Well, they're really more like guidelines.

"This is an advanced RPG, but we have no word minimum. We do strongly suggest that you aim to make around two large paragraphs per post. Try not to powerplay except where necessary, and it is recommended that in a group thread, use a posting order so that everyone gets an equal chance to post. Generally you should try to limit the number of characters you play, make it a reasonable number. Oh--and don't go too nuts with the multi-threading, a member should not be too much all over the game at once--only within reason."

Sounds like a decent setup till you actually try to follow these 'guidelines.' What's wrong with this rule set? Everything. In that it isn't clear at all what is required and what isn't. It's a sight better than unwritten rules--which I've had the displeasure of discovering all on my own in a few RPGs I used to be in. Used to, being the key word here. I don't go for unwritten rules, suggestions and other assumptions that if you don't just know what is being implied and figure it out for yourself, you don't belong. It's being assumed that a new member to the game already understands it before beginning. It's going to cause the members and staff plenty of frustration and possibly lose them some members, including ones who might have done very well if it was just more clear.

People writing up rules for an RPG in this manner are living in a box, though they probably do not know it. By this I mean they are assuming without thinking that their ideas of what's expected in an RPG are shared by everyone signing up for the first time. What is "around two large paragraphs"? For that matter, what is a "large" paragraph? Large, small, quickly, slowly, these are arbitrary terms one should always avoid in rules. Along with "should," "try to," "strongly recommended," and other terms that not only don't specify whether anything is actually allowed or not, but nobody will listen to them anyway, trust me. If you don't want it in the game, say "can't," "don't," "not allowed." Use word minimums if you want people to write longer posts and short ones are unacceptable to you.

I've written exactly these points before but from a slightly different angle. In my last visit on this topic I was writing strictly from a rules perspective--how to get people to listen to them. This is part of it here as well, but what should also be addressed are any underlying assumptions that you the admin could be making about members you don't have yet, or just got. People come from all over to an RPG and their ideas for what an RPG is or should be might be entirely different. {I didn't even know what "post matching" meant till I had it explained to me--last week!}

Use hard numbers and solid rules for your game, and you will then all be on the same page.

So you wanna start a forum?

I'm putting this one out for all of you folks interested in starting up your own online message boards. They've been around almost since the Internet first came into a form of existence vaguely resembling how it is now. Though the onslaught of competing media over the years--videos, blogs, and of course, social network sites--the forum has continued to stand tall as one of the dominant forms of interactive website. And even better, it's gotten a bit snazzier over the ages while never forgetting its roots as a fountain of knowledge, enduring friendships, and infamous Internet memes.

Who wouldn't want to be at the centre of one?

Well, a lot of people who get into it not realising what they are getting into.

I can't blame people for getting in over their head when they try to run a forum if they've never tried it before because from the outside, as just a member enjoying the fruits of another forum owner's labour, they cannot really have any idea the amount and intensity of the work that goes into managing a forum. It is not like managing a blog, it is a lot more intensive, involving, demanding, and often stressful. You have to ask yourself, "If I knew I wasn't going to make a single penny on this forum ever, would I still do it?" If the answer's no then you should not try to start a forum. Because you likely won't just not make much or any money at the start or maybe ever, but you're quite likely to lose some. A few forum owners who plug away at it for a while will achieve large success, though, and it's those forums that inspire people to give it a go. Just know that it is not a walk in the park.

I wrote an E-book of advice I learnt from my 10+ years experience in forums and it didn't sell so well. Why? Well, maybe because I was a little too honest. I emphasised that it isn't a get rich quick scheme or even get rich at all scheme and that you have to work at it, and here are some good steps to take with your hard, hard, hard work so you don't waste all that time and effort.

Be prepared to be on your forum every single day or almost every day, the more time you put in the better; posting, handling issues between members or from trolls, and of course answering the pileup of private messages your members will bring to you. Questions, complaints, concerns, whining, nagging, and who could forget: drama?

What really kills me is the woeful misconception that the hard part is STARTING the forum! Your forum's slow, early days are indeed critical in helping set the tone of your community later on--don't be like me and blunder into the middle of things and have to work to change that tone later--but the larger your forum grows, the more work it will entail and the more you will experience the trials and tribulations of being a leader. You are the face of your forum. If something goes wrong, guess who's to blame--or at least, guess who IS blamed?

Be prepared to do plenty of damage control to keep things peaceful. Keeping the community in a warm tone is what will enable it to continue to grow.

With all this to give you a headache, is it any wonder most forums close their doors before their first birthday?

Think long, think hard, and if you still want to run a forum at the end of the day, go into it not with cold ambition but a blazing passion for your forum's topic and the community itself.

But it's not the destination, it's the journey.

I'm the KING OF THE WORLD!

Or queen. Why? Because I'm an administrator of a FORUM! That's right. If you don't like how I run this place, too bad for you, you can just go pack it. What's that? You want me to stop being mean? Oh boo hoo, poor baby, maybe YOU should stop being such a dumbass and whiner, maybe then someday you can understand half of what it takes to be as awesome as me. Cause you're just a n00b and you know what else? I don't like your face. So unless you're kissing my ass every minute on this forum I'll happily ban you and rid this place of one more l0zerrr.

Funny...there seem to be a lot of those lately...Oh well. You just can't stand how awesome I am. That's right!

...Wow I even started to hate myself while I typed that example. We've all probably seen at least one mod or admin like that. Nobody can stand them, yet why are there still so many?

Could it be that some of us are like that and might not even realise it?

This isn't an article about avoiding asshole admins. I think we all know one when we see one...Unless, maybe, it's the one looking back at us in the mirror?

No way, you think, never in a million years could you be one of those intolerable, pretentious bitchy snobs you take pains to avoid, and gripe to your friends about having to deal with. Well I always hope not, but I decided to write this up based on the possibility that some folks out there may be giving off the wrong impressions on their websites. One very different from what they think they're giving off.

There's no one way to diagnose it, but instead there are a few warning signs that I'll outline, from experience. First...

"If you don't like how I enforce things, too bad. I'm not softening myself up for anyone."

Everyone has the right to make whatever rules they want to, right? Of course! So why is the above a warning sign? Because as an administrator it's a little bit different. While you should never change your rules if you don't want to change them, you need to think of how you come across to your members. If they take offence to what you tell them, consider that and ask yourself whether you're speaking kindly-but-firmly {good} or coming off as a bitch {bad}. If you word something like this:

"I understand you don't like this rule but we have it for a reason and at this time it isn't changing. Please comply or you will be [banned/warned/etc.}."

...you will still get your point across and I don't think anyone could legitimately accuse you of nastiness.

"I don't like you."

You don't have to like everyone on your board. And you probably won't. But enforcing the rules should never bring your personal gripes against someone into play. Keep those likes and dislikes of members out of your administrating or before long you will be known as a gameowner who plays favourites...and least favourites...and who doesn't give a whit about people's feelings.

"This character application--if it could be called that--reeks of Mary Sue's armpits for about 100 reasons and I'm going to list them all right now in detail. You came up with a clever name for the title--and the niceness and praise ends right here...{proceeds for another 5 screens of barbed critiquing}..."

While constructive criticism is welcome for any character application that could do well in your RPG if it just had some things tweaked, personally, long-winded stompings of bios, full of snarkiness and holier-than-thou comments, disgust me to no end and I'm not alone. If the application is that hopeless I don't see any other reason to waste 3 hours writing up a scathing review other than to enjoy cutting someone else down. If you want to, go ahead...you won't be admired or respected for it as a kind and considerate gameowner if that is how you deal with members whose skills are not up to your standards. It is more productive to be brief and polite by saying something like,

"I admire your effort and thank you for trying out at our game. However, the level of writing that your application demonstrates is not up to the game's minimum standards--this is a game for more experienced players--and it would be unfair to accept this only to see you unable to keep up. If you'd like to polish up on your skills and get an idea of what we are looking for I encourage you to check out our guides/roleplays/approved bios. If you have any questions just ask."

It can be easier than some might think to let an administrating position go to their head. I hope this can shed some light on it and help people avoid this pitfall!

You KILLED it! NOW where am I gonna roleplay?

500-word posting minimums. Hidden code words in the rules. Only invisionfree {proboards, forumotion, wetpaint, SMF, vbulletin, MyBB} can advertise here.

No n00bs allowed.

Do all these things and you'll have a civilised, intelligent, creative, mature, friendly, and most of all, neat and organised roleplaying game that is part of a larger, equally endowed roleplaying community.

Increasingly, it's also a dying roleplaying community.

I refer primarily to the Invisionfree/Proboards community of RPGs. I've heard people in this community lament that post-based roleplay is dying. These people usually blame other media like Facebook for its declining state. They have obviously not seen the many thriving roleplay circles and sites, such as the Wetpaint and Webs roleplaying community, Roleplayer's Guild and other multigenre sites, even my own Warrior Cats game. All of these and more are post-based, thriving, and not hooked up with Facebook any more than any other play by post community--though Facebook does have a roleplay community, it has not caused the death of play by post.

The people closing their boards off to only IF {or proboards, or any one software} are contributing to a larger problem that is slowly killing this particular roleplaying community. Anyone who was around in this community back in 2005, 2006, even 2007 could tell you it was another world then, a much more active one. Over time these sort of prejudices have sprung up as they often do along with an increased tendency to shut out "n00bs." Fewer people seem to be finding their way in. It can be a hard struggle to get a new site off the ground and keep it there. 20 members on per day is considered highly active.

How did this happen? More importantly, how can it be reversed?

Well, I have seen a general tendency as a roleplaying circle ages, to raise its requirements and expectations and to become more closed in on itself. This stasis cuts off most beginning roleplayers and they fail to come in anymore at a replacement rate. It becomes an inbred, specialised circle that slowly decays. The solution? To drop these prejudices that fracture the community even more. Being as open as possible to other softwares/brands will greatly aid your game as well as the network of roleplays that form this community.

And let those "n00bs" in. We were all n00bs once. Shutting beginners out is the beginning of the end.


Disclaimer: There are still quite a few thriving sites left in this community. It's the overall state of it that this article refers to. Placing this here to respond to the commenters who may come here saying they own/play on several active RPGs there. Yes, I am aware.

Now you've pissed me off...wait, no you didn't.

Or, how to discipline. Every administrator or moderator of any kind of forum is going to have to know how to do this. For me, disciplining didn't come naturally. I'm more of an innovator than an authority figure and had to figure out by trial and error how to effectively keep a member base happily under control. But if I can do it, anyone can...

Yes, I said 'happily under control.' Members who do not know their limits are unhappy members. Many will act out just to find what those limits are. After all, they don't know them. The first thing to make sure of is that you have all your rules clearly stated somewhere prominent on your forum. A rules board right up top, or a sticky thread announced over all boards works well.

So let's say you have all that but your members still act out. Welcome to the world of forums. To make sure that one member acting out doesn't become 700--because it will unless you do something--you need to quickly discipline them.

The faster it's addressed, the better, of course. Keep your language firm but friendly enough, say something like, "What you just did there [quote the infraction so they know what they did, especially if it's now a few posts or more back] is called a powerplay. A powerplay is when you damage someone else's character without permission. Please see our powerplaying guide [link] for more information, and if you are unsure of our rules don't hesitate to ask for help."

The player should correct; it helps to also PM it to them though this may vary. They are less likely to miss a PM than a post, though.

Let's say they keep it up and make the same rule break a second time, a third, etc. Let's say that they argue with you. "It's not a powerplay and he didn't mind! The other RPGs I play at don't have this stupid rule," says the member who's always right.

Here's where I normally step in with the warning bars, checks, etc. along with a scarily calm notice PMed to them that unless they change their wayward ways they could be abruptly removed from the member base. I'd say something like, "Regardless of how other games function, this is how our RPG is set up, and nobody forced you to join. Our rules are clearly displayed to guests. Your arguing and disparaging the site for an error you made has earnt you a [warning bar, etc.] and you will be banned if you continue."

If they continue, it's ban time. Whether temporary or permanent ban, for me depends on the situation.

I always tell my staff, never "raise your voice" to your recalcitrant members. Keeping your language neutral does a much better job of demonstrating you are in control. Someone who's truly in control and doesn't feel threatened by a member's challenges has no need to lose their cool. It also demonstrates to a member acting out that they are unable to get under our skin or make their rule breaks and insults have an impact on us. They may be acting out of frustration because they can't do what they want, but they're also testing you and testing their limits. And your other members are watching. Show them what those limits are, and everyone will be happier for it.

I Quit, Forever...see you next week.

We've probably all seen it--that member who for whatever reason, has had enough with a forum. They don't just call it quits--they scream it.

Then, before long, they come crawling on back. Usually within a few days to a few weeks. They may lurk for a while, seemingly unable to separate themselves from the community they supposedly grew to hate with a passion.

"I'm sorry," they say when they return. {Well, maybe.} "I was having a bad week...can you forgive me?"

So, some people have asked what one as an administrator should do about members like this? Chances are there won't just be one.

I believe prevention is the best cure. As an admin you should do your best to hear members' concerns out, help them with site issues, and generally let them know they aren't just an account number to you. Go the extra mile--they'll notice.

But will that be enough to magically prevent these sorts of dramas? No, of course not. So do you let them back?

I say it's a matter of how severe their quitting. I make sure to make things very clear that if someone has an issue on our site, that they either let staff know so we can help them, or they must hold their silence. Otherwise all they're doing is creating drama. If they left, but their leaving was not any kind of offencive against the community, I just let them return at their own pace if they do and welcome them back with open arms. Water under the bridge!

If they take it to the next level with a hateful rant against the site {or any member on it--I see no difference between the two in this regard} I ban them, forever or for a very, very long time--think years. This sort of thing is not just a "rant," it's an attack. I strongly recommend any admin do the same. Someone thoughtless enough to take their bad time out on a community that only tried to help them have a good time isn't welcome in my neck of the Web.

My recommendations for avoiding this stuff: First, hear members out when they have concerns. Make sure you and your staff are approachable and friendly so people don't feel scared to go to you guys for help. Second, handle their issues with concern and effort. If two members are fighting, see what you can do to smooth things out, and if it cannot be done, see if you can help them both settle into separate areas of your site so they can participate without interacting with each other.

And third, if someone attacks your site with a hate-filled "I quit and here's my 100 reasons why" thread, ban them. If they hate it that much, let them eat their words. Chances are, if their rant thread is the length of the average rant thread they won't be going hungry any time soon.