There are Webpage Review Groups out there that stick out like mountains. They are good-quality reviewers whose comments, even if they are abrasive, brash, or cold, are worth taking note of. These WPRs have built a reputation of service to the Sailormoon Online Community, and making sure that their readers are shown the best (or worst, depending on the WPR) Sailor Moon-based websites on the Internet.

And then there's the Needleleaf Society.

There are WPRs out there who offer webpage advice, and some go so far, and are helpful enough to actually do work for novice webmasters. These kind souls are earning good public relations with each good act.

And then there's the Needleleaf Society.

Most WPRs update their sites regularly, the longest being just under a month. Some WPRs get so many requests that they decide to review multiple sites. The clear reason for this is so that they can continue to help the steady stream of customers and at the same time, keep the net-surfer aware of the changing face of the Sailormoon Online Community.

And then there's the Needleleaf Society.

Now you might be saying to yourself, "Self, why is Artemis harping about a WPR, especially one that I've never heard of?" To which I would reply: "You know, talking to yourself is a sign of insanity."

Actually, I would tell you that a couple of years or so ago, the Needleleafs were mentioned on the same breath as the Amazoness Quartet. They were among the elite of the WPRs, and I imagine, as a member of a WPR that recently was shown what influence such a group can have, I imagine that the Needleleafs had that much power and influence, and more.

In late 1998, the Needleleafs took what they later called a "hiatus". I don't begrudge them that. It is not my concern if a WPR or a webmaster needs some time off, or if they brun out on Sailor Moon. At the time, in fact, the Luna Foundation was still growing, I was still implementing the basics of what would become an award-winning site (I have yet to receive the graphic), and I was too busy raising hell within the community to worry about the affairs of one of the elites.

That all changed in July of 1999, as the Luna Foundation got its first birthday celebration off the ground. The Needleleafs announced their return, and in their premiere issue of their new review page, the Luna Foundation got blasted as its July "Suck Page".

Here is their review:

Aluminum Siren

This site just HURTS MY HEAD. It's ugly, confusing, and just plain dull. When I visited, I was greeted by what is probably the longest entrance page ever made! It had piles and piles of text, and a whole bunch of links, which almost fooled me into thinking that it was the main index. The hair-brained setup was enough to get me feeling nauseous. The actual main index isn't quite as cluttered or offensive, but all of it was indented way over, so I had to scroll sideways to see it. Side-scrolling is a HUGE no-no! Another huge annoyance was having that big skanky navigation table at either the top or the bottom of EVERY SINGLE PAGE. The on-site navigation should NOT take away from the main content of the page, and that excessively large table does just that.

I think it's funny that he has pages offering design advice and background images, because his page is just NOT WORTHY of giving out this kind of advice! He has a lot of confidence in his ability, but it is too bad that he doesn't HAVE the ability he thinks he does.

The content also makes me sick in many cases. He tries to write original profiles, and they're decent enough, but there are some annoying aspects of it. First off, it's a DiC-based page, which is already pretty awful, but this guy also can't spell the name of the main character right. Hearing about Serena is bad enough, but hearing about "Sarena" is just irritating. It is also obvious that this guy considers himself some kind of martyr or misunderstood sage, looking at his opinion-based content. The Square of the Village Idiot was filled with one-sided and inaccurate tales of his problems with other people in the SMC, and all it really showed was that he's trying to gain sympathy from whoever might visit that doesn't know what really happened. I know I don't like everyone I meet in the SMC either, but you don't see me posting "This person is a moron because I say so" articles in MY column! The rest of the content doesn't do much for me either, and seems to be there more for his benefit than the visitor's. Please, just skip this page if you want to save your sanity.

Lead Crow

The Luna Foundation Headquarters.. ugh. It seems the site has some potential buried way down under the unorganized navigation, cluttered pages, incorrect spellings of the dub names (it's SERENA, damn it), and the whole 1996 deal going on. I go to the index, wait almost a minute for it to load, only to find out I'm really not inside at all, and that I've been waiting for a huge cluttered splash. UGH. The webmaster feels confident enough to give tips when it's obvious he needs to take some himself.

How to improve from my point of view:

-get rid of the cluttered and confusing splash and have your main page as the index. -try out arial or verdana as a font -lose the "Square of the Village Idiot".. come on. It's so petty, NO ONE CARES about it. It's only going to make the newbie more confused. -Implement a new navigation system. The blue table is just too much.. and it's not even on every subpage. (timeline) Try splitting the site into smaller and more general categories.. -on the timeline page, state clearly what belongs in Sailormoon and what belongs in the fanfic -fix the broken links on the big table that needs to go. I've found about 6 or so. -Serena, not Sarena

Like Iron Mouse, I'm willing to help with simple problems. ([email protected])

Iron Mouse

Upon visiting this page I decided I wanted to know exactly how long it took to load. I cleared my cache and hit reload and counted.

36 seconds.
On a 56K high-speed modem.
With a connection rate of 50,000 bps.

I'm afraid I find this more that a little ridiculous. Once I loaded it up I couldn't even find my way inside! I scrolled up and down until I noticed that the picture at the top was the gateway to the "real" body of the site. This site really reminds me of the "Old School" sailormoon websites, and not in a good way.

The navigation system really leaves something to be desired - maybe some synide? However the information provided in most cases is accurate. Wait..what's this? The Square of the Village Idiot? I have nothing against this sort of thing normally, hell the NLS has a "Miss Congeniality" feature that bears some semblance to this, but the difference is that we try to be fair to both sides, this personal obviously doesn't care to. I don't think I have time to really go too deep with this review, so we'll leave it at this and give the author a few tips to make it more enjoyable, it does have potential.

- make your index page your main page, people don't want to spend half of the day waiting on a page to load and find that it's only a splash screen. - If you're going to specialize in the DiC version (there's nothing wrong with that) make sure to research your topic. Sarena isn't the way it's spelled and it's likely to give people an excuse to speak against you and your site. - Look at some professional websites. C-NET, MSN, IBM, Apple, anything like that, and get a feel for their navigation system. Don't copy (because that would be wrong, right?) but try and form your own unique idea, let them inspire you. - use font tags! You have no idea how much better a site can look when you ditch the default Times New Roman and go for verdana or arial.

I can't speak for my fellow Needleleaves, but I'm always willing to help with some simple html problems. ([email protected]).

Heavy Metal Papillon

Click on the picture to go to the main page, eh? Then what's all this stuff down here? *scrolls* Some ugly graphics that must've come from the SM Toolbox, but probably belong on a light background from the looks of all that fuzz...:P Ooh! It's a BIRTHDAY special! Well, that's nice...then I KEEP scrolling...an intro...*pants* updates...*pants* a crapload of links to stuff -- this all belongs on smaller subpages, not the splash 0.o -- and a counter that I SWEAR TO GOD, people, says "0000" as I'm looking at it. *dies* Maybe cause it says it was installed July 24th? 10 days from now? 0.o

Ok, enough of this, I'm plunging in! *clicks on the main page link way up at the top* I wonder what's on here, cause it's taking even longer to load, except the top two graphics that are in my cache from the splash page...While I wait, I think I'd like to point out how sloppily-made the backgrounds have been... ok, it's loaded. even MORE scrolling now, between miscellaneous pointless text bits and MORE SM Toolbox graphics... -.- Ok! I found the actual menu! *dance* Which they didn't even make themselves. *Falls over* Folks, if you can't do a basic table yourself or with an HTML editor, don't make a page until you can. ^^; But yet, look at all the HTML help offered here! They used free graphics for much of the page, made plain ones where they DID do their own work, and didn't even make their own navigation system. Yeah, talk about the place to learn web design. :P

A few more questions. If this page focuses on the DiC version, why the (long-loading) SuperS gallery? Why pictures of Supersailormoon and Sailorneptune? Why can't this guy seem to spell "Serena" right? Why is this gigantic table on EVERY PAGE, and why are the sections put in no sensible order? Awards and guestbook links should NOT go before actual content. And this "Square of the Village Idiot" is so pathetically one-sided, it's depressing. If you can read it over the background, that is. -_-

Basically, if this person got an ego adjustment and a few HTML lessons, the site may have hope. But as of now, it's just yet another waste of bandwidth on the SM net. Maybe by the next birthday special, it'll be something to see? ^^;

Man, this SUCKS! >:(

In case you are wondering, the thing that they refer to at various times as needing cyanide, the "big table that needs to go", and other comments was a rather large blue table menu that I put on almost every page of the site, and by the time I saw this review, even I was ready for something new. The only example of the table is in the Sailor X fanfic section of the site.

I really did take their comments as constructive criticism. In fact, their comments sparked the motivation needed to renovate the Luna Foundation into what you see today, with a collection of nice border backgrounds and a menu system off to the side so it's out of the way.

However, a few things began to piss me off about the Needleleafs and their review.

First, in contacts with one of the members, I was told that they would give further advice and tips on how to overhaul the site, and perhaps they would then feature it on a "Much Improved" page or something to that effect. This never happened, and what I did was I went out to the SMC and asked for people who had a bit of time and talent that they could spare, I told them what had happened, and they came up with the tri-cell system, which I have used ever since.

Secondly, they have not updated in over a year! They premiered their page last July, and I expected a few flames in my guestbook, but more than one year later, and they have STILL not updated. (More on a possible motive in a moment)

And finally, their advice simply sucks. When a member of the group tells me via email that some of the reviews were a bit over the line, that to me says to take their entire review with a grain of salt and to not take it too seriously, which is what I have done.

However, what really has me steamed about the whole situation was that according to an anonymous source close to both me and the Needleleafs, the Needleleafs' return was motivated in part by the opportunity to try to paint my page as a "Suck Page".

In other words, they came back in order to attempt to do damage, and that's it.

First off, it takes a lot more than that to hurt me, or damage my site, or the reps we (my site and I) carry around with us. We've both built a rep of honesty and forthrightness that the Needleleafs can't begin to touch.

And secondly, if the Needleleafs, or you the reader, or anyone else have a problem with me, we can discuss it through email. Sneaking about it the way the Needleleafs did, and then running away before any heat could be applied to them means one thing and one thing only.

The Needleleaf Society is a bunch of cowardly frauds who don't deserve to be thought of as competant webpage reviewers. They are a disgrace to the other WPRs out there, and to the SMC as a whole.

If there's a page out there that ACTUALLY sucks, it's at this site.

Artemis