Here's what the topic starter on that thread said:
A conversation with my future mall leader left me wondering the above question. I was asking whether she wants me to join her mall, and she said she'd love it if I did, but: "The thing is, Neopets is dying sadly...so most people are getting less and less active, I don't want you to be disappointed with us if you join. Some of my mallers take like a week to upgrade the banner sigh..."
That statement made me think a bit. I don't know what I think about it. It does seem that as far as malls go, it's been harder and harder to find reliable ones as many mall members fail to keep their shops stocked due to inactivity. At the same time, I've noticed a big fall in shop sales over the years. But that could just be that malls are less profitable now that the Shop Wiz is so prominently linked to and that Neo is pretty dead at this time of year.
As far as the rest of Neo goes, it seems that people are still entering contests, buying NC items, etc.... but Neo has been around for a long time, and it's bound to become unprofitable and thus die someday. I don't like thinking about it, because we all love playing it so much and have grown attached to it and have put so much work into it.
But I do think that the initial popularity it enjoyed among the general population is more or less gone. For example, when I was in elementary school, everyone was making Neopets accounts. But it's probably never going to be a big fad like that again because it's not as "new" anymore. I don't know anybody IRL who still plays, but I used to know a lot.
Those are just a couple loosely formed thoughts in my head. I just wanted to see what others thought too, because the above statement was worrisome to me.
What has been your experience? Do you think that Neopets is on the decline? Are people getting less active? Are there less users signing up and playing? Have you noticed a change? And how do you feel about all of this? Any thoughts?
