Potential Changes for 3.0

[Fleur Delacour - Inactive]

Plans/Ideas/Changes for 3.0

When we were first speculating having a 2.0, I recall there being a thread where we could suggest rules, plans, etc on how to change or better 1.0 into 2.0. Since there is speculation (confirmed?) that there will be a 3.0, I thought I would make a thread where we could discuss how we, as a forum, would like to see changes. I know that there are already talks about limiting characters, but I mean more than just character limits, plans, plots, etc. I believe that we've gradually learned what helps our roleplays and what encourages new members to join and I think a lot of people who aren't leaders have generally good ideas. I think that everyone's voice should be heard like it was back when Eowyn was creating 2.0.

Now that I've explained WHY I'm creating this thread, I think everyone knows what to do here. I'll post some ideas I have now.

• I don't mind when there are crackships or non-canon relationships, but I believe that for 3.0 we should ensure that our characters' personalities stay as canon as possible. I know that sometimes my characters aren't as canon as they should be, which is why when I started changing Fleur from what she usually is, I made an Original Character. It doesn't make sense to be a character and then completely change their personality. If you want someone with the personality you're creating, make an OC.
  
• Minimal planning is probably best for 3.0 also. I noticed that a lot of people had these extravagant plans and that deters people from rping together if all you focus on are the plans with other people. I had problems with that because all my plans that I made fell apart when all my characters were dependent on these plans and they fell through due to my absence. So, for next time, I believe plans for relationships, friendships, etc can be made, but big, detailed should probably be avoided.
  
• Starting roleplay earlier is another idea I had. Last time, we started in the fall and a lot of people slowly began to disappear due to work loads. It might be better to start 3.0 at the start of summer, so that people who are swamped with work will no longer have school and be able to participate and create relationships.
  

I've stated my ideas, now you can state yours.
:]
I hope this isn't wrong of me to do...I don't see why it wouldn't be.

[Melanie McCann]

I personally think it is way too early to start even thinking about 3.0


JS.

[Fleur Delacour - Inactive]

Well, since I'm thinking we should start 3.0 earlier...like I was thinking June or July, it's not technically too early in my opinion. I'm not making any plans with characters or anything, but it's more of like rules we think should be added, etc. It's nothing like claiming characters, establishing teams, or anything that's like that. It's more of changes we think should happen that don't have to apply JUST to 3.0. Know what I'm saying?

[Melanie McCann]

-le shrug-
I think if we start talking about 3.0 to early the same thing will happen to 2.0 that happened to 1.0

It will just die.

[Fleur Delacour - Inactive]

That was the main reason I made this thread though...one of my points is that we shouldn't make PLANS for characters. The title for this thread is misleading, but it's not about making plans like we did in 2.0. It's more of just rules, changes, etc. I'm definitely not staking claim on characters or suggesting plots and I don't think anyone else should either...

I'm trying to help it stay alive by suggesting improvements to the forum itself, not so much to create 3.0. It just seems like they would be applied to 3.0 because no one wants to make changes to 2.0 as it continues.

[Lily Evans]

I'm on my phone right now & even getting pages to load is a bitch, let alone making long posts, so I'll make a detailed reply to this when I get home to my beloved laptop. XD

[Draco Malfoy]

Okay I'm just going to address the points that Elise made:

• I disagree with this entirely. I think that it is perfectly well and good to have our own spins on characters. I think that taking the characters and making them our own is really what AWF is about. If you want to stick to canon then just copy and paste from the original books. The point here is to take what was given to us and to let our imaginations run wild to see what happens. Especially because the only character we really understand from the series is Harry. No one else has a thought process and we don't really see deeply enough to be able to RP as anyone else.
  
  
• I think that planning really depends on the person but we should all try to make more of an effort to have more random RP. Hopefully what will solve some of that is having less characters each so we get deeper into those respective people and can take them into a larger variety of situations. Also there is no way to make rules against planning or for wider RP, that's something we all need to decide for ourselves.
  
  
• I like this idea actually. Maybe in early-August start this one up. That way we have a about a month to get the ball rolling. Though I don't think it'll help with people vanishing. I think people just need to think long and hard about how much they can manage and if they know they won't be able to keep up with three characters then they need to accept that and just take one or two and if they're still worried then they should just take an OC.
  

Also the Mod Squad is already working on changes and we did update the rules with new things for 3.0 so I think soon (if I'm not wrong Mya and correct me if I am) we'll have a few more announcements for the forum.

[Pansy Parkinson-Malfoy]

1. How can we possibly know canon for some of the other characters? The most we know about Scorpius is his name and that he looks like Draco. What then? The most we know about Pansy is that she had an upturned nose and made fun of Hermione much too often, and tried to turn in Harry to the Dark Lord. What do we know about Molly as a student, or the Marauders, or Lucius? Canon is well and good, but there are limits to how well we are able to see it and stick with it. As far as what you're saying Tam, it's not necessarily that we need to change the more popular/major characters for ourselves, I don't know about doing that necessarily, it's just that we don't know a lot about many of them, and need to create our own versions because of a lack of JKR supplied information.

2. Less characters per person will solve that problem, so that you have to interact with more people in general, rather than having six accounts that only rp with the five accounts of one other person.

3. The only thing about starting earlier, is that things would start dying earlier. It's inevitable that as 3.0 nears, people will start to abandon 2.0. Pushing the date up only pushes up the death of rp in anticipation of 3.0. And then all that will happen is that when people have all this free time in summer, and they get involved with something in 3.0, and then disappear once school starts back, what then? Characters left hanging in relationships and friendships and scenes that are never finished. It's probably just best to see who's on at the same time once we're busy in school to see who you're going to realistically be able to most often rp with in the long run.

[Melanie McCann]

1. How can we possibly know canon for some of the other characters? The most we know about Scorpius is his name and that he looks like Draco. What then? The most we know about Pansy is that she had an upturned nose and made fun of Hermione much too often, and tried to turn in Harry to the Dark Lord. What do we know about Molly as a student, or the Marauders, or Lucius? Canon is well and good, but there are limits to how well we are able to see it and stick with it. As far as what you're saying Tam, it's not necessarily that we need to change the more popular/major characters for ourselves, I don't know about doing that necessarily, it's just that we don't know a lot about many of them, and need to create our own versions because of a lack of JKR supplied information.

2. Less characters per person will solve that problem, so that you have to interact with more people in general, rather than having six accounts that only rp with the five accounts of one other person.

3. The only thing about starting earlier, is that things would start dying earlier. It's inevitable that as 3.0 nears, people will start to abandon 2.0. Pushing the date up only pushes up the death of rp in anticipation of 3.0. And then all that will happen is that when people have all this free time in summer, and they get involved with something in 3.0, and then disappear once school starts back, what then? Characters left hanging in relationships and friendships and scenes that are never finished. It's probably just best to see who's on at the same time once we're busy in school to see who you're going to realistically be able to most often rp with in the long run.

I agree with all of this.

[Nikki Orwell]

Can I desperately plead we don't start in August?
I like starting September first. Just like Hogwarts. It is a nice touch.
Also, purely selfishly, I would get about a bit of a head start adjusting to college if we start in September. I start mid-August, so if we restart before then, I would have to manage a new role play, where everything is a bit up for grabs, and an entirely different world. And, just knowing me, it would be completely overwhelming. If we start on September first, I have already gotten time to adjust. Like I said, purely selfish.

[Lucius Malfoy]

1. I try to stick to canon as well as I can with Luna. But like Pansy said, I barely know anything about Viktor other than he's shy. I have no idea what Lucius was like as a kid so I made it up. Same with Al since clearly we don't know much about him either. I think that people need to add to their characters, and other people might disagree with how they portray them but there isn't much we can do about that. We've all read the books but everyone reads into the minor characters differently.

2. I think that the character limit would help. Also, most people don't plan too much. Sure, we have our pairings that we're interested in but that's about it. I don't think plans have anything to do with slowing down RP. It's the fact that we have so many characters, but that'll change in 3.0. I'm personally not a huge fan of intense planning, but if people want to them I say we let them. Just an opinion of mine.

3. I agree with my twin on this one. Seriously. I have nothing to add to what she said. The faster 3.0 starts, the faster it dies. We'll start promoting during 2.0 (we already have a general date for when that'll happen) and that should help with picking up RPing.

And I agree with Nikki. I love the idea of starting September 1st. *nods*

[Draco Malfoy]

Personally September works best for me because I'll be away all of August again only this time I won't be chopping myself off from civilization. So whatever is easiest for everyone else. Plus I have more time at school anyway.

[Angelina Johnson]

Okay, now that I'm not half asleep and I'm fed and watered I'm just going to throw my 2 cents in here.

1. As most other people have said, this is practically impossible with most characters. Taking my characters as an example, sure, AJ is a canon era character, but all we really know is that she's friends with the twins and loves Quidditch (and she's a bitch of a captain!), and as for Gideon, he ends up and dies for the OotP, but I have to make up every thing else. For most personalities, there's a canon character, as well, just as a side note. Also, the site's tagline should never really be disregarded - part of the point of AWF, in my opinion, is that we CAN change people and pairings if we like.

2. I see what you're saying, and agree - I know I'm guilty of only RPing with a few people (although time differences is a big issue for me), but to be honest, if someone wants to make big, extravagant plans they have every right to do so. To make rules or suggest how someone should plan for or play their characters is not fair.

Basically, in the end, each person's characters are THEIR take on the character, so they have every right to play them or plan for them as they choose.

3. As far as starting early, TBH it doesn't really affect me because we're in our summer at the moment, and I'll be around due to the winter term at my uni, but I don't think it's fair on people who are, or who want to, go away to expect for them to miss out or join in late, because a lot of stuff (making close friends, making future pairings meet) seems to happen early on in the RP. More people are likely to be around in September due to school, and needing to be on the computer anyway.

As an aside, I do believe the Mods probably are discussing this kind of stuff, and that maybe it would have been a better idea to directly contact the Mod team before allowing the whole forum to weigh in on the debate. After all, it is what they're here for.

[Molly Prewett]

Alrighty, I’m likely going to be repeating the opinions of some other people who have already posted, so apologies for the redundancy but I’d rather have everyone hear this direct from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. This is all my opinion based on what I feel is the most practical approach to things.

Absolutely I love the idea of everyone here having feedback and a chance to have a say in how our community works –which is why I’m glad that Eowyn in all her wonderfulness has made this area of the forum for both help & suggestions and I hope people do use it as often as they like. There will be times, though, when the answer from the Mod Squad will be ‘we’re already discussing/planning/considering/have rejected that’ because there’s quite a bit of work that goes into maintaining AWF and planning for its future that we simply can’t throw everything open to the entire forum for discussion from the outset or nothing would ever be done. I hope everybody understands that.

My direct response to suggestions so far:
1. ‘Keeping characters’ personalities canon’ is a relative thing. We all have different views on how certain characters in the HPverse should be played, so I think it’s best to leave it to the discretion of each account holder. At the end of the day, we only really have the right to control our own characters’ personalities and actions, and I think we need to respect that we all choose characters that have some great meaning to us, or speak to us on some personal level in however way we see or feel them. Requesting that people play their characters differently runs the risk of making a user feel like people ‘think they’re playing the part wrong’, which could cause a lot of hurt feelings and resentment. We’re a pretty diverse bunch here, some of us love canon with a passion and some of us take great delight in flouting it where we see fit; it’s up to everyone to decide as individuals what style brings them the most enjoyment in RP.

2. With planning, we can all make suggestions and state our cases as to what we think works best, but again – I don’t think it’s down to anybody to make a final call for all one way or all the other (minimal planning vs. major planning, I mean). It seems to me like plenty of people have tried the micro-planning approach, and most have abandoned it, so I don’t think there’s really going to be an issue there. But the fact of the matter is that this is meant to be fun, and while I think it’s important that we keep a bit of variety in things, and have plenty of space and opportunity for random RP, if people want to plan as much or as little as they like, it’s their business. I very much agree that the forum could really thrive with a little more diversification in RP – I’ve seen a few people lately really make an effort to get out with new characters and RP with different people and it’s great to see. All of us getting out more with new and different people is something I’d love to see continue and increase, and I hope people see the benefits for all of us in that respect, but these things can’t be forced. But as far as planning goes; do what you will, people, I’m not going to tell anyone how to go about having fun.

3. I’ve already considered the idea of starting 3.0 earlier, and my answer is ‘no’. 3.0 will start on September 1st as planned. There are a lot of reasons for this one, so I’m going to dot points if you’ll all bear with me in my bluntness.

• I agree that the earlier we think about 3.0, the faster 2.0 will die. I think we should learn from the lesson of 1.0, and enjoy what we have while we have it.

• Last summer, AWF was a ghost town. It wasn’t only that people had abandoned 1.0 and were waiting impatiently for the start of 2.0 (although there were definitely plenty of people in that boat), it was also that it seemed like a busy time, with many people having summer activities and family commitments to attend to. While the start of school is also a busy and overwhelming time for you guys over there in Americaland, there is more opportunity for people to be settling into routines and discovering how much time they can or want to devote to the forum, and the other people on AWF with whom they’ll be spending the bulk of their time. Sadly there is no perfect time for everyone, and September 1st just seems the most practical. (And yeah, Nikki – I kind of love that we start a new term along with the rest of Hogwarts, too!)

• People who have time in the summer to RP can just as easily RP in 2.0 as in 3.0, and I agree that it would be frustrating for some people to begin developing a life/plot/friendship/relationship for their characters during the summer, only to be left in the lurch when the person they’ve been doing so with is suddenly unavailable once their studies resume.

• Behind the scenes, planning has already begun for 3.0. I don’t want to talk too much about it right now because of the reason stated above – let’s concentrate on what we have in 2.0 without worrying about the distant future (3.0 is 8 ½ months away and a lot can change in that time anyway). I’ve developed an action plan for the site to get us ready for the future, and it involves a series of changes to take place over the coming months that will (I hope and I believe) get us to where we want to be as a site. This is going to involve a lot of work for myself, Eowyn, and the other Mods, and as we all do this for love and not money, I don’t want to rush things when we all have more important things in life to attend to.

So these are my thoughts and feelings on the issues raised so far – if anyone has any questions or issues or follow-up ideas, I’d really love to hear them. This Help & Suggestions Forum is here for everyone to have their say, and I agree with Elise that even people who aren’t ‘leaders’ still have really valuable suggestions, and we’re always eager to hear fresh perspectives.

[Romilda Vane]

So I basically think that everything Mya said was perfect and now I'm sitting here wondering how she can be such an amazing person and such an amazing admin at the same time because it's totally not fair. Something has to give. But I guess I still shall share my opinion for the masses, even though I've shared my opinions with you before Elise.

1. I think everyone has good points here. There still should be some canon in personalities. Should Bellatrix go around acting all flowery and unicorny? Should Luna go around being a selfish, stuck up snob? I think no, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think everyone would be a bit weirded out by all that. But everyone should be allowed to develop their characters as they see fit. They can totally have their own opinions about how a character is. Take Pansy for instance. From the books, you'd get the impression that Pansy Parkinson is a total and complete bitch in everything she does. You'd think that she was all for the Dark Arts. Ashley's Pansy is totally different. She has feelings, and she wants nothing to do with Voldemort and the Dark Arts. Ashley has given Pansy depth, and personally I like the depth that's she's given that character. If there is a character we know little about, do whatever the hell you want. I totally destroyed any impression we had of Romilda. She doesn't strut around thinking everyone should worship her. She doesn't go around making schemes to get her own way. People should certainly be allowed to do what they want, but maybe at least keep distinctive parts of a character canon.

2. Personally, I hate the planning. I'm sorry, but I think it has totally destroyed RPing with outside of those you have plans with because everyone has been so focused on their plans they sometimes forget about other people. And half the time, plans fall through anyway. Doctor never panned out, and it looks like Carabian isn't either, not to mention countless other things. And sometimes, amazing things happen out of not going to plan. Look at 1.0 for instance. Pansy and Scorpius were supposed to loathe each other, and now we have the awesomeness that is Sansy. So I personally hate trying to conform to plans. But if you like it, go for it, I say. Just remember about RPing with other people, because one of the great things of 1.0 was just the random crazy RPing that happened everywhere. And I truely believe that once people take less characters, this will improve.

3. I like that we start at September 1. It makes it feel more real for me, and quite honestly it works out better for most people anyway. And since we dive into friendships and plans so fast it's unrealistic, starting early would destroy 3.0 faster than 1.0 did when 2.0 was announced.


I like that this thread was made for all of us to pitch in, but I think it's too early to be thinking about this. September is eight months away, and while I know this is a long process, I truely believe the moderators and admins are working extremely hard on this. I think we need to let them figure out what they want to do and we should let them announce their intentions, and then we can all pitch in. And I know that Eowyn, Mya, Luna, Dom, Tam, and Pansy will take all our suggestions to heart and do their best to make sure that this site is running the best that it can for everyone.

[Draco Malfoy]

Okay the planning thing. Sorry if this comes across harsh or bitchy but I'm not really awake yet.

People need to back off on that. Because as though some people have had fail plans I know one example of success. Panco. We have enough plans that our plans could be posted as a fanfiction and all it does is make us RP more. And before any of you say that Draco never RPs with anyone else that's a lie. What happened is that for some reason there IS NO ONE LEFT IN SLYTHERINNNN. Apparently they all died or something. Idk. But on the alternate hand I have no plans at all for Audrey and somewhere in the middle for Ted and I use them all. So really it all depends on the person and I don't think that planning killed the forum. I think our lives change from year to year and we have less or more time so this is just how it goes.

Just my extra nickel.

[Fleur Delacour - Inactive]

This wasn't mean to offend anyone and I'm sorry if it did. I just didn't know how else to phrase certain things at the time because all of it really came from the top of my head.

I think everyone has good points here. There still should be some canon in personalities. Should Bellatrix go around acting all flowery and unicorny? Should Luna go around being a selfish, stuck up snob? I think no, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think everyone would be a bit weirded out by all that. But everyone should be allowed to develop their characters as they see fit. They can totally have their own opinions about how a character is.

This is what I meant exactly. I'm not trying to interpret Scorpius or Lucius or Viktor or Dorcas or anyone that you hear about only once or twice. I'm pretty sure people who know me know that I'm not meaning those characters because I've even interpreted characters like Dorcas and Elladora in my own way, even though I'm pretty sure Elladora's never mentioned in the books and only in the family tree for the Black family and Dorcas was only mentioned once in the books and you know nothing about her personality, yet I'm currently writing a whole fanfiction about the girl.

For everyone that's talking about starting in September, don't get me wrong, I love starting at the same time as Hogwarts and everything...but the only reason I like the idea of starting earlier is so people like Dee and Cissa have some time to really delve into RP before school swamps them again. I know that when I first started going to school in NJ, I focused my attention mainly on meeting people and adapting to my new surroundings and schedule more than AWF. By the time I got back, I didn't know what to do because all my 'plans' (another reason I hate plans) fell apart and everyone else had already delved into their own little plots/side plots. Since I'm gone frequently, not a lot of people want to roleplay with me (or at least I get this idea because I'll only get little to no response in the I'm Bored thread). I do think that character limits will help and I'm not against MINOR planning, but sometimes there are plans (like I had for Barty in the beginning) that are so extravagant that it's hard to focus on anything else.

Again, sorry if this offends anyone. It's not my intention.

[Ginny Weasley]

As an aside, I do believe the Mods probably are discussing this kind of stuff, and that maybe it would have been a better idea to directly contact the Mod team before allowing the whole forum to weigh in on the debate. After all, it is what they're here for.

I don't see why this whole thing can't be discussed with the entire forum. If we start to only allow moderators and the admins to weigh their opinion over others, then things around here are definitely going to be falling apart. What happened with 1.0 into 2.0? We all were able to discuss our opinions. I don't want people to think that "my opinions" on certain matters are deemed as more important on the forum just because I have the moderator title. I want us all to be equals on here.

And before any of you say that Draco never RPs with anyone else that's a lie. What happened is that for some reason there IS NO ONE LEFT IN SLYTHERINNNN.

There are quite a few Slytherins left actually...Lucius Malfoy, Scorpius Malfoy, Albus Severus Potter, Andromeda Black, Evan Rosier, Millicent Bulstrode, Penelope Rosier, Elladora Black, Rabastan Lestrange, and Marcus Flint. What about other houses though? Are you stating that Draco would never interact with Gryffindors? He would. He was a bully in the books to many other characters. I mean, I know we had a Ginny/Draco scene and there was a Luna/Draco scene... so really the fact that there aren't any Slytherins left is kind of an invalid point.

[Draco Malfoy]

Well I've actually RP'd recently with most of that list... As long as those people still use their characters. And I have actually had put of house interactions... Hm.. I didn't actually remember those.. whoops.


And I think that the point of having mods is fr us to problem solve and then offer some basic options to the forum as a whole.
Anyway bacon calls me. Bye.

[Romilda Vane]

Just want to address your first point real quick, Dom-I just think the moderators should be able to work things out without any pressure from the rest of us for a little bit. If we didn't get a chance to give input, you'd certainly hear about it from me (in the nicest way possible, of course). Since September is eight months away, no one really needs to get too worked up about this right now. We should just enjoy 2.0 for now.

[Lucius Malfoy]

Just want to address your first point real quick, Dom-I just think the moderators should be able to work things out without any pressure from the rest of us for a little bit. If we didn't get a chance to give input, you'd certainly hear about it from me (in the nicest way possible, of course). Since September is eight months away, no one really needs to get too worked up about this right now. We should just enjoy 2.0 for now.

THIS.
We have plenty of time to work this all out. For now, I'd love to just RP and enjoy 2.0 time.

[Fleur Delacour - Inactive]

Can we maybe come to a compromise on the starting early? I'm thinking it doesn't necessarily have to be their school time. We can still have school start on September 1st, but why not show what are characters are doing over their break? Like, visiting friends from school. I mean, none of our characters are EVER first years which means they'd have friends. We can have them go to Diagon Alley, etc.

But what I'm think is, why not start in late July or early August and experience what our characters do in their summers? Just a suggestion.

[Ginny Weasley]

Just want to address your first point real quick, Dom-I just think the moderators should be able to work things out without any pressure from the rest of us for a little bit. If we didn't get a chance to give input, you'd certainly hear about it from me (in the nicest way possible, of course). Since September is eight months away, no one really needs to get too worked up about this right now. We should just enjoy 2.0 for now.

I understand what you're saying sister, but I'm just worried that we are going to be losing the chance to really voice opinions. I don't mean that in the way it's really phrased but I don't know how else to put it. I'm NOT saying that Mya isn't taking into consideration other people's suggestions, because she has been more than open to people's opinions when they have them. I don't want people to become almost afraid to post what they want to see from the site. Yes, September is so far away and it seems almost bizarre to be discussing this now, but it's important. Why did 2.0 start to slow down? Why can't we try and really get to the root of the issues and determine the best solution for making changes? Clearly, as we have now seen, there is a lot of debate and it's going to take time to come to a comprise.

And I think that the point of having mods is for us to problem solve and then offer some basic options to the forum as a whole.

I can see what you're saying, but I don't want it to get to an extreme sense. This is a community and it's losing the feel of us being able to have open opinions and suggestions without a sense of judgement or even consideration.

[Romilda Vane]

I see your point. I just don't want everyone to worry their pretty little heads until a bit later because so much can change. Let's just take some time do think this stuff through and we'll use this thread to make suggestions and as we get closer we can work some stuff out then. And then if some big things are brought up that we can change now, we'll discuss it now. That way everyone has their input without anything escalating and causing any misunderstandings.
And now this is aimed at everyone. But if you're going to say something word it as best as you can because it's nothing to fight over. OK? OK. Alright, I'm done being a pushy butt-in now. *thumbs up* *leaves*

[Pansy Parkinson-Malfoy]

Throwing in a few more of my thoughts on the matter.


I still stand firm on how I feel about starting it in September. It is all well and good to give everyone a chance to jump in before school, so I fully understand where you're coming from with that. The problem arises once we do get back to school and things fall apart as far as free time and amounts of RP during school as compared with the summertime. It's not that I don't want to give people a chance to get involved, it's just that I don't want people frustrated because they're left hanging once their RP buddy is swamped with school and disappears into cyberspace. Marco was fine until Lucy got busy, and now he never gets used because he was involved with Katie and she's gone. I don't want that to have to happen to characters in 3.0 just because they had something going on when the person had free time, but had to disappear once school started.

About the moderators vs. public discussion thing, There needs to be a happy medium. Opinions of everyone are extremely important to take into account, which is why discussions like this are good. However, it needs to happen in a timely manner, as in, not eight and a half months away from the actual event that is being debated. Opinions change in eight months, people come and go, schedules adjust and activities change. Friendships form and fall apart, and trying to figure things out this far in advance is never quite so productive as it originally seems. So many things will change between now and then that it's going to be an endless fickle argument full of wasted efforts and people getting fired up and upset over something that may change in only a month's time. Opinions should be posted, shared, ideas contributed, and the mods are there to organize it, help calm worries and take things into account, and then work to make sure that the most people's opinions and desires can be met. Not everyone can be pleased, that's utterly impossible, but I feel that it's up to us to try and get something going that will work best for the majority, because that's the best you can do as a mere human. You can't keep everyone around you happy, and if you try, it'll kill you first.

As far as planning goes, that is a personal choice. It can't be enforced to plan things just like it can't be banned. If someone wants to plan something, they're going to plan it no matter if you tell them they should or not. Plans can be good, and plans can be bad, it just depends on what kind of person someone is. Some people like to have an outline of where they're going and what they're thinking. Some people like to have benchmarks and certain scene ideas and things all laid out, they like thinking ahead and figuring out how to get their character from point A to point B and all the crazy little steps in between that will help change and form their character into what they want them to be. Some people prefer spontaneity, going with the flow, having scenes wherever and whenever they wish, letting things develop as they go, whatever happens, happens. Make random friends, random enemies, suddenly find a passion for this subject, or get a pet, or get hurt or fall in love, or whatever may happen as the scenes are given free reign. You can't tell people to be one way when they prefer another, all we can do is suggest that people keep an open mind in their plans. Don't be so rigid that you cannot bend to someone else's idea of joining in something with your character. That's life. Things change and you mold to accommodate it.

By discussing all these things for 3.0 so soon, I'm worried that what happened to 1.0 is going to happen to 2.0, if only sooner than it happened to 1.0. The announcement for 2.0 wasn't made until much later, and even then people started abandoning things in exchange for thinking about what they wanted to do in 3.0 and claiming characters and creating their ships and thinking it all out. We dug ourselves into a little hole and didn't want to come out until 2.0 arrived, and it sucked. It truly and honestly sucked, because no one cared about 1.0 anymore, no one wanted to create plots and have scenes continue, and people gave up on it, just waiting around for September. Granted, a lot of people were gone on vacations and busy with their families and friends before going back to school, but a lot of it was the fact that people stopped caring about 1.0 in hopes of 2.0 arriving quickly. I don't want this to happen to 2.0. I want 2.0 to go out with a bang, to go out in a swarm of happy and proliferous RPing, staying active and interesting and exciting until the very end. All I ask basically, is that if we are going to discuss suggestions and ideas for 3.0, we don't focus on our future characters or plots or ships or any of that, but simply how it will be run, rules that should be put in place (not concerning how things are RPed persay, but activity levels, what should and should not be happening on the forum, censorship, grammar, hell, even thoughts for rules about signatures or things to do for people's birthdays or things like that). Discuss the network and backbone of the site, how it works, how we work together and how we can make it run more smoothly, make it grow and flourish and bring in new members, not how we're going to make our character fall in love with our friend's.

Speaking of growing, that's something that we need to do again, advertise. Bring in our friends, bring in some strangers. I know we've tried on several occasions to do this, and that 99% of them don't make it back after the first few times of logging in or trying to RP, but if we keep advertising and bringing people in as much as we can, the more we get to come to the site, the better chance we have of finding someone who likes it enough to stay and hang out with us, to get involved with what we've got going on here and make it as big a part of their happiness as we have for ours. So if you guys have advertising ideas, start sorting those out in your head and coming up with clever ways to get our site out there, because eventually I think we need a good brainstorming session about how to advertise, what to post, and where to share it.

And now that I've gone on a really really long speech about all this, I'm going to shut up again and let you guys continue to discuss as long as we're not nipping at each other or turning this into a fight, because it isn't about who's right and wrong or what's the right or wrong thing to do. It's about putting our ideas out there and seeing which one will work best for the majority, because that is how life works. Just because one person is allergic to cats doesn't mean there should be no more cats in that city. Dumb metaphor, but whatever. Just because one person has an idea, doesn't mean it's what's best for all of us. We love each other all very much, but we have to do what's best for the site as a majority, and we cannot please everyone. I realize this, and I am ready to compromise on anything that need be done whether I agree with it or not, and I hope that everyone else can say the same.

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