Neopets -- Unjust Decisions

Neopets

To whom it may concern:

Perhaps you haven't noticed, but complaints have been made on your message boards, criticizing the very things that you do.

I can't say I blame those who have made said complaints. In fact, I applaud them. It's about time someone stood up to this communism that has slowly corrupted one of the best sites on the Internet. A site that poses as a safe haven for many, free from the ridicule that people often face every day at the workplace, or at school. However, this is not so. Not anymore, at least.

Lately, accounts have been frozen due to posting "offensive" or "obscene" material on the message boards. Said material tending to be "shounen/shoujo-ai" or other such topics, most of the prejudice being directed toward "shounen-ai." Many call it unjust, and unfair, and I must say that I agree.

However, it is completely understood that you are the owner(s) of Neopets, and can do basically anything that you feel needs to be done. Just, or unjust, no matter what we may call your action in the long run. Still, the fact that we have no say in what you do continues to anger many. To be perfectly honest, I'm sure that many of the accounts you have frozen belonged to people who were falsely accused. But this is getting to be a bit off topic...

My point is, why is it right to freeze accounts for doing what many do best -- roleplay? So what if the couples that are frozen happen to consist of two males...? Or perhaps two females. So what? One's sexual orientation does not make one any less human than at their day of birth. To be blatant, "shounen-ai" roleplays help to keep romance tasteful, and not quite so desperate. The only true difference is that there is technically no female involved, or in the case of "shoujo-ai," no male.

But have you not seen the regular roleplays? Females galavanting about in the skimpiest of clothing -- mini skirts and halter tops, tube tops and short shorts -- just flaunting all that they have? Males always seem to have "6-pacs" and perfect bodies, as well. Is that not wrong? Obviously, it does go against your rule of "no romance, Neopets is not a dating agency," but that does not justify the actions of ONLY freezing those who start "shounen-ai" roleplays. Many roleplays consisting of either gender still contain romance, which clearly breaks the "no romance" rule, even moreso than "shounen-ai" roleplays do. So why is there prejudice against same-sex relationships?

If you are just itching to freeze someone, why not take on the opposite gender relationships? Have you not seen the boards entitled, "TEEN HOTEL BF NEEDED," or "TEEN ROMANCE (GIRL FRIEND NEEDED)?" If I'm not mistaken, those two boards in particular (which are actually real) break your rule. So why aren't the creators of those boards frozen, as well?

If your answer to all of these questions happens to be, "Well, there are young children on this site. We have to keep them in mind and try to filter out the bad content of the site," then I already have a counter to that. First of all, children who are younger than the age of thirteen must have a parent's consent before being able to post or visit the message boards. Should children lie about their age in the first place in order to go to the message boards, they are only allowing themselves to view such content that might be unsuitable for them. It is their own fault if they choose to disergard the form that adults must sign, or they lie about their age and they happen to stumble across a thread on the message board that may offend them.

[Gay male's point of view.]

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Dear Neopets:

You might not think that your actions are foolish, heartless and cruel, but people on the site do. For years up to now, it has provided kind of like a place to cool off, role play, get creative juices flowing, meet people from around the world virtually of many races and religions. And even different sexual orientation.

But due to the events as of now, knowing that you have frozen and deleted all of the accounts to those who shounen-ai role play, it seems that you find love between the same gender to be wrong. Explain to me how it's wrong to love someone that may have same physical characteristics as you? How is it wrong to have a sweet love that's not begging for complete romance. How is that wrong? Because by freezing all who enjoy the shounen-ai role plays is saying that homosexuals are evil and deserve to leave the face of this earth.

What about the people on other chatboards who are advertising for sex over other accounts? What about the role players who have characters with tube tops and skirts that are shorter than they would be in real life? Is that not wrong? Is that something that everyone must be like? Because you seem to promote the desperate romance seeking craze. Which you clearly state in the rules: Neopets is not a dating service. Yet why do you not freeze them when they are reported? You freeze those who are looking for an intelligent role play and not craving romance. Which makes you look like hypocrites.

What is your problem with boy and boy love? Just becasue you believe it is wrong does not mean that you go around freezing everyone who doesn't, it makes you look homophobic, if that was your goal, you managed to succeed. If you are trying to protect younger kids from seeing these things, you can't do anything. Do you know why? Because it is the parents responsability to sign up for the right account, to watch what they are looking at. Female x female and male x male love is not wrong in any way. Because they are just like people who care for the opposite gender.

And why should it bother the people who created Neopets? Isn't it supposed to be a kid-friendly environment? By freezing all those who like boy x boy relationships is showing that you're not friendly at all. You've also been making so many rules that it's very hard to NOT break rules. With how many accounts that were lost on Neopets, I wouldn't be surprised if you lose majority of the people there. And when that happens, you'll have to start charing people to play it. And then you'll lose everyone else. Just think about it.

[Straight female's point of view.]

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All-in-all, many of us feel that there is no legitimate reason for why accounts have been frozen over "shounen/shoujo-ai" roleplaying.

All we want is justice for homosexuals. That is all we request of you, and it isn't much. We just want a voice, and we want to be heard. Please, take this into account.