You may or may not have noticed that the Members group has been virtually emptied. This means no one is able to post in the RPing section as of this announcement.
(This excludes new members who have not even had much of a chance to get involved, such as Lore, Goomzz, Zipper, and so on. You new guys don't have to reply to this, but we'd still appreciate it if you read along.)This is only to make sure every member reads this, and not any kind of silly punitive measure. There is no ulterior motive to this post, no hidden scolding,
nothing of the sort, but I know drastic rule changes can have that air, as can sudden "you are not in the members group until you reply to this" hijinks. However, it is the truth when we say we only want to ensure that this post is read by
every single member, specifically because it involves some important changes that you may not immediately like. We don't want anyone to be unpleasantly surprised.
Click here to read the updated inactivity rules.What these changes mean to you as members, in a nutshell:Please only read this part after you've read the actual updated rules at the link above. Please. Pleeeease, please read it. The following is not a substitute for reading the link above, but more like... a supplement.Communication is more important than anything else. Basically, even if you're too busy, too stressed out, or too under the weather to write a post,
unless there is some sort of completely unforeseen emergency situation (in which case you rightfully won't care about RP anymore anyway),
it still only takes one to two minutes to say you won't be around so that others won't sit and wait all day (or even days) wondering whether or not to proceed without you. If you will give us all this courtesy, then very little in the activity rules will ever apply to you, and the chances of anyone ever "hijacking" your character to move the story forward are low. We will use all the due courtesy we've shown before in carefully working around you.
If, however, you cannot spare even a minute or two just to keep us all in the loop, we will all, mods or not, have the power to keep the story moving without you, and you'll just have to work with what happens, or... not.
On the other side of the coin, these rules also strongly discourage active members from
pestering inactive members... but they also give you the power to keep things going on your own. And we strongly encourage you to not be shy about exercising that right. Just let a mod know via PM, IM, or chat that you're going to post as someone else's character, then move on. Don't feel bad for doing it. The idea is that we're here to enjoy RPing, and if occasionally taking over somebody else's character is what that takes, then what's the big deal?
So here is what we would like you to do:1. Reply to this post and let us know you've read the updated inactivity rules. We know many of you have been doing this cool, considerate stuff all along, and don't even need this change in the rules;
please don't feel slighted or unappreciated by having to reply to this. We're just being indiscriminate with it so no one feels targeted. All you have to say is, "I'm in," and nothing more.
2. Consider subscribing to the Announcements forum if you don't mind an occasional e-mail from us. Could help you stay in the loop.
3. As we move forward in the future,
respect the lawww, and make use of the
posting activity thread to let people know when you're going to be inactive for a day or two or however long (or just fill in the people who need to know via AIM or the chat, whichever is more convenient for you).
And that's all. Again, this isn't to try to coerce people into posting more often, or do anything remotely like that. It's just to ensure there is communication so that the people who
are around and can RP
can continue (or, alternatively, go find something else to do without wasting time checking back for posts when there won't be any), as well as relieve people from unnecessary pestering. It's just a courtesy thing all around. However, if you find some component of this outrageous, or still don't quite understand what it means, feel free to reply here with your questions or objections, and we'll talk it out. Cool?
Cool.
