Red Flags

[AKNyx 33]

I've got a few things that I look for, but the dealbreakers for me are:

• Activity Requirements - This is a hobby for me. I'm a working adult with children, so I cannot be around for 10079 minutes of the 10080 minute week. While an exaggeration, I find that an activity requirement of weekly check-ins is far too much  for my taste.
• The "Ooooo Shiny" Effect - I understand as well as the next person that someone's inspiration is going to shift from topic to topic, character to character, on a regular basis. But, if that inspiration is causing people to make characters left right and center to join these new plots, only to leave the other characters they've made hanging (and thereby leaving their partners hanging), it's a serious red flag. I shouldn't have to worry at the onset that whatever plot I come up with is going to blow out like a candle in a windtunnel within the first five minutes of its inception.
• Reception - Sites have clusters of groups. It's human nature to gravitate toward those you get along most with, who you have the best chemistries with. What gets me is when a site appears to be completely divided, and closed off to someone new. Maybe they've had issues in the past of people joining and not going through with plots that were promised, but why should the whole be judged by the few? This one I give some time, to make sure it's not just people sizing me up as to if I'll hang around, but if it continues past a month of me actively trying to put things out there and getting no response, I'm going to duck out of there in a heartbeat.  While member bases are bad enough, it's worse for me if even staff isn't willing to get into a thread with you. [[* Bonus if, because of the lack of interaction, they have a monthly activity check you're in danger of not meeting.]]
• Forced Ratios - If I join a site that has a ratio of species, that's one thing. I'm more than happy to try and fill in another type of character to fill a gap so long as I understand the lore behind them. What I cannot stand is when a site will force genders on people when they're making their characters. The majority of sites I've joined over the years have an influx of female characters, so immediately their reaction is to say "you need to make a male until it's more balanced". ...But then you look at the staff's character list and of the twenty characters, they have fifteen of them and they're all female? It's that sort of thing that's an instant turn off.
• Micromanaging - An offshoot of the activity monitor who wants to see you logging into every account daily, these are the ones who read every thread and tell you that they don't understand why your character did x, y or z. They're the ones who tell you that they know your character should've done a, b or c, and that you're just being dramatic with their reaction for attention. If they wanted to have every character react how they thought they should, then why are they on a collaborative writing platform instead of writing a novel somewhere solo? It'd be one thing if something a person wrote is going to break the entire siteplot or the canon of that world for their own character, but how can someone else tell me how my character is meant to be reacting or feeling?

[Ace of Spades 8]

• OMG IS YOUR FACECLAIM X, SO HOT! Basically, folks drooling after pretty face claims and only wanting threads with the smexiest folks. It doesn't exactly spell deep and complicated plots for me.
• A lot of dead sites behind the admins. Yeah, I get it, sometimes ideas die and you don't just get the response you were hoping for, so it's not necessarily saying that the admins have done something wrong. But it is a bit of a red flag for me if these sites are stamped with "we're not closed, just busy, so we're in private mode", with nothing ever happening after that. I haven't really seen any board come back from that.
• You have to create X before that thing / one male before a female character - Enforcing ratios is understandable for a site where those things are integral, but I don't really care if a certain gender trumps over another on a site. And if one group is having a good time and lots of plotting, why limit it? In the end, it's about having a good time and enjoying one's plots that RP should be about, right?

And I echo with what others already wrote on micromanaging and crazy activity requirements. If you want to control every character and every bit of action on a board as an admin, maybe it's better to play with a small group of friends who will share that view and not nitpick at players who join the board and suddenly find that their each action is monitored and commented on.

[TurnABlindEyeEDDY 11]

On 1/27/2018 at 2:31 AM, Honorem said:

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 ...

Ew. So much ew. That would be a big no-thank-you-get-out for me. Smut is fun sure and I'm not saying you can't play the same char in different places ... But effort, people. Go join one of those free late night chats if you need your jollies that bad ;_;

[MissQ 90]

23 hours ago, AKNyx said:

 

• Forced Ratios - If I join a site that has a ratio of species, that's one thing. I'm more than happy to try and fill in another type of character to fill a gap so long as I understand the lore behind them. What I cannot stand is when a site will force genders on people when they're making their characters. The majority of sites I've joined over the years have an influx of female characters, so immediately their reaction is to say "you need to make a male until it's more balanced". ...But then you look at the staff's character list and of the twenty characters, they have fifteen of them and they're all female? It's that sort of thing that's an instant turn off.

 

 

I will never understand forced ratios based on gender. Okay, so there are more females (or those who identify as female) than males (or those who identify as male)... what's the problem? Speaking in general terms, rp sites aren't a 1-800 service. It's not like you can't play with a character of the same gender. If anything, I love seeing f/f and m/m threads in play. Show me the broships, show me some sisterhood bonding, partners-in-crime, etc. 

[Indra 4]

When an RP has rules, I do expect the staff to follow the same rules as players. If the rules state no creating characters with X, Y, and Z abilities, but then I see a staff member who creates a character with X, Y, and Z, I'm out. That shows me the staff sees themselves above the players, and I don't like that.

[Jabberwookie 22]

Seeing staff publicly tearing apart character apps in the cbox. Nothing makes me run for the hills faster. x-x

[Patrick 66]

On 1/10/2018 at 10:52 PM, Mousie said:

Has characters that monopolise threads, derailing them from what other players may have wanted to write. Every time.

 

THIS!

 

You know, back in the day it used to be considered proper RP etiquette for people to ASK and then brainstorm a bit over plot scenarios before just dumping characters into someone's open threads.  But these "bad drivers" and derailers just make me wanna punch the monitor screen sometimes. 

 

 

Red Flags though, are when one member always has to announce in the cbox that they need to PM me with questions (which do not warrant privacy because they're random,  pointless and not the least bit earth shattering), instead of just asking in the cbox.  To me it feels like a passive aggressive move designed to make all the other people feel like there's something going on,  and left out.  And as an admin,  I really despise being used this way.  If you wanna PM me,  just do it.  Don't turn it into power playing grabs for attention by announcing in the cbox that you need to PM me. 

 

 

 

Edited March 9, 2018 by Patrick

[StormWolfe 557]

1 hour ago, Patrick said:

You know, back in the day it used to be considered proper RP etiquette for people to ASK and then brainstorm a bit over plot scenarios before just dumping characters into someone's open threads.  But these "bad drivers" and derailers just make me wanna punch the monitor screen sometimes. 

 

 

OR - they bulldoze in and then do nothing. One post and they sort of poof leaving everyone hanging.

 

We actually went to stating if a post is Open Tagging (anyone can ask and join in) or closed tagging (scene for specific characters only), JPs, etc. Bulldozers get gently pointed at the post header. It gives us recourse to ask someone to bow out - doesn't happen often, thank heavens. We also nicely request that they ask the scene's originator if there's a slot for their character.  Of course, we're a very small site and will never get much larger so it's probably less of an issue for us than for big sites.

[Death Kitten 200]

5 hours ago, Patrick said:

Red Flags though, are when one member always has to announce in the cbox that they need to PM me with questions (which do not warrant privacy because they're random,  pointless and not the least bit earth shattering), instead of just asking in the cbox.  To me it feels like a passive aggressive move designed to make all the other people feel like there's something going on,  and left out.  And as an admin,  I really despise being used this way.  If you wanna PM me,  just do it.  Don't turn it into power playing grabs for attention by announcing in the cbox that you need to PM me.

 

The inner troll would make me start answering these people with 'lol, nope' when they announced in the cbox they needed to PM me. Like, if you can't just *do* it, you don't get to. I get if you're new, and you don't know the local etiquette, you get a pass once, but after that if you can't figure out how to PM me directly after I've told you it's cool? Meh.

 

I've mostly trained people to stop leading with 'can I ask you a question?' by always answering '42'. They get tired of my smart ass response, and eventually just jump right to the question... which is exactly what I wanted them to do in the first place. It's actually kinda amazing how well this works, like I didn't realize until thinking about it now that I'd managed to train my coworkers to just get to the point with me by this strategy.

[Patrick 66]

20 hours ago, Death Kitten said:

The inner troll would make me start answering these people with 'lol, nope' when they announced in the cbox they needed to PM me. Like, if you can't just *do* it, you don't get to.

 

It's not the least bit troll-ish. lol

And I'm gonna say exactly that the next time it happens: "Nope, sorry."

 

 

 

On 3/9/2018 at 9:47 AM, krepta said:

Seeing staff publicly tearing apart character apps in the cbox. Nothing makes me run for the hills faster. x-x

 

Oh man, I hate any sort of public humiliation in the c-box. 

But tearing apart their writing or artwork in front of everyone... that's something a bully would do.  I don't even care for "critiques" done on the app in the form of replies, either. If you have to rip someone (for any reason), do it privately via PM or email.

Edited March 11, 2018 by Patrick

[Icewolf 258]

On 3/9/2018 at 11:27 PM, Patrick said:

You know, back in the day it used to be considered proper RP etiquette for people to ASK and then brainstorm a bit over plot scenarios before just dumping characters into someone's open threads.  But these "bad drivers" and derailers just make me wanna punch the monitor screen sometimes.

 

I have people jump on threads that are intended to be solo musings and, because it was twitter, post while I was still writing it so it looks a mess. You stop people from doing that now because of an app called twit longer, but it's really annoying when people reply and ultimately change what your thread was about because they don't ask. I don't mind so much when people reply to open threads without asking, though, because the point of them is to be unplanned and spontaneous. I'd post in a plotter if I wanted to plan it. Another problem is when people just jump in on an interaction between two people without asking first.

[Goddess Freya 15]

Not sure if this has been said before or not, but people popping into the chat asking "Is this site premium? ;) "

 

I don't know why, but it sends up red flags every single time. I don't mind premium sites, or "mature" topics, but when then first question out of someone's mouth is that, I'm like "Okay are you just here for sex or what?" I've noticed that when people don't get it immediately either, they tend to vanish within a week or two. So I just get wary around that.

[Patrick 66]

1 hour ago, Goddess Freya said:

Not sure if this has been said before or not, but people popping into the chat asking "Is this site premium? ;) "

 

I don't know why, but it sends up red flags every single time. I don't mind premium sites, or "mature" topics, but when then first question out of someone's mouth is that, I'm like "Okay are you just here for sex or what?" I've noticed that when people don't get it immediately either, they tend to vanish within a week or two. So I just get wary around that.

 

Too lazy to click any link and get the age verification screen that'll clue them instantly whether or not it's premium.  People are stupid.  It's the same dopes who have to ask if the site is active because they're too lazy to browse for want ads and recent posts. 

 

And yeah,  lots of them want immediate sex without any plots... just like a porn movie.  I just set the expectation:  You gotta earn the nookie by impressing me with your storytelling prowess.  In other words, no plot goal,  no nookie. 

 

[Goddess Freya 15]

16 minutes ago, Patrick said:

 

Too lazy to click any link and get the age verification screen that'll clue them instantly whether or not it's premium.  People are stupid.  It's the same dopes who have to ask if the site is active because they're too lazy to browse for want ads and recent posts. 

 

And yeah,  lots of them want immediate sex without any plots... just like a porn movie.  I just set the expectation:  You gotta earn the nookie by impressing me with your storytelling prowess.  In other words, no plot goal,  no nookie. 

 

 

Exactly this!! It drives me crazy. Not to mention most sites now have the little button that tells you the rating of it somewhere on the main page. I hate it when they ask "Are you active" too, especially if there's a shoutbox that tells you how many posts have gone out that day.

[Patrick 66]

I put filters in the cbox that change those dumb questions into something different.  Usually scares the trolls away,  since their ability to figure things out on their own is already limited.  Heh

 

 

Edited March 11, 2018 by Patrick