Holy Hannah, do we have a lot of news tonight! Again! Yeesh, it feels like we're always just so full of news these days :> You may want to get used to it because this is all part of our concentrated effort to keep all of you in the loop when something has changed!
Since there's SO much news, I'm going to give a brief overview of main points here. These will be explained in their own section below :)
- We have imposed a $50 fee to start an auction. We've also changed the auction code a little bit.
- Trial Payouts have been increased again.
- We're adding two exciting new features to dog profile pages! One will let you hide the coat markings and the other will let you show notes!
- We've welcomed a few more members to the mod team.
- The biggest Referral Contest yet!
Auction Updates As part of our effort to keep auction abuse to a minimum, there are two minor updates. First, it now costs $50 to start an auction. This will ensure that a player is dedicated to making the auction sale and is reasonably sure that their dog or item will sell. This will hopefully result in a less clogged up auction system! Additionally, Robyn has adjusted the auction code so that you cannot have a starting bid price which equals or exceeds the auto-buy (if you've chosen to set one). If you wish to sell your dog or item outright, please do so through the sales system. Auctions are for... well... auctions :)
Trial Payouts As part of our efforts to balance the economy and keep game play as fair for everyone as possible, the trial system has undergone a lot of tweaks lately. We heard you when you said this last adjustment made payouts too low. Trial Payouts have been increased again :)
Dog Profile Features We're super excited to tell you about a couple features that we're adding to dog profile pages! First, the notes section on your dog's profile (which has always been there) will now be viewable by other people. There will be an option to toggle that view between public and private, just note that the private view is default! Additionally, Robyn coded a privacy toggle for your dog's coat colors and markings ( suggestion by Vision (#1333) )! This way, if you want the specific markings and opacities to be a secret, you will have that ability!
New Moderators With so much going on lately, we never got the chance to formally introduce you to our latest moderators! Let's all be sure to give a big welcome to:
Pomplamoose (#41)
Ehmcyclopedia (#93)
Ante (#39)
:D
Alacrity's Biggest Referral Contest, Yet! Alacrity has always loved new members - the growing community here has been an exciting one to watch evolve. Let's begin the next leg of the Alacrity community journey! Get the word out to all of your friends, get posts up all of your affiliate community boards, and tell everybody who will lend you their ear just how awesome Alacrity is!
You want to know what's in it for you? Other than a growing and more exciting community, of course ;)
We're super excited to tell you about the prizes which will make this this referral contest the best one ever!
- First Place: $500,000, 50 Bones, and any 3 items of your choice! (custom accessory copies excluded)
- Second Place: $300,000, 30 Bones, and any 1 item of your choice! (custom accessory copies excluded)
- Third Place: $100,000, and 10 Bones!
This referral contest will begin today (Tuesday, September 6th) and will run for just over two weeks (ending Friday, September 23rd)!
Don't forget, everybody; this is about referring members who will come to stay and play with us! And because somebody thinks they can cheat the system each time we host a referral contest, do us all a favor and
don't cheat. We will catch you and you will be banned. That will make us feel bad :( So just don't do it, okay?
Now, go forth and refer!
And don't forget to check out the new animated referral banner on the
referral page!
As always, with love,
The Alacrity Staff
P.S.
Don't forget about the Newbie Raffle stuff below! 
