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What to do in this situation


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I am on a fandom board which I like being on, and feel like I could fit into, especially after ages of searching for one in that fandom, trying out various sites, including pan-fandom was and finding no one in that fandom is on the board. The only problem is that after coming up with plots people seem to disappear and not post starters or respond to them. Sometimes, I don't know if I should be the one to post the starter or if I should wait because it wasn't made clear to me. This appears to not just be a problem with regular members but staff as well and to further compound the problem, the site has introduced an activity check. It's low and manageable, but I don't want to lose my character because of the circumstances I've described. What's the best thing to do?

Anonymous poster hash: bab7b...741

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Guest LOVE ME AND DESPAIR

I'd say the best thing to do would be to talk to the staff. Let them know what you're feeling, see if they have any suggestions to help out. As to on whether or not you're supposed to start or someone else? I always take it this way: if they don't outright say 'I'll start the thread' then I can start it, and I do so. That might be your best bet here. Start a thread you worked out with someone, tag them, and go from there. You can try that first before talking to staff, but if you feel it still doesn't resolve things I'd definitely consider approaching the staff cause they might have some advice that'd be far more helpful given they know their community better.

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I'm not sure I understand the situation.  This is what I take away from your initial post: You joined a site and people aren't active outside of plotters.  In order to correct this inactivity, the administrators have started an activity check.  However, you're concerned that you're not going to be active enough for the checks because no one else is posting.

 

My response is going to be based on the interpretation posted above.

 

When a site has active members but none of those active members want to post, an activity check isn't going to help.  There is some breakdown in how the board is set up that prohibits people from easily posting back and forth with each other.  While it is possible that the people of this specific fandom are just lazy (sometimes it happens with smaller fandoms where there's not often fresh blood), it's likely that something in the board mechanics is broken.  This makes it challenging for you as the member.

 

The good news is that the administration realizes there is a problem.  The bad news is that it appears that they are part of the problem.  Where does that leave you?

 

It depends on the admin, to be honest.  Some people get their panties in a bunch if a member steps forward and offers to help.  Or they'll do this really special thing that I love in which they smile to your face and let you help, but it turns out that they're not pissed at you and will hold a grudge against you for all eternity.  But, I suppose, those aren't the sort of admins whose boards you'd like to be a member of.

 

Things the admin probably should do:

- Have the board reviewed to see if an outsider can spot the issue

- Talk to the members and tell them to get their shit together and RP (but nicer and more diplomatically)

- Create opportunities for IC adventures

- Give incentives for posting

- Actually post themselves

 

Things you could try:

- Offer to make a character for somebody else

- Talk with the admin and let him/her know your concern

- If you're in a good position with them and it's appropriate, give them a link to this thread

- RP with yourself (sorry, I know its tedious)

- Make your own board, and do it properly

- Ditch the fandom and, if possible, make a similar character on a different site

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Wow that's really frustrating and disappointing, Anon. I'm sorry you have to deal with that, as I've been in similar situations before and it's never ended well for me.

 

I would suggest, first, to just post! Be the example for everyone to follow! It can be a specific starter or even just an open post. That way, at least you'll make the activity check. But the problem here is a larger one, and you need to make your concerns heard. Whether it's talking to the staff one on one or even just throwing it out there in the cbox, it sounds like the community communication, outside of plotting, isn't great. So be open and be honest and ask what you can do to help! You're obviously dedicated to the site, and if the staff are too, then I'm sure you could all work together to get people posting. Teamwork is what runs a site, after all!

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15 hours ago, Uaithne said:

When a site has active members but none of those active members want to post, an activity check isn't going to help.  There is some breakdown in how the board is set up that prohibits people from easily posting back and forth with each other.  While it is possible that the people of this specific fandom are just lazy (sometimes it happens with smaller fandoms where there's not often fresh blood), it's likely that something in the board mechanics is broken.  This makes it challenging for you as the member.

 

I'm don't think it's a physical problem with how the board is set up because there aren't any issues with the layout or problems with posting. (I've been on one site where I had to keep going back and editing because bbcode kept being broken - in the end, I had to use notepad to write my posts, with the bbcode and then paste it back so it would display properly.

 

Without going into things as that would identify the board and I don't want to bring negative attention to it, there have been somethings I've noticed which I don't like about it.

 

Quote

It depends on the admin, to be honest.  Some people get their panties in a bunch if a member steps forward and offers to help.  Or they'll do this really special thing that I love in which they smile to your face and let you help, but it turns out that they're not pissed at you and will hold a grudge against you for all eternity.  But, I suppose, those aren't the sort of admins whose boards you'd like to be a member of.

 

Quote

Things the admin probably should do:

- Have the board reviewed to see if an outsider can spot the issue

- Talk to the members and tell them to get their shit together and RP (but nicer and more diplomatically)

- Create opportunities for IC adventures

- Give incentives for posting

- Actually post themselves

 

I consider myself to be a relative newbie on the site, even though I've been on it for a few months now. As such, I don't feel comfortable about offering to help, or sending them here to this thread because I've not really gotten to know them very well (their absence a lot of the time is partly due to that.)

 

Quote

Things you could try:

- Offer to make a character for somebody else

- Talk with the admin and let him/her know your concern

- If you're in a good position with them and it's appropriate, give them a link to this thread

- RP with yourself (sorry, I know its tedious)

- Make your own board, and do it properly

- Ditch the fandom and, if possible, make a similar character on a different site

I have seen a couple of wanted ads that I'd like to respond to (they are regular members) but as they aren't around alot, I think they'd end up being unused and of course, I need to ask and get their permission first before I make them.

 

I have rped with myself before on social media type settings and although it doesn't bother me in itself, I don't know how something like that would be seen on the board. If I'm on a site with 'no set rules' as it were, or a board I ran myself I'd be a bit more comfortable with it.

 

The thing which concerns me about making my own board is getting help with the technical aspects, advertising, writing lore, making graphics, etc. I've found people aren't patient and don't want to help staff it. Doing that stuff alone impacts on the site because I can't do character profiles, plotting, ic posts, etc, while I have all that to do and people don't want to join sites that are 'inactive' no matter how much of a regular presence you have on the board itself.

 

If my characters (even OCs!) were not created to be in a fandom, then taking them to another site wouldn't be that much of a problem but with a fandom character you have all fandom specific background that won't fit in with the other world. I'm more comfortable with fandom rps because I know a little about the universe and I've not found a board yet that I like the setting and rules, etc, of based on a fandom I'm interested in.

 

I'll try and post a couple of things and see how it goes, but if it doesn't improve, I don't think I'll stay there.

Anonymous poster hash: bab7b...741

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If you're running the risk of losing a character because of activity where you aren't getting replies, i'd approach staff and let them know. "Hey, I'm still interested in keeping this character, but I'm waiting on replies,but I'm posting. Is there anything else I should do?"

 

This lets them know you're trying but also lets them know about the problem you're running into without throwing blame exactly. Gives you a bit more of an idea of what you want to do based on their response, too.

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I've woken up more than a few RPs by proactively sending starters. Doesn't matter who's turn it is, who's planned the plot, I just send a starter unless told otherwise. A lot of people are inheriently busy or lazy, sometimes both, so being able to be a little more passive about their RP makes it easier for them to participate. If you do the initial nudge, then it can help.

 

Of course, this isn't a fool proof method, and you will certainly need to make use of other advice in this thread (I particularly support talking to staff about your concerns). Hopefully it'll help though. Good luck!

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I did message one of the staff saying that I'd be more active if other people were, but I've not even got a response to it. I'm trying not to take it personally but I've had people freeze me out of things before by just ignoring me, so I don't know what's up with it.

Anonymous poster hash: bab7b...741

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@Anonymous

I feel like a lot of your points went unaddressed so I want to talk about them all to you, ok?

 

20 hours ago, Anonymous said:

I did message one of the staff saying that I'd be more active if other people were, but I've not even got a response to it.

 

Messaging just one staffer can be tricky. The staffer might have vanished, or, the staffer might not communicate that with the rest of staff - unfortunately this happens quite a bit.

 

On 4/8/2017 at 3:32 PM, Anonymous said:

[site is not doing well]... and to further compound the problem, the site has introduced an activity check.

 

I understand where you are at completely, and I've been in your situation so. many. times. Basically, this sort of thing happens an awful lot and all you have to do is exactly what you did. Just say that you have been trying. Ultimately, activity checks on slow-period sites boil down to whether or not the staffers use their common sense. I'm not even kidding. : D

 

What I would actually recommend is not trying to get a freebie pass because of everyone else, but instead accepting this check as a type of personal challenge. Regardless of everyone else, can you get the amount of activity you need to pass? This way, you don't need to PM any staffers.

 

20 hours ago, Anonymous said:

 I'm trying not to take it personally but I've had people freeze me out of things before by just ignoring me, so I don't know what's up with it.

Anonymous poster hash: bab7b...741

 

It's important to understand that no one is ignoring you. Instead, everyone is just like you, waiting to see if this ship will recover and float or sink and unsure if they want to put the effort in. All the flakiness and turnover can be very frustrating.

 

Have you considered that other players might see you as someone who's unsure and not that invested? It's very possible they are passing you over because you seem like you might flake out.

 

On 4/8/2017 at 3:37 PM, LOVE ME AND DESPAIR said:

 As to on whether or not you're supposed to start or someone else? I always take it this way: if they don't outright say 'I'll start the thread' then I can start it, and I do so.

 

Starting threads can be socially awkward, so I have a rule that I stick to just like LOVE ME's. My rule is "The requestor starts the thread" and "If no thread starter mentioned, I'll do it.". Just taking charge can be very liberating of all this unnecessary anxiety that makes things not fun.

 

I understand that there's also some anxiety of "what if they flake out?". I used to be very anxious, and every time someone flaked out, it just proved that people flaked! And every time, this anxiety got worse and worse, bigger and bigger to the point where everything roleplay was stressful, and nothing roleplay was fun. And then I realized that sometimes I flaked, sometimes I was that flaker. And I decided to just let go. Slowly, the anxiety went away as I grew not to care. In life, people come and go and you never know what's going to happen, so I just resolved to be happy with whatever the moment brings and not worry. Because worrying never made anything better, but it could sure make things worse. So, moral of the story, don't worry, it sucks the fun out. Just enjoy each moment as they are.

 

Also, on another directory site I wrote a resource about managing anxieties and worries and all these mental health things that got in the way of roleplaying being fun. If you like, I can bring it here for you. Just let me know!

 

On 4/8/2017 at 3:32 PM, Anonymous said:

I am on a fandom board which I like being on, and feel like I could fit into, especially after ages of searching for one in that fandom, trying out various sites, including pan-fandom was and finding no one in that fandom is on the board.

 

Because the fandom is rare, because you're on it already, I would encourage you to just stick with it. If it sinks, it sinks and you can go find another one. You never really know what will happen - maybe the site will recover and do great again. But you're here already, so I would encourage you to stick with this place, and water your grass so it gets greener.

 

Best of luck to you and happy playing!

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Also, on another directory site I wrote a resource about managing anxieties and worries and all these mental health things that got in the way of roleplaying being fun. If you like, I can bring it here for you. Just let me know!

That might be useful. I think one of the problems I have is that when I rped on social media sites is I had to deal with a lot of rudeness from people (which is putting it mildly, in some cases) and of course, it has clouded my judgement to the point where I can only trust people who have shown themselves to be reliable.

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