Oh, and before I forget, please reconsider the bumping infraction. In really busy forums, bumping once a day is nowhere near sufficient for getting our threads noticed and that's really bothersome. x_x

I kind of have to agree with Bullydog and AllHallowsEve. I know you guys want an environment where people can feel safe (I'll never understand this) but there's a limit to how much you can pad something before it just gets unreasonable, and you're really pushing it. People need to realize that this is the public internet. It's not a safe place. It never was, it never will be. And people really, REALLY, need to stop trying to make it one.

As Bullydog said in his post, a "padded playroom" is unrealistic, extremely so. There's always going to be conflict. There's always going to be feelings getting hurt. You know why? Because some people are just too sensitive, and will get upset over any and every little thing or take everything as a personal attack even when it's not. Is someone gonna get mad at me for saying this? Oh yeah, most definitely. I'll probably get blocked by several more people, even. But that kinda just proves my point. :\

Fostering a pacifist environment where people never see, hear, or deal with conflict is unhealthy because conflict is simply unavoidable in reality. And even if you can shelter them from it online, you CAN'T shelter them from it offline. If they become too accustomed to not dealing with conflict due to everything being padded and "no hurt allowed," the moment they come face to face with conflict offline it's going to do a lot more damage because they won't know what to do. I'm honestly so sick of the "everyone's a winner" and "everything you believe in is valid and good uwu" mentality. Because no, that's not true and people should not be led to believe it is. Not everyone is a winner, not everyone CAN be a winner. Not everything a person does or believes in is "valid and good." Of course, it sucks to hear it. No one LIKES to be told they're not a winner, or what they're doing is wrong. But all the same, the reality is that it has to be done. They need to have things pointed out, even if it hurts them, to better themselves and learn from their mistakes. And believe me, if you don't do it, someone else will. On this site especially, a lot of things are being encouraged by people for the sake of not hurting feelings, yet those things are actually hurting others both online AND offline. And, because of the unrealistic "safe space" mentality, they get away with it and are even protected from backlash which isn't right.

Rather than a padded playroom, users should be made to realize upon registration that they're potentially putting themselves into an environment that contains things that will make them uncomfortable or challenge their enjoyment. And, if they choose to create an account after this has been made clear, they accept that risk and must be responsible for their own comfort and safety, rather than expecting the entire site to cater to their feelings. The more a site tries to create a "safe space" for a handful of people, the more they alienate the rest of their userbase, which can have detrimental effects because it makes people feel like they have to walk on eggshells, which can completely kill their interest and drive people away.

I mean, it's already bad enough as it is... It's been pointed out by people before me, but a lot of users on this site take the "safe space" concept too far and will aggressively smash the block button for practically ANY reason:

• They don't like someone's avatar? Blocked.
• They don't like someone's signature? Blocked.
• They don't like someone's paintie? Blocked.
• A person has an opinion they don't agree with? Blocked.
• Oh, you're a fan of x? Blocked.
• You don't support y? Blocked.
• You like this specific color? Blocked.

I wish I was exaggerating with this, but I'm not and I know a few people out there could verify that if they really wanted to. Yes, I DID say it before, that users are responsible for their own comfort and safety. But this isn't a cut and dry issue where the situation is either black or white. There are proper ways to protect oneself, and there are improper ways to protect oneself. If a user cannot enter the forums or social space without repeatedly smashing the block button on people they haven't personally interacted with, they shouldn't be there. That's not protection, that's cowardice. And imo, abusing the block feature like that should be discouraged.

I mean, forums aren't supposed to be echo chambers where only like-minded people with similar interests or opinions can post. They're not supposed to be all sunshine and rainbows and positivity. I mean yeah, we all like to know that someone out there shares our interests and beliefs, but you can't have good without bad. Conflicts and disagreement happen, and they SHOULD happen because that's how people expand their knowledge and viewpoints. But no, these days, people would rather just cut out EVERYTHING that makes them even slightly uncomfortable, and that's only further encouraged by the site trying to pad everything.

Or, as AllHallowsEve pointed out, cultural differences and communication standards can mistakenly get someone an infraction point (or worse) due to a misunderstanding. For example; Person A says something that's considered to be a joke where they come from, and isn't out of the norm to them. Person B sees this behavior, gets offended because they personally find something wrong with it, and reports person A because the joke is lost on them. Person A now has infraction points, or gets banned, because Person B was either too sensitive or just didn't understand the situation. Which, again, leads to people to feeling like they have to walk on eggshells and can make them afraid to socialize at all because, since it happened to Person A, what if it happens to them? Sure, Person A could take it up with the site mods and explain the situation, which may lead to an unbanning or removal of the infraction point, but it still leaves a very bad impression and can result in a userbase that's too awkward and scared to socialize properly. Pair that with the aforementioned points, and it gets even worse. The more you try to cater to a "safe space" and block out conflict or negativity, the more you might as well just remove any social aspects of the site altogether.

I also don't agree with giving users infractions for complaining about valid gameplay strategies. Like, any other site or game with items, currency, and user shops has people who do this. I can't think of a single site I've been on where someone HASN'T complained about snipers. Or undercutters. Or people who buy low and sell high. But none of these people have been given warnings, or banned, because of it. That just seems so… unnecessary. I mean, I can see giving an infraction if they REPORT someone for doing it, because that's misuse of the report feature, but for simply posting about it? Nah, man.

On a final note though, I will say thank you for clarifying that FurVilla is NOT a children's site. Now people can finally stop saying it is (or was).

is that a chinchilla in the image omg

NOICE!!!

Aside from the bumping thing, I'm really looking forward to the mini-games, plushie collecting, and housing decoration! :)

PLEASE consider adjusting the bumping rule for the sales forums. This makes it very hard to sell things, as they are fast-moving forums. Something like "you may only bump your thread if it falls off the first page" would even be reasonable.

The lowballing one worries me for people who really don't realize it, since that one seems easy to do even if the person means well. Doesn't affect me personally, I buy as few things as possible from people, and not buying things from shops for a while after wasting 1k on seeds I never got. ((And yes reported it like a week ago I think but to scared to try again at this time since I have no idea if its been looked into or not. ANYWAY not the point.))

I'm actually excited about the official opening! It will be nice to have more active players. And I'm also looking forward to the mini-games, it will be good to take a break to actually play a game rather than the daily career clicks.

Although, about the bullying, I think context should be important. I got a warning days ago because of a joke I made with one of my best friends - they also got a warning as well. Like it OBVIOUSLY wasn't any sort of bullying, and the warning itself even stated that they understood that was a joke, but they warned us anyway "just in case". I won't argue with that, and it's honestly fine, but maybe in the future taking a look at the context BEFORE warning would be nice? I don't know, just a thought.

Oh my. :0

I too am concerned about the bullying rule. Yeah I know my name is Bullydog but f'real, I've been reported for the stupidest things already. This padded playroom thing is unrealistic and actually insulting to the intelligence of your average player. People should be free to have discourse, people should be free to not like another person because of things they say. I'm perfectly fine with people saying they hate me cuz y'know what? It's entirely their right.