It took some research to rehash this old story of mine. My first and only article
in The Neopian Times went out way back. At least six months ago. It was about
the overuse of HTML in the shops around Neopia. Yes, this goes out to all you
Neopians who think that all those pretty backgrounds, pictures of 'adopted'
things from other sites, Guild advertisements, music files, chats, and whatever
else you can cram into one little shop.
I don't bother with these kinds. If the shop doesn't load in under fifteen
seconds for me, I don't bother looking. People who feel the need to spruce up
their shops so much are wasting their time. A nice background is great. A Web
ring, or maybe a Guild Ad. They're all great. As long as you don't use them
all. Not everyone can load those pages. They only load quickly for you because
they're cached in your computer. Not ours.
My suggestion so many months ago was to forget your shop. Pool your efforts
into sprucing up your pet's page. You might even win for the Pet Spotlight,
then. And, hey! You get a great trophy that you can show off! What do you get
for having a store that takes forever to load? A smaller income. Not many people
bother with shops that take too long to load.
I mentioned this as an example way back when. I have a cable modem and use
Netscape Communicator. My computer is generally fast. Which is why I only wait
fifteen seconds for a shop to load, and then I close the page. And whenever
music starts playing, I close the window even if it loads fast otherwise. Music
is the biggest annoyance there is. It fouls up my computer at times; I have
to shut down Netscape before the sound stops, or it interferes when I'm listening
to other music.
And finally, my suggestion back then still remains the same. If you want to
go shopping, go to shops that are about size 10 or under. They're usually the
stores of newer people, and they usually haven't learned how to "beautify"
their shops yet. It's always nice to see plain white. Really. Less is more.
And besides, buying from the newer Neopians is always something we stress,
isn't it? Help out the new fellow. And what better then to support their stores?
Usually when I refer people, or get new people to sign up, I go and buy things
from them. It's always helpful, and helps them think that it would be nice to
stay for a while, and maybe someday do the same thing for someone else.
So, to reiterate, it's always nice to be courteous to your neighbours, and don't
overload them with a bunch of stuff they don't need. And be nice to the new
folk, and help support the growing economy. Besides, they usually sell things
cheap, remember? ;) | 
