I will keep this short.

Last year, we were told Mysterious Melody would be different, and that's why it was late. Then it never came, was not addressed, and we were basically ghosted about it.

This year, again, we're told it'll be late again. But it's December 21st, and there's been no communication, no transparency. What's going on?

To be blunt: have you forgotten we are your customers?

If you support a company, and they make false promises, and then fail to communicate/address their broken promises, do you think their customers should return?

We put up with the lag, the bugs, etc. The least you can do is treat us right.

It seems that Subeta is incredibly understaffed and has no plans to change that. This is a problem.

As someone who has personally spent plenty of $ on CSC, I'm feeling very unappreciated and underwhelmed.

I don’t understand this sentiment. I give money to Subeta each month, because I can and this is an important hobby to me. I’m certainly not giving them enough to pay for more staff members, so I’m grateful they “stay open” nonetheless. Subeta has always seemed more like a labor of love than a profitable business to me. There are expenses we don’t see and every person behind the scenes has their own life and bills to pay.

I guess if I was dropping five grand a month with a note in the memo line “make the tea house happen if you want these to keep coming” I might have some expectation that they’d put some energy into my priorities, but even then…running a business costs a lot of money just to keep the lights on, so having perks are a bonus and shouldn’t be the expectation.

Agreeing with Blythe, this site comes across more as a labour of love project. You said so yourself, the site is understaffed-- severely so, and yet, it keeps trucking on. For that we should be thankful! For years folk have been saying Subeta is on deaths door, and its still standing. Coders are hard to come across, and to work with older code, too? And slowly integrating features into newer code? That's a big ask.

Agoge isn't a huge business, I'd expect answers if it were being funded by a major corporation, but there's barely any ad presence. There isn't a huge influx of players coming in, and monetization of the site beyond CWs? There's no merch, nothing outside of the site itself that is sustaining this small, but dedicated userbase.

Yes, we put up with the lag and the bugs, but we also need to realise that this is a site that started as a 15 year olds passion project, is still running some of that code, and isn't backed by a major corp. It's the creaky, lovable old site we can't seem to quit.

With the question you posed

There are staff! A lot of them are for PR, though. Admins. Mods. Minimods. Artists. They don't have reach or scope to help with the issues presented.

I think we need to manage our expectations.

Please, don't assume that I am coming across as argumentative, it's not what I am trying for, and if I have said anything to upset you, I apologize.

tbh apart from the minimods i swear we only have like 3 people running the site? i know everyone was super angry about the melody items, and people had mixed feelings about mm being cancelled with no notice but imo..i dont really mind? if this were a huge company like neopets that did this, peoples voices wouldnt be heard at all and it would just get swept under the rug. i know amber and co do still reply to topics about it but with so few of them i get that its hard to manage... or with so few of them it might be difficult to even know how to come up with a solution...idk i just give them a lot of sympathy and im not too fussed about a couple of items or one event. also perhaps its bc ive been on this site like 14 years, so a lot of members feel like my friends, and i dont want to be as critical to them as i would a billion dollar business. idk i dont spend any real money on the site so i dont feel like i deserve to be bitching about things anyway LOL (also your argument is valid! i just wanted to post my own bc ive never really piped up on site feedback before.)

I get the feeling that the staff who are left are a little over maintaining the site and do it because it's here and we're here. I get it, and have a little more patience, but I also didn't spend RL money during the sales. I didn't feel strongly about the missing items or MM, but I did slightly want a Bhakoru that was supposed to come out (What, November?).

I can give credit that the revamp of the CW system did happen last year and we aren't still waiting.

It is a little sobering that Subeta has reached the point of "Well, it's dying, so let's give it a break."

Editing out because I'm/my point's getting missed entirely. This is why I don't post much anymore.

Subeta's not thriving. It's surviving, and at this point, it's no use getting angry. It's only going to make you feel sad and bitter and it's not worth it. We just have to accept that it's no longer a full-time job for most staff - they have other opportunities in the real world and Subeta is no longer a priority. What is a priority are their real, actual jobs.

Subeta hasn't been profitable in years. Look at the daily goals. They're not getting at 100% daily - meaning that someone has to pay to keep Subeta alive. It's not in the green. I don't think they can hire more people - the funds just aren't there.

There is one coder left and they're not doing it full-time. They haven't hired any content creator (writers and artists) in year. Whoever leaves isn't replaced.

.Like Abel and other said, just enjoy the good times. It's no use being angry. Do what you enjoy, take care of your wardrobe, of your pets, of whatever makes you happy. And, for the things that cannot, or will not happen, don't be sour over it.

"It is a little sobering that Subeta has reached the point of "Well, it's dying, so let's give it a break."

It's part of grief. I used to be in denial, then I used to be angry. Now, it's acceptance. We have to take the good times and enjoy them. This site has given us plenty of good times, and the content that DOES pop up is still good. We had amazing items for Luminaire, Fireside and Morostide. Every single new seasonal item released yesterday are so good.

The love is still there.

But the huge plots and big endeavors, the thing that require lots of manpower to make happen. I've made my peace that they won't be a thing. And it's okay.

Ummm. Okay. I get the complaining but nothing can be done about it and nothing will come of it, so why bother? what is this feedback thread set to achieve when it's a foregone conclusion?

Okay, I've been disappointed by broken promises too but you know what? If you don't feel you're getting what you paid for then stop paying.

Don't pay and then think you can lord it over staff and make demands. That's completely unreasonable. You're not forced to pay real money for things here - there are other ways to obtain CSC and even the monthly subscriber items.

Subeta doesn't have a lot of staff and it's running on seriously outdated code. It's not what it used to be and it most likely never will be again so why not just enjoy Subeta for what it is without the expectations of major plots, big new features and legacy features that are broken and difficult to fix?

Idk what the drama is with Melody items and tbh I don't really care. I like them and if other people don't I really don't care because there are plenty of items I don't care for so I just... move on? Complaining about free stuff has never been my thing.

guys, I just want staff to read my opinion and reply to it/have an internal convo. you are welcome to share your opinion, but some of you are being rude towards me <3

staff's heard this plenty of times before, and it is what it is. All you can do is just enjoy your time here while Subeta is still here, and that's it. Criticizing staff won't do any good.

Your grief is valid, but you also have been harsh towards staff. Granted, it's something that I have been guilty of in the past

You decided to be blunt towards staff. That's a way to do it, but don't act offended when people could potentially be using the same kind of language towards you than you have used towards staff.

And even then, I cannot say ANYONE in the thread has actually been blunt towards you. Seems like the majority is just farther along in their grief - we're out of denial, bargaining and anger, and we're either sad or accepting. It's a process. You are allowed to be angry, but please don't say people are "mean to you" while they're explaining their point of view.

just because I’m blunt towards staff doesnt justify being toxic/rude towards me ^^ we dont have to share opinions. you can have your opinion, I can have mine. dont need anyone to act out towards me for my opinion

you say no one has been, ok. I’m allowed to feel differently.

but I don’t want to argue with users - this post isnt for a conversation between us. this post is for staff, and for you all to post your opinions, even if we dont agree. so post your opinion, but i dont really care if you think im wrong. thats for staff :)

This is a open, public forum, if you wanted to have a one on one chat with a staff member, I would of went on the ticket route.

as I said, I want people to post how they feel - even if we disagree! :) I’m just not going to argue with people who I disagree with! thats not what I made the thread for :)

Here's the thing, when you make something public like this, you're opening it up to everyone's side, even those you don't like. If you wanted to take up your grievances with Keith directly, you can do that. Just sMail him or write in a ticket or whatever. It's not that we don't agree with you. There IS barely much to do on here. But like Soph says, we're all in different stages of grief. I've been there, done that, and am in the accepting stage that nothing is going to improve. Could things improve? Yeah, been wrong plenty of times before. But we'll see it when we see it. Til then, it's status quo for me.

I am personally grateful we've had staff listening to the battle community lately and giving us stuff to beat up for the holidays the past few or so. That is very much appreciated, because that's something that keeps my interest here, and I hope it continues into the new year.

I think a lot of Subeta’s problem is the “skeleton crew” staff as Amber had called it. I haven’t heard a reason why more staff has been hired but I’m assuming it’s monetary.

The thing is Subeta is a labor of love for the players too. And I feel like if staff opened up positions for writers/content creators/coders, they would get a lot of applications.

Maybe they couldn’t pay a lot. Maybe they couldn’t pay at all. But I don’t think it’s totally untrue that many people on site are still here after 10+ years because we love the site and we’d like to see it strive. I think plenty of people would offer to help, if staff asked for the help.

"The thing is Subeta is a labor of love for the players too. And I feel like if staff opened up positions for writers/content creators/coders, they would get a lot of applications.

Maybe they couldn’t pay a lot. Maybe they couldn’t pay at all. "

They cannot offer volunteer positions if there are other people who are paid for the same job. That may not be technically illegal, but it's extremely unethical. Keith & Co have never worked that way - from what I know, Subeta has always been about fairness on that end.

Never ever EVER undersell your own skills because you "love" a project. Ever.

You are NEVER the winner when you offer to volunteer while the market pays for that. Your time working should never be "unpaid". The fact that Subeta has never done this proves that they're still on the right side of the market in this case, and I'd rather have a skeleton crew and less content, than know that Subeta is not paying part of its staff

It’s fine to feel that way. Personally, I volunteer my time with many projects/hobbies/causes because I love them. I’m not underselling myself; it brings me joy. Anyone that doesn’t want to volunteer doesn’t need to, simple as that.

If you act rude in public people are going to comment on it?? You are being completely unreasonable. Absolutely no one was rude to you.