It's come to our attention that there is a recent trend here in the past few months that has become unhealthy for the site. It is clear that most of the plotting and wanted character taking happens via PM or IM (Skype/Discord), which is breeding an environment that's too exclusive.

It used to be that everyone would just discuss their plots in the Plotting board and post up characters in the Wanted Characters board. There's no reason you need to hide your plotting discussions unless you're throwing a surprise for one or more members. There is no power-playing allowed here so any information people read in the Plotting board is not fair game for their character to know anyway.

For Wanted Characters, it's nice when you let others have the choice in taking your relative or love interest. I know I've seen most of the wanted ads taken via PM/IM and never even posted in there and I've felt like, well maybe I would have loved to play one of that character's family members, so I'm sure others have thought the same. Remember that you do have the final say if someone is allowed to take the character or not. Of course, be nice if you are saying no to them. You can always state your requirements to play the character in the wanted ad if you're worried about having to turn someone down. For instance, if you only want someone to take them who writes 500+ words consistently, or only someone who has less than 10 characters (because maybe you feel that having more would make them less active with the character perhaps). Maybe you want someone who's in your timezone for faster posting or someone who will post short, faster posts with you. Remember that we have a rule that you have to accept the wanted ad being played before we can accept the character, so when 'Yes' is said in the app for Wanted Ad, we do check your wanted ad to make sure you responded and said it was okay.

So I encourage everyone to use these boards more - there are two main benefits to this for the site. Firstly, there are many current members who are feeling excluded right now because a lot of people just plot via PM/IM and leave out everyone else. Plus, it is known that some people have made Discord channels people have made that not everyone was invited to. This is why I'm always against having a group Skype/Discord for the site. You can't guarantee every single member will have that program and be able to chat and plot with everyone else. And that just creates cliques and exclusiveness. Plus, we already have a group chat on the site - the c-box.

Secondly, if everyone is just plotting off site or privately in PM, what does it look like to new members? Either they think people don't plot much on here or that they just find it hard to really get in. That's when it feels cliquey - when you join a site and there isn't much plotting opportunity or wanted ads but you see everyone else seems to have plots. It's very off-putting. You always have to put in a bit of effort for plots but if there's nothing in return, it really turns you off a site.

So let's get back to how it used to be - people utilizing those boards. There's no need to keep any sort of plot discussion or wanted ad secret. I could always make some insane rules forcing people to reply to plotters before making new characters or for Activity Checks (they have those rules on some sites) or any relative to be posted in the Wanted Characters board first. But first I'm hoping everyone will cooperate and that won't be necessary.