I feel a little dumb for asking, but I have a couple of questions.
First question is regarding designing boards. I learnt how to do everything from a not-so good board-person last July and I've noticed at alot of the RPG boards that I've seen (from this site) everything looks all nice, clean, and beautifully done forum wise. Opposed to mine which in compare, look like a monkey did it (on mine). So I was just wonding how one goes about making a more elegant (?) looking board?
And what should I do about storylines? Because I usually do big SLs for couples and then no does them and I've noticed alot of people just do Board Storylines. Is that better?
Also what do I do to get quality (?) RP'ers? Every single time I open a board, I either 1) get flooded with people who go "I walk in the room and see Blah" or "I walk in room 'hi, how are you'". Basically they give zero depth to the character, 2) they get a character then NEVER post. And then my boards usually die and it's really upseting in ways because I want my board(s) to go far but I'm not really sure how do to that. So basically I need help and advice for that stuff.
Again, I feel dumb for asking, I'm not sure if this even counts as Support or anything, or belongs in this form. Sorry if I put this in the wrong place.

I think this board is mostly for actually coding support, but I think you have a bit about that up there, so maybe it's ok. Hehe.

First, making an awesome looking board:
A nice skin is a must. IF Skin Zone has nice ones. And you can always click the credit links at the bottom of forums to see where they got their skins from. =] For instance, RPG-D got their skin from Ink Drop Styles. Just take a look around and see what you like.

Organization is key. So you want to make sure that members can find important things (like the Rules, Character Bio Application, Plot, etc) easily. A good way to do that is with a Side-bar. You may also want to make sure your boards are divided up neatly to avoid looking messy and clumped together.


Storylines:
Plots/Storylines are really up to you. It's probably best to have a set plot for all members to follow to avoid everyone getting bored. Storylines between only a few characters are usually called subplots. Subplots aren't really neccessary, but they can be fun to have if you want to see a specific story take place. Usually, subplots are set up with canon characters that members have to adopt to take part in the subplot.

For my RPG, we have neither a main plot nor a subplot. The members create their own stories, which I think is what a lot of people prefer to do. Just talk to your members to see what they want. It's all about making them happy. =]


Quality:
I'm there with ya, buddy. I've had the same problem. A lot of it has to do with where you advertise. From what I've seen, unless you advertise somewhere that experienced role-players gather, you're going to get newbies who don't know very much. I can promise you, however, that they get better. We all had to start somewhere; give them some time, and some guidance, and they'll improve.

But if you're looking for a quicker way to get high quality, I'd stick to advertising on RPG directories (like this) or on other RPG's with the kind of quality you like. Also, you may want to have an indepth character application. Having a bio that requires a member to really plan out and figure out their character will keep away a lot of the members that aren't good writers or roleplayers, leaving you the more serious ones. You can also try having a minimum post rule; such as, all in character posts must be at least 3 paragraphs long.

^--- agree with Manda. On the note of the quality of the rpers, I have a few things to add--

I find that you can pretty much recruit from anywhere and you'll find decent rpers; they might be one in one hundred, but they're there. The only thing is, (and I find this works well for my site) is when you're recruiting, tell them at the beginning that the must email an application BEFORE they register. Make it very clear that they are allowed to register once you have received and approved them. That way, you choose the people you want and won't have to worry about kicking people out who have joined and who can't write.

:)

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