Comments on quizilla's Journal

Ratings system: Many of you have asked why we're getting rid of the ratings system and how this will affect your writing. First of all, it's important to know that the rules are not really changing. Quizilla is not a children's site and it's not trying to turn into one. Registered users are still required to be at least 13 years old. However, this does not mean that graphic sexual content is allowed. The ratings system always relied on our users properly rating their creations but unfortunately this was rarely the case. The ratings system gave the impression that all content rated T, for instance, would be accurately and safely rated. This led to many a misleading search, with often terribly inappropriate content being returned. The ratings categories of M and A also lead to the impression that graphic sexual content was allowed -- to quote many a user "why else would you have those ratings?" So without the ratings system we can very simply say that excessive swearing and sexually explicit content are not allowed on Quizilla. That's it.

Swearing and profanity: Again, our rules are not really changing. We are still tinkering with the word filter so it may be over-reacting to some things now, but we’ll be fixing it before the new site launches.

Death: We'd love to know how this rumor got started! Death and dying are still allowed to be part of our user's creations. We will not be censoring stories about death.

Original quiz editor: The original quiz editor will not be part of the redesigned Quizilla and you can read past posts for the specific reasons. The technology staff is still working on how quizzes and stories that were made with the original quiz editor will be transferred over. But they will be moved over. We'll update you on that as soon as we know anything more.

Comments: You will have the option to allow commenting on all creations types - poems, stories, quizzes etc.

I think that's all the new issues so here's a quick recap of past blog entries:

Homepages: We're still working on how to preserve them. We know you love them.

The logo: Penny the pencil monster will no longer be the official logo but she will make appearances on the site as our mascot.

Quiz layouts: The old layouts and themes will no longer work, but we'll have a new, more flexible and useful engine to help you recreate them – and you’ll be able to apply them to all types of content.

Current creations & accounts: All your current creations, including journals, comments, friends lists and picks will be transferred to the new site. We are not deleting all your hard work.

Folders & organization: You'll be able to organize all types of content into folders and categories.

Banners and images: You will be able to add banners and images to all types of content.

Search: Better, faster, more accurate.

Preview site: Right now, only users who created their accounts before December 19, 2007 can log in to it. We didn't load all of the millions of creations that are on the current Quizilla into the preview site so you definitely won't be able to find some things. Lots of features are still being worked on, "My stuff," help, search, but they will be in the new Quizilla.

Launch date: Since we still have a lot of work to do on the new Quizilla. It's still a ways away but we'll give you plenty of notice before anything changes.

Keep playing around with the preview site since we'll be adding more features and fixing bugs in the near future. Please keep your questions and suggestions coming but do read our past blog entries for more information. Thank you all for your patience during these changes. We really appreciate it!