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	misswindy 2003-04-26 02:26 am UTC (link)
	"Descrimination" is what happens when you're on a sports team, and you think you're just at a practice scrimmage game, only it's not. It sounded funny in my head, mmkay? :) Am I the only one that's bowled over by the fact that NEOPETS is an actual FANDOM? Just me then? Mmmkay. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	milkshake 2003-04-26 02:37 am UTC (link)
	Am I the only one that's bowled over by the fact that NEOPETS is an actual FANDOM? Just me then? Mmmkay. I was shocked by this myself when I joined over a year ago. It comes complete with obsessive fan pages, BNFs, and fanfic at the Pit Of Voles! Perfect. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	misswindy 2003-04-26 02:42 am UTC (link)
	That is truly fascinating. Sincerely. And makes me grin. Got any good links so we can check out this phenomenon for ourselves? I've been in flamewars over GIFs before so I'm not surprised at the goings on. ;) You'd be shocked at what people can create HUGE drama over. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

milkshake
2003-04-26 03:23 am UTC (link)

I aim to please. ;)

Obsessive fan pages! (The most helpful/obsessive site of them all, Pink Poogle Toy, is down at the moment. I pine for you, PPT!)

BNFs: Besides the creators of the site themselves, Donna and Adam, there's hrobi (who is part of this page) and others that I could list -- but you'd have to be a member of Neopets to see the limit of the crazeh. (Sorry!)

The Neopets section at ff.n: 598(!) fics up so far

Fan art! Fan art at Elfwood! Furries love Neopets, too!

Of course, that's just a little preview.

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	pradaloz 2003-04-26 03:50 am UTC (link)
	Neopets have sexual preferences? Neopets have sex? Okay, then. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	milkshake 2003-04-26 04:26 am UTC (link)
	And that is what it all boils down to in the end. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	sajasma 2003-04-26 07:21 am UTC (link)
	Is it just me, or is anyone else giggling over the words "virtual genitals"? No? Alright then. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	Lord. I was wondering if this would show up here. manon 2003-04-26 05:16 am UTC (link)
	[nitpick] I think it was actually someone else with the gay pet picture, and somesneakysim is just the one who's most het up on hir behalf. [/nitpick] The whole thing is reminding me of the icon kerfuffle on the self-same community, actually. "Blurry icons of a f/f kiss? YOU'LL CORRUPT THE CHILDREN! Take that down at once!" Only this is so very much more so. o_o (Reply to this)(Thread)

Re: Lord. I was wondering if this would show up here.

milkshake
2003-04-26 05:22 am UTC (link)

[nitpick] I think it was actually someone else with the gay pet picture, and somesneakysim is just the one who's most het up on hir behalf. [/nitpick]

Oh, it was? I didn't know that, since I didn't get to see the original post. I just assumed it was somesneakysim, since she seemed to be the one getting the most upset about it. Thanks for setting me straight... ooh, bad pun.

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	Re: Lord. I was wondering if this would show up here. manon 2003-04-26 05:46 am UTC (link)
	Yeah... at least that's what SSS says in her postings. For all I know, she's lying. ;) I missed the first post too. Y'welcome. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Lord. I was wondering if this would show up here. milkshake 2003-04-26 05:58 am UTC (link)
	Yeah... at least that's what SSS says in her postings. Sheesh. I guess I'm not too good at reading thoroughly while laughing and pointing. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	Re: Lord. I was wondering if this would show up here. manon 2003-04-26 05:48 am UTC (link)
	(Confidential to somesneakysim, if she shows up: That was tongue-in-cheek.) (Reply to this)(Parent)

	katythayn 2003-04-26 05:34 am UTC (link)
	From somesneakysim's journal: So the neopets team are confirmed homophobes, and we aren't even allowed to rant about it. 1984, anyone? Excuse me while I giggle uncontrollably. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	milkshake 2003-04-26 05:51 am UTC (link)
	I love that line! "Oh, no, someone isn't letting me do what I want to do! JUST LIKE 1984 OMG!" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	nevadafighter 2003-04-26 07:07 am UTC (link)
	It's Orwellian, dammit! 'Cause, y'know, Animal Farm was obviously written about Neopets. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	milkshake 2003-04-26 07:45 am UTC (link)
	Now I'm having visions about babaas squeaking, "Four legs good! Two legs bad!" Damn you, woman. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: nevadafighter 2003-04-26 07:47 am UTC (link)
	As if you'd ever expect less from me. :-* (Reply to this)(Parent)

	dawnjosephine 2003-04-26 02:40 pm UTC (link)
	I couldn't resist. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	bohicamouse 2003-04-26 09:31 pm UTC (link)
	bows down (Reply to this)(Parent)

	milkshake 2003-04-27 02:21 am UTC (link)
	Um... you wouldn't mind if I stole that and used it for a userpic, would you? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dawnjosephine 2003-04-27 02:13 pm UTC (link)
	Not at all, have fun. grins thanks everyone for the icon compliments (Reply to this)(Parent)

	phosfate 2003-04-27 06:20 am UTC (link)
	::applause:: (Reply to this)(Parent)

	katythayn 2003-04-26 10:55 am UTC (link)
	What made me love it so much is that the references to neopets and 1984 were in the same setting. That is like some ungodly combination of Rasputin and Jennifer Love Hewitt. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	tempslut 2003-04-28 05:28 am UTC (link)
	Funny, considering that virtual pets are so 1997. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	parlance 2003-04-26 06:40 am UTC (link)
	I can't remember which entry it was, but I mentioned that a guild for gay Neopets had gotten deleted - this was 2 years ago. They're very homophobic there - and this is not just on the basis of the deletion, but on subsequent correspondence with staff who were on both sides of the issues. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	kannaophelia 2003-04-26 06:44 am UTC (link)
	Yes, you're right. To me, the wankiest thing is the refusal to allow non-het pets, when every ^%#$#! guild has a dating service, so it's not as though sexual orientation isn't allowed as an issue... as long as it's het only. All my neopets are lesbian, anyway. :) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

parlance
2003-04-26 07:19 am UTC (link)

Yes, that's just it. Their policy is plainly discriminatory because they don't delete the dating guilds and they never have. People seem to think that sexual orientation "beomes" an issue when homosexuality is mentioned, when in fact, it's always an issue - unspoken, yes, but it's there.

And I remember when Neopets was talking about plans to allow pets to marry. Oh, but that's not sexuality or anything. I guess married pets were supposed to sleep on opposite sides of the bed with one paw on the floor. :-P

The galling thing was that the gay guild was very good at patrolling itself. We didn't talking about dating, there were no sexual overtures. It had a rainbow theme and other than description, you'd never have known it was for gay neopets. Kids could have come in, and probably did, and wouldn't have found anything racier than anywhere else on the site. Basically it was a place where gay players and slashers owned Neopets.

Then someone on the staff discovered it and deleted it, and got all huffy and rude when people emailed. "This is for kids, this isn't a place for sex." Yes because that's all gay people do 24/7 is have sex. :-P The only time they bothered being polite was when a parent wrote to them and told them they didn't want the site encouraging discrimination. But it ultimately didn't sway them.

So one of the former guild members started emailing with a staff member who let her know that she secretly supported the idea, but the staff is very conservative the policy wasn't going to change, and there's one member in particular who had taken it upon herself to find even the most subtle references to being gay and freeze those accounts.

Anyway, long story short, as we can see the policy hasn't changed. But it does amuse me to think that the more conservative members of the staff are probably in a tizzy over images of gay neopets nuzzling each others noses.

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	parlance 2003-04-26 07:25 am UTC (link)
	Yeah that one phrase at the top should have read "becomes" an issue :-P (Reply to this)(Parent)

	milkshake 2003-04-26 07:35 am UTC (link)
	B-but, don't you know that all gay people are pedophiles!? THINK OF TEH CHILDREN!!!111 Jesus. I didn't know about all that (like I said before, I only joined about a year ago). The Neopets Team is simply wanktastic themselves. Feh. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	parlance 2003-04-26 07:41 am UTC (link)
	Yes, I was especially amused by the one post that compared homosexuality to other "issues children need to be protected from" - like rape, murder, other forms of violence, war... In fact, gay people are solely to blame for all of the above. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	katemonkey 2003-04-27 09:53 am UTC (link)
	Yes because that's all gay people do 24/7 is have sex. Oh, if only that were true... (Reply to this)(Parent)

	khym_chanur 2004-06-05 10:26 am UTC (link)
	They should just make all the neopets hemaphrodites. Then they won't have to worry about sexual orientation. ;-) (Reply to this)(Parent)

	(Anonymous) 2004-08-11 10:26 am UTC (link)
	Oddly enough, the site wasn't created for kids in the first place. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	khym_chanur 2004-06-05 10:24 am UTC (link)
	Dating services... for virtual pets... <backs away slowly, then runs like hell> (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: kannaophelia 2004-06-05 06:23 pm UTC (link)
	Aw, it's kind of cute, really. It's all make-believe, after all, and probably no more weird than hooking up characters in The Sims. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	sajasma 2003-04-26 07:26 am UTC (link)
	Ohmigod. Soooo geeky. Neopets. Phah. (goes off to create one) (Reply to this)(Thread)

	milkshake 2003-04-26 07:57 am UTC (link)
	Noooo! Don't do it! You'll become a sad little addict like myself... Kacheeks are the cutest, by the way. I mean, if you haven't made a pet yet. cough (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	parlance 2003-04-26 08:39 am UTC (link)
	Nah, go for the korbat. ;-> (Reply to this)(Parent)

	backfromspace 2003-04-26 10:31 am UTC (link)
	Neopets should not be having sex of any kind, unless it be of the cloacal-pressing variety. And then only if they're birds. not like the ones that aren't birds have cloacas anyway, but better cover my bases. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	pradaloz 2003-04-27 05:58 pm UTC (link)
	What about budding? (Reply to this)(Parent)

	raisedbyhyenas 2003-04-27 12:03 am UTC (link)
	Check out THIS bigoted bitch. http://www.livejournal.com/community/neopetcommunity/2120897.html?thread=6777537 (Reply to this)(Thread)

	milkshake 2003-04-27 02:19 am UTC (link)
	Ah... it's the message parlance was talking about. I heart people who somehow equate being gay with murder, porn, suicide, etc. And it still doesn't explain how guilds tend to have dating services for their pets. Feh. (Reply to this)(Parent)

rann
2003-08-04 12:26 pm UTC (link)

Old wank, but I was surfing memories and thought I'd comment...
You know, that thing about equating homosexuality with bad things children "need to be protected from" like war and violence and so on seems especially hypocritical coming from a site where you arm cute little suckers up with an arsenal of various weapons and pit them in fights to the near-death with other, similarly-armed little creatures. I mean, hell, even in Pokemon you don't hand your Pikachu the equivalent of a high-tech shiv before it fights with another Pokemon.

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	(Anonymous) 2004-08-11 10:22 am UTC (link)
	::snerk:: NEOPETS WANK!!! This is something I thought I'd NEVER see. I never really thought Neopets = wank (though if I frequented the chats/boards much I bet I would). (Reply to this)