Somewhere I posted a really good explanation for what had gone wrong, why things were inflated, and how the economy was set up/could be fixed.
Recolor.me was founded by Tekton, the creator of the now debunked Tektek site. His site took a lot of the things that Gaia was doing wrong and fixed them, it also took a bunch of the good things and replicated them. So in that regard Recolor.me is
sorta a better gaia. What it lacks though is the age. Up until the end of 2013 the gaia economy had a normal inflation rate. As things grew older, and supply and demand were calculated things would increase in price at an appropriate rate.
When they changed ownership, the marketing team changed from user based to gaia cash based in their focus, Thus starting the strong and fast decline in the value of gold. Gaia has plenty of issues, many of which are easily fixable. Some, like the economy, are not.
Gaia is riddled with dissent from the change in management, people getting annoyed at the artificial inflation of everything. People leave, claim to leave, and stick around. The announcements have been toned down a lot. Originally, (? not sure, doesn't look like you were around much during the darkest times of the management change) There would be about six different messages about random gold grants, three or four messages about limited cash shop items, new cash shop items, and new temporary gaia cash discounts. (that's, three or four each, not, three or four total) Most days would have a good 30+ announcements a day for gaia cash related things.
I've explored Recolor.me and found that the conversations somewhat, disappointing. Though the item creation is well connected to the community, that and the avatar modification that gaia lacks, seems to be most of what Recolor.me has going for it. The economy that Recolor.me has easier to start with, But it also screws around with the idea of collectibles when everything is so easy to get. One of the smartest things that Gaia did way back when was create the Donation items. Items that were only available for a month. It allowed people to start collecting things that had a limited quantity, creating prestige and individuality not only in item set up, but in item combinations. Sure it's great being able to have anything that someone else has. But it's also great having something knowing that not everyone else can have.
As for transferring, I haven't seen much on Recolor.me that has so far, made me even begin to consider changing sites, or spend more time on Recolor.me. Even if I get a little annoyed at how much focus is spent on GC, they're improving, A good 13 months late, but they are starting to learn that their new management doesn't understand the community.
Oh,
here it is. The, thing about gold value.
Personally I spend most of my time on other websites that actually aren't forums.