News

Posted on: Tue Oct 4, 2016 4:07pm

I don't mind the gifs, as long as they're relevant and their use doesn't become too excessive. Some of the faster-moving ones can be off-putting at times, but as long as every news post doesn't get spammed with a whole bunch of them, I can handle it.

No, I wouldn't say gifs are super professional. But then again... News posts are already usually made with some humor and references to outside things that wouldn't be considered super professional. Sure, some level of professionalism should be maintained, but this has never been a very formal site (unless I'm missing something).

I'm on the fence. Lately I've been getting irritated with some of the unprofessionalism I see around here, but in the end, staff are humans too. Yes, we can complain about it if we want, but it's really better to try to stay civil about it (although I understand that not all staff responses have been super polite either :X). If we expect respect from the staff, then we should respect the staff too, if only because they're humans and all humans deserve some respect. And I say this as someone who spent the last couple days bitching at the staff over ToTing and is now trying to reform even though my opinions haven't changed.

Posted on: Tue Oct 4, 2016 4:09pm

Yes. I am respectfully telling them that they are bad at their jobs.

Posted on: Tue Oct 4, 2016 4:13pm

Don't really mind gifs, or the fact that it's not very professional? but shouldn't you be crediting the gifs if you use it on site? If it's not a personally made gif...? idk...OTL

Posted on: Tue Oct 4, 2016 4:14pm

XD
I wasn't replying to you specifically though.

I have some qualms about certain things that have been going on with the staff lately too. I'm not saying everything is all butterflies and rainbows and we should ignore the dark side. It was just my two cents.

Posted on: Tue Oct 4, 2016 4:25pm

Not expecting any response to this but here's something for all those complaining about professionalism when gifs are involved. Any 'you' used here is a general you.

You are a professional when you are PAID to do a job. Most if not all of staff are not paid in any way other than site currency. They invest huge amounts of time and effort into making this site a fun place to be for you. YOU are not a consumer. YOU are someone who gets to play in a sandbox other people made available for you. The *only* way you actually contribute anything to the site is by watching ads or buying stuff from the USD shop, neither of which is stuff that you have to do. YOUR presence on the site actually costs money and effort. Servers that have to be maintained, programmers and artists that have to make stuff for you to play with, and mods and admins that make this a nice environment for you to reside in. YOU are not entitled to *anything*, except to thank all the people who make all of this possible for you, since your presence does not add anything if you don't spend actual money on the site. This is not YOUR sandbox, and if you don't like it, walk away instead of ruining the atmosphere for everyone else.

More specifically:
- Legality of gifs: go look up 'fair use'
- Epilepsy: I have suffered from epilepsy myself since I was 12, and if the speed of those gifs bothers you, stay off the internet forever, since even a moving add banner will bother you then.

In closing: Staff put in more effort and time in the site than you will ever fully know or appreciate. If you expect them to cater to your perceived standards of 'professionalism' at all times, any site or forum is probably better of without you than with you.

- Pardona

Posted on: Tue Oct 4, 2016 4:37pm

Uwa.

If only real money weren't tied up in the running of the site.

Oh. Wait.

It is...

Should I mention how breeding artists weren't properly paid for a while...

Or how the slowness of PMs is affecting the work/pay ratio of artists...

Or how money is needed to run the site and pay expenses...

Money IS involved. So the problems DO have to be addressed. Because, even if not the staff themselves, it affects the people who do make money off the site...

Aywas certainly isn't a non-profit.

If getting paid would make the staff more competent, then I'd say let them be paid.

I've always said I'd prefer a paid and competent staff to "we try so hard for no money, so whatever we want to do is okay~"

Posted on: Tue Oct 4, 2016 4:40pm

Starry ☕ Par (#5230) Until your post the tone in these comments was peaceful.
The way people will aggressively shout down anyone who says anything that isn't blind praise like you have just done is exactly why people are afraid to say anything.

You are a PROFESSIONAL when you WORK for a COMPANY that DOES receive money from people and pay outside contractors.
Explorer Games IS A COMPANY and any staff, even being volunteer staff, are working under the name of Explorer Games.
Volunteer work is still WORK. If someone is a volunteer at a charity shop and works on the till, do they not have to present themselves in a professional manner?
The answer is yes, they do, even though they are an unpaid volunteer.

Taking a staff position is an understanding that you are representing the site and must conduct yourself in a professional manner, that's WHY staff positions must be applied for so that the best candidates can be chosen so that no one on staff paints the staff as a whole in a bad light.

Saying the staff doesn't need to be professional because "it's a pet site" or "it's free" is not only incredibly misguided but also completely incorrect. By that logic the staff could take pets and items from users for no reason because "you haven't paid for anything so it doesn't matter" - see how ridiculous it sounds?

Also, just because YOU have not experienced a reaction from the flashing images does not mean that is the same for everyone.
Your attitude is toxic and demeaning to everyone - people who are bringing up valid concerns and the staff you're so aggressively defending.

Posted on: Tue Oct 4, 2016 5:20pm

Pardona, let me further break down your argument.

1. You might not know this, considering the default color of your username, but the purple tint of mine marks me as having "contributor" status. If you don't know what that status requires in order to receive, then perhaps you don't know enough about aywas to continue this discussion much longer. In basic terms, I've probably contributed more to this site than you have.

2. "The *only* way you actually contribute anything to the site is by watching ads or buying stuff from the USD shop, neither of which is stuff that you have to do." This statement is fundamentally incorrect. After all, I am a "contributor"...moreover, this site happens to be a petsite. Thus, one of its major draws is its community - which I am a part of. Not only that, but sites create revenue, advertising, etc. from their traffic - which I contribute to, as does any other user. Simply by using the site, I am a consumer. And I expect to be treated as such. Your statement also discounts all of the artists who work for the site, all of the people who take commissions via the commission panel or GCC panel...overall, it's not a valid point.

3. Since real money, products/services (via the site itself and the artwork produced from breedings, panels etc.), and customers are involved, even if the staff never gets paid, aywas is a business.

4. If it is a business, then it - and its staff - should be held to the standards of one. That means basic levels of professionalism, fastidiousness with payments (because even if staff doesn't get paid, they're still responsible for paying the site artists), and openness to critique. After all, that's the staff's job.

5. If staff is not meeting the basic responsibilities of their job, then saying that they are doing a poor job is a fair critique. Fact: staff has not been meeting the basic responsibilities of their job.

6. As a business, they are responsible for the happiness of their consumers. NOT the other way around. Can I appreciate the work they've done while also critiquing them for their failures? Absolutely. They've worked hard and I've suggested to them multiple times to hire and train more people so they won't be so short-staffed. But that doesn't meant that they're excused from their failures. It's great that they've implemented so many "fun" things for us...but as consumers, it's not our responsibility to enjoy it - it's the staff's responsibility to make sure it's enjoyable.

7. This site is not your sandbox, either. If you dislike the critique of staff that is occurring, then don't contribute. If you are allowed to state your opinion, then so am I. So that point holds no validity, either. So sorry that your argument is coming up with so many blanks.

8. Fair use, especially when businesses rather than individuals are involved, is a very iffy and case-by-case subject. The fact of the matter is, it's not 100% that the staff's usage of gifs is actually legal. And if it's not 100%, then staff should not be using gifs at all.

9. Your experiences with epilepsy do not cover everyone's experiences. Epilepsy was my go-to for gif usage, but the truth is, the flashing and strobing of gifs can actually have many detrimental effects for many different people, not just epileptics. I know that those on the autism spectrum may have issues with highly active images - especially ones like the warning image used in today's newspost - and that's only the tip of the iceberg. Moreover, personal anecdotes happen to also be known as the "person who" informal fallacy...

Posted on: Tue Oct 4, 2016 5:21pm

I have to agree with the unprofessional behavior in regards of the use of reaction gifs lately. I prefer the old trend of using (possibly random, unrelated) Aywas images, typically items. It's not a huge deal but I believe it is easily fixable.

Posted on: Tue Oct 4, 2016 5:50pm

I came here to wish good wishes to Kaiyo~

I couldn't care less about GIFs. c: