Staffing How long do you keep unfinished WIPs?

[Honorem 219]

Simple question: How long do you keep unfinished WIPs? And what do you do after that time has expired? Move them to inactive, delete, etc?

 

I personally give it as long as it needs - providing there has been steady work on it.

But if it's been sitting there for two weeks without any progress, I move it to the inactive section.

 

I just ask because I still find it looks messy to have a bunch of unfinished apps sitting around, so perhaps someone else has a smarter approach to this. Delete the topic and PM its contents to the member, perhaps?

[KARA BELLA 18]

i give people five days.  maybe that doesn't seem like a long time but i don't believe it should take ages to finish an app.  but maybe that's because i have no life and all the characters i play already have apps written and all i have to do is copy and paste and maybe edit some things.  on my site we have a forum in the trash forum for inactive and abandoned apps.  accounts attached to an abandoned application are moved into the inactive group.   it doesn't bother me to have the unfinished apps sitting around in the archives.  unused accounts though are a different story for me.

 

if it bothers you to have unfinished apps sitting around though it might be a good idea to try what you mentioned, deleting the app and pming the content to the member.

[Honorem 219]

25 minutes ago, KARA BELLA said:

i give people five days.  maybe that doesn't seem like a long time but i don't believe it should take ages to finish an app.  but maybe that's because i have no life and all the characters i play already have apps written and all i have to do is copy and paste and maybe edit some things.  on my site we have a forum in the trash forum for inactive and abandoned apps.  accounts attached to an abandoned application are moved into the inactive group.   it doesn't bother me to have the unfinished apps sitting around in the archives.  unused accounts though are a different story for me.

 

if it bothers you to have unfinished apps sitting around though it might be a good idea to try what you mentioned, deleting the app and pming the content to the member.

Doesn't seem harsh at all, after all makes more sense to write the app in notepad or word (that way you don't lose everything if you choose to click submit right as the forum is doing some maintenance and lose it all). So I definitely agree with a shorter time frame. Thanks!

 

And lol, same here, don't get me started on inactive accounts cluttering the place.

 

"To delete or not to delete, that is the question" - Admin Hamlet.

[CovertSphinx 710]

I usually keep them for about a month, if no progress is being made I delete the app without a word and don't bother to send the contents back to the member.
If the member logs in at all coming close to that point, I shoot them a courtesy PM. If not, or if they log in and give no response, I don't bother trying a second time.

[Huskerdust 625]

Back when I had apps (a long, long time ago because I'm a geezer), I'd wait for about two weeks before archiving the app. I'm used to writing an app on my notepad and posting it when I'm ready to join so I don't fully understand WIPs. But for those who do them... I don't think it should take longer than a couple of weeks to post it. 

 

Now I don't do the whole app thing but that's another topic.

[Elena 546]

I keep them for about one month, after which I move them to unfinished application archive and I delete the accounts.

[Guest Archaic Cyborg]

Two weeks is the default pending..timeframe. If there's no sign from the player, into archives the app goes~. And is deleted later, usually a week or so. It depends on if the player hasn't been seen for 3 weeks already, e.g the 'register, post barebones app, then flake" applicants.

[Rune 1,099]

You get a month.

 

It's also encouraged that people write them in Word or Gdocs or whatever else as it "isn't our responsibility" to hold onto apps for you. (Had someone get pissed that after giving them ~2 months to finish a WIP we deleted it.) After a month, they get moved to a specific abandoned WIP section, where they're kept for an undetermined amount of time until I get around to deleting the connected accounts. Some of them I keep (if the player is active and just decided not to pursue that character, or if it's a great example of what we don't do) but I clear out most of the abandoned WIPs every few months.

[Honorem 219]

Thanks for all the replies guys, seems in general people either like two weeks or a month, which are both cool by me. I'm glad I'm not alone, I was worried that moving it after a few weeks was a bit harsh. But thanks for clearing it up for me all.

[KARA BELLA 18]

I think if someone doesn't come back after two weeks of being mia and having posted a wip app then they aren't coming back, so moving it after then wouldn't be bad.

[CovertSphinx 710]

From what I see the EXACT timing mainly it looks to be coming down to the activeness of the member posting the app themselves. We all seem willing to take certain extension liberties to our Norm Times if it's a person that's at least around. And super easy to tell them apart from the Fly By Night Apps.

 

But I will add in from my own experience; as much as I prefer writing it all up on a document before transferring it over... for me I've found convenience  in a WIP because I can continue working on them from anywhere, including my phone. (Like a slow day at work that the boss isn't around and we have a couple hours free at the end of the day)

Edited March 5, 2016 by CovertSphinx
Adding WIP commentary

[Auroxtra 7]

It depends on a few factors for me as well; if they are constantly working on it, I don't exactly have a cut-off point (though I might send a PM after a month or so)

 

Otherwise however, if it isn't being worked on and there has been no communication between myself and the member, a week. I also move WIPs into the archives rather than delete them, unless they have no information in them.

[VirusZero 176]

I used to give people a month to finish them. And during this time I would not check on them at all. So if they were working on their application every week but still didn't get it done by the time a month was up... Still got archived. Furthermore they could only ask for the application to be revived once. So if their app was archived once already they wouldn't get another chance. after that it was sent back to the archive.

 

But now, I'll admit I feel substantially less generous. I'd be more inclined to say if it isn't done within a week (or two at most) then it's probably not getting finished so I'm archiving it. I'm not against WIP apps... but honestly I think instead of actually hitting post they should just hit "save draft" instead. Since, our forum software, MyBB allows people to save drafts of posts they're working on to be completed later. (This puts the post into the database so they can access it from any location, ex- their cellphone or desktop, but also means that it's not showing up as a WIP.)

 

Not going to lie... I love the drafts feature. I have probably 15 drafts in there at any time ready to be posted. (Some are new roleplays I'm working on, others are replies to topics, others are topics, etc...)

[Morrigan 1,826]

Since I don't use a standard app system I don't normally have a problem with WIP. I personally, never like to post WIP apps either for the same reason I don't like apps. I don't like to wait. I feel that if I post a WIP then I am advising the staff to ignore my app.

[Lusitano 0]

I only keep them for 7 days. Afterward, I'll move them into a special archive.