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Development Update 12/8 Sorry for the long hiatus. I've been on vacation for a bit for Thanksgiving, and have just been trying to catch up with everything. Short, but definitely leave journal comments and I'll update the entry with any outstanding questions. Arenas We'd like to fix up arenas -- we understand that there have been some sizeable problems with it (especially recently), so we're gathering feedback to make sure that we have a good list of the things that need to be fixed. If you're a heavy user of arenas (or, if you used to use the old arenas but don't like the new ones), then please go to the thread for arena feedback and let us know what you think. The primary problem in arenas at this point seems to be the fact that the entries are not getting properly randomized for voting. This leads to voting bias -- since only a small percentage of entries are being shown, it means that most entries a) don't get voted on, or even worse, b) only get voted on by friends. We're going to fix that as soon as possible, although it looks like this week will still have some problems, since it is going with the old randomization scheme. Holiday Event Fleep and company are striving merrily on it, and hopefully you will find it a mooving experience. We'll be rolling down a countdown to the Christmas event tonight at midnight -- you'll see a huge banner on the homepage that will point you to the right place to go. Backend Mailing System Every month I still take care of a handful of people that have run into a problem in that they can't receive any e-mails from us. They send a password change request, and it gets dropped into a bitbucket somewhere and never makes it to the person. In most cases, this is because the user got placed on our bounce list -- the list of all e-mail addresses that have rejected our e-mail once. Usually, a bounce list is a good thing, but it is fairly common for the larger e-mail providers (I'm looking at you, Hotmail!) to occasionally bounce an e-mail even if the e-mail address is good. Removing someone off the bounce list involves tunneling through 3 servers and editing lists by hand in two different locations (I am not making this up!), which is kind of ridiculous. Accordingly, we're replacing our backend mailing system over the next month or two. What will this mean for you? Well, it makes it much more likely that you'll be getting our e-mails, especially if you use Hotmail or something like that. We're planning on adding much finer control over the e-mails that are received (that is, you'll be able to say "send me anything to do with my account but don't send me e-mails about monthly collectibles" wink , and also give you control over whether you're blacklisted. Little Known Features Did you know that you can advertise your friends in a post? Make a post, and then under "Post Actions" select "Display Friends." You can choose the friends that you want to advertise and place them in a background. Bugs Fixed Recently In the past couple of weeks. - Arenas: add 'arenas entry comments' to alerts page - Inconsistency between main Gaia site menu titles and Friend List titles - New Account page: Change username, birthdate, gender is a link away - My Store: Long username goes out of the limits and overlaps other text - Arenas: rate & browse page layout changes - Journal comments attach the wrong signature - Arenas: do not show 'link to fans' if no fans - GIM: Safari browser scrolls convo back to top on chat switch - Marketplace: lowest buy price display is buggy - Arenas: avatar arena - should not show stars for in-progress contest - Arenas: Remove PM for user-deleted comment - "Change" display hidden behind "Enter Password" - & symbol shows up as "&" under interest - Arena: Avatar pulldown consistency in Arena 2.0 - feedback form not recording message - Arenas: artist list page - Arenas: MyStuff Page - Arenas: gallery page - Account settings>profile options>birthday options are flipped - Text Changes needed for Rules & Guidelines Page - Items in Suitcase still not displaying properly. - Signature Page Information - Journal Archive Months wrong - Arenas: favorites page - Update to R&G / Parent page - Profiles: Go to profile and click on Delete comment, takes to profile page - Update R&G url in arena's reports - Arenas: MyStuff Page is blank if you have no submission - Fix some markup validation errors - & symbol shows up as "&" under details - GIM: Logging into GIM when Gaia session is signed out. - under my gaia preferences typo - Go to Avatar and to customize me, choose expression overlaps save button (IE6 only) - Login as user, there's a big space in between username and logout. (IE6 only) - Arenas: Go to Arenas, click on the links under "New" and click on Back button, images missing - Long username with spaces breaks username/logout bar

Posted by: Panagrammic Thu Dec 11, 2008 @ 06:50am

Read my journal!

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Chema
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Commented on: Thu Dec 11, 2008 @ 06:58am


	Less profile comment captchas for us humans, please? heart

Commented on: Thu Dec 11, 2008 @ 07:01am


	thanks for working on fixing the arenas =) and personally i don't use the "display friends" feature, for some reason i can't find a post that would require the use of it sweatdrop but i'm sure i'll find a reason for it. thanks for the heads up, panagrammic! heart you're my hero!

crepuscularity
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Nobara
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Commented on: Thu Dec 11, 2008 @ 07:29am


	w00t, third? Anyway, I'm really glad to see a dev update, I was getting bored from lack of journal readingness. T^T I would like to request for my birthday (Feb 21st), and you can call it a Christmas present too, a new inventory arranger. Doesn't have to be all fancy in flash like you guys are planning, I wouldn't really care if it was even text based. My inventory is just out of control messy and disorganized and using our current arranger is unfeasible.

Commented on: Thu Dec 11, 2008 @ 07:40am


	thanks for all the hard work <3

ssenippah
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morozco024
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Commented on: Thu Dec 11, 2008 @ 09:01am


	As always Pan, thanks so much to you and your team (and the rest of the Gaia staff) really...you guys do so much, and people give you a quick thanks and then go right back to their indignant bitching... cry Anyway, a "mooving" experience huh, subtle...I'm glad Santa's coming back then, and we'll see him turn back to his mecha-suit wearing a**? hahaha xd At any rate, looking forward to it, and I hope there's an Xmas script for Barton Town like Halloween...anyway, whatever you do, we'll love it.

Commented on: Thu Dec 11, 2008 @ 10:28am


	Sexy Journal update ^^ And wow at CAPTCHA:

Darien S.
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Masco
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Commented on: Thu Dec 11, 2008 @ 10:35am


	How is fixing Aquariums going? I still can't change my music, temperature, or lighting D: And my Fish aren't taking my food, either.

Commented on: Thu Dec 11, 2008 @ 12:06pm


	Ah good some icky bugs I've run into are on the list. Thanks for keeping us updated Pan smile

France Hopper
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iMadame Twinkle
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Commented on: Thu Dec 11, 2008 @ 01:10pm


	[ S i r i a <3 ] <3 -Gives cookies.- ~ <3 [ E p i c <3 ]

Commented on: Thu Dec 11, 2008 @ 01:28pm


	Finally the x-mas plot is "mooving" along. Thank goodness. 3nodding

Leurun
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Akabi Yoru
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Commented on: Thu Dec 11, 2008 @ 02:33pm


	Thank you for the hard work, Pana! I appreciate a lot when you let us know about fixes and changes 3nodding Keep up the good work! heart I'm waiting anxiously for the christmas event!

Commented on: Thu Dec 11, 2008 @ 02:50pm


	I must say, I do appreciate everything that you do on here, but for some reason, this entry didn't phase me. There was nothing big, at least that had anything to do with me, that seemed to get done. Just minor fixes. How about posting in an add-on (you did request comments and say it was short) about what we should be looking forward to, besides the new event? I can't think of anything off-hand, but i'm sure there is something out there that would make a ton of people excited..

dizziedobsession
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Ungoliath
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Commented on: Thu Dec 11, 2008 @ 03:44pm


	So sad that I decided to enter Arenas this week with this avi. sad For the Arenas: make the spotlight with average scores, not most voted. It's not the same. And even so...don't make it the most voted having more votes, but showing the less voted to have a fair experience. Less captchas on journals xD

Commented on: Thu Dec 11, 2008 @ 04:20pm


	Pan - just to point out..the ability to change birthdate has been removed in a previous update (see the "changes" sticky in Q&A)...you might want to edit your update "New Account page: Change username, birthdate, gender is a link away" also..thanks for fixing the homes inventory...however any word on when the image link error on loading the edit homes screen is going to be fixed...as much as i like noow seeing the items in there...i would like to be able to remove them other than that...great work & glad to have you back

mercy_no_koibito_zutto1
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Shrimp_Man
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Commented on: Thu Dec 11, 2008 @ 05:34pm


	Pan, I just wanted to thank you if you had anything to do with fixing the broken quote towers in pm's. I can finally rp with my partner effectively again. ^^ <3 Anyway, I was wondering if there was a tenitive date on when the arranger is going to be fixed? It takes me at least three times trying to load it after I get an error message saying that a script on the page is causing my computer to run slowly and if I continue it it may cause my computer to be come unresponsive. And then sometimes after I've gotten it to load, it doesn't save where I move things so then I have to fight with it again to load to fix the mess up.

Commented on: Thu Dec 11, 2008 @ 07:01pm


	You rock Pan, thanks for the update. I've never had that mailing problem before (even with my Hotmail account), but it's good that things will be looking up for other users. 3nodding

Breakability
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Lissianthus
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Commented on: Thu Dec 11, 2008 @ 08:44pm


	Hey Pan. During the Halloween zOMG Trick-or-Treating, a glitch caused some users to be granted a soulbound "Girls Speed Brown" hairstyle instead of a recipe. I have three of them sitting in my inventory taking up space...how can I get them out? Will I get in trouble if I sell them back to a shop for 12 gold each?

Commented on: Thu Dec 11, 2008 @ 09:19pm


	Thanks for the update! Glad to see you guys are still working on Arenas 3nodding

Imaginary Fox
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Kunai Jones
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Commented on: Thu Dec 11, 2008 @ 09:42pm


	I'm still receiving white screens in every page of my inventory. After a couple of dozen reloads I was able to add this Doc's Harness item last week, but other than that I've had no success. It's in my Customize Me section, it's in my Inventory view section in all tabs, the only page that doesn't white screen is the Arranger. It threatens to crash my browser a few times before working properly, but it at least loads. Do I need to shift items to my Storage or Mules like I used to? I thought the tabs were supposed to fix these errors. What is being done to repair this issue? It goes without saying that, once again, I'm not going to be spending any money on the site for items that the site itself will not let me use. Please advise me on the way to fix this on my end or whether or not anyone is fixing it on yours. I like this avatar, but I'd really like to change it sometime soon. And I'd like to buy shiny new items from your company to put on it when I do so. But there's no sense in purchasing anything when I don't know if/when it will ever be usable.

Commented on: Thu Dec 11, 2008 @ 11:23pm


	Hope you have good holidays! Dont overwork yourselves! I hope you can fix the arena's soon. I really hated that you actually gave out prizes for the past two week's winners. sad Like giving a botters fishing trophies. Also, should the ability to add yourself to your fan list be possible? (I'll have to try advertising my friends now) Thanks for the hard work!

dreamsk
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Cleocatra
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Commented on: Fri Dec 12, 2008 @ 03:43pm


	Woot! I can't wait for the christmas event <3 I love all of Gaia's events :3

Commented on: Fri Dec 12, 2008 @ 11:14pm


	You know all these bugs that have been fixed are great, but has anyone been trying to fix the Towns lately? There are plenty of annoying glitches there, and honestly it really makes me sad because without all those glitches it could be a more popular feature on Gaia.

X-Teary-Eyed Emo Neko-X
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KawaiiKittenCalico
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Commented on: Sun Dec 14, 2008 @ 04:56am


	Maybe I just missed it, but what about inventories? Are those ever going to be fixed? I still can't arrange mine, because last time I tried everything went where I DIDN'T want it, and I almost broke down crying. 4 pages of complete disaster. crying Inventories are the single biggest, most important feature on Gaia. Without our inventories there is no aquariums, no avvies to buy all your cash shop items for. WHY is it so low on the priority list that there only ever seems to be one person working on it? Why has it been left broken for so long? Why is it so damn hard to find other devs talk about it? I kept hearing people say some dev said arrangers were fixed but I can't seem to find that dev to tell them it's not fixed after all.

Commented on: Sun Dec 14, 2008 @ 03:51pm


	Wow. . . you guys were busy!

Elda-Chan
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Nerelda
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Commented on: Mon Dec 15, 2008 @ 01:21am


	Thank you for your continued efforts at helping to make Gaia an enjoyable place. I'd like to bring to your attention (if not already done) that there are many threads in the Bug Reports forum about the Cache_Bust errors that are exploding around the site, making it so many of us are unable to purchase anything from the cash shop, sell back to shops, buy/sell in MP, finalize trades that we start, etc. I am one of these such members who has been experiencing this constant error throughout the site for well over a week now. If you could be so kind as to take a look at this and let us know the status of this issue, we would be highly grateful. Thanks!

Commented on: Tue Dec 16, 2008 @ 08:11am


	Thank you for fixing the lowest price bug in the MP. That one drove me crazy.

Besmirched
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dizziedobsession
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Commented on: Wed Dec 17, 2008 @ 05:39am


	AHH! PAN! I think I just DIED! I was about to post a thing in the Feature Suggestion (unstucked) Forum well, actually, i couldn't find that and went to post my own... but... I was going to say how annoying the options are for your wishlist! and BAM, it was fixed! heart You've made my night! Please do not forget to list this on your list of fixed things/ changes in your next journal! So i can jump for joy there, too! I'm so excited! xd

User Comments: [27] [add]

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