Good morning, good afternoon, good evening (did I leave out a timezone?)

Anyway, I’m going to try to make this announcement as short as I can but the thing is I’m having a feeling.

I can’t quite put the feeling into words that really make sense but I’m going to try.

My feeling revolves around the site and the members and the sense of community.

It’s not there.

And before everyone starts thinking things like “oh no, did I do something wrong?” or “did something bad happen recently?” This is not the case. We’re site full of different people of different ages and maturity levels and backgrounds, writing styles and plots we want to explore that yes, there are going to be bumps on the road but it’s important for everyone to remember, we all need to act maturely and not lash out at each other, not throw meanness towards one another and not throw each other under the bus but support each other.

Part of the feeling I’m getting is none of that. We’re not a community of writers working together to enjoy a hobby and create a beautiful world of fantasy and fiction. I know this because I see things.

I see members post in the plotting channel and get ignored.

I see members post open threads that get left for days, weeks, months.

I see plot ideas come and people are super excited to get it started and it fizzles out completely.

These things are not okay and they don’t contribute to a sense of community and a willingness to include everyone and leaves people feeling like they don’t matter and they don’t belong and that they need to step away or even leave.

As an admin, there is only so much I can do.

I can reprimand those who only seem to plot with one person and never attempt or attempt and don’t follow through with plotting with others.

I can offer plots and events and force people outside of their comfort zone to plot with others they might not get the opportunity to plot with otherwise – I know and understand that some characters are just never going to meet or interact because it’s not logical and it can’t be forced. Like, why would 12yo Georgie Barker ever have a need to meet the Minister for Magic? It just doesn’t really make sense.

The trouble is, while I can do all of these things to help make the site more fun, more inclusive and welcoming for everyone, it’s not going to work as a one woman show. Members can come at me about this, that and something else all they want but without help and back up and support from everyone on site, nothing is going to change.

We’re only 4 days into 2024. Now’s the time for change.

I’ve had multiple members comment in conversation about wanting plots but wanting plots of some kind of substance because they feel as if they are RPing just for the sake of RPing but nothing is really happening. There’s no progression, nothing is going on in their threads. Sometimes that is okay. Sometimes we need a little mundane thread or two to remind us of the activities of daily living because it’s not all about the magic.

So, with that in mind, I have a few asks, all in the name of bettering the community we claim to love and want to be a part of.

1. I want to see more positivity this year in the way we interact with each other on site and in the discord. This goes for everyone, staff included.

2. I want to see people expanding their RP world with different members of the site. There are 26 members on site, there’s absolutely no reason for people to be only RPing with 1 or 2 of those members. And there’s no reason why people should be struggling to get plots with that many members, especially when there’s a bunch of members who have 10 or more characters. I have threads and plots with 20/26 members here.

3. I want everyone to take a hard look at their character counts and ask themselves, truly, “Can I handle this many characters or would I be better off and more active if I had fewer?” and if the answer is no, let go. It’s okay to let go.

4. I want to see follow through. I don’t want to keep seeing threads ghosted after 2-3 replies and then the member doesn’t reply to the thread again for months without a word. It’s discouraging and leaves people in limbo. We archive threads that haven’t been replied to in 3 months. There’s a bookmark function on site. Use it. I encourage you. It’s amazing. It’s not full proof because if you forget to click the little action box and hit bookmark, you’ll miss it, but otherwise, it’s a wonderful feature, use it.

5. Lastly, I think, start thinking of those plots you really want to explore with your characters. Having a solid idea really helps with getting plots going. A general “I need plots for Lux” or “Who wants a thread with Lux?” Doesn’t always work but if you come in with some thread ideas, I have found more people are likely to jump on the idea instead of a blank statement. However, please recognize that not every plot idea is going to work for certain characters. I have seen where people do post an idea and members will offer characters that don’t really work for the plot so make sure when you are responding to these plot ideas, you offer a character who actually works for the plot idea. Check out the DP, sometimes there’s things in there for members to utilize for their own plotting.

If you are scared or nervous about sharing a plot idea, DM the idea to me and I can post it anonymously. Maybe you’re worried some members don’t like you and therefore don’t want to plot with you so you don’t want to reach out.

I guess I lied, this isn’t short.

In tune with all of this, I’m going to post a thread, in the plotting board on site, UTILIZE THE PLOTTING BOARD, not everyone is in the discord. This thread will be for plot ideas people have, plot ideas that are running around the site. If you see something on this thread, reach out to the member who posted it. But, I do need you guys to help me out and send me those plot ideas. I’ve got some but I can’t row this ship alone.

The other thing I’m going to do will come at you in your site DMs. Keep an eye out for my positive motivation messages! And feel free to send your own.

Thanks for listening to me ramble, let’s have an even better 2024!


tagged; Andrew Douglas Erika Toda Timmea Lacroix Adrien McCree Deri Ellis Anashka Markovic Jack Adelinde Boyd Nightingale Beauregard Nott  Daven Cursive  Levi Hilfiger  Dean Stewart Maia Wolf Paris Aurinko Artemis Hei-Ran Kang  Bellamy Saffron Sutton Bane Henry Franklin Remington Grebe Rosie Huntington Elizabeth Kingston Sally Byrne Hina Avaiki Tyler Douglas Declan Hawthorne