"Why won't anyone respond to my ads or wants?"

[Goldy]

Personally, I find #1 THE biggest turn-off as an advertiser. I'm the kind of person that makes a real effort to follow the rules and the idea of someone reporting me is as big of a deal to me as say... getting questioned by the police. If someone says they will report ads that don't follow their description, I usually just skip over them. Not because I don't think they're a good roleplayer, but because I just don't want to be reported if they don't like my site.

Decent grammar is also a big one for me, because there are many people that hate to see bad grammar. I can usually live with less than perfect grammar, but it makes the site look unprofessional. Also, if you don't put your time into the ad, how do I know you're going to put time in actually looking at my site? I want to advertise to people that are seriously considering at looking at my site.

I am fine with talking a bit about my site as well, I make sure to show the effort I put in so I hope that they will understand I am a dedicated admin. But when you say, "tell me why I should join your site", I get a little confused. You should join my site because you like the plot, you should join because you like the members, but I don't know if you actually do like my site. You have to determine that for yourself. No, you shouldn't join if you don't like the skin, plot or members, but I don't know if you don't like them either. I can give you statistics, I can give you explanations, but I cannot give you your own reasoning.

Also, I don't like it when I don't get a reply back. I have sent out over 15 ads and not ONE person has replied. I get that you don't like the site, but please tell me? I feel as if I have some big flaw with my site, like I'm wearing my pants inside out and no one has the courtesy to tell me. Even a simple, "Thanks" would be nice. :/

To end on a high note, I love it when they say "If you think I'll like it, send it over and I'll take a look.". That shows someone who is looking for a good site to join, not limiting themselves to a single little idea. It also shows someone friendly and willing to put their time into looking for a site. That is the kind of person I want on my site.

[Hatfield]

I had learned from my mistakes in the past. I quickly got bitter when some game I was became nit picks. I won't go in detail; just the five of us left the game.

I gave up and a month later I decide to run a game where everyone has something to do.

The application should be fun. Some people can write a book and some don't. So I decide to believe that they do what is comfortable for them.

I personally decided to be open.

I had been looking for players and when I see a long demands I skip them. Come on you should be happy people have games. If you are that picky make your own game.

I like when the members want to jump the wagon and help. Even it is four people for the first two weeks of opening a game.

I even hate when they force you wait when they need certain amount of players. Come on use your imagination as a admin and use NPCs.

I don't know how people view my game but I love using NPCS and my pet peeve as a past story teller for table top games is try get a few characters involved in a story. Or at least try to use NPC to help that new character nobody want to play with.

What I try to serve and give them a story that they feel happy. It is my pleasure to see them enjoy.

The twist in my game I have a secret award system I made. I award people not telling them. They will get an pm say they get this or they can do this.

I believe I can enjoy one member I am happy because that player is having fun. I like to see friendship build in the board.

I try let people have fun. And anyone cause trouble might be warn by the rules and if they are super rude. I might give no warning.

I just feel we are here to serve fill in empty spaces with npcs you should have a good active game.

And who knows someone might just want to try and they are all welcome to do so with no judgement from me.

Phew that was long.

Ps

For the nit picks and snobs. It is not about you. Get over it. People want to feel they have a place to play and not feel they are on egg shells. Fear of breaking a egg will get them more trouble.

You might been hurt from the past but you want success you got be open and not be like a hitler fist

Sent from my LGL55C using ProBoards

[Former Member]

All that have been responding to my ads are bots selling cheap cabinets.

Bah humbug.

isitblackwhite.proboards.com/index.cgi

[Hatfield]

I just read some one's request for looking for games. I read it and I was astonish how demanding people can be. I mean are they this demanding when they look for a job.

It suppose work this way. You suppose to be open and flexible. You suppose to be FIT your character in their game. You are not suppose to BEND them to fit you in their game.

And there affiliation groups with silly rules. Cut the slack people! You are not helping yourself. Your taking away from yourself.

[Kami]

Aug 3, 2012 19:33:52 GMT -8 Hatfield said:

You suppose to be open and flexible. You suppose to be FIT your character in their game. You are not suppose to BEND them to fit you in their game.

Yes, this. Exactly. It's fine to want certain things, but if there is no room for flexibility in your 'want', then it's likely that you'd be better off making your own site.

[a renz production]

Jun 7, 2012 8:02:27 GMT -8 `rainyday said:

Not going psycho if someone messages you a site you are not interested in. I PMed a member, and overlooked something that I thought was a preferred but not needed feature I got a very rude message back asking if it had that feature, saying if it didn't there's no way they are joining and they are reporting me for messaging. Gee, thanks...

i've had that happen twice. once because they said they wanted a criminal forum and then had this massive paragraph and i read the first couple of sentences and lost interest, so i didn't see in the middle of their ramble that they didn't want asylums. the person flipped on me and went into a huge ramble, which again i didn't even have any interest in reading and just skimmed through. the bottom said "I'M REPORTING YOU!!!!!" like that too.. i replied "take a breath, it's all going to be okay. i promise." and then i just laughed and shrugged it off.

my biggest turn off is #4. i get that having someone personalize the message is great and makes them seem more interested in having you join, but when there are 5 pages to go through, do you really think someone has the time to sit there and customize 10 messages? that takes time! it's also extremely boring and irritating. i do include a bunch of info before pasting my ad and i do edit things here and there for some ads (like if someone says they want a certain play by i mention that it is available) but i don't personally write each one. sorry but i have a life outside of the computer as well as members to accept, questions to answer, things to organize and replies to get to..

[RandyPandy]

One of my major pet peeves is requiring a certain character to be available. Yes, I know, we all have our favorite characters and it would be amazing to play as them. But if your favorite character isn't available, at least take the time to look around and see what other characters you could potentially develop or be interested in?

I had one member join the RP with all of her favorite characters taken, and she picked someone she had never shown any inclination in liking before coming to the RP. She's confessed that the character she picked on a whim is now one of her absolute favorite characters to RP.

[Captain Longstockings!]

I will avoid sending an invite if the member requires special privileges.

Special privileges as in "no made-up members of this canon family, but I want to play a made up member of this canon family". I'm sorry, but why should you be allowed to do this when nobody else is?

I subject everyone to the same rules, and if they aren't allowed to have non-canon family members – why on earth should I give you special treatment?

[True Essence]

One of the things that really stops me from sending invites is if I see my site fandom listed, I'll read what they're interested in, but saying things like "I want my character to be Quidditch captain and this and this and this and this" well... I mean so what if they can't? I just think trying to be too specific and particular may be a reason why I don't send invites and can be a hindrance overall.

Also saying they want a subplot between a certain canon and the character they want to play whether it be an OC or a canon can be kind of annoying to see because if there isn't going to be a strict subplot for the two, for example, a romantic one, then are you going to leave? Are you going to try and get angry? Which would be unfortunate because that writer may be very good at the character they play.

Also the reporting thing. That's just too much and it definitely makes me not want to even bother continuing to read.

Just thought I'd add my two cents.

[Merewen]

What I hate in people who post 'Looking for' posts are when they ask for a personalized message. I just go to the next post. I honestly do not have time to rewrite what my ad already says. I also hate when they require high word counts and such. I mean, I may be able to post 10-fold a 350 word count on a normal day, but that doesn't mean I'd want to have a site that has such a high word count. That would turn off most of the RPing community, therefore, it pisses me off to see tons of people asking for high word counts. On the other extreme, I dislike it when people go all bad stuff crazy over the fact that they don't want a word count at all. I mean, have some literary sense. 100 words will not kill you.

I also really hate it when a person is rude. Know one thing snobby RPers, I will ignore you completely. I get enough of snobs in real life, I don't need it on here too. So when I see someone saying that if they can't have a specific person or whatever they're going to report you for PMing an ad (which btw, they gave that right to advertisers, so they can't whine and bitch about it), I roll my eyes and go to the next post.

I also dislike it when a person posts a cagillion of requirements. Humans are not mountains. We can bend. That being said, why don't you try something new? Instead of saying you'll only do this or that, try being open to new ideas.

I don't make a big deal about grammar unless it is REALLY bad. I mean, I make mistakes, so why shouldn't I allow other people to make mistakes as well?

One of the things that turns me away from a site is the design. Now, this just may be because I'm a graphics resource site owner (has yet to be opened), but I like it when there is effort put into having people attracted to your site. Now, that doesn't mean I'll turn away a site that has an admin who is new to designing. I can handle sites with basic, basic designs. At one time, I was there. I just don't like sites with blinding colors. I have eye problems, so I have to have my computer resolution high. White is okay. Black is okay. Neon blue is not.

Beginning about 1 1/2 years ago, I started seeing more and more admins that are rather rude. They are the ones that seem to have the need to be in control and all that jazz. You know what, it may be a fantastic site. It might have the best community. But if the admin is even in the slightest rude, I will not join it. That is the one thing I hold onto resolutely. All other peeves I can deal with if I really want to. But this one, no. For an old site I had advertisement rules that guests should read, and there were times when people would link back twice. (I had a directory to show if they had already posted or not.) It also stated in my rules that I was notify them (not warn them) that their ad was deleted. I find that most admins would like to know if their ad was deleted. But this admin (I will not say the site as it is still active, but on another webhost), when I notified her, went ballistic. She said she didn't care if her ad was deleted, and she had no time to fool around with reading advertisement rules. She also said that if I ever notify again, she was reporting me. I had told her that I was only doing what I was obligated to do, and just saying.

Now, she was an extreme case. But I've seen other admins like her. They think that just because they're admins, they are hotshots who think they know all the rules that will be on a site. They feel like they don't need to read rules. Yet they expect others to read and abide by theirs.

Okay, rant over. That was years of ad anger.

[wildmaven]

Dec 25, 2012 22:31:15 GMT -8 Merewen said:

Okay, rant over. That was years of ad anger.

Haha. Glad we could help.

I agree about admins being rude. I have gained many members on my site because they had left sites where the admin had no clue as to how to deal with people. Sure, there are days when I am just so flummoxed by what a member has done, but I have a co-admin that will take the ball when I know I'll drop it, just as I will do the same for her. We know our strengths and our weaknesses, as well as knowing when to recognize when we'd probably say the wrong thing to someone. The thing is, if you're mean to a member, they'll tell everyone they know.

Another thing that I find turns people off are the "I don't make plots, it's up to you" announcement in ads. I mean, WHAT?! Why even create a site at all if you're not going to help it find a direction? You don't have to control everything that happens, but you do need to direct it on occasion to keep things interesting. For example, on my site, we have a planned plot, then when that's over, we allow some free-rping for a little while before beginning another which allows members to try something of their own without having to worry about how it will affect the plot.

[CharleeRAWR]

Something that really bothers me is that people expect you to change the rules for them in order to get them to join. I've seen a few post that didn't like the one character per account rule (which is understandable), but there was one in particular that made me go "What?!" Because it was written in all caps "I will not join any site with a one character per account rule UNLESS you PM and me and tell me I can have more than one character on my account." An admin shouldn't have to modify a basic rule they set when they went through the process of creating a website they poured their heart and soul into just to satisfy a few people here and there.

[Ruley]

I know its an old thread but the more the merrier!

For me as an advertiser, i use the looking for thread a lot to share my sites and as has already been said above, having loads of conditions for a site is a real frustration. Some of those i can't help and some are so specific you are better off making your own site. That stops me from sending you my site because of the rules for reporting!

People should post basic, broad, simplified requests and have people send them sites in. Like Harry Potter, Sci-Fi, etc... THEN they can be picky and have their checklist to hand when choosing a site once they have a selection to choose from. As said above, its about slotting your character ideas into a site, not the site adjusting for you and only you.

Think of our sites as a canvas for you to paint on, yeah sorry we don't have any pink paint but red with a bit of water looks just as good!

[phillip2272]

Just I don't see why people complain about people looking for sites with specific characters. 90% of the time when I am checking out a new site, the first thing I look at is the cannon list if it is a cannon site. If there is no characters I want or think I can play, then there is no reason to look further at the site.

I can't join a say TVD site if the only cannon open is Katherine and I have no experience playing her and no desire to play her. Most of the time when people want specific characters it means they want to play that character, have the desire and ability to play the character.

That is why people shouldn't mind when people ask for a certain character. If you see someone looking for a Supernatural forum that has Dean open, and you have a Supernatural forum, but Dean isn't open, then it was just not meant to be. Peoples time is valuable to them, and if they can't spend that time playing the characters they want, they won't join your site.

So its kind of a two way street. I can see why someone who asked for a SPN site to play Dean, why they would get mad when they look at the site they get PMed, excited to play Dean Winchester, only to find out Dean is taken already. It would be frustrating.

Many people can only play certain characters. Some people don't like playing OCs, some only like OCs. Everyone is different. For instance, I can't play Angel from Buffy The Vampire Slayer to save my life. So when they are asking for a certain character, in a way, they are telling you what kind of characters they can play and are really good at.

[Tigress]

I personally hate it when Ads just show you a picture and a few words. For Example:
[cool looking photo]
Are you with us?

It doesn't let me know if they're fantasy, or human roleplay, or animal, or realistic or what. It's basically saying "This is my forum. You know it looks cool cause of the picture. You should join."
I can roleplay about almost anything but when I'm looking for an animal fantasy roleplay and I end up on a realistic human roleplay, it gets me a bit mad.