2/26/11...care bars grow, but care doesn't show...and our Ledger hasn't updated since yesterday. thought perhaps they cut off m.foo, but www doesn't register either, though the Mart shows the correct balances.
hmm, again. wonder what amazing thing is being input THIS time? (we understand some cool things were promised - let's see what we actually get.)
2/23/11...that was quick - food prices already knocked back down to a reasonable level, and flea meds, though still double or better their original prices, down to fairly realistic levels as well...hmm.
2/22/11...well, they dropped the other shoe - pet food has just taken a 500% jump in price. as a serving of food now costs 38 to 50 gems, and we seriously doubt that the 10-gem return for feeding has changed, this means you will use up gems faster than you can possibly bring them in legitimately - even counting those for water, petting, playing, and poopscooping, you run at or near break-even - and God help those who Instacare for a flat-rate 25 points/gems per pet. (tell me again about the advantages of ClubFoo...?)
and we thought we had trouble with Brown Stars (those who ignore flatlined hunger and even thirst to poop-scoop for the points/gems) before...hit those preferences NOW, folks, get your guys locked down to at least friends only...we are about to enter the Era of the Poop Ninja.
...not to mention the impact this is going to have on fostercare, the already-ruinous cost of flea treatments for those who are not boycotting them, and the overall "cost of living" on FooPets.
2/15/11...we see that FooMojo finally came out of the closet with their new chain of command, and posted them officially, tra-la.
The New Foo Crew lineup now appears in the company blog...six months after the change actually took place. A lot of the other major players are still hiding in the wings, though...
2/9/11...well, they FooLed us again - and found a way to have their ClubFoo, and eat us, too.
they have subbed a new routine in place of the Adoption Center that offers existing adoption center candidates (and presumably anyone popping in for the first time) a chance to sort-of-experience a pet (no poo, we notice...), and then pony up the bucks if they want to join. amusingly, the Tuxedo adoptable pictured is a BalloonHead - we anticipate a few diehard collectors may take out new membs just to try to get one.
while it is Foo's privilege (wise or foolish, from a business point of view, time will tell) to go to Pay-To-Play only, it is extremely unfair to do it on such short notice that people who have worked diligently for the better part of a month are cut off from already-established accounts (which ARE still there - just inaccessible). at some point we will see if paying the blood money gets the original account - and assets - back. it would have been just as simple - and a great deal more honorable - to take this same action with a month's notice, giving all those involved an opportunity to get what was promised them.
if ANYONE thought to grab a screenshot of the original work-to-adopt offer promising a free pet and account in exchange for 30 days "labor" (we have most of the messages abrogating the agreement), please contact us, and we will have the legalities involved looked into.
ADDING INSULT TO INJURY DEPT...i just went to our test account from here, and out of curiosity clicked on "So-and-So needs a pet!" - which routed me back to my own account's first pet (well, THAT'S helpful...not), and i see they're tweaked the Care icons while they were at it - and instead of getting rid of that ridiculous, draggy hand that replaces the cursor when you go to touch your pets, they now have Mickey Mouse wearing it (more ripped-off animation, what a shock).
i'd know that glove anywhere...though Mickey has MUCH better coordination. as i tend pretty much exclusively in m.foo, that sort of thing tends to get by me a lot of the time...this one i think i caught out of the gate, though, i recognize it from the Adopt Now! page. (sigh) (growl)
2/8/11...(and February is supposed to be a SHORT month!) our test account still routes to the Pet Shop - does anyone know what is going on with those whose 30 days were up as of today?
the latest seems to be that the Buy-or-Die email appears to be going out as a piggyback on ALL Foo happymail - flea announcements, etc. - and causing a huge amount of panic, especially in younger members, some of whom we heard were told they were under the same sentence. THIS IS A GLITCH, as far as we know, and established members will NOT be affected, or at least that's what we've been told by someone who ought to know.
as far as we know, foo CANNOT disappear an account entirely, just tie it up either via suspension (which gains them nothing in this case) or by keying it to route to the Pet Shop instead. The actual account/member link remains active.
SEND US ANYTHING YOU HEAR OR SEE !
2/7/11...well, so far it looks like Foo has successfully managed to keep new nonpaying customers away from their accounts...they actually showed more smarts than we gave them credit for - instead of trying to add code to block access to these already-in-place accounts, they REMOVED the code that "freed" them from the Pet Store mode, or at least that's how it looks so far from our test account. there is also word that ALL younger members' accounts without ClubFoo, regardless of how long ago they were created, may be going into lockdown mode. we'll continue updating as we know more...and anyone with information, please post!
2/6/11...we had set up a "Pet Shop" account in order to get more details on this horrid action of Foo's, and just received some Happy Mail from them essentially telling us to join ClubFoo - or else. Supposedly the existing accounts - which can be accessed by anyone other than their owners at this point - will cease to exist (or at least the ability to log on will, and the gems and points vanish) as of the Monday cutoff date, as was stated in an email we received after today's tending.
it's really quite amazing that they can spend the money for the complex coding required to freeze all these new accounts selectively - but cannot afford to issue the memberships and pets that people were promised when they began the program (which cost Foo nothing and have at least the potential for a cash return).
here is an excerpt from the the email received :
"NOTE: FooPets is discontinuing the 30 day adoption plan to earn a free pet. We apologize for the inconvenience.
...ye-es...and if you cannot log on or access the account, you are supposed to join how? we still half-believe this is a stampeding tactic to force ClubFoo membership - but tomorrow will tell the tale.Adopt a pet and join ClubFoo by Monday, February 7 in order to use the FooGems and StarPoints that you have earned!
Join ClubFoo now and you'll receive 2000 bonus FooGems!
After Monday, February 7, your login email and password will no longer work on FooPets.com and your FooGems and StarPoints will be lost if you are not a member of ClubFoo. You can join ClubFoo at any time in the future
2/3/11...we happened to be over in the Forums and saw in a thread that the new-join system has been changed : they are removing the option to "earn" your starter pet by caring for shelter pets - only by purchasing ClubFoo can someone join. This would have been bad enough - but apparently this new system goes into force on 2/7/11, and anyone already trying to earn their pet who does not make their 30-day requirement by then loses all their work.
This news is very disturbing, as a programming and policy change of this kind is unlikely to have originated at the local level. Combined with the new "Parent's Dashboard" announced in the (somewhat belated) new edition of the FooPetter, it is sounding like FooPets is on its way to being converted into a paid babysitting service...
UPDATE 2/4/11: we were sent the following screenshot of the "Work-to-Adopt" page (many thanks!)...further new info below.
from what we have now heard, the situation is pretty much what we feared - but the most likely result is that all people presently tending pets in the program who cannot make 30 days by the cutoff WILL have their memberships and profiles - probably with their accrued gems and points, it is believed that the business about joining ClubFoo in order to keep them is just a bit of hard-sell - but without a pet. anyone affected, please get in touch with us, and we will arrange a pet for you. FooK this ripoff.
2/2/11...last night we received an update from our source concerning the Artwork Scandal. Among other things, we were told that supposedly only accounts showing incomes with excessive (over 10,000FD, say) gains in a relatively short period of time were targeted for investigation, that their financial backers at SoftBank were highly upset over the subsequent drop of Foodollar package purchases, and "no one who was not guilty was suspended or banned".
While we are sure our source is acting in good faith, there are a couple of problems we see with this report...
First, we know for a fact that at least one suspension/banning and accompanying confiscation of assets was unwarranted - Admin even admitted that this person had not participated in the art glitch scam, and all accounts, including the banned one, were ultimately released...but the assets taken were not.
Second, laying all the blame for problems with either Foomojo incomes or the site economy on this one incident just doesn't seem to hold water. The FooConomy crashed quite a bit before this particular disaster occurred - the excessive foodollars onsite originating primarily from the promotion of ClubFoo and its 4-for-1 foodollars (based on a monthly membership - annual and semiannuals create an even more drastic devaluation), and further exacerbated by Mojo's attempt to rally flagging income with the Thanksgiving discount sale.
As far as the decrease in member spending goes, the drop began long before the art glitch, and can be laid at the doors of both the departure in disgust by a frightening number of the long-term adult players - those who had the most discretionary income and the ability to spend money at will - and the reluctance of those who stayed to invest hard-earned money in a site seemingly bent on sucking in as much income as possible before it self-destructs. Collectibles sales have been negligible for some time now, and as they haven't introduced a new $300 pet since August - the main motivation for foodollar package purchases - it is hardly surprising that few have recently seen fit to spend cash on foodollars in any significant amounts...and we'll bet a cracker that the UltraStats were also brought out in an attempt to get people spending again...more (re)action without adequate forethought.
Finally, while cheating in ANY form is deplorable, even when the means are handed to a (justifiably) disenchanted membership by an error on the part of the site (we really don't think ANYONE actually believed they were entitled to be paid more than once for the same submission - get real, folks), the claim that people accumulated 6-figure balances this way sounds a little off...that would mean TEN THOUSAND CLICKS.
A while back, there was a glitch in mobile mode that allowed people to accumulate points and gems by just holding down the "enter" key on "play"...not only was this caught a good deal faster, even then people were not able to pile up assets at this level. Plus, that kind of a spike in foodollar ledger entries should have shown up SOMEWHERE rather noticeably - and identifiably.
1/30/11...there seems to be a major policy discrepancy between onsite Admin (the ambassadors just carry whatever messages they are given - whether they are polite about it, or rude, they have no say in the matter one way or another), and the actual FooMojo executives who own and operate the site - and create the TOS. it seems that in at least one post (now deleted), an ambassador admitted that the blanket link ban was Corie's personal interpretation of the TOS, that she has them endeavoring to enforce (as well as other new "rules" that don't show up in the Terms of Service text).
We also note that the new thread on the matter (in the Trading Post) strikes a MUCH sweeter and more cooperative tone..."It's out of our hands, don't shoot the messenger...there's no point arguing with us, we can't do anything about it. Here - let us help you sanitize your profile..."
Canaan ventured into the lion's den and posted an annotated copy of said TOS in the new thread. Awaiting developments...
1/26/11...just went and reread the TOS.
last posted update is "April 8, 2010", but they have the new address (which is from midSeptember 2010), and a 2011 copyright at the foot, so i presume these are current. what they do NOT have is a blanket ban on 3rd party links.
anywhere.
at all.
the requirement to credit other people's/site's material, yes.
the original restriction on using links to OR from this site for personal gain or religious/political/other promotional purposes, yes.
this new thing around which all the foofawraw is focused? NO. only their "fudge factor" enabling them to enforce rules they have not yet made (presumably retroactively, and selectively).
this despite its inclusion in so many words by Corie in the Member Support sticky, which is clickable to the TOS (which i then RE-reread, just in case). We also checked the FAQs, in case for some reason the permanent, official listing of this rather important new restriction was there, instead.
...nope.
how very, very interesting.
(ps - we grabbed date- and time-stamped screenshots of Corie's Forum post and the "current" TOS it clicks to.)
