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User Lookup Spotlight Canceled

Posted by Dave on February 17, 2026, 4:36 pm NST

With today's news update, the User Lookup Spotlight has had its last winner announced, and has officially been canceled.

This change is one of the first noticeable changes that TNT Adler is implementing across the different creative spotlights on Neopets. In last week's Neopian Times, the Ask Adler section indicated that more contests are on the chopping block or at risk of being scaled back.

Specifically, changes to the Poetry Contest and Storytelling Contest are also on their way. It is unknown which other contests/spotlights will be canceled.

TNT has said that you can submit your thoughts on the upcoming changes to the new Ask Adler section of the Neopian Times by submitting an editorial question:

Submit Feedback to Ask Adler »

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There are 110 comments below. Add yours!

disheartening

by rochellu on February 17, 2026 5:12 PM NST

This angers and disgusts me. Shame on them!

by nobody on February 17, 2026 5:21 PM NST

Updating is an ongoing issue anyway.

by anydarnedthingeez on February 17, 2026 5:22 PM NST

Pillory and rotten negg them.

by nobody on February 17, 2026 5:22 PM NST

They couldn't handle posting something one a month....the form is still open tho

by academy on February 17, 2026 5:26 PM NST

Ok... This is the straw that broke the camel's back! I have not been able to even do dailies today. Access denied all across Neopets. It appears to me that they are taking away all the FREE things to do/win... avatars, trophies and nps and replacing them with Neo Cash fortune cookies and other items to use in order to get items, avatars and trophies. They don't want to waste their "space" to display items for those not PAYING to play. Thinning out the FREE gamers is apparently the name of this game! I am so done!

by msstarshine2003 on February 17, 2026 5:45 PM NST

We barely have any contests left. This is so sad. I hope they won't cancel the customization spotlight.

by josie on February 17, 2026 5:50 PM NST

Or the gallery spotlight.

by josie on February 17, 2026 5:50 PM NST

I really wonder how many viable entries they still get for certain site contests. Like yeah, not defending or denying it's sad to see contests going away, but was it the same handful of people entering the contests every time or does it *purely* come down to staff availability?

If the beauty contest goes away I'll be heartbroken

by deerkibble on February 17, 2026 6:09 PM NST

Willing to bet that they're closing userlookup spotlight first because they plan to make userlookups "mobile friendly" soon and they think this will make people less upset about their CSS being ruined.

by hollyfrosty on February 17, 2026 6:11 PM NST

This is so disappointing. I remember Neopets as the place all of us learned HTML and CSS because we were always decorating our lookups and submitting them for contests. It was a great playground for learning. I don’t want to see all these avenues for our creative development fall away.

by zelda on February 17, 2026 6:13 PM NST JN Staff

neopets staff when they have to actually work on the website:

neopets staff when its time to develop merch that only americans and canadians will reasonably be able to buy: hooray yipeee

by graevyard on February 17, 2026 6:17 PM NST

Well this makes me sad. I've been working on my coding with the hope one day to completely code my own lookup and gallery to enter the spotlights.

by miss_colly on February 17, 2026 6:23 PM NST

This is a core aspect of this site, the creative express and community contribution. If the site turns into only purchasing new neocash for the rest of existence what's the point of playing?

by araeveya on February 17, 2026 6:31 PM NST

just delete the site then and just push merch cause what

by cuddlytoaster on February 17, 2026 6:34 PM NST

“We barely have any contests left. This is so sad. I hope they won't cancel the customization spotlight.“

They wouldn’t understand never take away customization spotlight because people but their Neocash items. I mean I could be wrong, but just really sad about the whole thing at the moment.

TWO people on the Neopian Times editing team. Where do they put their resources from the premium and merchandise they’re selling?

Surely not into their two employees pockets or making the site usable to non premium players.

by _amethysts on February 17, 2026 6:34 PM NST

Ugh autocorrect

They wouldn’t ever take away customization spotlight because people buy their Neocash items. I mean I could be wrong, but just really sad about the whole thing at the moment.

by _amethysts on February 17, 2026 6:35 PM NST

How long until The Neopian Times gets cutt?

by novusangellite on February 17, 2026 6:35 PM NST

I bet it is because of AI

by absolutejudith on February 17, 2026 6:41 PM NST

If there weren’t enough entries they could have added prizes and an avatar. The trophy isn’t enough to really boost engagement. I feel like this could have been handled way better, communicated even. It just feels so bleak and like the old neopets is dying off for good.

by nightshadeswiftswing on February 17, 2026 6:42 PM NST

hollyfrosty, you have a very strong point imo. That would make sense and im interested to see if thats whay they'll do

by _sissiy_sis_369 on February 17, 2026 6:42 PM NST

Agree, this is disturbing! I have been coding and designing my profile since early 2023 and constantly been entering without winning. I worked several days worth on the original design and then several days every few months of making updates to it. Each time I re-entered, I even left an detailed description of what the visitor would see on the screen. I used all of my imagery from Dr. Sloth and Item DB! My lookup is a visual representation of the Kougra novel I am writing! I did get a response back at one time that some font at one point was "too difficult to read" so I fixed it and was so proud of it finally looking really unique and perfectly legible! My last entry was spent early this morning doing a new redesign before they pulled the plug! I am taking documentation screenies to display on a page if ever they remove this design of profiles altogether where we can't enter code anymore because it will be "mobile-friendly UI".

by _ahre_ on February 17, 2026 6:43 PM NST

common tnt L

by 2can_oldman on February 17, 2026 6:46 PM NST

If it's retired because they plan to update userlookup customization and then relaunch it in another form in the future? Cool, cool. Please, even.

If they're just wiping creative contests off the face of the site? And/or profile coding? I'm gonna, uh. Hmm.

I mostly play Neopets for the creative aspects. I learned HTML and CSS FOR coding neo stuff. If those go away I guess I will, too.

by gun on February 17, 2026 6:48 PM NST

Very obviously transparent that this Adler staff member was chosen to be the face of this initiative in order to take the heat off of Dom.

Very obvious.

Cutting back on this type of content will completely kill the spirit of the game. This game dies when the anchors who have been playing for 25 years are pushed out for quick and easy monitization in lieu of user-driven content.

by flightofjay on February 17, 2026 7:04 PM NST

This contest is truly outdated and has been lost to time. It has absolutely no need to exist. Let's not let nostalgia win this time. Good decision. They should focus on more interesting contests with greater participation.

by allanmennezess on February 17, 2026 7:09 PM NST

@allanmennezess Found Adler.
Seriously though, if we just roll over and take this, there will be no more contests. Just a bunch of pay to play BS that will eventually be the death of the site.

by nugget on February 17, 2026 7:26 PM NST

More evidence of their absolute... DUNG way of handling everything. Their communications team should all be fired. Assuming they even have one, rather than a couple raccoons in a trench coat.

They appear to have zero strategy to anything they do. They appear to not care at all about the community, or about the devoted fans who have made Neopets what it is. Either that, or they really are that totally incompetent.

They should never, ever cancel a beloved feature without replacing it with something new that is equally accessible to users (as opposed to available only to a few whales willing to shell out big cash). They should never deliver disappointing news without providing some bigger, happier news. These people have no clue what they're doing.

@allanmennezess Never can resist saying something callous at times like this, can you?

by neolodgeism on February 17, 2026 7:28 PM NST

I think it's worth scaling back on the contests, but I also think outright cutting one without a head's up isn't the best way to win people over in doing that though.

by jawbutch on February 17, 2026 7:32 PM NST

I can think of a few things that'd make it difficult to keep the spotlight going long term these days; AI being a big one and censorship in some countries causing some websites to be unsupported (Like Imgur here in the UK) and a possible dwindling percentage of the player base actively participating, yeah I can understand it even if I think it's a shame.

I think what really matters is coming up with something to replace the creative vacuum that comes with removing these features. I understand the need to update to Neopets viable but TNT needs to remember it's the old school charm that keeps a good majority of players around. Get rid of that nostalgia and you're loosing a good chunk of your most loyal player base that stuck around when Neo was at it's worse financially.

by artzyzero on February 17, 2026 7:40 PM NST

I was the 999 winner entry and it made a mess with the captcha shorcut ?place= people was using for their lookies, since then TNT didn’t fix the issue and made the contest monthly

I believe they just dont want to work more every week bc of this and is really annoying

by sukebxn on February 17, 2026 7:46 PM NST

I was surprised to see that, but they will be converting the user lookup page to the new layout before too long and I imagine that will break everyones codes.. maybe they will bring it back when that time comes. So many people criticize tnt over every single thing they do, but at least the site has consistent updates, they're working on bugs, they've given us events (good or bad), etc. Idk, I'm not saying tnt is perfect by any means, but they're still humans behind the screen. If I were them I would feel defeated by all the hate I would have to read about myself.

by dustin on February 17, 2026 7:57 PM NST

I will add: yes they should have given a heads up that specific contest was ending so people had a chance to enter for a final time.

by dustin on February 17, 2026 7:58 PM NST

Every single time it feels like these contests change, it's because of Adler. Poor quality judging, less frequency, claiming not enough entries (when more than enough people attested to entering something). Meanwhile AG does pretty good with a different judge. If entries HAVE gone down, it feels like it may be due to low expectations of the judging rather than desire to be creative.

Neopets thrives when its creative community is given a chance to shine. If Adler isn't able to do that sufficiently, someone else should.

by suzuka on February 17, 2026 8:27 PM NST JN Staff

It had always been my dream to win that but honestly I entered in the past with lookups and it was always denied so I kinda gave up.

Sob.

by alltimemarr on February 17, 2026 8:44 PM NST

I'm sort of doubtful about what percentage of the player base enters or even looks at userlookups anymore, but many people here have said that they've entered over and over for years and never won, so it's obviously a good enough number of people.
The mobile friendly code thing is very possible, but they're probably too low on staff to continue holding contests that don't interact with the paid aspects of the site, but at the very least there's absolutely no reason not to announce that the contest will be ending ahead of time by at least a few months.

by mercy_graves on February 17, 2026 8:54 PM NST

what was the goal here?? like how does this help anything (besides people being less invested in coding their own lookups)?

by sanajenko on February 17, 2026 9:14 PM NST

This feels like when Myspace moved to 2.0 layouts lol

by pawlie_gray on February 17, 2026 9:29 PM NST

If they replace this with another contest, or even "userlookup spotlight 2.0" then fine, but I highly doubt it's going to happen. All they're doing is killing the site. Creative contests are such an important part, and I have a feeling they'll continue chipping away at them (and everything else!) until the only thing left is NC and gachas.

by goldennightfox on February 17, 2026 9:37 PM NST

At this point, if they decide to just shut the whole website down tomorrow.. I wouldn't be surprised.

by silenceisgolden on February 17, 2026 9:50 PM NST

I know just enough about coding to change the colours on a premade

so I've personally never entered this and won't miss it. But I agree they could've handled this a lot better.
Give us a fair notice and then go out with a bang by selecting 5 winners for the final spotlight or something.

by biediep on February 17, 2026 10:07 PM NST

What Is going on, the comment section here Is scorching with anger

by maninshi on February 17, 2026 10:10 PM NST

I'm not getting out the pitchfork unless there's actual proof that a significant enough number of people actually enter these things, on a regular enough basis, to justify them with the site's current financial state.

by sakaarson on February 17, 2026 10:41 PM NST

This is disgusting. they are slowly removing the things that make neopets NEOPETS and replace it with cash grabs and ugly merch that has a generic "kawaii" style and not the neopets quirkyness that we all fell in love with. They have completely lost the plot (no pun intended)

by auberdine on February 17, 2026 11:12 PM NST

Remember when they cut the AC for the year (hopefully) so they could work on other things? Yeah. Me too. Wonder what else will be next.

by zenopeltis on February 17, 2026 11:13 PM NST

Lamest update this year.

by coffeecup24 on February 17, 2026 11:42 PM NST

Because it is always a good idea to discourage creativity~!

by apophis324 on February 17, 2026 11:58 PM NST

I think it would help a lot if this contest was simply less frequent - every other month? Once a season? If it's really SO much trouble to run... it's really sad that Neopets of all places is going to turn away from creative coding, the way the rest of the internet seems intent on... bland

by katie2510 on February 18, 2026 1:38 AM NST

I'm devastated, I was literally in the process of learning code and designing a layout.

by psycotro on February 18, 2026 1:44 AM NST

im devastated

by julianesj on February 18, 2026 1:54 AM NST

They keep removing features, but all they add are paid nothings...

by infernodragon02 on February 18, 2026 2:45 AM NST

If this is a prediction that they're going to cut out the ability to code your profile, I'm going berserk.

by helovias on February 18, 2026 3:15 AM NST

maybe they should just remove the customization spotlight instead.

the customization spotlight has become nothing but a glorified ad for Alt Style pets.
very few converted pets without an alt style or shape-changing nc items (ie: turning your pet into a petpet/faeriedoll/etc) ever win anymore. when they do it's the odd baby/mutant/maraquan or invisible. this has been discussed to death in customization chats... there is a clear favoritism with the judge of that contest. if you follow the winners each week to any degree it is clear as day.
i wish winning was left to the pure amount votes one gets just as the BC works instead of a judge stepping in to decide the final winner -- clearing pandering to alt styles as the winners -- because ofc we need to hype-up and sell more of them brushes in the mall.

the categories may as well be neopoint and alt-style.

thanks for coming to my ted talk

by inkpot on February 18, 2026 3:16 AM NST

Extremely curious decision to chop a creative contest in a website that already has so little to do besides the users themselves doing creative things.

And by curious I mean terrible.

by mustache on February 18, 2026 3:30 AM NST

I never entered, but I liked seeing the winners. Extremely disappointing. The fact they canceled Gadgadsbogen and Canceled Day suggested they couldn't handle the little "extra" holidays, so.. with canceling this, clearly they can't handle the little things of the month either? Can they handle literally anything except the flow and design oc NC items coming out? What's next, pet days too? Because TNT obviously just can't handle it?

by chickynsaucejn on February 18, 2026 3:30 AM NST

I fear the BC will get cut down, like it runs every other week or something.

by fenix on February 18, 2026 4:23 AM NST

@artzyzero with how prevalent AI generated images and code are i wouldn't be surprised. and with image hosting websites being censored in several countries (including attempts in the US) and neopets not natively supporting image hosting i would not be surprised if staff decided to give up the ghost. the lookup spotlight is a very old part of neopets and it's worth being disappointed at it being cut. but immediately pinning this as a malicious decision and not considering other factors that could contribute to it isn't constructive and "tnt clearly hates us" isn't well thought out criticism.

by darlingsenpai on February 18, 2026 4:58 AM NST

Not sad about this.

by horses_46569 on February 18, 2026 5:26 AM NST

I also wonder if it could also be due to stolen / AI works being used in lookups. I remember when sometimes, a direct SunnyNeo layout would be the winner - no edits, nothing. It even said "layout by SunnyNeo". I dunno how they judge these (like is it the same as the AG / BC where they only have a tiny thumbnail and get to manually set it aside or accept it as the winner? If they can read fonts, I assume it's not - but by how much?).

I've never aimed for lookup spotlight and hardly bother with lookups myself, but I'm still sad to see such an iconic contest leaving.

Also I really hope they don't screw up coding...Imagine every lookup being a sad, beige TikTok Neohome, EUGH.

by overboss on February 18, 2026 5:31 AM NST

If Adler is getting too bogged down, maybe its finally time to put some control into the player's hand.

Cancelling Spotlights/Competitions, especially ones which now only happen once a month, is NOT the way to go. If the workload is becoming too much and TNT don't have the resources themselves to handle the review work, why not let players have more control over the judging process?

Like for User Lookup, here's an idea: why not do what JN does for their Halloween Costume Contest?
* Gather all the entries and for the first week let players give "Yays" or "Nays"; half of those who got the most "Yays" make it through to next week. I'd also suggest including a "Fave" function so that if there's a User Lookup you like you can quickly find it again if it makes it into future rounds.
* Second week, say everyone gets 5 votes, and we look through the remaining entries and decide which 5 we want to continue on. Half of the entries that got the most votes move on to the final week.
* Third and final week, we get a Gold, Silver, and Bronze medal and pick what our ranking would be. Now we may have to experiment whether the winner is decided by how many of a specific medal they won OR each medal has a weighted value and it's the combined value which determines ranking.
* Fourth week the winners are shown and entries for next month are opened.

Would it be the perfect system? No, but I feel it's at least better than completely cancelling the contest.

by pikachu315111 on February 18, 2026 5:49 AM NST

This is egregious and upsetting

by samistarsyou on February 18, 2026 6:01 AM NST

hooray. cutting out more and more things to do and not adding anything new as a compensation. seriously, they could have at least said something like "but don't worry!!! we will add new things instead of the contest!!". instead it's just flat out cancellation news. wow. so glad i abandoned the main site for a while now

by metallica on February 18, 2026 6:20 AM NST

What if it's not due to workload but low entry counts and they're not being transparent enough? Ahh, I can dream.

by rodgerflint on February 18, 2026 6:21 AM NST

^ we can only beg for transparency with this team. i'm not asking for full transparency. just. give us a reason why this event was cancelled and if there is an idea to introduce something new in its place

by metallica on February 18, 2026 6:23 AM NST

This is very sudden and incredibly disappointing. If there was a reason for it, the least they could do is say why. And if it's due to lack of resources, there are other ways to handle it. Community voting and volunteers acting as mods to keep out anything inappropriate would almost make the contest run itself. I understand that things change, but at least TRY to work with the community.

by frozenwren on February 18, 2026 6:46 AM NST

NOOOOOO but that's like, a main feature of gameplay!! Without them, what can I really do?!

by polyhexian on February 18, 2026 6:49 AM NST

There is so little to do on the site, it's unfortunate to see creative avenues that provided a reason to do certain things being stripped away. I'd rather they run the contests less frequently but pick more winners or something, if it's a matter of time and resources.

by knightwriter2010 on February 18, 2026 7:30 AM NST

disappointed and gutted.

by peanutbuttermilk on February 18, 2026 7:49 AM NST

There goes one of the last motives I had to play neo.

Call me dramatic but just kill the site already if they're taking the plug on core aspects of the game without even a notice.

by calcious on February 18, 2026 7:49 AM NST

You can't even handle an objective opinion on the subject. It's depressing.
Yes, I still think the contest is outdated and makes no sense at all. We are living in the age of AI, where these codes and images are built from scratch in seconds. What's the point? Do you really think anyone is going to "practice HTML" with Neopets at this point?

That's life. Cyclical. The attachment to nostalgia cannot be stronger than the facts.

by allanmennezess on February 18, 2026 7:53 AM NST

my god what are they even DOING over there if they can't keep up with silly stupid days like Gadsgadsbogen Day??? How many times has the plot been pushed back?? The Altador Cup canceled?? They keep canceling all the events in which participation is free but giving us ZERO stuff in return. "they will not be going anywhere, they will just not have new reoccurring annual items" OKAY LIKE WAS TWO GADSGADSBOGEN ITEMS A YEAR REALLY THAT HARD????

geez louise these people are actually the laziest team I have ever seen

by purrmeister on February 18, 2026 8:00 AM NST

can't even handle the NT on a weekly basis anymore like not to be rude but even kindergarteners can put together a q&a in a week's time

by purrmeister on February 18, 2026 8:03 AM NST

Jumpstart TNT were trashed and trolled, but they loved the site more than the Dom squad. The absolute worst team in site's history continue to achieve new lows.

Their neocash casino and merch continue to be their main pride, while the site around is either left to rot or outright burned to ash.

The creative contests ARE Neo's heart.

by pancake on February 18, 2026 8:23 AM NST

ngl all the gutting of the free features of the site is making me not want to support it anymore, I have barely bought any NC recently compared to last year, and I might cancel my yearly premium...

by corginand on February 18, 2026 8:23 AM NST

I forgot it even existed so this doesn't bother me.

by samaanthag on February 18, 2026 8:25 AM NST

this is..... horrific

by gentlebutter on February 18, 2026 8:32 AM NST

It seems to be they are reactive and can't stick to a schedule. It's not a sustainable work environment by any means.

by benladesh on February 18, 2026 8:44 AM NST

I am surprised anyone is still surprised by moves this clown car admin makes.

by gweezunstad on February 18, 2026 8:50 AM NST

Well they cut back on good stuff and add little kid stuff(check neopass login!) Cute little thing to buy with real money.. So I have moved on ONLY to stop in to see if someone new OH I mean something new is talking over. AI's don't cut it!

by rosemarie2003 on February 18, 2026 9:01 AM NST

stupid to remove. It's not like a weekly thing and if it doesn't have many entrants, then choosing a winner should be even easier.
If it's that difficult, turn it into a CC or Neopies type thing and have the people vote with no allowance for advertising.
This is just one less thing for players to engage in. Adding solitaire when the original solitaire already works isnt any sort of indicator that this is a move to better anything.

by pandah on February 18, 2026 9:24 AM NST

Dang, if the cancellation of UL contest is a sign that they might remove profile customization altogether, I'm not optimistic. Page customization is my main attachment to neo. It's a fun passtime for me and I spend probably 80% of my time on that. If they start removing that, I'm out :1

by mintychocolatelover on February 18, 2026 9:43 AM NST

Being upset about it is one thing, being bitter about other people and contests is another thing and comes off as really petty.

by lightningzbolt on February 18, 2026 10:02 AM NST

This saddens me...

by boxtop01soda03 on February 18, 2026 10:34 AM NST

UGH. And of course I was working on a lookup that I was finally happy enough with to try and enter.
I wish they had said something before it was cancelled. Just to give long-time and returning players one last chance before it was gone. Maybe like a special final event where everyone who submitted an entry gets a trophy or avatar. ANYTHING would have been better then just ending it out of the blue.

by aristide on February 18, 2026 11:38 AM NST

What?! I learned HTML and CSS thanks to Neopets

by mmohawaii on February 18, 2026 12:20 PM NST

TNT: Tell us what you want to see on the site! We want to hear your feed back!

Also TNT: So we decided to not listen to anything you plebs have to say, and we decided to remove more free community content because LOL why not??

*Eyerolls*

by therubyfox23 on February 18, 2026 12:31 PM NST

@ graevyard canadian here, only americans have getting the merch and restaurant type collabs. we've gotten nothing in canada but the very very over priced cookbook from amazon.

by vampyrefay on February 18, 2026 1:00 PM NST

i cancelled premium over this. i encourage anyone that's disheartened by the prioritization over gatcha style elements + the slow conformity to a mobile dress up game > the creative elements that set this site apart to do the same (or at the very least, send in a ticket voicing your disappointment in this decision).

by rochellu on February 18, 2026 1:53 PM NST

I run too many neo projects, but if anyone wants to do a fan run User Lookup Spotlight (or anything similar) please neomail me (same name) and I'll get it listed on /~Petpage :3

by coolkaius on February 18, 2026 2:16 PM NST

I honestly didn't know they were still doing this spotlight until this announcement, whoops.

I only hope that some good comes of this in the form of maybe updating user and pet lookups somehow? They lag so hard on every device/browser I've tried, and I'd love to not have to deal with captchas to look at pets. :' )

by aneon on February 18, 2026 2:36 PM NST

Why? They're probably to lazy to change it to the new type of website.

by fantasygirl23 on February 18, 2026 2:42 PM NST

...They've been steadily converting parts of the site, why wouldn't they update those? We just got updates to the petpet lab and also the garage sale, didn't we?

by aneon on February 18, 2026 3:24 PM NST

I thought they were cancelling it because people were using AI to cheat and code it for them. But now I'm hearing people say they're doing it because they want to make more money? I don't know how that would help them earn money, but I'm also being told to delete my account, sell all my neomerch, and let Dom know he's worse than Jumpstart on social media, so idk what to think. Also all the people saying the merch collabs are US only: Up until the Gong Cha collab they were CALIFORNIA only.

by akarroa on February 18, 2026 3:27 PM NST

I have never entered into a contest in my 16+ years on Neopets. I do peruse them occasionally and I enjoy seeing the winners, etc. This is not a good move at all, IMO. I hope these contests return in the near future.

by murpha21 on February 18, 2026 3:29 PM NST

People are way overreacting to this and acting like every other aspect of the site is bad and done for and I think things have been going well, I'm happy with the site. I don't get the mindset to blow up outrage over something they personally feel strongly about and make everything seem bad and not even consider other perspectives and viewpoints.

by lightningzbolt on February 18, 2026 3:36 PM NST

Considering they've only recently started to turn a profit, I can't help but worry that people pulling support isn't going to equal "Whoops, our bad! We'll change things back!", it's going to equal "We have to cut even more content as we don't have enough funds to justify adding new things or re-adding old things"

by aneon on February 18, 2026 3:39 PM NST

I've never even tried entering the user lookup spotlight since I can't code my own lookup/layout for anything, but I'm still incredibly disappointed to see yet another classic feature of the site gutted. I wish they had considered different ways to keep it around (perhaps make it more appealing, like with an avi prize or something, if engagement was the issue - but from these comments, it doesn't sound like that was the issue) instead of close it down. It would be heartening to see the contest (and other classic contests, tbh!) return in an improved way, if that was an option in the future. I hope it will be.

by lilster47 on February 18, 2026 4:01 PM NST

Idk I thought it was just me, but maybe they stopped because the sites layout will eventually change like the conversion from way back?
There is a growing population of personal websites lately and I feel like that would hugely benefit sites like Neopets(when it comes to HTML/CSS).. I don't know though.

by mzlish on February 18, 2026 5:27 PM NST

I reaaaaally hope they take all this backlash into account. I doubt it, but.. yikes. </3 how sad.

by shaymusall on February 18, 2026 5:30 PM NST

It's not the removal of the contest that is the issue per se, the real issue is the removal of beloved site features, and replacing them with... nothing. They're destroying a deeply ingrained culture on Neopets that's been flourishing for decades, while giving no new venue for expressing or engaging in that culture.

Alongside that is the lack of any reasonable communication around these things, so that there's no time to prepare and no closure.

This all comes in the context of a half-converted site, mobile games that don't pretend to still be in proper development and that continually run phoned in events that seek to foster and profit from FOMO, cancelled and badly broken events, a plot that's embarrassingly badly implemented and has taken... how many years is it now? to finish, rapidly escalating pay to win features, constant constant constant gachas and gambling features, etc. etc.

If it seems like people are overreacting it's because their ire isn't just about the removal of features they love, it's because their ire has been building and collecting more ire over the course of years. The ire is about the entire picture, of which this is just another straw that's breaking the (camel? donkey?) beast of burden's back.

by neolodgeism on February 18, 2026 5:44 PM NST

oh! i see they are still doing everything except making the site work properly...

i did expect a lot this upon seeing that Dom is a crypto/nft bro, but it is upsetting to watch the site slowly wither away while they milk every dollar they can out of merch sales

by felinegurl on February 18, 2026 10:34 PM NST

This is really sad considering Neo is why most of the coders here ever learned how to do it in the first place. My own lookup isn't fancy whatsoever but I had pride in customising it to be fun and useful, and I always checked out the spotlight winners just to admire the work of those more skilled than myself. REALLY hope this doesn't mean they're removing the UL customisation option entirely...

by kaiwolf on February 19, 2026 1:33 AM NST

ugh why finish the cool lookup i was working on for months....

by xxemoaishaxx on February 19, 2026 2:15 AM NST

@allanmennezess What's the point of anything then if we are living in the "age of AI"? What's the point of writing, drawing, or doing anything? Of thinking, even? Oh, I know: it's to live. I don't know if people still practice HTML on the site but I'm sure there are a few who do. Even in this comment thread, you have people saying they entered the contest recently. Cutting out stuff just for the sake of them being "outdated" leaves us just with souless and corporate trash.

Neopets used to be one of the few places left where that wasn't happening but, as time passes, it seems like the site is following the same fate that 99% of the internet is. So sad.

If they replaced the contest with something else, or if they made acontest every 4-6 months or something like that, it would have been good. Like, how much time can an employee spend reviewing entries?
I'm not blaming any individual here, just the corporate behind it. I'm not against modernizing the site (for it to survive). but things like this leave a sour taste in my mouth.

by maga_m on February 19, 2026 6:45 AM NST

it is exhausting watching this site rot from the inside out while dom law and the rest of the staff ignore every single thing that actually matters to the players. the constant stream of mistakes and the blatant disregard for the community is pathetic at this point. dom keeps talking about a revival and being hands on but all he is doing is overseeing the gutting of features that have been the lifeblood of this game for twenty five years. it is gross to watch you replace actual gameplay with soulless corporate cash grabs and ugly merchandise that nobody wants. first you killed the altador cup last year by turning it into a hollow shell and now you are permanently axing gadgadsbogen and the user lookup spotlight while pretending we would not notice. even the advent calendar has become a joke. after everyone hated the embarrassing, low quality artwork from the year before, you responded by giving us hardly any comics at all this past year, which felt like a direct punishment for our valid criticism of your shitty art department. it is painfully obvious that dom is just milking the remaining player base for every cent they have through gambling gachas and neocash while the actual website is left to crumble in real time. you talk about modernization but all we see is a team that seems too lazy or incompetent to handle even the simplest traditions without failing. you are systematically killing the spirit of the game by pushing out creative fans and deleting beloved history in favor of whale catering. if the goal is to drive neopets into the ground then congratulations because you are doing a fantastic job of alienating the only people who still actually care.

by vanque on February 19, 2026 8:25 AM NST

@maga_m Your speech is very emotional, when TNT is being rational. Even if there are 10 people in this thread saying they signed up for the contest, hundreds aren't participating. Probably the proportion of players who participate is minimal compared to users who prefer to customize Neopets, for example. Therefore, they want to dedicate themselves to other features. It's not that hard to understand. Let's say 500 people participate in a user base of 10,000. Is it worth maintaining a contest for 5%?

Your difficulty lies in letting go of something that's already in the past. There are people complaining who haven't participated in the contest in years, lol.

by allanmennezess on February 19, 2026 8:31 AM NST

It's very strange to take your anger out on other aspects of the site or what other people like. I'm not a contest person, I like customization, and I don't mind some events being truncated or simplified as I'm bad at them and don't have any issue with what the Advent Calendar had. There's a lot of "I'm upset so I'm taking it out on everything else" in here and it rubs me the wrong way. People who don't participate in contests and like customization are not an adversary. And if you like customizing your profile anyway, a contest ending shouldn't stop that, or it makes it seem like you openly cared at doing it for a chance to win, versus for the love of doing it. Passion wouldn't fade if it's no longer a contest, I would assume. I don't enter any contests on the site, never did, I still have passion for the parts of the site I play. The difference is that I'm bitterly taking potshots at everything else the site has, or what other users might prefer or participate in.

Being upset is one thing, but taking bitter potshots to everything else is just not.

by lightningzbolt on February 19, 2026 11:29 AM NST

The difference is that I'm NOT* bitterly taking potshots at everything else the site has, or what other users might prefer or participate in.

Gotta love typos. :')

by lightningzbolt on February 19, 2026 11:30 AM NST

I'm okay with this. It wasn't a contest I looked at often, and even when I previously wanted to enter it, I didn't because of the limitations with the code and (when I was interested) the very dominant style that kept winning over and over. It's been increasingly difficult to make something unique and creative with userlookups because of the code.

I'm hoping that they'll update more of the website's code and thus overhaul userlookups tbh. Just because something has been retired doesn't mean it'll never come back.

by coryldork on February 19, 2026 4:09 PM NST

TNT always reward the same basic clones themes and same neopets in this spotlight anyway and never ever look up on unique codes. Create a code and design it from A to Z without any help and kept the same user look up for years is something to be proud of and I'm glad when I received neomails from people telling me they like mine. I will had love getting this trophy, but the Ruki beast isn't a favorite.
I think it will had been better letting users vote just like the customization contest, it will have been more fair.

by thaurialiel_lelfe on February 20, 2026 7:43 PM NST

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