I was checking out other pet sites where I could have been frozen for using the word gay. It looks like they decided to change their policy, and it only took them 22 years. 22 years too late. Thank you so much to everyone who makes this site inclusive and safe. It's so nice to be in a place where who I am isn't policed; I never even think about it unless I'm checking on my abandoned babies elsewhere and remember how repressive a website initially created for college students has become. Even these latest changes don't feel like they are enough.

Life sucks sometimes and I really love having a place to just escape and have fun, even if I am an old man now!

& everyone else, you are all appreciated.

I was pretty surprised to hear the news about Neo--that was one policy I figured they'd never change.

But yeah, wholeheartedly agree. The myth I hear around here is that Keith originally built Subeta because Neopets was so unfriendly. And frankly, I think he did a far better job at making a petsite and a community in the long run. As a young, closeted queer, I definitely appreciated being able to express myself through my pets and human avatar.

An environment where something so normal is considered taboo breeds an environment where people are scared of and lash out at that thing.

I left Neopets a very long time ago for different reasons than this, but I can say this IS one of the many reasons I have stayed on Subeta. I don't much talk about my personal life stuff, but it's really nice to know that if I ever should choose to, there is a high chance that it'll be accepted here without question and without me needing to 'explain' myself either.

I think that's pretty neat and I'm pretty happy to have a rainbow of friends here. A+

This is such a great point. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

I left neopets for a long time because of a horrible experience with a "friend" and their horrible customer service that refused to help me. I am SO glad I found my family here. I have even been to one of the meetups which was awesome. Although I do go to neo for dailies, I will probably never be really really active again.

I was SO surprised with the policy change and although I am happy for them and their userbase, there is still a lot of toxic things on there and they are still horrible with customer service. Too little too late I think...

Subeta is ❤

While we're on the subject of Neopets, I decided to load them just to see how they are handling the "policy change" (which, imo, I agree with posters above that it's too little too late, and clearly they only did it because of pressure and not because they are genuine about it)

I know this is going to sound very "don't support our competitor!" coming from a staff member lol, but uh... I would recommend any Neopets players here do NOT spend money there until they fix the SSL on their website. Right now, Neopets is not on HTTPS, which means your payment details, credit card info, etc could be compromised. Just a heads up.

No shade if you like to spend money on Neopets, you do you, but right now your payment details will not be transmitted securely across the internet. Genuinely I hope Neopets fixes that soon, probably a lot of Neo players (especially younger people) will not notice and may be buying things anyway without realizing their payment info is being put at risk.

[edit] Okay, so it looks like the NC Mall is on HTTPS, so at least payments are safe! ...Your username/password details (on the login form) are not though, so be aware.

Neopets was more than just a cornerstone of my childhood, it was the entire foundation. But years ago after being too fed up with how its become I turned my back on it and never looked back. Subeta is truly superior in every way possible and I'm glad we are allowed to openly talk about neopets because all of us here know that ;) Hearing that it's almost 2021 and neopets is still not https is hilariously sad, but not surprising at all.

If neopets was the foundation for my childhood, then subeta is the foundation of my late teenage and adult years. Thank you Subeta for being here. This is my favorite website.

The NC mall actually is on https though it’s the only part of the site that is. I do know that b/c of the mobile revamp some users have been asking for inclusion of https and two factor security on the site throughout so maybe, it’ll be added in the future.

I’m on neopets for dailies and to lurk the mobile revamp board to see how it’s progressing. Even if neopets probably did this because of public pressure, it’s something I’m glad they finally included, even if it’s 22 years too late.

Oh good, for real, that's a relief lol. It would be genuinely very bad if their payments system were not on SSL. Still, it is kinda bad that the login form is not SSL. What I'm hearing is that they have been non-HTTPS for a while now, which... in 2020? It's not a good look...

I am a convert from said site and joined a month or two ago. Around six months ago I got a warning for making an offhand joke about being a lesbian on someone else's board. As a result, their board along with every single post I had made that day was removed, and the owner of the board I commented on also got a warning. The remark that caused all this to happen was me commenting on the poster using a rainbow of board icons in the title and it appealing to me due to my identity. I know it's pretty, but it really rubbed me the wrong way and reminded me that in many ways the site has failed to adapt to change in recent years. Though Neo was a cornerstone of my childhood and something that holds a lot of meaning to me, I just feel sad about it all now. I've collected maybe two of the advent calendar gifts this year, when I used to log on every single day.

In that sense, Subeta has been such a breath of fresh air. It's nice to see a pet site that not only allows self-expression, but embraces it. I feel like I can actually freely talk and share about myself, which is not something I could do with Neo. I feel accepted. I haven't talked much on the boards yet but honestly 99% of the people here seem incredibly kind and I haven't had a single bad experience with anyone yet. Granted, I am still new—I do recognize that the site isn't perfect and I'm probably also still in the honeymoon phase of joining lol. But even just the feeling that I can freely talk about my life without having to censor myself is liberating and already puts it leaps and bounds above Neo.

Thank you to Keith and the people who make playing on this website possible. And thank you so much to the friend that referred me here <3

When I was younger and still on Neopets, I never really thought about those things because I was just a teenager at the time, and I didn't yet know about different sexualities and gender identities. I mainly left because it was much easier to earn virtual money and get expensive items on Subeta without having to play lots of flash games. The quests here are really helpful.

I think my first glimpse at LGBT+ content on this website was Quentin, but it wasn't until a few years later that I learned about some people identifying as non binary or agender. I'll admit that the stuff with Jaxon and Ian during the 2014 Morostide plot went completely over my head, so it was a surprise for me when one of the prizes was a picture of them kissing, and then by the time Esther was revealed to be dating Emma I was quite happy about the fact that this website included same-gender relationships. And I also remember when we first got the Pride Sashes, and I was very glad that one of them was the Asexual flag because by then it had been a few years since I'd learned I was ace. In fact, quite a few people I know online also happen to be ace, and it's nice to know that.

Refugee from Neopets here 👋 Subeta's got a great community...one of the most kind and supportive I've seen anywhere online. Even with a few bad eggs, the good outweigh the bad and it's one of the reasons I keep coming back even after years of hiatuses.

So about Neopets. I left it a long time ago, came back twice, but didn't stay long. If I'm allowed to ask, how are they handling the new changes?