Pet Spotlight Update!

July 29, 2016 6:33 pm

The Pet Spotlight has undergone a revamp! The rules have been updated and clarified to be a little clearer and simpler, and we now are able to give denial reasons when we reject pets from the spotlight. We've also updated our Pet Spotlight forum thread where we will be able to continue clarifying if need be, as well as adding things like helpful guides and examples.

One of the main rule updates is to the 'Show us your pet' section. Some users felt prior guidelines implied that as a pet spotlight, we were looking to spotlight pets only and not humanoid-type characters. We having been accepting human characters for a while, but have reviewed and updated the rules to be clearer: It is now a requirement to include your actual Subeta pet, or Custom overlay equivalent, on your pet profile. We want to see the connection between Subeta's artwork and your character creation!

We look forward to seeing your spotlight entries, and to helping you achieve those spotlight trophies!

Note: There will be a two-week grandfathering-in period in which any pet currently in the queue to win could potentially still win with their human character. We will be messaging each user in the win queue that doesn't follow the rule update to give them a chance to change it, but after two weeks the new rules will be fully in motion for every user.

July 30, 2016, 12:30 pm by

I'm laughing so hard at the salt and reaches oh my god

they are literally not saying that they have to be regular dogs and cats, nor are they saying that humans are not allowed...? lol

July 30, 2016, 12:16 pm by

if you want to talk about it being ~~~pet~~~ spotlight than all of your sparkle dogs or really cool dragons or my forest spirit or anything like that shouldn't be allowed either if they're not directly inspired a subeta pet species/color. or all of your pet's stories have to be about literal, owner-by-someone pets. your choice.i have yet to see a good argument as to why the pet image is needed on the profile when you'll see it on the news anyways. you're still experiencing the ~~~pet~~~ aspect whether it's on the profile or not.

you can tell me all you want that i can shove the pet image for one of my characters in the description but when I literally don't have the character space to do so and I have been waiting in the winner's queue for a year or longer, i really don't see why i should have to. why weren't more necessary changes made? people can literally buy their pet spotlight without putting any effort into their pet and this is what you guys decided to change?

also i worked hard to make my pet a fun and unique experience for everyone, but thanks for reducing her to just "fancy coding". : ')

July 30, 2016, 11:54 am by

I think fashionisto brought up a good point, fanpets are way more of a burden to judge (because the judges are not aware of every single fandom ever) than anthro pets.

So, fandom pets, which can take a while to go and validate and research to see if they're a good representation of the source material, are free to go, but human characters are not? I'm not sure it's actually going to solve anything.

July 30, 2016, 10:11 am by

I wonder what would people say if the rule said "no spotlight will be awarded anymore to pets inspired by characters others created - ie tribute pets of stuff like Harry Potter, The Little Mermaid, so on..."

July 30, 2016, 9:54 am by

Love this! I am all for the clarification of the rules and for bringing the pet spotlight back to the pets and not what fancy coding people are capable of.

July 30, 2016, 8:32 am by

For those with human characters with no animal based art what-so-ever on the profile... there is only one question to ask:

DO YOU NEED 24 HOURS OF ASSPATS AND "GOOD JOB TL;DR BUT THAT ART THOUGH" FROM 5-50 RANDOM PEOPLE?

YES? Then add some pet art hidden under the human image. NO? Then your life hasn't changed! Congrats! feel free to keep enjoying what you're doing without even the slightest road bump, and feel free to still show off your OC in the forms/to friends/your OC cult/wherever and keep on living your life.

I could understand the barking if this was a new site rule but it's just for the ~~PET~~ spotlight. Which, y'know.. is kinda called the PET spotlight. Like if there was a wardrobe spotlight and someone with 50 things won because they managed to find all the things with the word "boot" is that really fair? No. Because they didn't even go out of their way to look for things that looked like boots/were called other things that still meant boot.. had boot in the description, etc.

July 30, 2016, 8:27 am by

I second everything said. I fully support this change since, like Zelly said, this is a pet site. It's kind of the team to allow users to have humanoid "pets" at all, really! Can't say the same for Neopets, honestly. xD;;

I also love the idea of giving rejection reasons, which allows whoever entered to improve their pet's lookup for the better. I'm all for feedback myself, and the changes to the forum should help me improve my own pets' lookups.

Just remember that helpful critique isn't supposed to be a personal attack, y'all! It's someone trying to help you improve. <3

July 30, 2016, 8:03 am by

oh my god @ all the people complaining tho. Literally all my human pets have the pet form displayed too, because I feel that's how it should be! I pick all my species to match the character, so I really don't have a problem with this, and think it's an excellent rule! :D

Also yay @ people not gonna enter any more!!! Guess it'll be easier to win and I'll get to see some nice pet characters now! ^__^

July 30, 2016, 7:24 am by

I agree completely with . Everything that was said! I also really like that if any of my pets in the que are rejected, I will know and not still be hopeful and will also know why. Thanks Subeta!

July 30, 2016, 7:12 am by

- yup, 's post is pretty much accurate :)

July 30, 2016, 6:51 am by

Like many others, I do not like these changes. I do not want to be required to add a pet image to link my story to a subeta pet. Some of my storie/ideas are humanoid only and the pets I choose tend to resemble their personality and not an actual animal which should be enough imo.

I thought the whole point of creating pets and stories were wholly on the creativity and not having it based on an actual animal/creature. I feel that this is just limiting creativity and will cause many such as my self lose interest in bothering with spotlight moving forward.

Although I really like the rejection notice, I feel it is now pointless with how many will no longer bother with spotlight due to the other change.

July 30, 2016, 6:34 am by

for most pets I would agree, but there's some like Error 502 that are based on a particular layout (for that one, it's the error 502 layout), where it just looks weird to have the pet image sitting in there.

However, at least with the new rejection reason alerts, it should be a lot easier to figure out what's "wrong" with pets that get booted from the spotlight now :D

July 30, 2016, 5:51 am by

Second everything said! I personally think it makes perfect sense for the pet image/official or overlay to be displayed on all profiles to be considered for Spotlight. I don't see how it could cause SO much disruption in a profile, surely a smaller 50x50px image would work, too?

July 30, 2016, 3:59 am by

I personally am happy for this change, the denial reasons are great, and while I feel bad for people that feel like they are having their rights taken away by this becoming a "Pet Spotlight" instead of a "Whatever Person or Creature I Treasure Spotlight" But really whether or not users are 'over' pet sites or anthros, or whatever, Subeta is a Pet Site and so it makes sense that the spotlight showing off user pets would be of Pets. Last I checked in most places it is wrong either morally or lawfully or both to own a human/humanoid being, so for everyone getting their feathers ruffled over not being able to have their pets be just humans, try to understand that from the position of a pet site it really isn't logical have non pets in the Pet Spotlight. I think Subeta staff as a whole has tried to find a happy medium where those who's characters are human can still display them as humans as long as they have a pet image somewhere on the profile. Whether hidden by hovers/in the bottom of a description or whatever. If you don't want it seen bury it under all the story stuff if you wanna but to get so upset over what I think is a reasonable requirement for a Pet Spotlight on a Pet Site isn't going to solve anything except make yourself feel bad. If you are that determined to have a spotlight winner, it's really a minor concession to even have just a tiny image in the description which wouldn't require a whole profile recode or a hidden hover image if coding is your thing. If the spotlight doesn't matter to you and you just want a place to showcase your characters in an aesthetically pleasing way, then you don't have to change anything at all.

July 30, 2016, 3:52 am by

Yay for clearer rules :D Although it does mean Error 502's profile will be a pain to rework to include the pet image (given that it's based on the actual error page.... and of course that doesn't have a pet image on there) :K makes a note to add in a hover over one of the images

July 30, 2016, 3:37 am by

As for the people saying "just add a hover to your profile" - if someone purchased a profile from another user they cannot just go ahead and change the coding.

July 30, 2016, 3:33 am by

I don't actually have a problem with Remembered. They won spotlight awhile ago (I wouldn't even change them if they hadn't won). I was just using them as an example as to how adding a pet image can interfere with an already existing profile design. C:

I'm not a fan of random hovers that have no indication of them existing before you find them. They're more often than not way too jarring for me, and to me there's little point in alternating between their official custom overlay image and their current profile image.

Re: Girouette. The difference here is that you're not redisplaying the information, though. My point is that there is no point for me to have to put Thief's custom overlay image (or pet image, if he didn't have a custom overlay) or any other pet's pet image on the profile when the exact same image is going to be displayed prior on the news before people even click into my pet. No one is gaining anything by enforcing this, because you're going to see the pet image regardless of whether it's on the profile or not. It's still being connected to the character, and it not being on the profile doesn't really change that. Y'all are fine to put pet images on your profiles all you want, but I hate having them on mine because I prefer a streamlined, minimalist look with only information I find necessary for my pet's page. And that's exactly why I don't like this change.

July 30, 2016, 3:32 am by

Awesome! I love that including denial reasons is being implemented. I've had two pets that I've been revamping and creating/coding new profiles for over and over only to be rejected so I've given up trying to fix them to-a-T according to the previous guidelines; it was very much a waste of time. Now I can finally see what I'm doing wrong.

July 30, 2016, 3:21 am by

P.S.: Sorry for any typos, being on mobile is cruel especially before I had my first coffee. crawls to the kitchen

July 30, 2016, 3:18 am by

From what I've read some time ago on the forums you had intended to make the rules simpler. Now I come here and see this restriction that, in my opinion, makes things even harder. I don't even participate in the spotlight but checked my Pets now just for fun - at least three of them would be affected by this new rule, one being a Pet I spent quite a few dollars on in regards to profile, artwork etc.. He also is a Neela (which cost me real money as well) because this is the species/color that just matches his character in my head. The Neela itself isn't displayed on his profile though, not because I dislike seeing a pet on a pet profile but simply because in this case the colors of the profile/art and the pet would clash. What would be my options now if I wanted him to be in the Spotlight?

I could buy a new profile from a true magician who manages to keep the colors from clashing.
I could buy a Pet overlay even though I love the official Subeta art for him and actually don't want him to be cream-colored, brown or whatever.
I change his species/color to a Pet matching the profile colors but not mathing my idea of him. I have to add that I'm picky with my pet choices so this would be next to impossible unless I want to risk ruining the whole concept of the character for myself.
I could just put the pet image as it is in the text box, the outcome most probably being a rejection for my profile being unaesthetic.

So, in the end my options would be spending even more money on my pet or limiting my artistic freedom and tbh I don't see that as an improvement. I really hope you reconsider this change and I'm super sorry for the users that are affected by this.

July 30, 2016, 2:50 am by

Hmm, so I'm wondering if we already have profiles made to not show the pet image, are we able to put the pet's image in it's description?

July 30, 2016, 2:25 am by

So, concerning my pet, Raiden the Lightning Bolt, with how I've got his profile done (still working to make his story a bit less unwieldy than it already is), would it still work with these new guidelines? Here it is, in case anyone else wants to see: https://subeta.net/petinfo.php?petid=3515268

Not putting it up for the pet spotlight since I'm working on his story still.

July 30, 2016, 2:19 am by

Great I guess i can go ahead and remove all my pets from the queue.

July 30, 2016, 1:53 am by

For so long, I've been debating if I should open up the nomination link on my pet profiles and this just confirmed it for me to not do it. I'll do my thing like I've been doing. I could care less now in getting any pet nominations. Thanks for making my decision clear for me.

July 30, 2016, 1:35 am by

Yay for denial reasons. No thank you to the required pet overlay.

Yes, you do not want misrepresentation of the pet's color, but what about the overlays that look NOTHING like the official pet? I have seen a bunch of custom overlays that don't look like the pet at all. Where does the line draw there? Sure, I can't have a human represent my glade ruffie but I can have a pembroke welsh corgi overlay represent it... Honestly, the problem you are trying to fix while forcing this rule is not fixing it.

July 30, 2016, 1:32 am by

I'm not following all the spotlight threads closely, but I thought a lot feedback pointed to the direction of encouraging diversity instead of more restrictions? Or maybe I was just living in my own world.

Also, even though I'm not actively participating in the spotlight right now, I feel that the update is devaluing how we pick color/species for our human characters. I usually hide the official pet art if I don't have an overlay because 1. it will mess up the profile designs especially for the minimalist styles (I know a hover can fix this, but still) 2. it's a bit redundant to display an unaltered official art when everybody knows what a spectrum archan looks like. Does not displaying the art means there's no connection between my human characters and a subeta pet? Do you know how much time and sP/CSC we often spend just to figure out the perfectly fitting color/species for our humans?

July 30, 2016, 1:28 am by

Continuing off of my last comment... not to say there's anything wrong with people who ARE into having pet humans I just don't think it's that unreasonable for a pet site to ask that you include a pet somewhere on the page even in a super secret hover.

July 30, 2016, 1:18 am by

can we get confirmation that Muerte's post at 07/29/16 11:21 pm is accurate, this post explains everything best so far.

I'd love to steal this explanation for the PS Support board.

July 30, 2016, 1:17 am by

I for one am cool with this... I don't enter the spotlight myself but whenever I go to a winners page if all I see is human art I usually close the tab without reading it. It's a PET site, they should be pets? I was always confused about this. I appreciate the art and time put into them and it bugs me less if there IS a pet shown somewhere but there's way too many humanoids. I can see having human designs of already made pets for fun but I still don't want my pet to be human.

July 30, 2016, 12:29 am by

Great, so the profiles I have and have paid for for my human and elven characters now prevent me from passing the guidelines because they don't show the subeta pet itself. -.- Just dandy.

July 29, 2016, 11:37 pm by

I thought this was always the rule 8D; Its why I find pet types that match my human ocs personality. Then make overlays that look even more close to that (like a snake in diff colours than the site art) so I dont think this is a big issue.

Most winners I see have an anthro overlay if its a human oc. So yup. Nothing different to me, its just more set in stone.

July 29, 2016, 11:29 pm by

As someone who isn't so much into quad/anthro characters aside from a few exceptions, I'm not a fan of this. I liked basing the color/species on their personalities, and sometimes using it as inspiration. In a way, I always felt like those pets were more creative then, hey, here's my sparkle dragon - I'll make it a dawn rreign. (no offense to anyone's sparkle dragons of course. I love me some dragons.)

I would like some actual clarification on the overlay bit, though. Like, does it have to be a 200x200 overlay type thing, or does art that's part of the profile cover it, like with my Yaretzi?

July 29, 2016, 11:21 pm by

If the pet is human the pet version has to be on the page (such as, a cat when the pet is a feli; it can be the official feli, or ones own personal version of a feli, or just a cat). If the pet is an animal, and goes with the assigned pet (like a dragon when the pet is a mahar), you're good. If the pet is anthro, and goes with the assigned pet (see above), you're good.

So ask yourself: IS THIS A HUMAN ? IF YES: Needs a pet form represented in some way. Does it have to be official art ? No. IF NO: Is it an animal/anthro ? Yes ? You're good.

HAS THIS PET WON SPOTLIGHT ? IF YES: You're good. IF NO: I mean you're still good, you just might have to alter something slightly.

July 29, 2016, 11:12 pm by

tbh i don't think Remembered even needs additional pet art, considering the artwork at the top could very well be considered their "pet art." i think it's mainly referring to pets that don't have any image of themself on their page, or pets that only have a humanoid or otherwise non-pet image.

...which, still, bugs me because plenty of pets aren't created because the color/species fits them visually, but personality-wise, so the connection is more conceptual than anything else and that shouldn't need to be explicated right there on the page. so what if my sweetheart kerubi is actually a cute cyclops girl with pink hair? why do you need to SEE the sweetheart kerubi? it says she's a sweetheart kerubi, we already know what that looks like, and if she won, the first thing people would see on the news page would be a sweetheart kerubi anyway. so it just seems like a very arbitrary requirement. for those whose characters' pet forms are intrinsic to their character, fine, great, that's how most of my pets are anyway. but for those who aren't, it just. seems pretty dumb.

July 29, 2016, 11:11 pm by

(at least thats how I understand it)

July 29, 2016, 11:11 pm by

Pretty sure you meant chainsaw rather than Lux.

July 29, 2016, 11:10 pm by

If the image fits the guidelines for the custom overlay system its fine to use. It doesnt have to be the official subeta art

July 29, 2016, 11:01 pm by

I'm probably tired or someone worded it slightly differently. It's similar to 's question. If the art you used for the profile is the exact same as the approved art for the overlay do I need to toss in a pet image? (Example of what I mean: Sony or Woodcraft)

July 29, 2016, 10:53 pm by

As happy as I am to see some work being done on the Spotlight, I have to admit, I'm not crazy about the pet/overlay requirement either.

Shortly after joining my first pet cult here, there was a newer user in the forums and off-site mocking the human characters people attached to their "dogs and dragons". It upset a lot of people in and out of the cult and she regretted what she said later, but she wasn't the first to have said something like that- every so often I've seen boards pop up where someone hates on pets that have no apparent (to them) ties to one of Subeta's species. When I first joined Subeta though, it was pretty common to see Keith refer to them as "characters" instead of "pets". I don't know if this was some attempt to be different from other pet sites, but as someone who wasn't big on anthro or quad characters, I found it really inviting and accepting. It's one of the first good feelings I can remember having about this site.

This rule change doesn't affect me much personally; I've grown to like designing quad forms for my characters just for the hell of it. But for a lot of people, Subeta isn't really a pet site so much as an additional way to enjoy and show off their existing characters, which might be human or from a different game entirely.

I know that these changes only apply to the Spotlight and not pet pages that won't be submitted to it, but when people would complain about human characters in the forums before, it wasn't uncommon for a staff member to say that Subeta's users were free to interpret their pets however they wanted. I'm just a little sad to see that type of expression is still accepted but no longer rewarded.

July 29, 2016, 10:50 pm by

i have a question- with the pet image needed to be displayed on the profile... i'm a little confused. i have a completed pet profile, mute, and as part of her layout i have a large drawing of her that i did. will that still pass the qualification, or will it need to include the site's official pet image?

July 29, 2016, 10:41 pm by

This is blatant furry propaganda.

July 29, 2016, 10:29 pm by

- what's wrong with Tropical? Anthros are fine - I can see the text says she's a tutani, which doesn't match the art there which looks more feline or canine, but if the story tied this in in some way it would be fine.

July 29, 2016, 10:27 pm by

- if you're using Papyrus or Comic Sans on a pet that's CALLED Papyrus or Sans, we can see that it's important to the pet's character/design in a way that no other font would do!

July 29, 2016, 10:22 pm by

With your pet Remembered, I feel like a hover over their main image would work for an "overlay space". That way it can be like an "ah, there it is" sort of thing, but when you're done hovering the profile's back to "normal". I did that with my pet Zero the Winged Knight. I didn't really have a space where his overlay didn't interfere with stuff, so I made it the hover over the main image. It's still there to represent him and to be shown off, but the main layout is only disturbed temporarily.

Also a reason for it to be re-displayed could be found in my pet Girouette. I don't have an "overlay-sized" image for him, and he doesn't have a custom overlay. I do have a piece of art for him though, so I put that as a hover on his profile. So when if he wins spotlight, the basic cherry demi image would be shown, but on his page there's his actual design.

July 29, 2016, 10:19 pm by

I guess the spotlight's going to get a heck of a lot easier for a while with all the people apparently abandoning the spotlight ship and pulling their pets out.

July 29, 2016, 10:17 pm by

As someone who has a (garbage, needs to be remade) Sans pet let me tell you it was very painful for me to put everything in comic sans LMFAO

WE SUFFER hopefully the staff will understand our pain.

July 29, 2016, 10:15 pm by

"Choose nice fonts (we can’t look at comic sans or papyrus anymore)." but.......but what about the undertale fanpets??

July 29, 2016, 10:12 pm by

well there goes the profile i just commissioned for tropical thanks subeta

July 29, 2016, 10:10 pm by

Even though I haven't even won a pet spotlight, I'm not to thrilled about having the pet image on there now. There wasn't much need for it, in my opinion.

At least my Astaire is done since his layout is actually Fred Astaire and has a pet image on it. But its going to be a helluva job to work with my Merlin, Star Lord and Captain Hook to make them look decent with art/their layouts.

July 29, 2016, 10:10 pm by

At first I was kinda 'meh' about the change, but after more thought and reading some other valid comments, I gotta say I don't care for it. Oh well, I'm not super focused on the sportlight anyway haha

Use @username to mention someone. Supports markdown formatting.

Logged Out

Pet Spotlight Update!

Leave a Comment