Forum Cliches

I love sidebars... one usually isn't enough for me... moar sidebars plx ;]

OH. One of the worst cliches...EVER?

When people apologize somewhere in their post about how "crappy and short" it is. Every. Single. Post.

It doesn't make sense. I read your post and I didn't even think it was bad. But after you said that I wonder, "HMMM...WAS IT?" hehe

I can't stand this! I only apologize if I genuinely think the post is not good, which is just about never. If I don't think a post is good, I probably won't post! So, the only time I've ever really apologized is when I've been stuck with a post and finally just had to force something out.

If I'm self conscious about a post, I won't apologize, I'll just let my partner(s) know to ask me for changes/clarification/etc, wherever it's needed.

I can't really think of cliches I don't like. I'm starting not to like a certain Google Font, but I honestly wouldn't call it a cliche? I don't know.

Or if people ask if it's ok to join your clearly marked "All Welcome" thread...

I'm talking about when it's marked AU, but oh so clearly not AU.

How do I be clear?

Gifs. Please, please kill the moving gifs.

I don't have anything against gifs at their very basic level. They can take a youtube video and condense it down into something cute and clever. You can use it to display all 395 of your characters in a rotating signature.

But I do not want to see your PB flipping her hair over and over again in this jerky motion because where the gif starts and where they end are two significantly different places. Normally these are short, which make it more painful to watch. And yes, I do mean painful--they hurt my eyes to see people flickering back and forth. I would like to look at your post, not watch a gif, please.

*Huff*

Don't take away ALL the fun!
(Not that I have any of those)

Geeez really? Well whoever told you that needs a slap for labeling their thread wrong.

I agree I hate seeing forums with nothing but private threads. I kinda dislike forums now where every single character uses a "plot page" where all threads seem preplanned and the only way to even have a thread with that character is by asking them oocly in their "thread request thread".

I miss the good old days where there were no pre-planned plots... you just kinda bounced off each other and made up plots and twists as you went along. But these days if someone does something you don't like in a thread a complaint is made about that other player. Is it just me or does that kinda defeat the point of a play-by-post roleplay?

I still ask, anyway. Just a habit I think is polite.

Gifs are definitely annoying. I don't like making plot pages for that very reason, however if you don't have it people usually just PM you instead, which is fine I suppose. The days of open threads and evolving plots are definitely missed.

Going back to the fleur-de-lis, after cruising some sites today I've found that the ampersand is much more prevalent. So much so that I'm going to go ahead and call them cliche, however I'm glad people have moved away from putting && in front of everything. That used to drive me batshit. Brackets as well for that matter.

Why are they missed? I still see tons of sites with plot pages and open threads and evolving plots! Personally, especially in some settings (like a school, or a smallish town or city) it's absolutely ridiculous not to plan out some things because I refuse to believe that any character with through x years of school or lived in the same town/city most of their lives and didn't develop any relationships that might need a little hashing out before threads are had. personally, I like a healthy mix of both. I don't like all open threads with no pre-planning, but I don't like all pre-planning with no 'seat of the pants' flying. Everything in moderation, yo.

So that I contribute something to the actual topic, though, I'd have to say one of the 'cliches' (although I keep thinking that's not the right word to use, but whatever) that bothers me the most is admins opening sites without having apps up for their own characters. It seems to be a dying trend, but I still see it occasionally--like the site is a couple weeks old, between them the admins have like ten characters in play, and maybe one or two completed apps. Sorry, but if you don't have to finish your apps to play, why are you making me?

I agree with this so much! I have to say, on a very rare occasion, it is okay to have a character without an app in play. In the case of it being a surprise, or a plot twist or something. However, I've seen wayyy too many sites where the staff just didn't app their own characters.

Also, another thing that bugs me (where there is a team of staff members, not just one), is when an admin accepts their own character. Especially when it's a character that has glaring plot holes and such.

Or if you go with tradition an unmarried woman uses her maiden name as her middle name and her last name becomes her husbands last name. Not every character has a middle name so I will agree with that.

I'll add into the admins on small sites sometimes have to accept their own apps but honestly on my small site I've stopped creating apps but it's not a double standard. If you have a minimum of one accepted app on my site then you are free to create appless characters but it is suggested you fill out their bio regardless for others to play with them.

I partly believe this depends on the forum. When you have a more diversified setting and less contained on a few specific races, it can help to have more staff, if only to help balance the plotting and your own personal time. Even those with abundance of time can only do and think so much all in one go. My plotting brain gets crazy if I try that, .

That said, six, eight, half the site. Now we're pushing it.

Aye, Open threads seem to have gone off on vacation and forgot to send a postcard. We miss you!

On topic, incessant requests to vote. I understand sites are excited to get the word around but I am seen some that almost badger their members. Not even certain how effective topsite is sometimes.

On the accepting their own app... For awhile there I only really had me, so what I'd do was I had someone that was on my site that I trusted, look over my app. If they didn't see anything wrong, then my admin account accepted it. If they did, they'd tell me and I'd fix it. So I've had finished apps sit there for a day or so, instead just insta-accept.

I've noticed a slight cliche [would trend fit better? dunno] in violent rules/credits/and so forth. Like... "Don't follow the rules and we'll punch you" or "Steal this and we'll kill you".

I'm not really talking about sites with just one admin//staff member, to clarify. And I'm more talking, admins that make a ton of mediocre characters, give them an instant approval without someone else looking over the app, and have big issues in the apps and the characters themselves. It's just something I've noticed happening on some boards.

For small sites and sites with just one staffer, accepting yourself is not that much of an issue, as long as the app/character is up to standard.

I've always been pretty entertained by the use of "with a twist" in game descriptions. Like, "We're an AU Glee RPG with a twist" or "we're a big city RPG with a twist" or the like. Every single time, my immediate reaction is "of lemon or lime?" In some cases, of course, the 'with a twist' description is at least accurate, and they have something fairly unique for the genre, but it's especially funny when there really is nothing to truly distinguish that game.