Alternative title I'm Old And Confused

So I had a looooong intermittent hiatus on this site due to real life issues and haven't participated in a survival event since 2012. Obviously things have changed since then so I have the following questions:

How do I get a virus now, is it still by participating in kissing threads or do I have to use the VIP?

If it can still be passed by kissing then if I use the VIP are there any conflicts or glitches that could occur there?

Finally I see in the news there were problems with the virus, has that been fixed or should I wait to try to get a virus?

Well, if you go to the news post that talks about Survival, click on the Virus Infection Specialist Program link under Gunnar The Charismatic And Fairly Handsome Zombie image.

You'll have a list of choices of viruses that you can pick. If you're curious which ones they are, there's a FAQ in the Survival forum.

Downside is, everything's glitched tonight, so be prepared for some confusion.

Once you pick your strain, it takes some time for the infection to kick in on its own. When it does, you'll get a message along the lines of "You've been matched with an infection specialist. Sit back and enjoy the ride" and it will progress through the stages. Other people biting you can help speed that 'stage 0' up, but that's broken right now.

When the infection is done, fully completed, you can go to your wardrobe and take it "off" as it has become a skin. But make sure it's fully progressed before you do.

Kissing has nothing to do with viruses anymore, I'm not even sure you can still get the old achievements from it. Not sure on that, though.

Biting is currently broken. I think you can try to get a virus now, and sit back and wait, but be prepared for a few glitches along the way.

Thank you! This helped me a lot, I think I'll wait to get a virus since things are still bugging out.