Membership Keeping open threads open

[Hysteria 56]

I've thought about this topic in the past, and knowing it's probably common amongst roleplayers, I looked through three pages on here to make sure it wasn't already touched upon. Seeing as how this thread was created - you now witness my poor research results.

 

Anyway, Open Threads. For something so inviting it sure is hard to drag people into them. Seriously, you'd think they'd lap up the opportunity to get their new or half-used character some fresh interaction, but no. They gotta be snobs about it.

 

Okay, that last part was a bad joke, but really - has it always been so hard. I've only been writing for a short amount of time, so I'm really unaware if this is singular to some communities or just forum-wide.

 

So far, I've only experienced the prior.

 

If you don't go out of your way to come up with the idea, explicitly state the thread is private and then make the most extra post - nobody and I mean, nobody, puts in a lick of effort.

 

But why not?

 

To me, an open thread means limitless opportunity. Well, less limited to a private and static one. Your character could stumble upon valuable allies and travel into other - possibly also open - threads, which would make an already interesting interaction that much better. Plotting would be ten times easier too due to all the connections they could have made. In just two or three threads no less!!

 

So, dear members, I ask you:

 

1. Do you like or dislike open threads? Why?

2. Do you go out of your way to find them or just jump in when you see one? Or do you just outright avoid them?

3. Do you feel open threads limit you? Why or why not?

 

And finally,

 

4. Are people in your community (s) willing to join in on open threads? Is it not a forum wide thing like I initially thought?

 

 

Note: using a tablet, will fix spelling errors later.

 

Edited March 26, 2017 by Hysteria

[Freya 9]

I really like open threads, and I tend to make a lot of them and snatch up any that I see that have an interesting opener. But there's the clincher, a lot of people don't write interesting intros or scenario's where it is easy to jump in. Like I've seen some open threads through the years I've been RPing where I've thought "Oookay, why would I jump into that", usually that has been either a. an utterly boring "coffee shop thread" or b. one where it's placed in a way or started in a way that it's difficult to get your character involved. 

 

Open threads are only as limited as the person who makes does. When I do find an interesting open thread with a good way for my character to get involved I snatch it in a heartbeat, I love them. I also don't find them limiting because I rarely plot out how threads are going to go, I snore at the idea of planning stuff out ahead. I love unpredictability, and it's one of the reason why I like open threads. 

 

Who knows what can happen in those. 

 

At Pirates I've found that our community is quote willing to join open threads, though technically all our threads are considered open, but at least the ones where you haven't technically made it for a partner. It usually doesn't take long from when I've posted one, and just pointed out it exists to people before someone has taken it. 

[Sage 289]

I personally don't end up making a lot of "open" threads because I have a lot of other, more plot-focused threads going on. That's not to say I don't love it if someone asks to jump into a thread I've got going with someone else. Unless there's something specific I want to accomplish in a thread that can't involve anyone else, I will invite others to join in if they want to. But almost none of my threads are ever explicitly noted as being "open."

 

That said, most of my threads do serve some sort of purpose. Either building the foundations of a friendship, revealing a secret or truth, going on a quest, continuing a squabble that's building toward a blowout, etc., I go into all my threads with a general endgame in mind. I don't go in just willy nilly wanting to thread. I like having some sort of plan than just watching this thread go on where nothing comes of it. But if I do encounter a character I know I want to write with, but don't have any plot ideas yet, I will ask them to do a thread so we can establish their relationship together. Or, if we've had that conversation where we both like each other's chars, but don't know what to do with them, and I later see they have an open thread, I'll jump into that one. But I like to talk with my writing partners and bounce ideas back and forth. I don't just jump into any random open thread.

 

In my experience, though, when a site has a masterlist of current open threads, they tend to get taken faster. And I do love the idea of open threads. Literally anything can happen. It's just hard for me personally to jump into them without a game plan. And I usually have a million non-"open" threads going anyway, so I don't have time for them. For me, it's more about the player than the character itself. Though, now that you've brought this up, I am going to try a few open threads when I have the time. 

[Icewolf 258]

It is an interesting question and while I rped on twitter, I preferred to make a lot of them open, but it was easier to write them on there as I had more time to make them and also most of my writing was more spur of the moment. On forums, I tend to take more time over things and so therefore, take more care. I'd love to do respond to open threads, but as yet there haven't been that many on the forum I'm on and as such, not had a chance to respond to them. To write them myself, I need to have the inspiration for it and recently, I've not had this and I've been too distracted to write them.

[KARA BELLA 18]

I used to like them and would post them often mostly because I thought if there were a few open threads up it would be good for people who just joined to start threading.  However lately it seems like they are just ignored.  The only threads that get replies are specific tagged and talked about in advance threads.  So I'm not sure about them.

 

I never went out my way to find them but I would reply to other people's open threads if I saw one.  No one but me seems to post them on my two main sites though.

 

I also never felt like they limited me.  Mostly because they seemed like a good way for characters to meet that might not otherwise meet.

 

I run two of my own sites and on them I feel like people aren't willing to join them.  I am on a third site that just opened the other night so I don't know yet if people there are willing to join in on open threads.  From my experience it seems like open threads aren't really a thing anymore, people seem to avoid them.

[xexes 108]

Open threads are really tricky. I'll tell you why. First, your answers:

 

1. Like; it can get threading going faster

2. Both. I go out of my way to find them and investigate which I feel are okay to respond to

3. No

 

 

Open threads in general...

 

 - maybe you can't think of anything

 - maybe you no matter how hard you think, you just can't see the two characters going anywhere at all but a dead thread after the introduction

 - maybe you'd rather do a plot

 - maybe the thread is so old that you are uncertain if the author still has muse for it

 - maybe the author left

 - sometimes open threads are hard to find

 - sometimes the thread is super hard to respond to; consider someone sitting in the corner by themselves- not impossible but hard, and not everyone is that talented (see the first point)

 - IMO the #1 most limiting factor of open threads is their location. Maybe it's in a private residence, another country, or a place that's super hard for your character to justify being there like the previous and first point. I find that many authors are truly oblivious to this, and a lot of sites are oblivious to their dividing their characters into partitions, like countries or planets or even age groups.

 

Edited March 27, 2017 by xexes
i accidentally a word

[Elena 546]

1. Do you like or dislike open threads? Why?

 

I fully agree with @Sage. I hate some and love others. I'm not  interested in threads that nobody has any idea where they're going. And these are mostly the ones who get abandoned even by their writer mid-thread, because they don't know what to do with it. These are mostly the open threads. I need to have some kind of idea of what i'm doing. Moreover, when one usually has a ton of threads already it just feels like a waste of time and effort for something that probably won't end up being relevant in the long run. I say better plot it with someone while leaving it open for others to join as well, and make it count, instead of just a random open thread for the sake of it. Plus, don't get me started on the cliche of bumping into each other or spilling something on the other...😒

 

What I love, though, and I think it is less popular than "I am writing a random opening and anyone who has nothing to do can join, let's see the results", is a different kind of open threads, which you have an idea where they are going. I often write threads open for a whole faction or for two factions, where people know that it will be about a brawl, or about a meeting, or about something of interest for the whole faction. These usually succeed to achieve more than a chain of several one-on-one threads which people might have time or not to write them as many.

 

2. Do you go out of your way to find them or just jump in when you see one? Or do you just outright avoid them?

 

Sometimes I jump in when I see one. I don't outright avoid them but I don't love them either (the first kind). The second kind, yes, always, when my characters make sense to be there, I join.

 

3. Do you feel open threads limit you? Why or why not?

 

They limit with their strange situations. Who would talk with the one they bumped into? Who would say more than sorry or some curses after spilling coffee? Who approaches and why disturbing the girl reading quietly in a corner?

 

4. Are people in your community (s) willing to join in on open threads? Is it not a forum wide thing like I initially thought?

 

Yes, they are, depending on how busy they are. Some of them, unfortunately, are counting their threads.

[Josie 198]

1. Do you like or dislike open threads? Why?

I love open threads for all the reasons you stated.

 

However, there are individual open threads that I don't like for reasons that @xexes mentioned. Writing open threads is a skill, honestly. Some people have not practiced it well.

 

2. Do you go out of your way to find them or just jump in when you see one? Or do you just outright avoid them?

I never avoid them, and I want to join most of the ones I find so long as I can come up with a reason for one of my characters being there. As a lot of my threads are often oriented around some larger plot though, it's not always easy. When I join a site that I'm not an administrator of, I will look for open threads to join in on. The last few places I've been, unfortunately, didn't really have any to choose from.

 

3. Do you feel open threads limit you? Why or why not?

I really don't like plotting things out too much, and so for me it's a great way to just go with the flow, so to speak. It can be an excellent way to set the flow, too, and involve other (unsuspecting, mwahahaha!) people into the story. So no, I don't feel that they're limiting- I think they're actually very freeing, and have the most potential.

 

4. Are people in your community(s) willing to join in on open threads? Is it not a forum wide thing like I initially thought?

Shying away from open threads is not something that the whole RP community suffers from, but individual communities. Unfortunately, there's many of those communities out there.

 

On the forums I make, all threads are considered open by default and there is no option to make a thread "private." Anyone can join in on any thread. When people join in on a thread where their character realistically would not be allowed to be there, then appropriate IC consequences take place.

[Uaithne 543]

Open threads are so bo-oring.

 

Because no one really knows how to write them.

 

The problem with open threads is that you have to make them broad enough to appeal to a wide variety of people.  A dozen people might read it, but only three of them might have time/ability to post in it, and only one person--if you're lucky--is interested in your particular thread.  So to try to catch the most interest, you have to make it apply to as many people as possible.

 

In general, I like responding to and creating open threads.  In reality, I find it tedious.

[Kit the Human 759]

1. Do you like or dislike open threads? Why?

I like them for the reasons stated! I dislike them for the reasons stated!

 

2. Do you go out of your way to find them or just jump in when you see one? Or do you just outright avoid them?

I usually jump on any that are about the forum assuming I have something to write. I don't tend to go out of my way to create them unless I need more threads or have some "brilliant" idea.

 

3. Do you feel open threads limit you? Why or why not?

I don't find them limiting. They're subject to the same kind of limitations as other threads, that is, bound by space and time (assuming they're things in your RP world.)

 

4. Are people in your community (s) willing to join in on open threads? Is it not a forum wide thing like I initially thought?

Yeah, they're willing to write in opens though it probably helps that we're all a bunch of pals. 

 

Taking a more broader view: I think over time open threads have become less popular probably because they are hard to come up with. However, if the community is communicative and isn't afraid to approach everyone with thread ideas, than the lack of opens isn't such a bad thing.

 

I do like the approach of threads never being private so anyone can jump in any thread (with consequences).

[SusieQ 0]

I like open threads, I like being able to jump in with someone and see what happens. If it turns out to be a boring "coffee shop" thread, then it isn't that hard to have your character turn around and leave the conversation in much the same way that they entered it, and hey, you gave the open thread a shot, right? You've maybe made a new friend too. 

 

By the flip side, I enjoy making open threads when I want a character to be doing something  - for example I had a character once who went onto another players space ship (it was sat in the hanger) and began to mess with the wires and install tracking devices. I wanted people to come in and stop him and be "the fuck you doing man?" Instead, another character turned up and had a nice conversation with him which just delighted me a little bit. 

 

The point I'm trying to make is it's not just the skill of whoever writes the opener - openers are hard, scene setting is hard and not everyone does it well, and that's the thing with open threads, not only does the author have to set the scene but the responding player needs to be able to help set the scene too. 

 

The other use of open threads is to give other characters the opportunity to stop your character from doing something/setting something up that will benefit them in the future. If noone replies, that's a win, because my character will do what they were going to do anyway. 

 

In short, I like them. 

[jenneral_jennson 154]

1. Do you like or dislike open threads? Why?

I love open threads. It gives you a chance to have characters who would never ordinarily interact to interact. There is a chance for character growth whether it's a "boring" coffee thread (which really who cares where or what the setting is? Life isn't all about glitz and chaos and bars) or with someone slamming shots at a bar. I've had open threads anywhere from a werewolf running in the woods to someone grocery shopping.

 

2. Do you go out of your way to find them or just jump in when you see one? Or do you just outright avoid them?

We have a thread dedicated to opens. When one strikes my fancy I'll jump in if it hasn't been taken, I am one of those people that prefer to not have multiple people in a thread unless there's a demand for it. Things get screwy when people can't or won't reply to a thread. I would never avoid an open if something dings in my head and ideas form. 

 

3. Do you feel open threads limit you? Why or why not?

Nope. Like I said before, open threads allow for character growth and I am all about character growth, whether it's your own character or the open thread starters' character. I don't even think not being the one starting it limits me in anyway. In fact I think it strengthening to jump into an open thread you didn't start. You grow as a writer when you write with someone who you normally wouldn't, just like characters grow with unusual interaction. 

 

4. Are people in your community (s) willing to join in on open threads?

Most everyone I've encountered in all of the boards I've been on or am on never seem to have an issue joining open threads or starting them. There are some who, ahem, whine about not having anything to do with their people when there are opens all over the place. Or despite repeated suggestions to start one won't. This kind of attitude is limiting, not to me, but to them. 

[Clockwork Galaxy 0]

1. Do you like or dislike open threads? Why?

I, personally, have had a lot of bad experience with open threads lately, though since I left that site maybe I won't anymore?  

 

Here's the deal: for some reason only the people who are known power players or godmodders joined the open threads, and then tried to establish their dominance over every character therein.  Idk why, but the good RPers avoided open threads entirely and only wrote in plot-related threads with specific people tagged in them.  

 

Literally, up until I joined that site I always thought Open Threads were a great opportunity to just see what happened with these two characters in this unknown scenario.  

 

2. Do you go out of your way to find them or just jump in when you see one? Or do you just outright avoid them?

In situations that weren't on this particular board, I tended to go out of my way to find them.

 

3. Do you feel open threads limit you? Why or why not?

I feel that open threads can do both or either one of these, depending on the poster and the site and the characters involved.  

 

4. Are people in your community (s) willing to join in on open threads? Is it not a forum wide thing like I initially thought?

I can only speak to the community that I recently left because mine's not off the ground just yet, but in the previous community most people avoided open threads as much as possible because the majority of people posting them were writers who, as stated above, were known to have problems with godmodding and power playing, and the only reason they were posting open threads in the first place was that no one wanted to actually play with them.  

 

There was also an admin that spent a large majority of her time attempting to get single, male characters into plots where they fell hopelessly in love with all her female characters, who may or may not love them back.  

 

*SMDH* That place was more of a mess than I realised, at the time.  

 

I'm genuinely hoping that open threads will be more fun on my own site, which should be up and running soon.  ^-^

[Serion 1]

1. Do you like or dislike open threads? Why?

I love the concept of open threads. In practice, I'm a bit more meh. I see open threads as a way to interact with characters without planning things out and experiencing interactions in an unpredictable manner. I might start a thread thinking it'll go in one direction, but the other player causes it to go in some other direction, and that's fun. However, this tends to not be the experience I get. Most open threads I've been in struggled to get beyond the small talk stage or felt more like moving cardboard cutouts around than having a meaningful thread. While these problems can and do arise in private threads, I've found them to be more common in open threads. I also feel like a lot of open threads leave it to the person replying to create a reason for interaction, whereas I believe that the thread starter should create the reason for interaction.

 

2. Do you go out of your way to find them or just jump in when you see one? Or do you just outright avoid them?

If there's an open thread that catches my interest, and my character can reasonably be there, I'm more likely than not to join. The hard part is finding an interesting starter I can respond too. All too often I see thread starters where a character is just sitting and reading or drinking coffee or otherwise is doing something that doesn't encourage interaction. Though, based off a real life experience, it is possible for one person to behave in a way that they think is solitary but actually ends up inviting interaction. I try to read all the open thread starters when I see them, but much more rarely am I inspired to join.

 

3. Do you feel open threads limit you? Why or why not?

Not limiting at all. Especially when I'm starting the open thread, I can really put my character in whatever situation I want. I'm even fine joining an open thread in which the other character sees more development than mine. As a new player, it's a chance to start building IC connections with more established characters. Open threads can be limiting, but I don't think that's inherent only to open threads. I've been in plenty of private threads that ended up being lackluster and boring.

 

 

As an additional comment, the likelihood of getting a response seems to vary from site to site. I've been on sites where open threads were common, and everyone picked them up, but I've also been on sites with a dozen open threads that just languish. I've started threads that should be easy to jump into (a horse running loose in a stable rpg) but end up getting no replies, and a thread starter I thought was rather dull (a character watching tv) which got a reply the next day. In the end, open threads can be extremely hit-or-miss, but I'll keep writing and responding where I'm interested and makes sense.

[CovertSphinx 710]

I'm neutral to open threads, mainly for many of the same reasons most people have already stated. Concept is great, its just the execution that's a bit hit or miss depending on the characters and situation.