Do you think having multiple accounts in the marketplace linking to your main shop is cheating? ~from the boards
We've discussed this amongst ourselves and come to the conclusion that, while clever, it's too great a stretch of the rules. Technically, you are using multiple accounts to give yourself an advantage and earn more Neopoints. While we are not going to retroactively freeze or punish anyone, since it had not been made clear prior to this, we would like to request that anyone doing this please remove any type of advertisements from their side account shops. We know that a few folks who have done this will lose quite an investment, but we have to be fair. Hopefully the time you had them up will cover some of the loss.

Hi! So, the auctions don't tell you the exact time they end. They give you an estimated time like 2-8 hours, etc. So, what I wanted to know is why the auctions don't show the specific time that they end at? It'd be a lot easier to watch items if I knew when they were ending! Thanks. ~kila_4ever
Actually, they used to until we changed it. :) The reason behind the change was that people were creating programs to bid for them at the very last instant the auction ended, outbidding those who were attempting to bid legitimately. While sniping an auction is fine, using a program to do it for you is not. These days, players need to estimate when an auction ends, and this gives everyone a better chance of winning fairly. It's also good for the owner of the auctioned item. Since people need to bid early on (in case the auction ends), more users can participate instead of waiting for the last minute, which leads to prices that are more in line with market value.

When the starry paint brushes deflated quite a bit, there were people who were putting up starry paint brush plushies and asking for what the actual paint brush is worth (115,000 NPs and up). Should I have reported the people who did this? I decided not to, since I didn't think it was against the rules to ask for something you want in exchange for a bad item, but I'd figure you'd be the authority. =) ~quenosh
This has been going on since we came up with the ridiculously unbrilliant idea of paint brush plushies. :-/ As we've mentioned many times in the Editorial, the intent is what makes a scam. If you have your paint brush plushie on the TP innocently waiting for an offer that matches its worth, that's fine. If you have your paint brush plushie on the TP with misleading information, an outrageous price that just "happens" to be the price of the real paint brush, or text that tells people they need to bid on it RIGHT NOW and they'll get it, you're most likely hoping some poor person is going to try to bid on it thinking it's a normal paint brush. While, yes, we know buyers should be on guard, this doesn't mean you can try to scam everyone you possibly can. If you see a trade that you think is intended to be a scam, please report it. And yes, we'll eventually get our artists to make these items a bit more obviously plushie-like.

Worst idea... EVAR.

I noticed that some people make backgrounds for the area where your Neopets are on their User Lookup, like adding images of their Petpets. I'm wondering... is it against the rules to, instead of adding Petpets, add NC Mall backgrounds or foreground items? ~rainbowkitten0123
Any items/backgrounds/Petpets/Neopets that you manage to show in the Neopet image MUST be owned by you (and in the same quantity displayed). You may not display items that you don't own in a place where it can be confusing to determine if you really have it. Due to the scams that could arise from this (not to mention it being just plain rude to those who have actually put forth the effort to acquire these items), we have to put our foot down. We would like to extend this to shops and galleries, as well, along with any other means that causes the item to seem to be a part of your collection.

With that said, we have seen some brilliantly executed User Lookups with fantastic backgrounds added to the Neopets area. (Check out User Lookup Spotlight winner #126... and don't mind the bandwidth errors. ;_;) The idea itself is not against the rules, and you are welcome to customise the area. Just please don't make it look like you have items that you don't!

And, erm, since our brilliant idea for releasing backgrounds is on hold due to the giant list of other things we have to do, we will be creating some backgrounds to release in regular shops as soon as we can. We know everyone is tired of the Altador Cup backgrounds!

Site plots seem really cool and I would like to participate in them (I LOVE puzzles...) but unfortunately I don't ever find out about them until after they are over. Is there a place that lets you know when a site plot is going on, or do you just have to find out for yourself? Do you have any recommendations for keeping track of them? Thanks! ~jack_skellington105
The New Features page! (Click "News" in the navigation bar at the top of Neopets.com.) It's updated almost every day, so please check out the news as often as you can if you'd like to know what's going on. It's really the best way to keep up with the site.

Hi TNT, I have a question about inflating. Let's say that someone (just one person) bought all of an item off the Wiz and put them on the TP for more than unbuyable. Would that be okay? I know it's not if it's multiple people, but what about a single person? Thanks. ~a1m
We have said before that anyone is free to buy any quantity of an item, as long as they in no way encourage (or "hint") to others that they should help to inflate the item. While this still holds true, please tread carefully when purposefully inflating items. Are you sick of hearing about "intention" yet? Too bad! ;D Before you buy up lots of items, consider your intention. Are you simply investing, or is your mind following a more sinister course? One thing that would throw you out of any grey area into downright scamming is this scenario: You buy up all of one item and begin to sell them via the Trading Post, getting offers for more than what you paid. You're still okay at this point because you are in no way misrepresenting the item, and demand will dictate the final sale price. While we hardly encourage it, it does fall within our rules. Now say you put several of them on the Trading Post for 500k (even though no one is buying at that price) and then offer one of them for trade on a paint brush that is worth 500k. The seller of that item sees your others on the post and assumes they really are worth 500k and accepts your offer... you have officially become a scammer. There is a line (fine as it may be) between inflation for investment and inflation for the purpose of scamming. Please don't cross it.

This image is relevant because balloons inflate.

What is Google Analytics and why is it trying to access information from my computer when I get on Neopets? When I get on Neopets I always see it loading in the bottom left information bar. ~vedegar
Google Analytics is a service we use to count visitors to our website and see where they go once they're here. It's been very helpful since the redesign to show us if and when people are getting lost in our navigation, along with helping us see what areas of the site are most popular. So when someone visits the Battledome, for example, this service logs it. We're then able to go and see how many people used the Battledome this month, which makes us realise we need to release the next Defenders of Neopia Series 2 challenger. *facepalm*

It's very standard web analytics software, which is used by many, many websites. It in no way accesses your computer, nor does it personally identify you in any way! It's basically like a very sophisticated web counter. :)

Ok, a friend of mine was advertising his guild on the Guild Boards. People were advertising THEIR guild on HIS board. He told them to stop, but people kept doing so. Is that against the rules? Thanks. ~newneo7172
Well, we can tell you right away that it's EXTREMELY rude, that's for sure. Against the rules, though? Well, the post is technically on topic, and we're not too fond of the "Hey, don't post on my board!!! WAH!!!" people since no one owns the boards. However, we're gonna go ahead and call this spam since it is definitely a Stupid, Pointless, Annoying Message. If someone is doing this to you and you've asked them nicely to move to their own topic but they continue to hijack your advertisement board, feel free to report them. (And please, don't get carried away with this rule. Not everyone needs to be reported. Use your best judgment, please!)

Hello TNT, thanks for the great site. Anyway, I was looking at the NC Mall and noticed the "Down With NC Flag" and I was wondering how many, if any, were sold. Wow, lots of commas, sorry, about that. ~shawn_small
Your, sentence structure, looks fine, to us. Let's see... it seems 3 people have purchased the Down With NC Flag! We salute you flag buyers, and are sad you don't support the NC Mall. :(

(Seriously, though, we'd never thought anyone in their right mind would actually buy the item, so those of you who took one for the team to play along with the joke are made of awesome. We need an "I spend money for the sake of comedy" trophy.)

How come, when you make a trade, you have to wait 15 minutes before you can cancel it? I find this unfair because, what if you find another trade asking for something that you have in a different trade but it'd be too late by the time you'd be finished waiting and took the trade down? ~kittycatlover366
We added that rule to stop people from spamming the newest 20 Trading Post lots repeatedly to get their items seen, as well as to reduce the amount of item and wish list spam that goes through there. If you're really afraid of losing out on a trade, you can always Neomail the owner of the item and let them know that you can make an offer as soon as the 15 minutes are up. Most people would be happy to accommodate you since 15 minutes is not very long at all.

Dear TNT, I wanted to answer today's trivia question, which was, "What famous archaeologist explored the Gebmids?" The options were Hugo Fairweather, Lilian Fairweather, Sarina Salen, and Professor Kugar. Since I didn't know the answer, the first thing I did was search for the names hoping to find the answer in a Neopedia article, but to my dismay, only one name listed had a Neopedia entry. So I decided to search for Gebmids - who had no entry. I then searched for Lost Desert, but nothing there mentioned Gebmids. So, not finding the answer anywhere, I just guessed and it was wrong. The answer was Sarina Salen. I then searched for that name all over the site... but didn't find anything. So who is this Neopian, and what's the link to find out about them? ~xxaya
If you'd like to know more about that little Aisha, we suggest you check out the Neopedia on Sutek's Tomb where she is mentioned. Sorry for the tough trivia question! Hehe.

TNT #1: You know, it JUST occured to me why it
only says "Mids" on the cover of this book.

TNT #2: ROFL!

TNT #1: *siiiiiiigh*

Hello, TNT. My basement was recently destroyed in a flood *tear* and that was where I kept my prized collection of Neopets Magazines! I was wondering if you had a list of stores and locations that sell them so that I could start collecting again. Thank you so very much! And great job on the site. ^_^ ~redvsblue2007
DOH!! That stinks! :( If you go up to the "News" navigation menu and select the "Merch News" link, you'll be taken to our Merchandise News page. (We did not misspell March, people!) Click on the link for the official Neopets magazine. It will take you to the Neopets area of the Beckett website where you can order back issues. (They may be sold out of some issues, though.) They also have a place to search for dealers, though not all may carry the Neopets magazine. In other words, you have your work cut out for you! Good luck regaining your collection, and we're sorry we lacked the foresight to make them waterproof. :(

I have a really random, if not stupid, question. When you do the meteor daily, where does the stick come from? ~yamiyokai
The meteor vanishes completely a good deal of the time and you're curious as to where the stick came from?!? You really need to sort out your priorities.

yllor says, "Is it time for taining yet?" My question: is there a reason my Scorchio can't spell? :P ~rainbowscorchio
You should probably send him to Neoschool. Oh, wait...

Can a player have a Neohome on a side account, or are you only allowed to have one on your main account and nowhere else? ~tigerlily97420
Neohomes can be made on any of your accounts as long as the Neopoints funding it come from your main account. (An easy way to transfer Neopoints from your main to your side is via the Trading Post.) If you enter the Neohome Spotlight, please note the name of your main account in your entry so that the trophy/prize will be sent to your main.

Why is the height attribute displayed in metric terms but the weight attribute is not? ~big_goose
We're sorry, the Meepits are protecting this vital information and therefore we cannot attempt to reveal it for fear of our lives. That's our story and we're sticking to it. *nod* (In other words, we have no idea. We're just wacky like that, we suppose.)

They're starting to suspect! We must act soon!

Hiya, TNT! You guys ROCK! Anyway, I was wondering what people mean when they say that they "self-froze" their account? What would be the reason to do this? Can you self-unfreeze your account? Just a question... I do NOT want to freeze my account! *beams* ~hiphopgurl91111
Accounts can be deactivated or "frozen" by the player if they no longer wish to participate in the world of Neopia or suspect they have visited a malicious site and fear their account security has been compromised. However, once "self-iced" the account owner will need to write to our support department to request the account be unfrozen. This is a security measure for the safety of the account to make sure only the proper owner regains access to it.

Lately there have been a lot of people on the chat boards posting a Petpage that has an offsite URL. They claim that this offsite URL has sponsor links that will get you 30-50k in less than 10 minutes. Do such sponsor links exist? Is posting them against the rules? They put them offsite because you guys disallowed posting sponsor links on Pet pages. Plus, there's concerns on the boards that this offsite page might be a cookie grabber or other type of scam. Can you help us out on this? ~vree76
We've discussed sponsor links in previous Editorials, but posting an offsite link ANYWHERE on the site is against the rules, regardless of what is actually contained on these web pages. Pet pages are no exception. Anyone attempting to lead another user offsite should be reported.

Hi, TNT! Anyway, about how many neomails does the Neopets Team send out a day? =] ~inprovement
Erm... wow. In addition to warnings sent by the theneopetsteam account, there are several official TNT accounts that send out all kinds of automated Neomails for things like auction notices, multiplayer game notices, spotlight notices... we don't think there's any way to know for sure how many total Neomails we send out. We'll look into it, and if we can find a number, we'll let you know in the next Editorial... it'll be tough, though. Wish us luck!

I wish there was a wearable handbag. My Grarrl totally needs one to thwap passersby that mock his pretty hat. ~mysocko
ROFL. Alrighty then. Ask and ye shall receive. (We schedule daily content out a ways in advance, but we'll see if we can fit it in soon.)

Need more help?
If you have a question that you think should be answered, click here and you can use our submission form. The most common/bizarre questions will appear here next week.