Suggestion regarding Searches

[Idea]

so, I talked to @Mordecai a while ago about this suggestion, and he advised me to post it here (note: some info may be a little out of date):


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I am a person looks likes variety and has a hard time focusing only on one thing. So, I am someone who looks around for new partners to rp the many crazy ideas I come up with. As I look around, though, I noticed something. I posted about on a thread a while ago.


This is the issue that people will post a ton of search threads without looking in others. The 1x1 searches get flooded with new search threads, search threads that are very popular and search threads that keep getting bumped to no avail.


This represents, among others, the issue that people aren`t looking around to find their roleplays. They are posting search threads and hoping that by chance someone with that same interest will show up (and they are usually limited to a couple fandoms at that), without making any effort to find one. As a result, the 1x1 search ends up filling with searches for the exact same rps, flooding and preventing rps of both what they search for and of other ideas from flourishing. You may go there right now and check, for example, the sheer amount of Percy Jackson RPs on search threads, without any of those people posting on each other`s threads for it.And in group searches, it is quite annoying as well. For example, one week I saw three dragon group rps, with just about the same details on a lot of stuff. I think all three of them died a week later from lack of member activity. It is my believe at least one would`ve survived, had they not stolen members from one another.


Yet, as I promised, I think I have a solution. It`d take work, of course, but I think it`d be worth it for RPNation. My suggestion would be something done in three steps:


1. An announcement by staff about the issue I described (otherwise no one will be looking at it).


2.Something on the personal settings where you could add tags to your profile. That way, all you`d have to do is type on "search" for a certain tag and you could get a list of members with that interest.


3. A subsection on the interests checks where threads would be moved once having a certain amount of posts.

 

[Dusky]

I like the second idea, at least, but it sounds like a nightmare to implement. Also, Mordy's a she~


The thing about these interest checks is that subject doth not maketh the RP. Sure, there might be three dragon-based interest checks, but am I going to join a roleplay solely because it involves dragons? Nope. It's entirely possible that people are looking at other interest checks, and finding them unaligned with their interests for one reason or another. Furthermore, there's a significant difference between running a roleplay and joining one. Some people might start an RP because they can't seem to find what they're looking for otherwise, but just as if not more often, people create an RP distinct from others because they prefer the experience of running the show.


All in all, it's a bit arbitrary to say that people just aren't looking at other interest checks. I'm sure it's true for some users, but...

 

[Idea]

I like the second idea, at least, but it sounds like a nightmare to implement. Also, Mordy's a she~
The thing about these interest checks is that subject doth not maketh the RP. Sure, there might be three dragon-based interest checks, but am I going to join a roleplay solely because it involves dragons? Nope. It's entirely possible that people are looking at other interest checks, and finding them unaligned with their interests for one reason or another. Furthermore, there's a significant difference between running a roleplay and joining one. Some people might start an RP because they can't seem to find what they're looking for otherwise, but just as if not more often, people create an RP distinct from others because they prefer the experience of running the show.


All in all, it's a bit arbitrary to say that people just aren't looking at other interest checks. I'm sure it's true for some users, but...

I have no idea how the coding for the site works, but I imagine it might take quite a bit of work to implement any of this. Is it worht the trouble? I'll leave that decision to people who are better informed than myself.


As for the Mordecai, sorry, I had to idea. It probably doesn't work like that in English (I think you used "they" in English...), but it always felt natural to do as we proceed where I come from, use the masculine when the genre is unknown. Again, I apologize for any offense it mat have caused.


Now, while it is an undeniable truth that not all the people who posted rps with the same topics as others were simply not looking, I do think there is a large portion who really wasn't. I might have, indeed, jumped the gun, but it is the conclusion I arrived to.


For starters, many of these contain minimal information. While you will find a couple with more detail with oneself's preferences here and there, most have only the fandom/topic itself, perhaps with the addition of possible pairings (OC x character) or pairing genders (Mx F, M x M, Fx F). Add this to the lack of replies in threads and the lack of actual to threads for the said topics, and what you end up with is the odds that a conversation never happened, meaning in many cases, it would be impossible for the people to find that a roleplay is "unaligned with their interest checks", because the information they do have says otherwise, little as it may be.


As for the running the roleplay vs just being in one, while you di have a point and it is different, I do think most rpers actually prefer to just rp. On many, many aspects running one is just too much work, and too consuming, even if you are one of those rare few who don't seem to be frequently busy with their lives (which, don't take me wrong, is five. Real life comes first, of course.). It is not by mistake either, that so many search threads end up requesting that people "help move the plot". Many , just like being passive.


In conclusion, what I said in the beggining. While not ALL the cases result from not looking around, many do. In fact, even for those who do look around, the things I suggested would still be quite useful, I believe. But again, my is not my decision