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In your opinion, should certain genres or site-wide topics be banned? What are they? Why do you think they should be banned? Several years ago, I saw a school shooting RP. The roleplay focused on the characters (primarily the victims and innocent bystanders, if I remember correctly) leading up to the shooting. I'm not sure what they did after this plot ended since their plot really was a school shooting and nothing more. Did they RP the months following it? Did they start over at a new school? I don't know. I'm not sure how long that site survived. When I saw this site, I was weirded out about it. There are some topics that might be okay to write about in fiction but don't translate well to RP. It's challenging because 1) members might not have the respect or writing skills necessary to carry out the complicated emotions behind a situation such as this, and 2) many people live vicariously through the lives of their RP characters, and a site like this might encourage people to glorify the situation of a school shooting (or whatever the plot may be). But at the same time, people have the freedom of expression and the freedom to write what they want. Tasteless as it might seem, these sorts of things can also be used for exploration and understanding and closure. Some people struggle to come to terms with various events in our world, and writing it might help them in ways that we don't really understand. Others might find the topic fascinating and, since it's taboo, can't really discuss it with many other people IRL or online. Where is the line drawn? If people have school shooting RPs, can they have Holocaust RPs? Would roleplaying the Rwandan genocide be okay? What about something related to terrorism or sex trafficking? I don't have an answer. I would never join an RP like any of these because they aren't my taste and I have no desire to play them, but just because I wouldn't join doesn't mean that they shouldn't exist.

So this is a problem I've encountered several times as a staff member on sites and that always leaves me scratching my head on what to do. So I've decided to turn to you all for help on how to approach this. Here is the gist - Member A creates great characters. She has a ton of amazing ideas, she writes extremely well, and she always brings her A game when it comes to plotting - in fact, she's plotted some amazing things with just about every character on the board. She's fun and always coming up with new plot twists that can involve many characters to help tie them together. She's chatty in the c-box, super welcoming to new members and their characters, and is a very warm presence in the community. BUT, she rarely writes a post. In the past, we've instituted activity checks where you need X amount of IC posts between X and X dates, but Member A always manages to make that for the check. Afterward, her posts will die down again until it's been a month or more since she made an IC post. It's not like she's gone or has told us that her real life is interfering with her activity - I'm always extremely accommodating when it comes to that for all members. She's in the c-box regularly and is privately DMing (either with me, other staff, or other members) about plotting and whatnot. In my current case, we talk all the time, and one of her characters and mine are extremely close. I'll gently nudge her with a "hey, when am I gonna see a reply in x thread?" and gush about the current IC situation and how I need it to continue. We'll then continue to plot a little and talk about what should happen and what would go down if X happened, etc. But then I'll never see a reply until there's another activity check. Its very disappointing because I'm very excited about the plots we've come up with, and they're even integral to what I want in my character's development. And I really do love Member A - she's more than just a writing partner at this point, she's my friend. Which is why it's so hard for me to approach her and give her the hard line "post or you're out." Is there something else I should be doing to encourage Member A to post? Is there a way to go about this without giving an ultimatum? I really don't want to boot her from the game, but I'm getting tired of the endless plotting with no results.

How important is diversity of characters when RPing? I see people "encouraging diversity" in RPs, or talking about how important it is that a wide variety of people are represented through RP characters. To me, it's important that people have the opportunity to play different types of characters, but I don't force it. I've never been one to ban a gender or type of character, but rather I'd encourage the creation of the type of characters the site lacks. It's a little odd to me that people encourage diversity to the point where they're getting frustrated that their members don't have any [insert ethnic group] characters. One thing I like to do is to encourage members to play different types of characters than what they've played in the past. So if someone plays all females, I might encourage the person to try playing a male character. We actually have a thread where people list their goals, and they can think about these types of things to see what their goals are for character creation. The only time I'd get after someone for lack of diversity is if they make 5 characters and they're all the exact same. But I don't think I've been in that position where I'd have to do that.

I have my fair share of Administrative experience, however one thing I've always struggled with is Site Events. Usually drumming up interest isn't a problem but the execution is. So I'm wondering: Have you done site wide events? What kind of events did you do? How successful were they? Do you have any site event suggestions? What's been your overall experience/What's your overall opinion? One type I usually see is a masquerade. Do you think it's a good idea or overdone? One thing I did that I thought was a good idea was like a mixed bag thing. People signed up with whatever characters they wanted and then would get randomly partnered with another and they had to do a thread. People liked the idea but it seemed like not a lot of threads were completed. Should I judge it's success on completion of overall feedback? What do you guys think of site rewards for participation? Or is just the involvement in the plots reward enough? Many questions!

I have a staff member, we'll call them "Star", who I'm having an issue with. The thing is, I really love them. I value them as a friend and care about their real life, as they do mine. They have chronic issues and got a job recently. I'm happy for Star, they needed it, but they are overworking. All they are able to do is go to work, the necessities of their home, and sleep. Because of this they have been on a long LOA and each time we communicate, I get promises but no results. I do believe that Star wants to, I don't think they are just saying it. I know they love the game. I think it's more than reasonable for me to demote them from staff member, but what do you think? Do you think it reflects badly on my board to have Star listed as a staff member? I'm already planning to release some of Star's canons should they not post in the time frame required, but I don't want to lose Star as a friend, or as a member, because of this. Anonymous poster hash: abfce...56c

At one of my sites, there is a particular staffer, "Amy", who is just terrific at attracting new members and keeping the cbox active and has been the cause of the site's massive activity and member boost since they joined it. I really feel like much of the site's success right now is due to their presence, and I'm really glad for this person. But. They lie. Their life is not so great so they lie about it, and it's not so easy to detect. It's gotten to the point where most of the staff can't tell truth from fiction. We've told Amy to knock it off but there haven't been any improvements; this makes sense because you can't tell someone to just stop having a mental health issue, right? We also noticed that some of the promising members that we got seem to have faded away and that there aren't as many longtimers as we feel there should be - the ones that we approached said it was because Amy made them feel uncomfortable. We don't know if it was Amy's lying, something else, or just that they were planning to leave anyways and Amy was one of those things but not necessarily the only nor the biggest thing. Advice?

I've been thinking over the last couple of days about what would happen if a forum didn't have a cbox. I've seen similar discussions before, and know that sites without cboxes just make more use of their OOC forums for discussion. (As I came to forum RP from Neopets, this isn't all that strange an idea to me, since there are no cboxes there and via forums and private messages was how we kept in touch.) But I'm curious! What do you guys think about the subject? Some questions for answering or thinking about, maybe: Do you think all sites should have cboxes? Would you ever join a site that doesn't have a cbox? What problems does having a cbox cause? Can you see benefits in not having a cbox? What are they? If you don't see any benefits in it- why not? What are the cons of not having a cbox? Why are cboxes important, do you think? How did they become so prevalent? Why are they important to you? If they're not important to you, why not? As a guest, what do you use cboxes on other sites for? Could you not do those things in a guest-friendly forum? Why or why not? As an admin, would it be possible for you to set up a guest-friendly forum and still get back to things posted in that forum quickly? Why or why not? Would you join a site without a cbox? Why or why not? Feel free to bring up anything else about the topic that you'd like to discuss! I'm sure there are other facets of the topic to consider. What problems does having a cbox cause? Personally, I would get pretty down and frustrated when I had a cbox on my site and people weren't posting in it as often as I wanted them to. Although we spoke very often through other means (IM), it bothered me when the cbox wasn't active because I felt it could make the site look inactive, from a glance. So for me, cboxes can actually be a source of stress. I think that cboxes can also sometimes make people feel pressured into interacting with others, or make them feel bad if they're not socially adept. On the flip side, some people who don't have much in the way of a filter can make the cbox an awkward place with their complaining, negativity, or simply by steamrolling over the conversation happening in the cbox. Can you see benefits in not having a cbox? What are they? If you don't see any benefits in it- why not? I think that there are maybe some benefits to a cbox, but I can't be certain. Some of the pressure behind interacting in it might be alleviated without one. It's likely more difficult to lose track of a conversation or get steamrolled in one too, since they take place in threads and that tends to take a bit more time to respond to. It might lead to some more thoughtful discussions as well, though I don't know. What are the cons of not having a cbox? The only thing I can think of is that it makes it slightly more difficult for guests to post things if they need to, but my forums also always have a help forum, so... Why are cboxes important, do you think? How did they become so prevalent? I don't think cboxes are important, actually, but I'm very interested in the story of how they became a thing (which I'm unfamiliar with). It's become a standard for RPs, but cboxes are an outside source that every forum has to go out and get if they want one. So it's kind of fascinating that pretty much all of them do that, in my opinion. I suppose they're popular because they simply provide a quick way for people to chat with each other. Why are they important to you? If they're not important to you, why not? They aren't important to me because I'm fine with talking in threads on a forum instead of in a cbox. In fact, on a forum where it was more normal to talk in threads I might be more inclined to be social on a forum that I don't own. It's not uncommon for me to be a little more quiet in that case, because As a guest, what do you use cboxes on other sites for? Could you not do those things in a guest-friendly forum? Why or why not? I bother people in the cbox alllll the time as a guest. I just stop by to have a chat sometimes, because I want to get to know the people involved. But if there was a forum where guests could post and participate in conversations as well, then I'd totally do that without a problem. Why not? As an admin, would it be possible for you to set up a guest-friendly forum and still get back to things posted in that forum quickly? Why or why not? Totally possible on a MyBB forum, and I frequently have a quest-friendly forum for questions and things like that. I subscribe to those forums, so I get notifications if there's a new thread posted there. There's also a plugin for viewing the latest posts, so it'd be totally feasible to get back to someone quickly if they posted there. Would you join a site without a cbox? Why or why not? Of all the things that turn me away from a site, whether or not they have a cbox is so far down on the list that someone else has probably already turned me away from the site by the time I'd notice LOL. The placement of cboxes often bothers me, actually, so being on a site without one would possibly be an improvement.

Bit of trouble here that I'd like some advice on. - Member whines daily on cbox because not every female on the site will write smut with him. Passive aggressive, whiny, you name it. - Uses depression as an excuse. But happens to be completely cheery if a female is paying attention to him or his character. If not then the depression apparently strikes again. - I tell member to cut it out several times, he promises to but is back doing it days later. - I eventually catch member in one of these woe is me meltdowns as it's happening and tell him to 'cut it out'. - Member responds by saying he'll go commit suicide. Leaves us hanging for an hour then comes back trying to apologise. Has pissed everyone off and legitimately traumatised people. Naturally, gave him a big fat ban. Only problem? They have a dynamic IP, so I can't effectively ban. So I told them in PM to please leave and find another site. A day later they came back on a different IP and said 'hey I'm getting help, I'm much better!' I told them again to go find another site. In the mean time, he is contacting newer members of my site (the ones who don't know his toxic history), and playing the victim to them, telling them he's been unfairly treated. I didn't hear from him directly until last week. He adds me on steam and tells me how 'good he's doing', begging to come back. I say no, delete and block. Today he arrived in our cbox just casually acting as though he's on a voluntary break and can come back at any time, talking to a member about plotting. I delete the entire convo and explain in PM to that member the situation, they understand and all fine there. But he is always lurking. I cannot ban him because he has a dynamic IP. I will not consider letting him back, it's completely out of the question. He has burned bridges with like ten of the old guard established members and letting him back would piss all of them off. This is for the good of the community, the needs of many over the needs of one. But what else can I do? IP block his entire country?

So on my site, I'm currently having the problem of how much freedom I should give my staff. I've kind of gotten the feeling from them and others that they feel like they are being controlled too much and like I'm being a bit unreasonable. However, in the past on other sites, I have had the problem with giving too much freedom to staff, and they have gone and done tons of stuff that I was definitely not okay with. I'm really worried that I might have staff do this to me again, so I've always been pretty controlling and always want to know what they are doing (Unless it's something small, I'm not that controlling) before they do it. So while I want to give my current staff more freedom and make them feel like they can really contribute, I'm also afraid that if I give them too much freedom they might end up taking that way too far. So what do you think, how much freedom should staff get on a site? How much freedom do staff on your site get? Or if you are a staff member on a site, how does it make you feel either having or not having freedom to do what you like?

I poked around asking about this, but I thought this would make a good topic. I had intended to transfer a lot of our information from threads into pages on jcink, using the webpage maker feature. This became a huge discussion between an admin and I today on how we want it to look, how we want to use it, and how we'd organize it. For example, perhaps we could do articles and blogs as well as important documentation. Just considering all the possibilities and how we'd make certain things look and be easily navigable. So, I started digging up sites that I knew had pages for documentation to see how they did things, and that meant asking around for people to share their sites for inspiration. Anyway! Do you use the webpage maker feature? If so, then what do you use it for? If not, why not? If your site isn't hosted by jcink but has a similar feature, what is it? How did you organize yours? Layout, categories, etc. Did you use a lot of html, was it easy to do? Does this feature automatically use the skin theme you have for your site? If possible, link me to your site or PM me! I want to see it all.

I don't know how common a problem this is but It absolutely drives me insane, and particularly right now. I'm a pretty lenient admin, so if someone misses something then I just shoot them a PM, let them know and wait for them to fix it. I'm probably a little too lenient because I will do this several times. Especially on a new site when I'm trying to build a member base I want to be accommodating and helpful. But what do you do when a member is blatantly either ignoring or not understanding the simplest rules? Example: The number one rule on my sites is 1. Registration. Please register each character an account as Firstname Lastname just like that. NO OCC/ALIAS accounts. Applications must be completed as coded. I had a member who registered with an Alias account. They posted their application under the alias account. They included our 'rules phrase' in their application indicating they'd read the rules so I PMed them quoting the rule. Given them the benefit of the doubt that they just might not understand, I even wrote it out for them indicating Alias accounts weren't allowed, that we had a section in the mini profile for the alias, so could they please correct the user name to their characters full name 'insert me writing example of the character's fullname' (not their nickname) because there was also section in the mini-profile where the nickname can be indicated.So they 'corrected' their name but instead just to the characters one-word nickname. So I had to PMed them again and basically reiterate the same point a second time. Eventually, they got it right, and it was more or less fine (except they're using a different alias than the one they're listed so I'm kind of confused about that) Then, same member asked 'Can we used another site's application template and just post it here' again... I pointed back to rule #1 Fourth time's the charm? Member has now posted a new application, for a canon character for the site. Except they posted the application under their current character's account instead of creating a new account. So this is literally the Fourth time I've had to direct them back to our First rule in a couple weeks. Am I being a total pushover? XD

In another thread, @kay expressed this sentiment and I really missed that. It can be impolite to go onto someone's chatbox and start talking, so I thought it might be cool to do that here. This is a thread where you can talk about your roleplay. What's going on in your neck of the woods? What are you dealing with? Did you have a fabulous roleplay thread? Are you excited about your grand opening? Did you get a new staffer who isn't looking so good? Are you disgruntled or disappointed? This is a place where you can just talk. And it's okay to have a side conversation, too! Maybe there is knowledge to be shared, wisdom to be gleaned, or just a smile to be had.

In another location I saw it posited that in this day and age there simply are too many roleplays. That there are so many roleplays out there and not really enough people to actually enjoy them. (A case of too many chefs, not enough patrons as it were.) Could this also factor into why people are so reluctant to join anything but the perfect roleplay? (Because they have simply too many options to ever sort through and so no choice is made.) But is this the case? Do you think there are actually too many roleplays? What, if anything, could (or even should) be done?

I've always liked the idea of actually getting to know your affiliates and the community you've decided to associate yours with. It would be lovely to be able to hang out in an affiliate's chatbox and have a talk with the members there, I think. On occasion, I do make attempts to get to know the admins behind the other sites and will sometimes add them to Skype/what have you. What do you guys think about this? Why don't sites do this?

After a discussion with @Gothams Reckoning here, I told him that a discussion about staffing a site is more suitable in the forum. I think, ultimately, it is a matter of preference and control. Some want to share, some want to keep all control for themselves. I want to share. I knew sites with only one administrator and one moderator (or no moderator at all) which were doing well, and sites with several who were doing well. And the same thing for the same numbers, who weren't doing well. I think it is a matter of investment in the story. Sharing the duties and sharing the fun is the best, so that nobody gets tired or overwhelmed. A site having a few core people invested in it from the beginning, has activity which lures other members to join and has the chance to last more, because it has already a core of interested/ enthusiastic people. And this is what I am needing, in general, first and foremost. A second (or third) staff member is needed because hopefully people don't get busy at the same time, because then there is a serious problem among the staff... I think that two people staffing a site can write among themselves and create activity until others join. It is also wonderful when there is one staff member in an opposite timezone, to be there when the other isn't. Staffing a RPG is a volunteering job, which shouldn't take all one's free time. Also, if somebody doesn't want to do a certain task (such as advertising or commenting on bios) nobody can force her to, as long as she contributes with other needed tasks. And I think that involving more people, with more focused responsibilities, avoids burn-out and, at the same time, helps with the community spirit (being invested, a feeling of belonging, of ownership... of being important and meaningful, something like this enhances motivation to help.) Sometimes, when my staff is busy, I feel overwhelmed with doing too much myself and not receiving enough feedback, at least (when I would have preferred concrete help too, not only feedback). Sometimes it feels lonely that I don't have even to whom to ask an opinion (timezones adding to it, but not only this) and I think this is the worst part. They all know that I’ll manage somehow, I always do – but for how long? Everybody sees the site survives without their help… but I am always saying that I need help, because I really feel I shouldn't do it alone! And if everyone pitched in, nobody would feel tired and overwhelmed, because it would be little to do for everyone. Many people judge the number of staff only from the point of view of the number of members, and think that staff duty is only to approve bios and to update lists, needing access to the control panels. There is so much which gets overlooked - the research, the plots, the creation of events.... And we are all people who have a life outside the board too, one wouldn't need to get overwhelmed with duties. A few responsibilities that one can perform while still having time to write. The number of staff shouldn't depend on the number of characters and members, because there are sites for which, no matter how many members/ characters are there, the staff has certain tasks to perform anyway. Or even more tasks if there aren't too many characters/ members, because they have to replace /complement for the missing ones too (eg NPC-ing their role). I found that most tasks have to be done when the site has 4 members equally as when it has 30 members, and most of them don't even require access to panels (except the coding and graphics staff, who of course needs access to administration panel). One needs writing NPCs, researching, leading stories, writing chronicles and lore., no matter how many or how few members you have. And mostly this is what I need help with/ sharing tasks with. You said also why not members? I would have loved if all members wanted to help as if they were staff, everyone with what they love doing: some with advertising, some with leading a thread or another, some with writing NPCs, some with writing articles for the monthly chronicle. And at the same time, if people want to help, why not be appointed as staff, in charge with the thing they want to help, just to make it official and their work recognized? This doesn't mean access at the control panel. It means their names listed among the staff, eventually (not necessarily) the names on a different colour, or a title below them.

I've noticed a long-standing trend when it comes to creating a new roleplay site of a tiny genre. The genre tends to be tiny because it's based on something super old, or super-ceded by a bigger genre, or maybe you just have to read the books to understand, or maybe because it's just so little known, or maybe, it's the first roleplay of its kind. But the sentiment remains that these tiny genres are "mud-puddles" - you don't get new members flowing in, only existing genre members who hop from one site to another. And the trend that I'm noticing is death. Lots and lots of death. Some genres are so bad about this that the crowd flows from one site that's doing well to the next new and shiny site as soon as it appears, leaving the site that was doing well suddenly dying for no apparent reason (really, the reason was that a new site in the genre opened). I've been thinking about this for a long time and I don't really know why. What do you guys think about this?

So as a member and as a staff member I've never cared for character groupings. Yes it is a visual way for you to tell the difference between groups but I find that groups can be too black and white for some things. Unless you do it by race or class but even then, if you want secret groups, this doesn't work. Also what if your character spans two groups. They are a Rebel and a Government worker so they are double agents? Do they pick the one that the character feels more in tune with or the one that they will be doing the most? Doesn't that skew numbers technically? I personally use "Active", "Inactive" and "OOC". It's easy on staff as you don't have too many things to sort through and it's easy to tell what characters are active and which are not. So, I've been around RP for a while and it's been a long standing staple to have individual groups for things. Is this something that attracts you to a site as a member? Does it make you feel like there is diversity when you see a bunch of character groups and characters within those groups? As a staff member is there something to this method of organizing that I just don't see? I'd love to find out if there is something I'm missing by having the many different groups for a roleplay.

So while I don't have any (at least none that I know of) for myself so I don't have a reason to use them however I do understand that others do. Things in ones past influences how anyone can feel about something and it can be extremely uncomfortable to read. However, I waffle on the best way to express this. Even here on the Initiative I'm not sure if they are set up in a way that works well enough for a majority of members. So that being said I have a few questions: What ways do you have trigger warnings set up (if you even do)? Does it work well for you? Do you have a generalized warning for anything that can be triggering (suicide, abuse, drugs sex etc) or something specific per trigger? For those that have triggers: Do you like have warnings? How do you like to be warned? (Topic title, top of the first post etc) Do you want to know the specific warning or just a general knowledge will let you know to be careful? Could it be done better?

I like Discord. @Morrigan taught me to like it. I would like to implement it on my site too, but I wonder if I should do it or not, when neither the c-box is active enough on certain days. Strangely our members aren't very keen on communicating. Some because they aren't online at the same time with the others, and in the rare occasions when it happens, they are talking. Some are talking with me in e-mails or on FB messenger but not with the others. Some others even might have never talked in the c-box and they post on invisible - and not because they had any quarrell or bad experience with communicating with the other members here (on previous sites they had been on, I can't know). They are simply and obviously here to write and not to socialize at all. When in need of a PM to clarify something about a thread, they can talk, of course. Of course I would like it to be different, to encourage the members to talk more together, about the site, plot and characters but about life in general too... however I think in my particular case Discord is not a solution. It won't change anything and it will remain unused. I don't know how to encourage them to talk more even in the c-box, because I guess this has to come from inside, and no outside incentive can work.

Hello! So on my site, we have a one-month posting requirement. All normal characters must post at least once a month or their account will be labeled as inactive. All high position characters have to post at least once every two weeks or their character will lose their rank. I knew that these requirements were loose when I made them. I've been on sites that you pretty much have to post every single day, and you get pressured into having to force out posts to keep your account active. So I wanted to make sure my site wasn't that. But now my staff are talking about raising the activity requirement to at least one post every two weeks for all characters. In some ways, I think this will help, and in other ways I'm afraid that it will put too much pressure on my members, and they will get upset that I'm putting pressure on them to post. So what do you think? Is one month too long? Is two weeks just right? Or is it too short or even too long? What do you use on your site?

Just a quick poll on what you use. You are free to give any reasons on why you use it but I'm looking t find out what people prefer now. After this poll we may come up with others for more preference items (more skin specific etc) we want to see some general likes of what you like to see on some basic information on RPs for now.

So I've never implemented a 'system' into an rp before (i.e. posts = points to buy things with), but I have always wanted to, and now that I don't have to work with the wants of people who don't like the idea..I want to implement a system for the site that I've been slowly building. I have a basic idea for where I want to go with it, but a few things that I need input on. With a system where points add up and people can purchase items/abilities/spells for characters is it most common to allow players to pool all of their earned points from various characters in order to purchase things, or more so keeping it to 'this character account has these points, which can only be spent on this character.'? If the second option..how does one work with species classifications that one must be 'born' into? (Example: the species lore I have for vampires allows them to be born (I know..most don't agree with this idea, but my version of vampires who are 'born' makes them less so undead creatures of the night..) or turned..but because of the way I have born vamps written I would prefer to limit the number of those that are playable. However, I suppose that the option of simply demanding that all vampires (wether born or turned) are still young enough to have to learn everything isn't entirely out of the question. What would you do/prefer to see?

Ok so as I've made pretty clear all over the net I've made a Venice RP (1792) and so far it is already active and going crazy with happy plotting, but as I set up the IC boards I worry about a few things: 1. I know that sometimes a historical board can be super intimidating to join and I want to make sure that all my boards are easy to understand and jump in for new people (or new players that are over 18) but I am finding myself with this one using a lot of the Italian names that they are called IRL, and I worry that will be too confusing. 2. Using the original Italian words v. the English counterpart. I do plan to have a really nice table of contents set up that way people can read as they want info, but as we all know that doesn't happen. But what I really want advice on. Do I keep the Italian names and just hope that people will google what they mean, or would it be super tacky to name the forums something like this-- Arsenale (The Shipyard), Piazza San Marco (Saint Marco's Square) Or should I just find the English translation? HELP!

In the last 48 hours, our site has been hit by spam posts originating from Rusian Federation based IP addresses. Anyone else getting hit? We have reported all hits to JCink admin and it's being dealt with as an ongoing issue atm.

The age-old debate over roleplay terminologies and what they mean exactly. On my board, I have Character Bazaar which is where the wanteds, adoptables, and exchanges go. I have these three as their own separate subforums and it's causing some confusion, which suddenly has me confused too though I had very distinct definitions in my head. Now it is an ongoing debate and one that I think might over-complicate things. To me, wanted ads are like classifieds. Looking for a tutor! Someone is looking for arranged marriage! You know, that kind of thing. Adoptables are characters within a group or family that already have some history, some background, name/age and some of their personality decided -- kind of like this orphanage of poor characters who just need a player to pick them up, dust them off, and love them. However, being new to RP, this seems to not always be the case. One of my friends is saying that an adoptable doesn't always allow room for the player to grow, therefore even a fleshed out character can be a wanted ad for a player to pick up and make that character their own. I think that's where the distinction is for many roleplayers? The ability to flesh out the character further themselves. If this is the case, I may just combined wanted/adoptable subforums into one, but it leaves me wondering why use two different terms for something that may basically be the same thing? How do you guys treat this? The way I set this up makes my friend and also my admin have to figure out more on how to split up her wanteds/adoptables which makes more work for her, I think. A few of the adoptable threads from my members have a mix of wanteds/adoptables which is fine to me. For instance, one person has two fleshed out characters for a retinue, with a few open wanted positions listed at the bottom. *shrugs* This doesn't bother me but it does make me think, ah, maybe time to combine.