevo.

At some point, the threads become less about each individual tame and more about the person doing the tames. Instead of a one-off rare tame, we're seeing chains of tames with all of the new pets. If more Petopians came to that realization, I think we'd have far fewer threads and a lot less clutter.

Unfortunately, there's only so much we can do as mods to streamline things. I will, however, get Noah-via-Wain's stance on those particular pets stickied in some manner/shape/form.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Unfortunately, there's only so much we can do as mods to streamline things. I will, however, get Noah-via-Wain's stance on those particular pets stickied in some manner/shape/form.

Thank you Kalli!
I just feel it's important for that info to be more easily available. Glad you feel the same.

[Cialbi]

Regardless, I hope that the increase in population will indeed lead to more good than it does bad, and I also pray that these new members become familiarized with the community, rules, and SEARCH BAR...

There's something to be said about the placement of the search bar when it comes to this layout of the forum, though. People tend not to spend too much time dwelling on what's at the bottom of any given page on a website, since there usually isn't much of anything interesting to be found.

I figure dozens of threads of "Where's So and So" and "I tamed So and So" are to be expected as it's human nature to want to share those feelings and feel special. Would be nice to have one combined thread for each rare or something, but I doubt it would last long.

I made a thread of the sort that you described that pertained to Terrorpene, with the expressed purpose of cutting down on the number of Terrorpene threads popping up. While the thread has since fallen farther and farther away from the first page, it had done what I had hoped for when it was most needed.

Now, Mania had the smart idea of making that new (and presumably temporary) sticky for people to post screenshots of their 4.0.6 tames. Similar idea to the Terrorpene thread (I feel that I should say that I am not trying to claim credit for the idea; I'm sure it has been done before, and it would be a bit presumptuous to assume that Mania even saw the Terrorpene thread), but better done.

So, there is something to be said for trying to consolidate subjects in this manner. I would encourage the stable masters and/or Mania to make a stickied thread along these lines; a Q&A thread for rarespawns would be a good idea, or maybe a stickied and locked thread with links to individual Q&A threads on individual rare NPCs. It would be useful not so much in making the forums less cluttered, but rather in making it easier for people to find the information that they seek.

[TygerDarkstorm]

So, there is something to be said for trying to consolidate subjects in this manner. I would encourage the stable masters and/or Mania to make a stickied thread along these lines; a Q&A thread for rarespawns would be a good idea, or maybe a stickied and locked thread with links to individual Q&A threads on individual rare NPCs. It would be useful not so much in making the forums less cluttered, but rather in making it easier for people to find the information that they seek.

I could fully agree to this. I had so much trouble trying to find some sort of spawn timer for Karoma last night since I was feeling impatient and wanted to know when I needed to be up to try and find her. Using the search tool to search "Karoma spawn timer" actually netted me nothing close to a thread with an actual timer. Ended up making a new thread only to have Ziarre give me a fairly accurate timer in game. XD

Anyway, that's my long winded way of saying I agree and support this idea.

[Gimlion]

Regardless, I hope that the increase in population will indeed lead to more good than it does bad, and I also pray that these new members become familiarized with the community, rules, and SEARCH BAR...

There's something to be said about the placement of the search bar when it comes to this layout of the forum, though. People tend not to spend too much time dwelling on what's at the bottom of any given page on a website, since there usually isn't much of anything interesting to be found.

I've actually never noticed the bottom search bar... I meant the search feature at the top, next to FAQ, the Control Panel, etc.

[Azunara]

There's a bottom search bar?

*checks.*

Holy fel, there is! O_o A whole year here, and I'm just seeing this.

[Anyia]

There's a bottom search bar?

*checks.*

Holy fel, there is!

^

It clearly got camouflage before we did!

[Azunara]

Bwahahaha! That's awesome. xD

[TygerDarkstorm]

I wanted to drop by and give a thanks to the mods for setting up that wonderful sticky thread with all the information everyone should need to know.