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So I brought this up brief in the Pet Peeve section but wanted to elaborate on it more and see if anyone else had ever encountered it because frankly this is my first experience with it and I'm totally shocked that any writer would think that this normal. The issue was this, people who change their characters history (as they see fit) in a way that completely contradicts everything they've previously been writing. I have no issue with 'surprises' like oh you thought you were a single fun-loving bachelor oh shit, your ex actually had your kid and you just found out. That's fun or w/e but these were blatant contradictions totally changing the character's history I find that extremely annoying and confusing. Especially when it messes up what's already happened between other characters on the board. In this case it's two staff members making these blatant contradictory changes together and then blind siding other members/characters by suddenly changing up their character history/adding things to their pasts that they previous stated in thread/site canon that they didn't have expecting other member’s characters to be aware of what’s going on. It’s like they’re trying to use a plot twist tool and doing it all wrong it’s like … The Right Way: Chance was raised as only child, his entire life and personality has been defined by this fact. He never knew his father, and his mother never really talked about it, so it was just the two of them. Years later, he runs into a man who he eventually realizes is his half-brother. He is shocked by this revelation and those in his life begin to find out only as he starts to come to terms with it. The Wrong Way: Chance has talked again and again about never having any siblings or a father, just him and his mom against the world until she died. It’s his entire life he’s just on his own now, it defines his character. He tells everyone in his life (and in threads) he has no siblings, no father, and that his mom’s dead. Two weeks later, Chance is hanging out with his miraculous brother at thanksgiving dinner with their happily married parents and then is getting angry at other characters for not knowing about these people in his life. They’re doing it the wrong way. As if that wasn’t annoying enough in this situation they are ‘in character’ are berating my character for not knowing these things about them when the character would have no way of knowing. It’s like they’re expecting you to metagame which is another shock. How are they supposed to know if they weren’t there or if they weren’t told, or if they were previously told the opposite? RP is supposed to be fun but I also write as a career so I take my story building/character development very seriously. I treat every forum/board as if it’s a novel and my character is on a journey within this world. I would never blatantly contradict anything in their past because it’s convenient or I felt like it because I have too much respect for my fellow writers and their efforts. It’s not fun to suddenly have everything you worked toward just tossed out as if it’s nothing. I think of like... imagine reading Harry Potter, knowing the whole time Harry Potter's parents are dead. Last book starts with Harry's parents sending him off to school with no mention of the fact that they had been dead, written as if they're been there the whole time but we're all supposed to pretend like this is normal/canon. I’m just curious to hear others experiences/thoughts on this.

@Gothams Reckoning actually their history has none of this information they wrote a 'bare minimum point form' sort of history so the contradictions are happening in the story itself. Where they have blatantly saying/thinking something in one thread (or several) and then you come on in the morning and they've suddenly done something that contradicts that entirely. In this first example, they were terminally single, never married, super bachelor never considered having a family, to me waking up one morning to find their character's wife on the board. It would be wonderful and dramatic if he had thought to himself the whole time about this family but TOLD her he didn't have one. Perfect, then he's a lying jerk and I can work with that but that's not how they played it and now they expect her to know he had a family despite never being told that and trying to throw out their own past. This is only one of many problems there honestly but that was frustrating enough when they expect you to just adapt everything your character came to know to fit their change. This is what really frustrates me. I think it's a common problem because since it's been happening other members have been sort of ...dwindling. They also are killing off characters left right and centre GOT style with no warnings or explanations so members who are gone for a few days even are coming back to find their threads irrelevant because those characters no longer exist. I see the common question has been whether or not I've considered talking with them and to be honest the second it first happened I did ask what was up. Not maliciously or to cause trouble I sort of asked in a joking way to be honest. They ignored the question entirely and never gave me an answer would just start changing their thoughts in thread to insert this new development even contradicting earlier posts in that same thread. I have considered leaving but unfortunately, I'm the type of member who doesn't like to just leave anywhere even when I'm unhappy. I feel a responsibility when I join a board but I am considering eventually killing off the one character this seems to be affecting most which is sad.

I'd understand it if they were doing a flashback plot - I've done that a couple of times with my characters and posted at the beginning the time frame it's in. My question though, it OOC, are you comfortable with these admins? I ask because it is a form of gaslighting, even if it's ic gaslighting. If there are other problems on the board, I'd think twice about staying there.

Flynn has all kinds of siblings! Half- and full. I usually go single child families for my characters so I wanted to change it up with him. So I gave him a complicated family. Mel did have a sibling! But she mysteriously disappeared at sea years ago.

Aaaaages ago I was on this massive forum. The clique of that forum at the time were massive trend setters (they were actually quality writers before they got into purple prose.) One of those players? They had a character where every month they had a new character concept or idea for this one character. So they would completely change him up, drop a bunch of plots and alter how their character interacted with others. It was like they dropped the character every month and came up with a new character....but they forgot to actually make a new character. That's the only time I've come across it though! The staff never really dealt with because then the Great Drama of Year happened. 🤓 If it were to happen to me now I'll call them out on it because you're right. Character's doing a 180 is not fun and to be berated for not keeping up with the times (even IC) is less fun.

I've sort of had an issue like that before. In this one game a player kept wanting to change up their character to be the best for any situation. (For context everything took place in one thread so all the character sheets were PMed to me and I posted them in the first post. This way no one could just randomly edit things in. And if they tried using things that weren't listed in the post then they'd get told to edit them out or their post would be ignored.) As a result they kept messaging me with these changes, from the main weapon they were using to special powers they had. I don't recall at this point whether I outright told them no more changes or whether I just made them wait so changes only took effect in the chapter breaks. In another game said player kept trying to inject things into the world that simply didn't make sense. They wanted to add magic, kingdoms and Arthurian legend into a futuristic universe based on advanced technology. I eventually told them that they could have it... sort of. They were within their right to think it existed, but that was the extent I would allow. (So their character believed they were from a far off kingdom with magic... ) But that's the closest I've really some to this issue you're describing.

OKAY YES. Please I've had a handful of members just like this and they seem to always take Canons...then I will create a thread for them with their...sister, cousin whomever. So they have somewhere to start and then two months in and they still have replied to it, posted anywhere. I don't get why a member goes through all the work to create the character/do the application talk about how excited they are to plot but never actually willing to post. It blows my mind how often this happens. A thread for this probably would be good.

This is the part I was thinking needed a topic, or maybe a guide. "How to get new players to engage after finishing their applications/ start-up requirements." It is very frustrating to go through the whole approval process and seeing their 'enthusiasm' in the Cbox chat and then when it's time for the proverbial rubber to hit the road (IC activity) they flake or stall. Go hit some character plotters! "I read them and nothing jumps out at me" (We have almost 60 >.> ...really?)

I still feel that my message stands as it is. It really depends on the community. If you're upfront that you allow sensitive topics to be allowed to be used in characters than you need to be upfront that it's allowed on the overall community and that people should be open and communicative about discomforts to make sure that it doesn't crossover into topics with people that it makes uncomfortable because they've experienced it. You don't have to explain every action of a character in order to express a sensitive topic or express how a character is dealing with it. Mannerisms go a long way.

I'm watching Moana and imagining Dwanye Johnson doing the stuff that he is doing in the movie just amuses me. The whole muscle thing was awesome!

'Oh you guys have short apps here, I'm used to writing way more!' Cool story. You can write as much as you want, but acting like god's gift certainly won't earn any points. 'Oh you guys have short posts' So sorry. 'Your posts are too long' Oh the horror of people being enthusiastic about replies. 'I need some more threads' -Members suggest multiple open threads whose plots are incredibly relevant to their character and a very good fit- 'Meh maybe' Ok then.

I refuse.

Andrea likes her name for the most part. Her maiden name she has issues with because she has issues with her parents. Kieran believes it doesn't matter if he likes his name or not it's the name his parents gave him. Madison likes her name but doesn't like her ful name being used because growing up it was only used when she was in trouble. Jonathan doesn't really care either way. Adaline likes hers but not really for any specific reason. Ryder just thinks it's a name. Phoebe likes her name as well. She thinks it's a great name again no specific reason she likes it. Marcus is okay with his name. Kaitlyn likes her name. Mostly because it's a connection to her mom.

Unless you're going to write it where the character is having a relapse, or do an entire storyline where it is the main focus, I don't think that it would need a trigger warning. One of my characters has PTSD because due to surviving war, and it does effect his behaviour, but I do not do a lot of detailed scenes with it. My main issue with sensitive topics is when people try to turn it into a parody, handle a sensitive topic in an insensitive way or do it too much. You can't write characters without these issues as it would make them too perfect.

I have a Merriweather Seaworth. Father was a ex-pirate and mother a bar maid. She had some weird ideas about his name (mostly for my amusement) and he's rather resigned too it. I also have a Magdalena. Haaates her name, so will only go by Mags or Maggie. There is also Nyx, named for the Greek goddess. Her mother was Greek and named all of her children for Greek mythology. Like Merri, Nyx is resigned to it. The rest of them could take their names or leave them.

Like @Uaithne said! If you connect the character's habits to certain emotions it will be much easier to write them, and they will flow more naturally. I would also say they are a great way to show what emotions your character is feeling as well, and emphasize how they feel. Be consequent about it, and think about how it can affect other people's perception of your character. If your character often bites their lip when nervous it is a good hint for other characters to use when picking up on their mood. Also think of how does this habit affect other things, like someone who bites their nails often will have bitten down nails and maybe avoids wearing nail polish. I have for example a character that fiddles with the sleeve/edge of his shirt whenever he is nervous or uncomfortable, especially when faced with people who he doesn't want to be near. It's a way of fidgeting, and it does a good job of conveying his mood and the fact that he is naturally a jumpy and high-strung character. His shirt also has frayed sleeves and hem because how often he worries them with his fingers. Example: "Jack averted his eyes from the man in front of him, instead letting his stare fall to his feet. Shoulders hunched forward as he tried to shrink into himself, hands fidgeting with the frayed hem of his shirt. Opening his mouth he tried to gather the courage to speak, but the words seemed to escape him."

Assuming we're talking about sites that have them: I think you should add trigger warnings for the in your face stuff, not the subtleties. But like Morrigan said, it depends on what kind of community you're catering to or want to create. If you want to use kid gloves, I would argue that you could create a custom profile field (or whatever the jcink alternative is) and allow the player to whack in the kind of sensitive topics that character may commonly be. Saves the player from having to add them in every thread. But personally, I would just add content warnings for in your face stuff. (Your mileage may vary as to what in your face actually means.)

Happy Pizza Friday!

A cat found its way into the study hall today! Watching several students and a few professors coo over it was very amusing 🐱

I don't believe poaching [members] is a thing simply for the reason that you cannot forcibly recruit someone to your own site. A happy member who trusts their community doesn't leave the forum no matter the amount of advertising or trash talking done by an outside party.

Poaching is when people take what they want without caring about what they leave behind. They go onto an RP site (either as a member or a guest) and convince people to join them on another site. If the site they poached on dies as a result, oh well. It isn't malicious in the sense that they want to cause devastation or destruction. It might be a byproduct, but it's not of concern to a poacher. When humans poach endangered animals, they aren't doing it because they want the rhino to die . . . they just want what it has, and death is merely a result of the process. I'm not worried about my site. In the past when I've run sites, I've gotten very positive feedback about how I run the site. Someone could steal members, but they can't steal the atmosphere I've created, and that's part of why people like my boards.