Thank You For the Good Times

Greetings to all agents and readers. It is with a heavy heart that we announce the closure of the AJSASS. Now, you're probably wondering why we have suddenly decided to close our doors for good. We'd like to take the time now to explain why we have decided to make this decision.

As we're sure many of you have noticed, there is way less scamming in AJPC than when we first started. Don't get us wrong, this is a good thing! However, fewer scammers mean that there is less content to post. Additionally, the majority of our agents have retired over the last several months, and those who are still with us are still struggling to keep things running. It is difficult to keep up a consistent posting schedule when you're dealing with a lack of time/motivation, and even more so when there are statistically fewer scams taking place to be posted about.

We tried to revive the already dying society by attempting to expand into other games and platforms. We had an action plan written up to detail the steps we should take in order to proceed with the change. Unfortunately, we hit considerable roadblocks during this plan that made it impossible to continue with. Furthermore, we feared that suddenly switching our blog to be about a different game entirely would alienate our viewers who were only interested in posts about Animal Jam. With no guarantee that a switch in demographic would result in better blog performance, we decided it was a risk that we couldn't afford to take. We were quickly running out of options and had no choice but to confront the elephant in the room.

In the survey we put out last month, nearly all responders agree that Animal Jam Classic as a whole is on the decline, with fewer overall active players than there once was. To anyone who has been keeping up with Animal Jam over the past year or so, this isn't exactly a secret. The game is updated very infrequently, leaving players with little incentive to keep playing as there is no new content to enjoy. This is exacerbated by the fact that many places in the world are starting to roll back restrictions and safety measures introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of AJPC's players, including our agents and staff, are going back to school and/or taking on new responsibilities and thus have less time to devote to the game. The Animal Jam community as a whole is drying up, and it's hard for us to justify putting so much time and effort into blogging about a topic that few people have an interest in anymore.

With all that being said, we really don't want to give the impression that we will resume posting once things pick back up. With the current situation, it is very unlikely that we will be able to regain the momentum that we once had during the height of the pandemic. The future is too uncertain for us to make any promises. Additionally, even if we were able to pick up posting again, our efforts are somewhat pointless if there is no one reading our posts. As AJPC continues to be neglected in terms of new content with no signs of things changing anytime soon, we don't know if the game's popularity will ever return to its former state. Therefore, we have decided to make it official that our team's operations will be ceasing indefinitely.

We would like to thank all the agents who have joined and worked with us over the years and poured their time into helping raise awareness of scamming in Animal Jam. Thank you for bearing with us and working tightly to keep the society functional! We would also like to thank every viewer who read our posts, left us comments, applied to join, submitted scammers to us, and more. Thanks for sticking with us through the highs and lows, and we are sorry that things had to come to an end like this.

Rest assured, the blog itself is not going anywhere! All of our existing content will be available for you to see, however, we will not be publishing any additional content. Our Agent Applications and Report Scammers forms will also be closed effective immediately.

Closure aside, the society Discord server will still be up for those of you who want to chat. We can't guarantee a decent level of activity, but it is an easy way to contact us should you have any questions.

We've come to the end of this post. Thank you again, from the bottom of our hearts to everyone who played a part in the society, be it an agent or reader.

As always, stay safe and jam on!

-The SASS Staff

Audience Survey

Howdy everyone, Danny here. Apologies for the very infrequent posting as of late, and thank you for bearing with us despite that. I unfortunately do not have any super exciting news for you all today, but I do have a small announcement.

The AJSASS Staff have put together a survey that we want viewers of the blog and users of our Discord server to fill out for us! The survey has three main sections focused on different topics: the first is specifically about the posts we make here on the blog, the second is about general opinions on Animal Jam, and the final section is about social media usage.

This survey is completely optional of course, but we would really appreciate getting as many responses as we can to ensure the data we collect is accurate. You do not have to respond to every section and are welcome to skip any questions you don't want to answer or questions that don't apply to you. If you have any friends who play Animal Jam (Classic or Play Wild), even if they are not familiar with our blog, they can fill out the survey as well and simply skip the first couple of questions.

You can fill out the survey here.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and it would really help if you took some time to fill out the survey! ;)

Update Post - September

Hello everyone! Today, I present the update covering the events of September. This update will be quite short, and I apologize for the lack of content lately.

First, I'd like to congratulate Agent Snow for winning the sapphire prize for scammer posts in September! Congratulations!

Also, I'd like to congratulate Agent Snow for being promoted to Sigma! Congratulations on that too!

Next, we didn't see the influx of new agents as we hoped. Additionally, our report form is almost dry. As a result, our activity in September almost hit a dead point. Therefore, we felt that it would be best to freeze posting starting this month, until we feel that we are ready to post again. We will still post update posts along the way to keep you updated on things in the society. But other than that, we won't be posting our other types of posts unless it's really important. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Finally, with the freezing of posts, we will undergo a lot of change and restructuring. We are considering expanding our watch to different children's games that have a scamming issue. The first one we are considering is Roblox. Though, that is only one of many possibilities. If you know any other children's games that could have a scamming problem, please drop it in the comments, or let us know on Discord!

That's all the updates for now. I truly hope we will soon be able to sort the society restructuring out and start posting normally again. As always, stay safe and jam on!

-Dew

Random Saturday Ep. 96: Diamond Shop Spikes

 

Hey guys!Agent Pluto here with this week's Random Saturday! Today I'm going to be covering diamond shop spikes on AJPC and their worths! Diamond shops spikes have been in Animal Jam Classic for years but some newer jammers might not know their history! 

First, we have the "First-Gen" diamond spike collars from 2013:

These spikes also came in wrists of the same colors and both are coveted items by collectors and normal players alike. These spikes were originally sold for 3 diamonds each. They are worth from a bad long collar to even two black longs. 

Next, we have the "First-Gen" diamond short collars from 2015:

These spikes came in 8 colors, black, light blue, turquoise, green, peach, purple, pink, and white. they also came in wristbands of the same color. These collars sold for 3 diamonds each. Every color of this spike is worth one den beta each. 

Now, we have the worn spike collars from 2017:

These collars, unlike the rest on this list, were a nonmember item. They also came in wristbands that were also nonmember. These collars were sold for 3 diamonds each. These collars are worth a bad long collar each because of their nonmember status. 

Lastly, we some other miscellaneous spikes from over the years:

These honorable mentions include the Ancient Spike Collar, the Blackout Spike Collar, the Solid Gold Spike Collar, the Magenta Spike Collar, the Mythic Spike Collar, and the Rainbow Spike Collar. all of these spikes were sold for around 3 diamonds each. they are all worth around a clothing beta each.

Welp, that is a wrap on this week's random Saturday! See you all next time

This is Agent Pluto, blasting off. 

Random Saturday Ep. 95: Pack Runs

Hello everyone! It's Rose writing this week's Random Saturday. 

This week's topic will be about Pack Runs on AJPW. 

Pack Runs are rotational events that are hosted every time of the year, which have different items to collect on the run, and they also give different prizes. A few examples of existing events include Crab-A-Rama, Delightful Deliveries, and Jolly Jamaalidays. 

During a Pack Run, which can consist of up to 8 members in the same pack, players can pick up the item designated to earn points towards a collective goal. 

Another way points can be earned is to perform a specific action or display a certain emote on a pothole. 

After points are collected, they can be dropped off at a platform, which counts them as part of the goal that the team should achieve. 

After these points build up individually, players can buy prizes with them — most of these prizes come in sets and match with each other! 

Have fun exploring this feature, and that's all for this week's Random Saturday! 

✿

Agent Insights Ep 70: Good and Bad Personal Information

Hello everyone! The AJSASS staff and Agent Galaxy are here to talk about personal information. To be more specific, we'd like to go into detail about what personal information is ok to share with others, and what is not.

You've probably been told before that you shouldn't share personal information on the internet. Generally, you shouldn't, but some information is okay to share. There is even some information that is only ok to share in certain situations. This post was made to provide a general list of types of information and when it's okay to share it. If you're ever in doubt about whether or not you should be sharing a certain type of information, it's always safer to not share it.

Information like your first name, what country you live in, or your pets' names is generally alright to share. This information can't be used to find out personal information about who you are or where you live. Other things like your gender, race, etc. are also very vague, general descriptors that are very unlikely to harm you. Things like the city you live in or the neighborhood you're from are much more questionable. This is because it can be combined with other information you provide to physically pinpoint your location. A specific city or neighborhood is much smaller than say, a country or state. Hence, people with malicious intent will be able to make more use of the information about your city/neighborhood than your country/state.

On a similar note, you shouldn't tell people stuff like the name of the school you go to/used to go to, your last name, phone number, or other stuff that can be used to locate you or personally identify you. In general, you don't want to give information that can be pieced together to find you. Therefore, it is very important to keep track of what you tell others to make sure you don't accidentally reveal too much about yourself. Predators will probably keep a list of what was said so that they can piece together information to form specific deductions. It is your job to make sure that they do not have enough information to piece together.

It should also be noted that some information, such as your first pet's name, your mother's maiden name, and random family members' names can be used in verification questions that appear when you change a password. If you have ever made an account on a website before, you may have been asked to create "security questions" to provide additional protection for your account. These questions are usually along the lines of "what was the name of your first pet?" or "what was the name of your 1st grade teacher?". You should remember what information you've used in such questions and avoid giving it out to strangers. Otherwise, they could use the information to break into your account.

Be wary of posts people share that ask you to combine multiple pieces of info to form a "nickname" of some sort. For example, you have probably seen posts that say something like "your superhero name is the color of the shirt you're wearing right now + the closest object on your left side!". This question is pretty innocuous and is simply a silly joke post. The information it asks for is vague, random, and could not be used to identify you. On the other hand, a question that says something like "your undercover identity is the name of your first pet + your mother's maiden name" is likely not as innocent. People who post those kinds of interactable images that ask for very targeted information are likely attempting to phish for answers to security questions.

Telling people your age is also generally safe, as it cannot be used to personally identify you. That being said, it is not a requirement and it is perfectly fine to not want other internet users to know how old you are. Additionally, be cautious around anyone who pressures you into sharing your age or makes a big deal out of how old you are. If you are hanging out with somebody older than you or whose age you don't know, who continually comments on how "mature" you are for your age or how long it is until you turn 18, it's highly encouraged that you cut contact with them. These tactics are often used by adults preying on teenagers and children. Remember that, if anyone on the internet is making you uncomfortable or simply giving you bad vibes, you DO NOT have to keep talking to them! There's nothing wrong with blocking other users, even if they haven't specifically done anything wrong.

Another thing that should generally be avoided is real-life images of yourself. As mentioned before, don't give online friends a way to track you down. There are ways for people to find out a lot about you from just one image, so don't send it. This also applies to sending images of places near your location. For example, do not send a picture of the outside of your house/other houses in your neighborhood, a landmark near where you live, etc. Most importantly, don't ever feel pressured to send a real image of yourself because the other party did. You do not know if the image they sent is really them. Even if it is, you are never obligated to ignore your boundaries.

Finally, don't give your financial information to anyone that isn't a trustworthy site. This is because people can steal the information given to take money from you, or use your account to pay their bills.

Please note that the list we have here is definitely not exhaustive. However, the general rule of thumb still stands: do not give the other party enough information to be able to track you down or personally identify you.

That's all for this post! Remember to stay safe!

-The SASS staff and Agent Galaxy

Random Saturday Ep 94: The History of Crystal Sands

Hey guys! Agent Pluto here back with another Random Saturday! Today, I am going to continue talking about the Beta period of AJPC! This time I am covering the history of Crystal Sands, and how it was different in the Beta period.

To recap, the Beta period was a time in Animal Jam Classic before it was fully released to the public. The game was very new and is much different than how it is today. Today, we are going to look at how Crystal sands have changed from the Beta period to now.

Let's start with how it looked in the beta period:

Clearly, Crystal Sands has gone through some pretty drastic changes from the Beta period to now. But, some of the layouts have stayed the same. We still have Captin Melvins Juice Hut in the same spot and the rock formations are similar.

The outside of Captin Melvins looks almost identical to how it looks now. From what we know, this image shows the spawn point. But overall it looks very similar to how it looks now.

We have no images of how captain Captin Melvins looked in the Beta. But from the information we know, it was a large tropical-themed room with the claw game and the iconic smoothie machine.

Let's take a look at Crystal Sands now:

As you can see, a lot was added to Crystal sands. while we still have the rocks and oddly green water. We now have Tierney's Aquarium, a museum that teaches you about all sorts of marine life. We also have new games such as Overflow, Double Up, and the Pet Wash. another addition is 4 new water slides that lay within the original rocks. Also, you can now travel underwater by walking off the 2 docks within the water. Which either take you to Crystal Reef of Kani Cove!

This concludes another chapter of The beta period in Animal Jam Classic. I hope you guys enjoy these Beta posts as much as I do.

That's all for this week's Random Saturday!

~pluto

Update Post - August

Hey all, Jade here with your update for the week of August!

First of all, we'd like to congratulate Galaxy for winning our monthly post contest! Great job catching the most scammers this month!

We've been discussing recruitment techniques and strategies recently, and hope to see an influx of new agents in the upcoming months. If you have any interest in joining the society, please head over to our Joining page and read through the information there!

If you aren't interested in joining the society but still want to contribute, you can submit scammers you find (with appropriate proof) to our Scammer Report Form, which we always appreciate.

Finally, if you aren't yet in our Discord server, we would love if you joined! Among many things, we host semi-weekly game nights and monthly events that anyone is welcome to participate in. We hope to see you there!

That's all for this month- stay safe, everyone, and Jam On!