No More Running Away.

Mental wards rarely even take real crazies, they're just gonna let some crazy old man leave.

I... but. AUGH!!! Logic, make sense! Mental wards exist to take mental people, not throw them back out onto the streets to resume their insanities...

Mental wards only take people who are actually dangerous to themselves or others, and only after they have spent ~ 3-4 months in jail and the jail has been trying to put them in.

Thats how the world really works, sucks dont it?

Yes, they don't actually pay attention to people's -actual- needs, they only care about how much effort they themselves are willing to put in, putting not only that person that was -supposed- to be sent to the mental facility, but others as well, and then, those that actually get to be put in the mental facility are not treated as they should be, and don't receive the help that they need. Eugh! Some people just infuriate me.

Mental wards sucked balls. Particularly when you try to sleep, and all you hear for hours on end is high pitched screaming. I don't know who they were, but they had some crazy lungs...

Another one of my friends told me about her time in a mental facility as well. That one sounded all right, and they treated her well, but obviously, since it is a mental facility after all, you're going to have things like that.

Wow, only person I knew who was in a mental ward worked there briefly. He said they kept everyone so drugged up they wouldn't be able to know what was going on.

I sincerely hope that isn't the case. It's not as if it's their fault for being like that in the mind. The person that I know that spent some time in one said it was actually quite enjoyable and the people there were very fun, so maybe it's the difference between a minor and adult hospital.

Eugh... Fuck hospitals. Like, seriously. Doctors don't know shit, and then they fill you drugs with shit like fineragin, botch up a gall bladder surgery- a routine, in out thing- and try to give you meds when you're eight months pregnant, and do they know what they do- of COURSE not. Assholes...

Who needs a medical license, when you got style?

Wow that went seriously on a new record regarding "going offtopic" o.O Makes one wonder how much you all really care about this.
On a side note at all your bickering; even I know that it is better in certain parts of the USA. So wherever you guys are, sucks to be there.

But back to where we started. I'll be addressing the things posted, and starting actually with what Shali said in the very first post. There is a disparity I feel like pointing out.

Shali

First, you demand people to post. That means you override their free will only because you want it, and as I already mentioned you should consider what you actually want from the people.
Second, you are contradicting with yourself a little. On one hand you demand only 5 Minutes of their time but if you want people to do more and better roleplay, then it takes more time to put thought and effort into it, which also results in more time writing. Depending on how many RPs someone is in, they have to split these five minutes, reducing the quality severely they are able to deliver. Not even mentioning improvement here.

Furthermore, use the logicbox you carry between your shoulders more frequently This isn't a high traffic site like the other one you mentioned. The faster you want an RP to have, the less suitable a forum is. Because fast responses are going to cut OUT the people who are required to post because their character situation demands it, but they are pushed out in favor of the "flow"? can't be good. Slow and steady for better RP.
The hostility I am referring to, I give you an example:

Quote :

Hmm... Not sure where you got the feeling of hostility, honestly.

Followed by ->

Quote :

Also, I will say this once, because any more times will end in death, for someone somewhere.

And this is just one of many. Do you guys think you are cool or what for posting that crap? Do you think anyone is interested in those blatant exaggerations? Is that a way to talk to friends? If it is, then I am glad to live where things are more civilized. This is not me taking things too personal or serious, no. This is me just looking at people who have not the slightest idea how to behave friendly and respectfully. If that is the consensus of how the tone should be in this environment? Then I had more than enough reason to not keep active here.

On the level of improvement... that is something I do not want to comment because I simply don't have an opinion, since I wasn't there to witness the progress. So I cannot say how far you actually got, from your own standards. I do not want to bring the example I posted to you in Skype, Shali, or at least not now. But the point still stands. Yes, if you say there has been improvement and progression, then I believe you but politely want to point out that there is a lot more possible - provided this is what the people would want.

Shadearion

I will not venture into the realm of wanting to know or understand why you are hating people. You got the heart in the right place though, judging from what you write. And while you went roundabout in your post with what is going on here, you are giving the input from firsthand and longyeared experience that is supporting my "claim". At this point there is one thing I feel obliged to point out; Only because it is my opinion that this is low quality RP, doesn't mean it sucks. It is just not my kind of fun or entertainment, but if you guys are okay doing with what you do, I am not allowed to object and will certainly be the last one. But the fact that more than one person brought it up that "things are lacking", the general awareness is here to change something. I don't know if I can help there, but the least thing I could do is write a new topic that provides an overview of basic roleplaying guidelines applicable in forum RP. But only if people want that.
And on that note, no Shade. You haven't been the reason why I didn't frequent the site anymore. Come to think of it, you were one of those that caused the least irritation.

aquaticnecris

And this is where it gets different. You are sadly wrong, on a lot of accounts. And before anything, I'd like to see you stand tall to your claim. I'd like to see your short stories better than novels, and I want to see your one-liners outdoing a 10page report. All I see is someone who blows off steam and has nothing to back it up, so please be my guest and convince me otherwise If not, then you just remain another brick in the wall.
As for quantity is not quality: this is such a general statement that is as often true as it is false. And by the looks of it - case and point for this website - this line proves to be false. If everything was alright, and if everyone would be feeling good about what they do, then why all the issues? Why the considerations for improvement? If there was no need, there would be nobody mentioning it.
This is a forum, not a chat. I cannot believe that any of you is really satisfied with the way the RPs are posted, and if yes, then your expectations must be very small. Good Forum RP can be read like a novel. Some things I am reading here is even less detailed than what others post in chat-RPs. That means in the case of your opinion that a short post is not a bad post; perhaps not, but it certainly isn't a good post either because it is lacking.

dark knight

I will not comment on the questionable way how you try to throw in weight into your post by using heavy names like Gygax - by only mentioning people who played with him, which might mean all or nothing, to be honest. So let us get our heads out of the reputation clouds and into the landing zone:
You are completely ripping out the context of Pen&Paper roleplaying and stuff it into Forum RP, as if that would change anything, save even working. It is only logical that people who do a P&P game require not much to say. Because the setting and environment is completely different. The Storyteller is narrating the scenery, then the players act. Then the storyteller reacts to their actions with more narrative. The thing you are missing here is that while it suffices to be short and quick in P&P games, it doesn't actually mean you are ROLEPLAYING. It usually means that you are playing the system and are not very witty about your character or don't do much RP at all at the table. Not even talking LARP here.
This is Forum RP. The better each individual player is descriptive and narrative with their stuff, the more it benefits everyone else. Sure you can have low-letter RP, and that is okay, but this is equally low standard as always putting two-liners in a P&P setting. That would be people playing a rule system. But not roleplaying.

I appreciate what you are offering to accept input about forum changes, but I don't think you are aware of the magnitude I am talking about. You see, this is a prefab forum on prefab freehoster. You are severely limited in what you can do, and I know that because I have looked at the forum system just recently as I was registering to pinpoint some problems with a friend who had issues on this platform. This is when I realized how disgustingly limited the options here are. I mean I already knew it was pretty bad because of what Shali told me, and I talked at lengths to her about the forum, however she said that nothing is going to be done because nobody wants to change something. I shrugged and let it slide, because it is not my forum, and if people are happy, they should be left happy.

What you lastly address, about lack of depth and and lack of consequence is again something I might write into the aforementioned topic. But of course, if you feel well versed enough you can take the matter into your hands and I kindly step off the platform, since I am but a stranger to most here.

Iggy

... might actually step up and say what s/he wants to see changing in order for them to come back, for starters? Just sitting on their bum and hope that things will change will get nothing done in terms of improvement Feedback is crucial. Just saying "it is bad" doesn't help. Bringing reasons is required (which is what I did and why I posted so long up above), bringing suggestions for improvement starts to get things done.

And this is the ball I toss into the general round. I asked what Shali wants from the forum and the people. But what do you guys want from Shali and the forum and the other members? It might be time to collect this kind of feedback into a separate topic. Because if you all linger in Skype or Steam or where-ever and do most of the stuff through private contacts there with each other, then the viability of the forum is put onto the balance. Perhaps it is even a good idea for a timeout and rather have people get together via messengers or just let the people have a little bit of a pause before coming back with a bit more distance to evaluate? Just a thought. But at any rate, people should talk about what they would like to do here and see here.

And then the topic derailed...

Well what can I say? at least you had stuff to talk about? Is that a good thing? damned if I know but at least it wasn't hostile, despite being better suited in a different topic for sure.

Could I have written all that with less words? Yes of course. Perhaps not that much less though.
Would it have the same meaning? Not likely.
Would people misunderstand me due to my short-wordedness? Very likely.
Is there are particular reason why I write all this so long? Oh indeed. Because this way there is little room for false interpretation, is fleshed out with an ample amount of thoughts and arguments. And lastly, I currently still care enough to actually write this. I don't want Shali pointing fingers at me and say "you didn't even try", and I am as well do not want to point a finger at myself saying the same thing either.
Because usually, the person in the mirror is right.

I do not want to take anyone out of their comfort zone just because I want to mold this into something of MY liking. Because I don't. If people are happy with what they are doing here, then there is nothing to talk about from my end. But I don't get the feeling it is this way, else Shali wouldn't have even started this. So the least I can do is provide some pointers.

How about I counter your post with two sentences? Okay, here goes:

So I looked for a character thread for you, found nothing. You didn't even goddamn try.

Not so hard.

Aquatica going to sleep!

Khunvyel wrote:

dark knight

I will not comment on the questionable way how you try to throw in weight into your post by using heavy names like Gygax

Khunvyel wrote:

- by only mentioning people who played with him, which might mean all or nothing, to be honest. So let us get our heads out of the reputation clouds and into the landing zone:

Look I can use your own words to contradict you too.

Khunvyel wrote:

You are completely ripping out the context of Pen&Paper roleplaying and stuff it into Forum RP, as if that would change anything, save even working. It is only logical that people who do a P&P game require not much to say. Because the setting and environment is completely different. The Storyteller is narrating the scenery, then the players act.

Oh, You mean like a roleplaying game? http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/roleplaying+game?&path=/

Khunvyel wrote:

I appreciate what you are offering to accept input about forum changes, but I don't think you are aware of the magnitude I am talking about. You see, this is a prefab forum on prefab freehoster. You are severely limited in what you can do, and I know that because I have looked at the forum system just recently as I was registering to pinpoint some problems with a friend who had issues on this platform. This is when I realized how disgustingly limited the options here are. I mean I already knew it was pretty bad because of what Shali told me, and I talked at lengths to her about the forum, however she said that nothing is going to be done because nobody wants to change something. I shrugged and let it slide, because it is not my forum, and if people are happy, they should be left happy

I guess your kind of half right, this will always be a forum. I could make HTML pages, change the color and picture of everything related to the website text size even the overall page dimensions, scrollbar and your little mouse arrow, but it'll still always be a PHPBB3 forum.

Khunvyel wrote:

What you lastly address, about lack of depth and and lack of consequence is again something I might write into the aforementioned topic. But of course, if you feel well versed enough you can take the matter into your hands and I kindly step off the platform, since I am but a stranger to most here.

Look, that is the duty of the GM/ST/DM or whatever you want to call them. The depth of a story is not literally based soley on the actions of the players, and the quality of a story isn't based upon the sheer levels of details.

Khunvyel wrote:

Wow that went seriously on a new record regarding "going offtopic" o.O Makes one wonder how much you all really care about this.

Wow, really. You think this is a record. Welcome to the internet, you MUST be new here.

Forum statistics wrote:

Number of new posts for the last 12 months
Month Posts Percent Graph
Jun 2012 444 7%
Jul 2012 134 2%
Aug 2012 279 4%
Sep 2012 645 10%
Oct 2012 918 14%
Nov 2012 1455 22%
Dec 2012 894 13%
Jan 2013 644 10%
Feb 2013 176 3%
Mar 2013 140 2%
Apr 2013 711 11%
May 2013 269 4%

Now considering the small number of active members, this is not actually bad.

Hi, I haven't posted for a few months. Am I part of the problem?

Well, it would be lying to say you weren't. However that is if you want to call it a problem.

*NOTE this is not a direct response to Safire's previous post, I apologize for the abrupt post of my longitude*
I want to believe (although I know how naive this sounds) that everybody has their own reasons for leaving and would post here had they the time, or chance or whatever the case may be.
However, I know that some people are lazy. Horribly lazy, like me.
I know this rant is best acquainted to one of the admins, and I have no right to be saying this to people since I have had to go on and off from the forum. But I see where everyone is coming with their opinions on the matter and I want to get all of the steam that this thread was originally meant. So here I go.
Shali has a good point that it only takes five minutes max to post in all of the roleplays that your a part of, and you aren't required to stalk the forum for hours waiting for a reply.
Khunvyel... Okay, I can see where he's coming from on all but one, his number five, discussing the forum's progression in RPs. The only RP that has had enough time to progress that is in, well progress is IA, and shit is happening there, enough to actually make characters progress and the story is in progress. Others are way too new to have THAT much have happened yet.
Aqua is right when he says "Quantity is not quality." just because a post is nice, long and has a ton of words doesn't mean jack or shit is happening in that post, it could be the most detailed way of saying 'I walked across the room' hell I know half of you probably won't read all of this.
-HOWEVER: Because this is a forum RP site... Thing... we have to make up for the setting not being right in front of us, we have to know exactly what the scenery is, and that means, at least for new settings, we need longer posts, with more detail for the 'heroes' to explore.
And that was my thoughts about everyone's opinion, if I didn't mention your name, I'm lukewarm/still thinking about my position on it.
Everyone, I think, is entitled to their opinion, their state on things is one of the only things we can truly call our own. And everyone has a point, where do I stand on things here? I think I am allowed to say that everyone has off days, and there are days that we just don't want to do anything. I believe those are just as valid reasons as my internet being shut off, and a hard day at work. what's said is said and what's done is done, we all have our problems that we have to overcome in our lives, and we just have to surpass them. Posting on the forum, isn't one of those problems. So if you have the time, post in the Roleplays that you're in. That's all I have to say. Gods that felt good to get out of my system.

Man I was looking at the forum statistics, and the fuck happened to this place?
No kidding, all the top everything was is 2010/2011. Of course it was mostly me and squird, in our first incarnations but alas there sued to be as many posts per day as there are now per month. Hell, Mecha was only actually with us for a few months and he's still one of the all time top posters...

I miss Mecha-for-kittens...

Anybody else appreciate the irony that the people who were complaining about it only taking 5 min to post aren't on the list of people who have even logged in for the past 24 hours?

That's just me, complain about no one posting, not logging in to post.

*Peeeks out of Skyrim and GW2*

*Eats skyrim and GW2* There, now your excuse is gone...

NO! My Skyrim!
Don't make me get out the dagger of humiliation.
(I used the fortify restoration potion exploit to make some ultra omega smithing potions and equipment, and combined them for this dagger....it does like 1 Billion damage in a single strike. I used it briefly than put it in the windshod manor basement)

*HIIIISS* My preciouses....