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I'm a sensitive little glob. So if there is aggressive teasing in the chat, I walk out. Even if I can tell it's meant to be playful, I just know I'm not the right person for a site.

 

Side-wide limits. (Like "no mention of depression or suicide on board") -- I just know that I will accidentally break this rule. (My posts and characters have a terrible habit of being triggery)

Edited by Thyme
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- Snippy rules. 

- If the admins have had a million sites beforehand. And they close them just as quickly. 

- More interest in looking pretty than posting. 

Edited by Gothic
Missed a bit.
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I have to say I have amazing radar. There have been too many times I've just felt like something was wrong before a specific red flag appeared. But here are some that made my eyes fall out of my head.

  • When the refuse to read the rules, and get things wrong because it's not in front of their face
  • Getting replies to a want ad with ideas that are exactly what you said you didn't want. 
  • Claiming your not married (when your wife is a member on the site too). 
  • Being told "I'll just give this to everyone privately" when a member makes a 'cheat sheet' to avoid reading the rules and you tell them not to share it. 
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Red Flags Re: Staff Members

 

- How they talk to other people. It's like my parents told me about dating: your date may be polite to you, but if they're being rude to the waitstaff or other customers, they're just not good people.

 

- Behaviors administrators allow from other staff. I'm all for freedom of speech, but if an admin allows a moderator to be rude, condescending, or cruel towards members or other staffers, that's not a place I want to be.  Even if this behavior is not directed at me.

 

- Over templating. When the admin requires templates not just for applications, plotting things, and posts, but also for games, away threads, OoC chats, etc.  That's a bit too much anal retentiveness for me.

 

- Too many dead sites. The admin has run at least two sites in the past, neither of which went anywhere because the admin never posted.

 

- Administrators who claim to be powerless. If you complain about something - either something legit, or not - the administrator replies with a statement expressing sympathy but declining to help because it's out of his/her power.  Even if my complaint is stupid, thank me for telling you, or tell me to chill, or do something, but don't say that it's out of your control.

 

Red Flags Re: Members / Other RPers

 

- Inconsistent stories. Like the things that the person is saying doesn't really add up.  One day she says that she has five cats, and a few days later she mentions that her parents are allergic to cats and she's never owned one.  Sometimes these stories make sense if explained more (ie: her five cats weren't really hers but her boyfriend's and lived in a different house), but they make me skeptical.

 

- Multiple boards, same character. The person plays the exact same character on multiple boards - all of which are still active or were open for awhile before becoming inactive - and this same character only has 5 posts on each site.

 

- No sense of humor. I'm going to steal this from @firefly, okay?  But if somebody doesn't have a sense of humor (doesn't have to be exactly like mine), they might be a robot.  Or insane.

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3 hours ago, Uaithne said:

- No sense of humor. I'm going to steal this from @firefly, okay?  But if somebody doesn't have a sense of humor (doesn't have to be exactly like mine), they might be a robot.  Or insane.


Don't talk shit about me Uainthe! That's just rude. :P

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I'm pretty much colour-blind when it comes to red flags. I think they're green flags and everything is sweet. But some points from hindsight:

 

Red flags from staff members:

  • Refuses to accept your (head admin) interpretation of lore, with no good reason. Actively fights you over it. Refuses to work with you to find an interpretation that suits everyone.
  • Recruits other staff and members to challenge your authority. In the CBox. As a group. 
  • Members keep disappearing, and none of them say why they're leaving---they just go. 
  • Your staff room is a hive of "this member is trouble and needs to go" --- when you know the member in question better than that.
  • Implements rules that protect the "specialness" of their own characters, eg. restrictions on traits, personality types, etc.
  • Challenges new members that they did not see "reading the rules" from the Online Users list. Publicly. 

Red flags from members:

  • Becomes sulky or aggressive if main writing partner chooses to thread with someone outside of them.
  • Plays victim whenever approached for breaches of rules, threatens to leave over minor incidents. Leaves you always apologising for reprimanding their bad behaviour.
  • Creates multiple characters, all engineered to be in a relationship with a particular character, or a particular player's character, when the player has expressed no interest in such plots.
  • Frequently breaks IC rules, but refuses to allow their character to be punished. Double points if they insist other characters are heavily punished for similar behaviours.
  • Has a character with a tiny bit of authority that somehow "knows" and is able to shut down any IC shenanigans that might have been fun to play out. (Eg. A professor stopping a student party before it happens, when they reasonably could have just not known)
  • Has characters that monopolise threads, derailing them from what other players may have wanted to write. Every time.
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12 hours ago, Mousie said:
  • Frequently breaks IC rules, but refuses to allow their character to be punished. Double points if they insist other characters are heavily punished for similar behaviours.

 

Omgosh. This so much. Especially in a crime setting. (Because criminals/villains aren't usually the "pull their punches" type)

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Guest BETA BLUE

I'm going to be disorganized because I must create some chaos. MUAHAHA

 

I generally check sites for a few days before joining them and some are learned due to staffing 

 

Members that constantly talk about their family members. Okay, it's cute when you excited for your kid but I don't care if you are angry at your spouse. That's a matter between you and them. Nothing to do with me or the site.

 

People that bring up personal matters all the time. I'm running or joining a site. Not a pity party.  Sounds cold in away but seriously, I want people posting in the chatbox to be happy and create joy, not cause guests to go. Ew! Whiney site! Really, I want  to see. "That's an awesome plot idea. I can't start it." And they start it. "Snuggled on the chair with my puppy." They are happy thoughts. 

 

Watching someone try to fight with admin over something minor and admin doesn't want them to take it on. 

 

People claiming they have OCD. In all my years I've known a few people to actually have the illness. In RP, more times than not, OCD is code for, I don't care what you think, I'm going to do it my way.

 

When people fight over character for romance purposes on the chatbox

 

When an admin claims because something is not in the rules the cannot enforce it.  

 

When you go through plotters and you see "OMG we gotta plot. " and nothing else. Code you have to think of the said plot.

 

People that close and make sites for the purpose of making sites and nothing more. I get the fact that some sites don't pan out for xyz reasons. I'm not going hold anything against an admin that tries for 3 - 6 months and it just doesn't work out. 

 

 

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On 1/9/2018 at 10:39 PM, Kullervo said:

When the other writer is so passive that threading with their character and trying to drive the action forward is as joyful as getting broken bones set.

 

When someone starts a cult in honour of a celebrity they use in the chat. You can't get a word in edgewise unless you are part of the Fassbender allegiance. Also applies to character cults.

 

In applications: 'Curves in the right places'. I'm now tempted to use this line for a male character.

 

Yes, yes, yes! Or no, no, no! Depending on your point of view.

 

Players that contact you for a plot, but say, "My character is free if you wanna do something...." I bet I've mentioned this in other threads, but this is one that makes me insane. The reason is, if the other player doesn't know what kind of plotting they want for their own character, how can I possibly know? Please, please, please approach me with some kind of idea - even a very vague one. I'll help brainstorm it out so we can write! I want to write with a variety of people (characters) and explore all levels of relationships, but please don't expect me to do all of the heavy lifting on it!

 

PS: Please read the pertinent parts of my characters' bios before asking because that will often give hints and clues as to whether or not my character is suitable for the plot you have in mind!

 

I feel pretty
Oh, so pretty
I feel pretty and witty and bright!
And I pity
Any girl who isn't me tonight

 

The player that constantly reiterates how gorgeous, handsome, and perfect their character puts up a red flag for me. A good percentage of us, me included, pick faces for our characters that appeal to us. However, please allow the other character to decide if he or she thinks your character is attractive. I enjoy reading physical descriptions of characters: the shape of their eyes, their facial features, how their hair curls when its damp - etc. But please allow my character to interpret this as being attractive or not. winking face

 

~ Stormwolfe

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  • 2 weeks later...

I could say a thousand things but... my view is admittedly biased, haha! I am such a picky staff member, and I run such a tight ship, that other places who don't just... drive me up the wall. xD But there are definitely things I've noticed, things that are bigger and bolder red flags than anything else.

 

1. Staff dedication/time management/overall activity. If I see a staff member ignoring their site to be on another, or just not interacting with their members/only role-playing with other staff members, that's a massive red flag and I am gonna run away as fast as I can. That ship's goin' down and I don't wanna go with it!

 

2. Negative topics being given free reign in public places. Hey, everybody has issues, but like? Push them to private places and keep that sort of negativity outta here! That's why I have a shout out and kudos place on my forum and Discord, because we wanna shout about awesome things, not rant about everything else! Extra red flags if you see this go on and staff are participating and not trying to redirect the conversation to better things.

 

3. A hastily thrown together site/lore/graphics/etc. Please make things work before you do the thing? I spend hours of my development time trying to make very sure that everything jives, and when I find some old thing that doesn't, I mark it down to fix (...because we do have some stuff that's over a decade old still XD), and I test the hell out of everything before it goes live. If your site is poorly put together, badly thought out, your lore contradicts itself, and you put things up 'because it's cool', what you doin' bro?

 

4. Members who never do anything but complain with staff not helping at all; members floundering for plots with no direction given. If I see a member who doesn't have a plot and wants one, I tag a bunch of folks who might be interested if I myself am not or don't have time - it works out really well!

 

5. Sites without credits. I know, we all started off that way, we all use things without linking back, it's a fact of life. But I've spent so much time trying to track down artists and get a good list of credits put together, as well as having my own art used without my knowledge or permission, that I can no longer abide watching stuff be used on sites without any pointers to where it was taken from. Luckily, this seems to be fading from the r/p world! WHOO! <3

 

Those are my top five; I won't go on farther xD But any of those will make me run away faster than you can blink. Effort is all it takes to fix such things, just a little tiny bit of effort!

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When the people on a site ignore new members, or are quick to bring them down.

I get it can be disheartening when new players vanishes right after plotting, or if some seem to avoid reading the plot and rules of the site.And I get one can be busy and have already many threads.

 

But I think new folks should still be given a chance. Sometimes just a little hi can do the trick. I've read around RPG-i that many people leave sites on which they are not given an opportunity to play or plot: in the end, ignoring new people can make them as flaky as what people use as an excuse to ignore them.

Plus new places can be so intimidating.

 

So the red flag would be when newbies are left completely to fend on their own, from the players' apathy or disdain

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I'm really, really ridiculously easygoing so even if I see red-flags I tend to ignore them in favor of the fact that I just REALLY want to play what I want to play and I generally think that nobody can stop me. BUT there are a few things that can trigger an anxious fit in me and they are:

 

Staff:
- Letting people walk all over them - if a staff member just lets people do whatever they want and doesn't chime in to settle things outright.
- Unfamiliarity with the source material - nobody is perfect, but if I as a filthy casual have more knowledge of the original lore than the administration.
- Venting publicly - Admin are people too. They should be able to privately discuss what is bothering them about the game, BUT they should do it to a trusted friend, and not on the boards for everyone to see.
- Having "Red Flaggy" Rules - I think this is something that just comes with experience, but once you've played a lot of roleplay you can really see a forum's rules and just KNOW that something fishy is going on or went on here. Especially if the page has rules just because one person did something asinine and they don't want a repeat of that. I HATE reading a bunch of rules demanding common sense & showing decency on the forums. It freaks me out because I think the admin are still shell-shocked and distrusting.
 
Players:
- Arguing with Admin - there is definitely a time & place to have discussions about how the site should run but why keep opening old wounds? Admin shouldn't just make changes willy-nilly, but it really nags me when players still make comments once the discussion is closed and the admin have made a decision as if it wasn't' hard for them!
- Not following the rules - or thinking they can ride them closely. Players that either didn't read or don't care about rules. Just. No.
- Players HAPPILY ignorant and/or insulting of the source material - I play in a lot of fandoms, sometimes someone joins that doesn't know the material. It isn't necessary, and I love helping introduce my favorite things to people. HOWEVER - there are those folks that are open about hating or proud about never reading or watching the source material of a forum. WHY? Why are you insulting me and the others here that love this??????
- Red Flaggy Characters - I always check a site's characters before I join. If everyone has characters with super awesome over-the-top backstories or their characters seem to always be perfect or always tragic I get cringy. Also characters from other stories and fandoms very obviously dumped into the new site makes me crazy. Don't try to bring your back-flipping super archer from the sci-fi of the year into a medieval intrigue game or I get worried.
- A Community that Never Posts - This one REALLY gets me. A lot of games have vibrant and active community members, WHICH IS GREAT, but why are they not PLAYING THE GAME. It is nice to have friends. I love that we're all brought together about this thing and I want to feel welcome and connected by our other interests, but it drives me super bat-shit nutzo if I see a highly active community that doesn't post. It makes new members feel like they don't have to post and that they can be considered "active" if they're online in the community. I don't like it AT ALL, so I make sure to watch for it.
Edited by Zahhy
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I've seen a lot of my red flags already posted. For me, the biggest red flags would include:

  • Character concepts that clearly show they haven't read anything about the site or lore. I understand when people come in and want to join in a hurry because they're just that excited, but it makes me cringe anytime I read over a concept or the history and it's painfully obvious nothing was read. Moreso when you try to explain why this and this doesn't work and the person immediately feels attacked. 
  • Not plotting with others or being the 'yes man' in responses. And then making passive-aggressive comments in the chat about not having anything to do. I try to at least plot one of my characters with new characters even if it's the broadest idea. If I can't, I tag someone with similarities and give those two a starting point. However, if they're not willing to put forth any effort then that's all I can do. 
  • Using 'sexy' or borderline porno images for characters. I know this probably makes me sound petty but I see it as attention-grabbing and not the good kind of attention. Now, if it had something to do with the site's main plot then, of course, I get why. 
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1 hour ago, MissQ said:
  • Using 'sexy' or borderline porno images for characters. I know this probably makes me sound petty but I see it as attention-grabbing and not the good kind of attention. Now, if it had something to do with the site's main plot then, of course, I get why. 

So, one player I've had some of the most frustrating experiences with was male-identified and almost exclusively played women. Every single one of his lady characters had at least one sexy picture. I knew him because of star trek rp, so you'd think that at least the ones that were supposed to be Starfleet officers would have a somewhat professional picture. Nope.

 

He also seemed focused on getting his lady characters in a ship and being able to write smut, sometimes trying to escalate into the smut despite what his writing partners wanted. Sometimes even on an rp that didn't allow smut.

 

So I'm right there with you on this.

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12 hours ago, MissQ said:
  • Character concepts that clearly show they haven't read anything about the site or lore. I understand when people come in and want to join in a hurry because they're just that excited, but it makes me cringe anytime I read over a concept or the history and it's painfully obvious nothing was read. Moreso when you try to explain why this and this doesn't work and the person immediately feels attacked. 

Yup, there's a few of these types going around. Never make reference to any place names, just a cookie cutter app that they think they can copy paste everywhere. I had one of them join both of my sites (fantasy and sci fi). Their apps were exactly the same on both sites ...

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