Viewpoint What makes you nope out of a search thread?

[SP3CT3R]

A demand for FC's. Particularly a certain type of FC. Anime only, realistic only etc.
They can be cool and can be useful. I've based whole characters around an FC to great success. But what's wrong with good old description? That's how we did it in the old days!

Basically every other site I've roleplayed on had everyone use descriptions, and I've yet to wrap my head around why it isn't the norm on the forum dedicated to roleplaying when it is everywhere else.

Not to mention it means that my character's appearances are limited by my garbage image-finding skills rather than my creative writing ability.

 

[rae2nerdy]

Basically every other site I've roleplayed on had everyone use descriptions, and I've yet to wrap my head around why it isn't the norm on the forum dedicated to roleplaying when it is everywhere else.

Not to mention it means that my character's appearances are limited by my garbage image-finding skills rather than my creative writing ability.

I have found most people are fine with descriptions in addition to visuals. And if it’s that important just give them a basic description and they can find an image for you.

It’s what I do, start out with a description and just tell them I’ll find a picture later OR that I can’t find an image so I could use some help

 

[SP3CT3R]

I have found most people are fine with descriptions in addition to visuals. And if it’s that important just give them a basic description and they can find an image for you.

It’s what I do, start out with a description and just tell them I’ll find a picture later OR that I can’t find an image so I could use some help

The thing about that is that I take advantage of the creative freedom that writing a description offers, and a lot of times there aren't any faceclaims I can use for my character that don't require me to settle hard.

 

[rae2nerdy]

The thing about that is that I take advantage of the creative freedom that writing a description offers, and a lot of times there aren't any faceclaims I can use for my character that don't require me to settle hard.

It depends on the visual medium they are asking for. And how well your Google fu is. Like I said most people will accept descriptions that supplement the character. So I would just tell them you can give a description and they can find a picture that best suits it for their own need

 

[Royalblue127]

1. Romance is a must, if there is no romance I get bored.
If you can't think of a way to make your character/the story interesting without trying to get into another characters pants than it's a hard no.

2. I need specific gendered partners cuz romance.
Says to me you think we're dating if I write a story with you. No thanks.

3. Tiny or too light writing.
I'm an old woman and it hurts my eyes to try to read it. So no.

4. Please be able to reply multiple times a day.
Nope. I got work.

5. I'm only here to roleplay. I don't want to talk to my partner just roleplay.
Oh heck no. I'm way too chatty I'll get way too bored if I am just robotically plopping down posts with no other interaction.

All of this and people who make really restrictive rules, your there to have fun not constantly deal with flipping though notes

 

[SP3CT3R]

This doesn't make me "nope out" of a search thread per se, but it gets on my nerves when people don't include their preferred gender pairings. MxM is usually the one pairing people don't want to play, and I always have to decide whether I should ask and risk looking like a creep.

 

[rae2nerdy]

This doesn't make me "nope out" of a search thread per se, but it gets on my nerves when people don't include their preferred gender pairings. MxM is usually the one pairing people don't want to play, and I always have to decide whether I should ask and risk looking like a creep.

It isn't creepy. I wouldn't worry about it - some people just honestly don't have a preference. I do mostly estabilished relationships or aro/ace romance so I never specific gender because it isn't important to me. Unless your opening line is "I'm looking for someone to play my male crush in a MxM" you're fine. If anything it's refreshing to have someone ask specific questions because it means they're engaging in the story and aren't going to be a limp noodle that has to be carried through the whole process.

 

[StoneWolf18]

Let’s see... I try to keep an open mind but these things are just a nope for me:

• Lack of grammar: I understand that it’s a common aesthetic to not use grammar or capitalization when talking OOC, but it’s an instant turn off for me. It makes reading the thread and random chatter difficult, and the assumption is made that grammar isn’t used IC, even if that ain’t the case.
• Barebones Threads: If all I see is “I play X and Y, PM me if interested” I’m gonna click off. I would like a little idea of who I’m potentially going to be writing with before getting into the thick of things. This is also an indication to me that I’ll be doing all the heavy-lifting in terms of plot.
• Strict Dom or Sub: This is very much a personal preference, but I can’t stand roles being this specific. Even if it isn’t outright stated, if all I see is dominant or submissive roles requested, I’m going to be a little put off and look elsewhere.

 

[Maxx]

There are few things that would make me nope out of a search thread, but it seems a lot of threads have those things in them.

Silly Age Requirements
So, I get why some people have age requirements. I'm not a person who minds the age of my partners, but I can see why, for example, a forty year old would feel uncomfortable with roleplaying with a fourteen year old. But I see things like "I'm 18, so no underage people for obvious reasons". Firstly, what obvious reasons? The stuff that's implied from that isn't allowed anyway. And secondly, what about if a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old was interested in their plots? It's literally only about two years difference, what's wrong with that? It's stupid.

"You must play x type of character"
What I mean is when people demand what your character is like. What if I don't want to play a nineteen year old blonde haired blue eyed female who lives with her parents and loves cats and only eats tofu? Things like that actually really disappoint me. Like, I'll find a plot I love, maybe even start having ideas right away, and then I'll see that there are very strict character requirements. Which is just sad.

"You must have x face claim"/"FC's only"
I am terrible at finding good likenesses for my characters. And I can't draw. And I won't use an FC that I don't like. Which means that the potential list of partners is cut in half for me. I prefer to describe my characters, and I find faceclaims annoying. Seriously, if it's going to take longer to find an image for a character than it does to write a good post, what's the point?

OOC
So, I don't mean that I'll be put off if someone likes to chat OOC. But if it's an absolute requirement, then it's a no. I may love the way someone writes, but I may completely clash with them out of character. Which means a good rp goes bye-bye because I start hating the other person.

"u must have english as a first language. if you dont, srry, but i dont want to rp with u"
I have actually seen something very similar to this before. People who require English as a first language seem to think that anyone else is incapable of properly utilising the English language. But the thing is, people with English as an additional language can have better grammar and spelling than those who have it as a first language. And are a lot less likely to use text talk.
I am someone who literally only knows English, so some may say this doesn't affect me, but I won't roleplay with people who say this sort of stuff. It suggests that the person is extremely closed-minded, and I hate people like that.
Besides, my favorite person to roleplay with has English as third language, and what they write is nearly flawless.

Post length requirements
Okay, so this is my last one, and the biggest thing. Not everyone can write 500+ word posts. Who the hell counts, anyway? Having to write on something with a word counter and then copy everything over is annoying and time consuming.
And sentence requirements? Sentences are all different lengths. I have written one word sentences, and I have written twenty word sentences. Using something as vague as that is a terrible way of keeping track of post length.
Finally, "Oh, you must write 30+ lines per post". Lines? What the hell do you mean by that? If you mean sentences, say sentences. If you mean actual lines of writing, that is something that changes with device. What is one line on my laptop is three or four lines on my phone. The size of a post looks so much more on a phone than it does on a computer. So I get put off if I see post length requirements.

 

[StoneWolf18]

There are few things that would make me nope out of a search thread, but it seems a lot of threads have those things in them.

Silly Age Requirements
So, I get why some people have age requirements. I'm not a person who minds the age of my partners, but I can see why, for example, a forty year old would feel uncomfortable with roleplaying with a fourteen year old. But I see things like "I'm 18, so no underage people for obvious reasons". Firstly, what obvious reasons? The stuff that's implied from that isn't allowed anyway. And secondly, what about if a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old was interested in their plots? It's literally only about two years difference, what's wrong with that? It's stupid.

"You must play x type of character"
What I mean is when people demand what your character is like. What if I don't want to play a nineteen year old blonde haired blue eyed female who lives with her parents and loves cats and only eats tofu? Things like that actually really disappoint me. Like, I'll find a plot I love, maybe even start having ideas right away, and then I'll see that there are very strict character requirements. Which is just sad.

"You must have x face claim"/"FC's only"
I am terrible at finding good likenesses for my characters. And I can't draw. And I won't use an FC that I don't like. Which means that the potential list of partners is cut in half for me. I prefer to describe my characters, and I find faceclaims annoying. Seriously, if it's going to take longer to find an image for a character than it does to write a good post, what's the point?

OOC
So, I don't mean that I'll be put off if someone likes to chat OOC. But if it's an absolute requirement, then it's a no. I may love the way someone writes, but I may completely clash with them out of character. Which means a good rp goes bye-bye because I start hating the other person.

"u must have english as a first language. if you dont, srry, but i dont want to rp with u"
I have actually seen something very similar to this before. People who require English as a first language seem to think that anyone else is incapable of properly utilising the English language. But the thing is, people with English as an additional language can have better grammar and spelling than those who have it as a first language. And are a lot less likely to use text talk.
I am someone who literally only knows English, so some may say this doesn't affect me, but I won't roleplay with people who say this sort of stuff. It suggests that the person is extremely closed-minded, and I hate people like that.
Besides, my favorite person to roleplay with has English as third language, and what they write is nearly flawless.

Post length requirements
Okay, so this is my last one, and the biggest thing. Not everyone can write 500+ word posts. Who the hell counts, anyway? Having to write on something with a word counter and then copy everything over is annoying and time consuming.
And sentence requirements? Sentences are all different lengths. I have written one word sentences, and I have written twenty word sentences. Using something as vague as that is a terrible way of keeping track of post length.
Finally, "Oh, you must write 30+ lines per post". Lines? What the hell do you mean by that? If you mean sentences, say sentences. If you mean actual lines of writing, that is something that changes with device. What is one line on my laptop is three or four lines on my phone. The size of a post looks so much more on a phone than it does on a computer. So I get put off if I see post length requirements.

I gotta agree with you...

Senseless age-gates don’t make sense to me either. Is there some unspoken rule that as soon as you turn 18, you can write with anyone 17 or younger? ERP is against the site rules (ha, shameless plug), so there shouldn’t be any reason to have “for obvious reasons” as you stated.

I’ve had people try to get me to play the character they want and it’s... strange. I have my own characters, thank you very much. Go write a story if you want something specific.

As for English being someone’s first language, dear lord. Most native speakers can’t even use the language properly where as those who learned it in a classroom have a significant advantage. Besides, most people who I write with that aren’t native speakers are some of my favorite partners!.

 

[Onmyoji]

As someone who has a hard age gate on rp, I do it for two reasons:
1. I personally find it uncomfortable to rp with people with age gap over 10 years, both ways. I just feel it's already too much difference, different interests, different availability and so on. There can be exceptions, of course, but it's rare.
2. The 'magic age of 18' is because that's the age when people are not considered minors in most countries. Sometimes it's 21, and this is why I state that I'd prever 21+ rp partners.
You see, roleplaying is not always considered a 'good' hobby by someone's parents. I'm not even talking about ERP which isn't allowed on RPN, thanks goodness. Just general innocent roleplaying. Because 'my kid is talking to those creeps on the internet omg', 'those people are not real friends, they only corrupt my child!!11' and similar kind of mentality. I simply do not want someone's parents contact me via their child's account and accusing of 'corrupting their child' when we're simply writing an adventure story together. Oh yeah the 'writing stories is useless and you're making my child waste their time' applies too.

I don't assume that everyone who states 18+ has the same reasons as I do, just giving an example why it may not just be some random numbers.

But I do agree that age gap of 1-2 years isn't really much.

 

[rae2nerdy]

Also as an add on the ERP rules only cover EXPLICIT content. So there is actually a significant degree of wiggle room there for those who want to do sexual roleplays. You can still write sexual relationships after all, as well as bondage, rape, etc. You just can't describe things once genitals come into play or when the clothes come off.

Ex. They went down to the dungeon and X beat Y with a riding crop while whispering dirty things. That's totally fine, you aren't being explicit but your intent comes across.

Ex. They went down to the dungeon and X stripped Y before grabbing their [censored] and shoving a [censored] into their glistening [censored]. Then you're getting into trouble if the censored bits describe sexual acts or actual genitals.

So yeah some people could just not be comfortable going into sexual themes with minors even if they can't be super explicit.

Interestingly looks like they might have cracked down on the definitions of sexual content with the new recruitment rules. As it is I would say there is still enough wiggle room that a person could just mean something like rape or sexual abuse and not be comfortable discussing it with someone underage.

I do agree that calling this "obvious reasons" is obnoxious because everyone is going to have a different point where they draw the line between what is appropriate vs. inappropriate. So there is no such thing as "obvious" when it comes to such a diverse audience of people.

 

[welian]

Ah, the irony....

I can't stand super aesthetic posts!! If I have to scroll through individual boxes to read everything, if the font is small and pale or worse, in cursive, I just - I can't! I am very particular about my graphic design tastes in threads, to the point that if something is TOO pretty, I just nope the fuck out while thinking to myself, "This person doesn't understand accessibility in the slightest!"

 

[Onmyoji]

"This person doesn't understand accessibility in the slightest!"

+1000

I feel sorry for phone users because...

Imagine
entire
post
looking
like
this
+
insert
a
frame
and
a
picture
around
this
text
+
a
scrollbar
and
you
get
the
entire
phone
user
experience
in
so
many
search
threads

​

Basically, seeing a thread formatted like this makes me do instant close tab.
Oh, and also when you can only see half of the sentences and can't see the other half because the design is not adaptable to small screens.

 

[Purple Kitti]

Overly stringent rules, particularly requiring a LARGE word count minimum. I don't remember where this was, but I passed up an RP once that demanded a 10 paragraph minimum, and I don't remember if it was the same one or not, but one requiring 10 sentences minimum per paragraph. (God I hope those two weren't the same RP.) I honestly love flexibility. I take the approach that you should type the exact amount that gets the story moving, no more, no less. I mean, descriptive writing is definitely nice, but not when it's contrived in order to fluff out a post in order to meet a minimum. I have made two- or three-line posts on *rare* occasion, and have no problem with a partner doing the same, as long as there is generally more "meat" during the rest of the posts.

I'm not super phobic of bad grammar and spelling, but if I can't understand what you're saying, sorry but it's a nope.

Oh right, visibility. If I can't read your format, then nopity-nope.

Edit: I just switched to dark mode, and you know what that means? Colored fonts aren't always going to be displayed/ experienced the same way.

 

[Onmyoji]

I don't remember where this was, but I passed up an RP once that demanded a 10 paragraph minimum, and I don't remember if it was the same one or not, but one requiring 10 sentences minimum per paragraph. (God I hope those two weren't the same RP.

omg if those two were in the same rp I'd die. XDD
Seriously though, there is a niche for novella style roleplays but it's a niche for a reason

 

[peritwinkle]

Overly stringent rules, particularly requiring a LARGE word count minimum. I don't remember where this was, but I passed up an RP once that demanded a 10 paragraph minimum

In defense of that - I am a detailed RPer and my search threads are aimed at people who prefer novella stype RPs as well. I don’t personally go as far as to dictate the exact amount of sentences and paragraphs, but I do state what my preferences are.

Basically, it’s not a demand, it’s more of an ‘I write novella, if you enjoy it too, hmu.’ Definitely not meant to force people who write 1-2 paragraphs to write so much more.

I felt the need to explain this because I’ve seen a lot of people talk about this like it’s something bad and exaggerated. It all comes down to preference.

 

[peritwinkle]

Basically, seeing a thread formatted like this makes me do instant close tab.
Oh, and also when you can only see half of the sentences and can't see the other half because the design is not adaptable to small screens.

I’m constantly on my phone when scrolling through RPN and I have probably disregarded SO MANY good search threads because of this. Sounds lazy, but I don’t want to have to move my arse over to my PC to read it and decide whether I am interested or not. I *get* the aesthetic - I love making my threads pretty too, but...

 

[rae2nerdy]

I’m constantly on my phone when scrolling through RPN and I have probably disregarded SO MANY good search threads because of this. Sounds lazy, but I don’t want to have to move my arse over to my PC to read it and decide whether I am interested or not. I *get* the aesthetic - I love making my threads pretty too, but...

Especially since you can make them pretty and still readable on a phone. The easiest way is to use columns. Have one half be the pretty desktop version and the other half be the plain text phone version under spoilers. (They stack on the phone so you don't have to worry about wonky alignment issues)

Also accordions. Don't use accordions, for some reason the sentences don't fit on smaller screens.

 

[peritwinkle]

Especially since you can make them pretty and still readable on a phone. The easiest way is to use columns. Have one half be the pretty desktop version and the other half be the plain text phone version under spoilers. (They stack on the phone so you don't have to worry about wonky alignment issues)

Also accordions. Don't use accordions, for some reason the sentences don't fit on smaller screens.

Or simply play with alignment, gifs, fonts and pretty pictures. Works every time! It’s the content that matters, after all.

 

[rae2nerdy]

Or simply play with alignment, gifs, fonts and pretty pictures. Works every time! It’s the content that matters, after all.

I think the core problem is that a lot of people don't realize that alignment and font will make your content unreadable unless your using a very specific type of device OR you have good eyesight. A lot of fonts give me a headache or are just outright unreadable regardless of overall alignment. As to alignment if you try to free style it you could very well run into the problem in the OP post (tiny sentences squished together in the center of the screen in a unreadable jumble.)

Columns help with the alignment at least because they will simply stack on phones, so instead of having things appear side by side it is up and down. Which means that typically the individual columns take up most if not all of the phone screen and are easier to read. And if you use them properly on the desktop they still give you the small and neat look you're going for.

As for the font that's why I said making a plain text version is nice. It accounts for the people who can't read fancy text and also still allows you to keep the aesthetic if you just put the plainer stuff in a spoiler.

 

[peritwinkle]

I think the core problem is that a lot of people don't realize that alignment and font will make your content unreadable unless your using a very specific type of advice OR you have good eyesight. A lot of fonts give me a headache or are just outright unreadable regardless of overall alignment. As to alignment if you try to free style it you could very well run into the problem in the OP post (tiny sentences squished together in the center of the screen in a unreadable jumble.)

Columns help with the alignment at least because they will simply stack on phones, so instead of having things appear side by side it is up and down. Which means that typically the individual columns take up most if not all of the phone screen and are easier to read. And if you use them properly on the desktop they still give you the small and neat look you're going for.

As for the font that's why I said making a plain text version is nice. It accounts for the people who can't read fancy text and also still allows you to keep the aesthetic if you just put the plainer stuff in a spoiler.

By font I only meant, like, Georgia instead of the vanilla RPN font. I despise cursive in posts even if I personally write in cursive. My point is, make it simple but pretty.

 

[rae2nerdy]

By font I only meant, like, Georgia instead of the vanilla RPN font. I despise cursive in posts even if I personally write in cursive. My point is, make it simple but pretty.

Which is precisely my own point. I am just giving more specific examples as I know a lot of people aren't aware of things like columns or how fonts might not translate to people with eyesight issues.

 

[welian]

max-width is your friend

 

[rae2nerdy]

max-width is your friend

Except I can never figure out how to make it work.