I have this member on one of my sites, and to be blunt, his RPing gives you headaches to read. I've tried mentioning to him about grammer, punctuation, capitilization, quality of posts, what to talk about, what to have your character do, everything. But he just doesn't seem to get it. (x.x) How do you tell a member of your site, delicately, that they are horrid at roleplaying? And how do you help them get better when they don't listen?

This question has (probably) been asked by all people who own their own RPGs. I have had someone like this. His name was dino_dude and he was annoying. He didn't use proper punctuation in all but a few places, used improper capitalization EVERYWHERE, and had horrible grammar. He was so horrible that it gave me a headache (and you know how it feels). He joined 3 of my sites, posted the same application on each one, and I was very rude. I even went in and fixed half of one of them, but he still didn't get the picture. He disregarded every rule on the board -and- of the English language, and also used things from Legend of Zelda on a Sonic the Hedgehog roleplay. Example after two weeks of daily nagging and giving him advice:

Anyway, the point is is that you should:

1. Help them become better.

2. If they ignore your advice, be rude about it.

3. If they are roleplaying, you should suspend them for a day or so, to get the picture in their head.

4. If this continues for more than two weeks, depending on activity level, ban them, and from the board send them an email. Be an ass about it, because you deserve it.

I don't think you should ever outright say that his writing sucks...some people try and still don't write as well as others with more experience. What you should do is supply him with examples of what a "good" post on your site would be. Then do a comparison of one of his posts and a "good" one, telling him to plainly expand on his ideas. Branch outwards, go indepth, etcetera. A nice thing to say is, "I liked the idea of your post, all that needs to be worked on is the execution - what you need to do is try to [blankity, blank, blank]" or something along those lines.

If his response is to ignore your suggestions or call you mean or something along the lines, stay calm. Don't come out of the situation looking like the bad guy, what you have to look like is the admin wanting a better community. At that point, ask him if he's actually serious about this and tell him that if he isn't trying to change then he might as well not be in the roleplay at all. Suspension, all that good stuff that Fission mentioned would be the next step after that. ;)

I've tried it all, but I'll try again... *sigh* it's tireiing, but when you only have a site with 15 members you can't be so picky. Thank you for your help, though if anyone else wants to but thier two cents in about members like this, by all means, I'd love to hear some more about people deal with this.

Holy Sweet Yoda!!!! Dinodude???!!!?

Something about members . . . like that. Be nice to them, at least at first. I have heard . . . from certain member . . . that a certain member was kicked off of every board he went on because of poor RPing skills.

Anyways, I encourage all members to keep at it. I have written grammar tutorials (I'm not quite too sure if they actually pay attention to them, though).

So I guess the only thing I can suggest--and I haven't tried this myself, so I hope it works--is RP with him one on one and correct his grammar/make suggestions as you go along.

Ah ha! That's something new I haven't tried. *snatches ahold of the idea.* I think I'll do that! Oh please, oh please, if that doesn't work I'm done for!

So... you know dino_dude? If he is a member here I will crap myself.

Oh, it's a good thing you made this topic because I'd like to know how to handle situations like these as well WITHOUT scaring the member away ^^.

Above are the fruits of three weeks of trying to talk to him about the quality of his posts and grammar. Also, these are begining posts, which leaves one-post topics littered about the site, though I have deleted most of them. Not as bad as this Dino_Dude. (I didn't know wheather to laugh or cry for what you must have gone through with him)


Glad someone else was wondering about this too Mako. (happy)

Laugh. I do. I laugh at him. But then he up and disappeared, leaving me without a plant to flame upon. Then I was sad, but then I partied!

We have one or two members like this at our site, and my advice is even if you laugh to yourself in private (or amongst yourselves as admins), you will look like a very bad admin if you pick on such people in public. My solution is to IM the offending member and very gently (as someone above stated) attempt to help them correct the problem. (ALWAYS mentioning something positive before you launch into how they can improve). Most people are doing their level best, and laughing at them only makes you look like a jerk and hurts their feelings. How would you feel if one of your teachers said "Well, you're just stupid," and started to ridicule you? It's just about the same thing when an admin picks on a player. If none of this works, or they just ignore your advice, I'd say you just have to put up with them, unless you're willing to explain to them and your other members why you banned them. Just don't read their posts. Truth be known, they're not really hurting you and such things tend to take care of themselves. If they're unwilling to improve, people will not RP with them, and eventually it won't be fun anymore.
We have a member who tends to RP about like someone said, leaving posts which cannot be replied to all about the forum. Every so often we just go around and clean them out when they reach page two. Wanting a better community is one thing, but that has to be tempered by being a good leader and sometimes a good leader has to put aside his/her own frustrations for the good of someone else. No one is served, not even your community, by rudeness.

*is a jerk. A big, big jerk*

Let's not mention a particular member again. It was fine to mention them as an example, but let's not bring it up again. Thanks.

I personally do not have much patience at all for people who don't listen. I'd try to explain to them that this is a literate RP and that if he isnt going to conform to the rules of grammer, you're going to have to ask him to leave. Or something along those lines.

I'm pretty open to all members. I'll even let certain members who have been kicked off of every other board they have gone to take up residence in mine. Why? Because it's all about having fun.

I think that's where you should enforce rules on roleplay experience. I like to have them supply a roleplay sample, and I state clearly that if you don't use proper grammar, you won't be accepted. I had to deal with someone like that, but the problem was they were my co-admin. I couldn't very well tell them that they suck and to go away. I just suggested a few articles on how to improve, and he did.

I'm actually trying the theory I suggested on a certain member on my RPG. I will let you guys know if it works.

I'm glad there are boards like these that help people improve. I agree that it is all about having fun, but sometimes it just isn't any fun for literate members of an RP to read or have to RP with people who write poor posts and are gramatically challenged.

English is not my first language either and for me to improve, and indeed have fun, I need to RP, read and write with people at my level or better. Do not misunderstand me, I do think we should do all we can to help these people, but sometimes, they really need more help than an admin at a particular board can give.

How about listing some 'beginner' (I hate using that word, since many of the culprits insist they've been RPing for years) or 'friendly' RP sites that enjoy helping these people? That way, Admins can refer the members to an RP that can help them and once they improve, they can return to the more 'advanced' (Excuse this word too, since many 'advanced' RP's simply have members who like to write and are long winded) RP. Maybe some of the less patient RP sites can even partner one that specialises in 'training' RPers and they can feed each other members?

I don't know, maybe I'm being a little idealistic. I'll stop ranting and just end off with the points I'm trying to make. The goal of 99% of RP's is to have fun. Still, some people don't have fun RPing with people who are not up to their standard. Some people, enjoy it. I know that some of us (me included) are deperate for members, but when a new member could be disruptive or you know you simply don't have the time to babysit and 'train' them, you might have to consider just cutting them loose.

Nonsense. Get rid of them. Chances are they are irritating alot of your members. I know of a case where an RP lost four members because it refused to get rid of one who clearly didn't fit in. Admins, stand up and do your job.

You're underestimating the persistance of some these people. You'd recommend we leave their drivel out in the open to be read by potential members? Maybe on a site with 100+ members you could drown them in the background noise, but some of us have small communities and I do not want a guest to visit and think that is an example of our posting.

A good leader puts aside his/her own frustrations for the good of the group. I admit, it's pure opinion, but then so is your statement. I'm not suggesting being rude, but being honest. Telling somebody that you don't think they'll fit in, is not rude. Letting them join so that your members can ignore them and laugh at them. I don't know (or care) what anyone else thinks, but that is rude. Tell them tht you don't believe they'll fit in. Suggest an RP like Darth Makar's for them to get started on. Invite them to apply again after a couple of weeks with the other group. That's honest and that's helping.

And that's my opinion.

I was about to say the exact same thing :) I have always asked for a RPG scene, and applicants have the choice of submitting a link to one or write a new one up in the box. If anyone ever applies with a poor example, I just politely email them and tell them that they are not suitable for this RPG. It also says clearly in the rules what is expected, so it says it twice or move in the website. I've found most people pay attention to the level of writing expected.

The problem with this is that some of us don't want our RPGs marked "beginner" simply because we want to help people improve their RPGs. It's a nice idea, but I don't want more advanced RPers turning away from my site simply because other people recommend it as somewhere to train.

I suppose there would be nothing wrong with that if the admin could actually use proper grammer herself. I see many sites which require RP samples, and it makes me cringe when people use run-on sentences or comma splices. Or even better: when they don't use correct subject-verb agreement. I cringe when I see sites this; it makes me not want to join the site purely because the admin is hypocritical. The irony!

This is a philosophy I like to adhere to. If someone's not very good at writing, that's okay in my opinion. I have tips on how to improve, certain features that encourage people to strive to be better, and have rules about god-moding so that they still have to play fair (that's a problem with a lot of the less-skilled writers), but after that I like to just let them live in peace if they still can't post "up to par." I have seen some become better just by letting them do their thing and stick around, and others will never get better. Though my board is a place for quality writing, it is above all else for fun, and I wouldn't want to make a member feel bad when they're doing the best they know how.

Make a Roleplaying School board. I've seen it done before. It their application is bad grammatically, then send them there, and if they try to roleplay before they graduate, warn them. If they do it more, suspend them. Even more, ban them. Don't let them graduate until you're satisfied. If they really want to join they'll follow your advice until they get to the level you want them to.

I don't do this, but I have something similar in a tiny way. I have a section of character development forums that give members an opportunity to have reviews done of their characters and their writing skills. I enforce a strict policy of constructive criticism and don't let my members just say stuff like "you suck," so it works out pretty well. I think that these things have really helped those that post asking for advice.

It's nice to know that someone agrees with me, Loth. ^_^

I've seen roleplay schools, and I think that that's a neat idea. However, one cannot guarantee competant teachers.

What works on my board is the Warning System. We put it to use half way through the year last year and it seemed to scare enough people they stared using MS Word.

The warning, once it gets to 100%, their posts have to be watched and they have to continuously correct them until they are to my liking and if they aren't they don't get posted.

I'm not mean about it but I found that I was constantly getting complaints about some people so we started using it. We also use it for GodModding and other things. We haven't had to use it in a long time because the one's we did hit with a warn, they corrected themselves quick because they didn't want to be suspended.

I don't even mess with this stuff anymore. I'm pretty easy going for an Admin but the players on my board know where I draw my lines. And if they keep it up, they just get a Puppy's Mad thread so I can rant about it. LOL!