Introduction

First of all: hello, everyone, newcomers and veterans alike!

I hope you're all having a great day today. :) The purpose of this thread is to outline some general, unspoken rules that you might not find in any official rules thread by the mods. We all know that these "rules" exist; RPers always create taboos and guidelines, but they aren't always obliquely stated for newcomers. To help those newbies, I thought it would be good to make a thread in which we state things that are a "faux-pas", RP-wise.

Please feel free to contribute advice as you see fit. However, if you advise something that isn't actually good advice, be prepared to face people saying "no that's dumb", as well. No fee-fees are meant to be hurt in the process of this thread - remember, our purpose here is to be nice and to let new posters know what's okay and what's not!

I will link to good posts in a sort of table of contents as we proceed.

With that said... POST ON!

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Table of Contents

i. Shortcuts
ii. Do This
iii. Do Not Do This
iv. Don't Be Afraid
v. Tidbits
vi. Conclusion

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i. Shortcuts

1. Talk Is Cheap
Are you posting page-long posts while your partner posts paragraphs? You might want to examine who you're RPing with and adjust your style. Some posters love writing long, elaborate posts, but others prefer quicker, paragraph-style roleplaying. Take a moment to examine the style of the person you're playing with before you post, and adjust accordingly.

2. Consider the Species
Some species may know things that others do not. Since we live in a very diverse galaxy on CDN, your character is not going to know everything about everything. For example, Cerastes here is an information broker, but even he does not know every single detail about every damned thing on hand. It is more realistic to have a character who is ignorant about some topics than to have one who is essentially a computer, unless you are playing a geth. See this thread for reference.

3. Do Not Spam Members with Reminders
Please, for the love of god, do not constantly ping people reminding them that you've posted. One nice message stating, "hey! I just thought I'd let you know I posted :)" is great (a smiley face is important - it lets the other poster know you are not being pushy), but if you persistently message someone about RP - or just persistently ping them only while you're RPing together to remind them that you exist - it's very agitating. Don't do it!

4. ... But Don't Take Forever
On the flipside, if you start a thread with someone, try to be relatively timely about posting. This doesn't mean you have to watch the forums like a hawk, but it's good to try and get a post out a day, so that you aren't "locking" their character into the thread for long periods of time (unless you're both comfortable with doing so). We all have lives and sometimes we forget to post, but try your best to keep up with your roleplays and, if necessary, cut back if you find yourself falling behind.

5. The Golden Rule
Short and simple: treat others the way you want to be treated OOCly. IC it's all fun and games, but always take consideration of the feelings of the other players you're interacting with. If you want to be received well, treat others with kindness and respect.

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ii. Do This

1. Read the Rules Thread
This is the single-most important thing you can do as a newbie. Please read over the rules thread and make sure you understand it before you post! The mods on this forum are very invested in the boards and, while understanding of newcomers, are strict on reinforcing the rules. By reading the rules thread, you will be giving them less work to do and, thusly, make a better impression on them.

2. Read the Retrospectives
Since the Mass Effect universe has such a dynamic story, the members of Cerberus Daily News have written a series of "retrospective" articles that extrapolate on how Shepard's actions have affected everyone. Please take the time to browse them before creating your characters. Not only will reading them save you time, but it will also show your fellow players that you've done your homework - which always makes for a good impression.

3. Read the Character Creation Guide
Thanks to our site's technical administrator, Dippy, we have a handy-dandy character creation guide available on the site itself, which shows a lot of useful tips and tricks to making a brand-new character - as well as common snafus to avoid. Additionally, if you'd like some one-on-one help from your peers, please click here to check out a Constructive Criticism thread.

4. Join the IRC
Here on Cerberus Daily News, we've created our own private IRC channel. Please join the channel on IRC and get to know your peers and moderators. Almost all members on the channel are willing at any time to provide advice and answers for those that need them, so it's a great place to sort things out if you're confused!

5. Read the Wikis
Check the Mass Effect Wiki (and the CDN Wiki) when worldbuilding (either in an RP or an extranet discussion). Learning that the post you spent an hour writing contradicts established canon can be very frustrating.

6. Familiarize Yourself with the Mods
The mods that operate this site are very dedicated individuals in multiple respects. They pour their time, emotions, and money (and oh god, the money) into this site, and as such, they deserve respect. Please take the time to reflect on this before you contact them. Many of the mods experience "mod sass", which absolutely does not endear them to you; treat them with respect, and they will treat you with the same.

In IRC, the mods are known as such:
&Aphin
&Espiza
&Harrad_01
&SteelUnifier
&Zoftan
&Niamh

On the boards, the mods are known as such:
Aphin = Ichabod
Espiza = Causality
Harrad_01 = Overlord
SteelUnifier = Echelon
Zoftan = Skeleton with Magic Sword
Niamh = Phoenix

Our resident technical administrator is Dippy, otherwise known as Diplomatic Immunity or Cerberus Daily News VI. To report site bugs, please post in this thread. If you think of any features that might be useful to the site, post them here. To learn how to utilize the bracket feature on this site, please look here.

7. The Private-Messaging System
At present, private messaging doesn't work on the new boards. To privately message someone outside of IRC, please use your account at the old boards and search for the appropriate username. If you do not have such an account, let Overlord know in this thread and he will set one up for you.

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iii. Do Not Do This

1. Become the God of Roleplaying
No one has the golden pen. I don't care if you're a published author or an English major; many of us are both of these, but we don't act like we're the cock of the walk. Don't come strutting in here like you're a boon to all writers; it'll just frustrate and alienate other roleplayers.

2. Pick on the Little Guy
Seriously. Just because you're new or not at the top of the food chain doesn't mean you have to shoot other people down. If you're feeling insecure about your own roleplaying, focus on improving yourself, not on bullying those who aren't on the same level as you are yet. If "not being a jerk" isn't a big enough encouragement to not behave this way, then consider the fact that the people you're bullying will probably surpass you soon enough - and make you look like an idiot in the process.

3. Be the Cool Super Hipster
Everyone hates hipsters. Every so often, we get roleplayers both new and old acting like they're the bees' knees both on the boards and (more frequently) in IRC. Please do not do this. No one thinks you're clever or unique, they just think you're obnoxious. If you are suffering from hipster syndrome, please go clothes shopping and do an outdoor activity instead.

4. Be Passive-Aggressive
If another player is causing issues with you and you are unable to resolve it yourself, do not resort to making passive aggressive comments whenever they are around. While it may be entertaining to watch them stumble around your “clever” commentary, it quickly becomes an excuse to carry petty grudges and creates an air of toxicity where everyone is angry at one another for reasons nobody really understands.

5. Assume CDN Is All Losers
AKA, the "Prince/Princess" rule. We haven't had much problem with this before, but since it tends to be a common issue in roleplaying environments, I'm going to cover it here. If you are an attractive male or female, please realize that you are not the only one on the boards. CDN is not a collection of shut-in nerds who sweat while typing paragraphs about pretend aliens; most of us are happy adults who just happen to roleplay on the Internet for fun in our spare time. There are exceptions to the rule, of course, but in general, nobody likes a Prince/Princess on the Internet.

As an addition, since we have had this problem in the past, please do not tell us about your sex life.

6. Write Sex for its Own Sake
Speaking in "movie theatre" terms, this board aims for a PG-13 rating when it comes to mature content. As such, while we're (mostly) adults who do adult things, threads with sex as their central concept should be avoided for the simple fact that they are boring. This does not mean that sex should be avoided, or indeed that one or more characters may have sex on their minds, but the thread must have more than that to be interesting. For example, this is an article where sex is a backdrop for the drama in someone’s life…whereas this is the faux pas taken to its logical conclusion.

Sex is not bad in storytelling. However, it is a plot device, not a plot in itself.

7. Play With Yourself (It Leads to Hairy Palms)

Nobody minds a romantic RP, but when both characters are played by the same player, it shows. Badly. Playing both sides of an intimate relationship will alienate other players from you, as they will begin to wonder what you (the player) are doing you write.

Similarly, remember a species’…limitations…when setting up a romantic relationship. For example, if you’re eagerly setting up either multiple partners or interspecies relationships with quarians, for example…stop. Just. Stop. Remember that you are not Shepard or Tali, and reread the Codex.

8. Conflate OOC with IC

If you write a character that is a mean-spirited jerk, expect people to respond to that character like he’s a mean-spirited jerk. Just because you are a Nice Guy when out of character doesn’t mean that you get to prance around in character, heaping abuse on everyone else without repercussion. Keep in mind The Golden Rule as stated above, and realize that people both in (and out) of character do not take kindly to you abusing it.

9. Respond with Point Blank Denial
Keep in mind, we're not trying to single anyone out here. This thread's just some general advice that we submit because we like bringing in and retaining players, not alienating them for making some sort faux pas. Therefore, no matter who you are, if you immediately react to this thread with “I don’t do that,” step back and reflect on your actions before making the issue about yourself.

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iv. Don't Be Afraid

1. Speak Up
If you have a problem with another member, or they're making you uncomfortable, and you're unable to resolve it between yourselves, tell the staff. Don't be afraid to step on toes. If you feel someone is doing something wrong, interfering in your roleplay, or getting too personal, don't tell yourself that 'you don't want to make trouble'. You are not a snitch. You are not disrespecting anyone. You are well within your boundaries. There have been quite a few instances on these boards that have led to shouting, drama, and rule-breaking, but 99% of the time the only reason they turned toxic was because one party or the other failed to communicate the issue to us before it got out of hand. It is the mod team's job to arbitrate matters involving roleplay on this board, and it makes their job so much harder if no one makes an effort to tell them before things get out of control. Please, report problems - not just for your sake, but theirs', and for the board's.

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v. Tidbits
1. Character Text Color
An old tradition of Cerberus Daily News is to color your character's dialogue in role-playing threads (just RP threads; please do not do this in regular "boards" style threads, unless you are Kittens). Harrad_01, moderator and owner of the site, describes how to utilize text colors in RP in the following post.

2. On Being Super Awesome Right Away
This may sound misleading, hear us out: don't be a super awesome dude right away. No one is ever the Baddest Guy Ever as soon as they post. If you want a textbook example of how to become a badass on CDN, go to the old boards and search for early posts by "Abattoir," "Abad Sam-mel," or "SuriNeyvi". All three of these posters increased the notoriety of their characters over time and via threads, which made them more legitimately intimidating as the boards grew.

Becoming a "badass" on CDN can be very rewarding, but it takes time and effort. If you want to be a big-shot, you need to develop your character in the timeline and affect other characters on the board first.

3. Show The Interesting Bits
Expanding on point 2, the interesting bits of your character are often not the bits where he/she is good at but those where s/he isn't. Watching the Super-Awesome Mercenary Guy perfectly executing a mission might be fun to read once, but it will quickly turn boring if that’s the only thing we see. Super-Awesome Mercenary Guy having problems he can’t solve with his guns/biotics, however, often makes for a far more interesting story. Compelling stuff tends to happen when there’s an obstacle for the protagonist to surmount and there’s no easy way to do it.

4. Doublecheck the Dialogue
This is solid advice for anyone: before you post, if you have dialogue in that post, read over that dialogue in your head (or even aloud) to make sure it sounds like something a real person would say. Some characters talk more formally than others, but even they need to be checked, too!

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vi. Conclusion
No one is perfect. Every single one of us - yes, even the majestic Overlord himself - has made a mistake at some point. However, the difference between a bad roleplayer and a good roleplayer is the ability to learn from said mistakes and, furthermore, to better oneself as a result. Don't worry, though. We're all in this community together, and we all want to work together to make this the best roleplaying forum we can.

If you're new and reading this, we want to share our experiences with you and create new memories - all you have to do is sign up and give it a chance!

Never Be Afraid To Speak Up

If you have a problem with another member, or they're making you uncomfortable, and you're unable to resolve it between yourselves, tell the staff. Don't be afraid to step on toes. If you feel someone is doing something wrong, interfering in your roleplay, or getting too personal, don't tell yourself that 'you don't want to make trouble'. You're not a snitch. You're not disrespecting anyone. You are well within your boundaries. There have been quite a few instances on these boards that have led to a lot of shouting, drama, and rule-breaking, but 99% of the time the only reason they turned toxic is because one party or the other failed to communicate the issue to us before it got out of hand. It's our job to arbitrate matters involving roleplay on this board and it makes our job so much harder if no one makes an effort to tell us before things get out of control. Please, not just for your sake, but ours, and for the boards.

So, here's a few thoughts on coloured character text

It's been pretty common practice to add colour to a character's speech in RP threads, to differentiate it from descriptive text. It's not without its merits, but it also causes some problems, and when you're writing you should consider them.

The first and foremost in my mind is adding more and more colours as more and more characters begin to speak. There's three significant reasons why you might want to reconsider: the first is that once you get enough colours in there, your post looks like vomit. The second is that you might lose track or miscolour your characters' speeches, which isn't nearly the big deal as the previous point, but nobody likes egg on their face.

The third point's the big one. You might think that having all these different colours will serve as a good shorthand when you're writing up the scene. It's not. Using a colour tag is not a good replacement for typing in "so-and-so says," followed by what they say. The more colours you throw in, the more likely I'm going to forget who is what colour, or- even more likely- I'll stop caring who is what colour. That's not even to consider colourblindness. I'm not, but I know a guy who straight-up cannot see yellow. It's a fancy white to him.

You can feel free to use coloured text for speech, but when you're writing, make sure it reads just as easily if it were black-and-white. Coloured text is window dressing, and can add character, yes, but you have to make sure it doesn't detract from the text itself, which is what I'm reading.

And for the love of god, watch which colours you use. PURE BLUE is agony to read on black

Check the Mass Effect Wiki (and the CDN Wiki) when worldbuilding (either in an RP or an extranet discussion). Learning that the post you spent an hour writing contradicts established canon can be very frustrating.

Write up your character's backstory- Not all of it, leave gaps and room for it to grow and develop.
Cross-check with actual canon sources and fanon sources, and read your dialogue aloud before you consider it 'finished.'
Does it read naturally? If so, go ahead! If it doesn't? Don't!

Write like people talk- Write how you'd expect your character to talk.
For example- In roleplaying threads, my characters fumble over words, make grammar mistakes-
But in CDN discussion threads, that's more rare- Because it's the character making the post and giving it a proofread before posting (most of the time.)

You aren't Shepard.

Shepard gets away with more things than I care to count, because she's an N7/SPECTRE/main protagonist of the Universe. Your character, by rule, is none of those things, so don't expect to get away with something that would logically land your character in major trouble. The excuse "But Shepard does it" or "but X happened in the game" doesn't work here.

This also applies to things teammates do as well - you aren't Thane, or Samara, or Garrus, or even Kaiden or Jacob. Don't try to be - there a trillions of unique individuals in the galaxy, and you get to play one of them, instead of a clone :)

Just a little note:

I realized while reading this over that someone might think I'm talking specifically about them in some of these "hey don't do this, silly!" points. If so, this isn't about anyone in particular, just some things I've picked up on in my time on the boards.

Also, not all of this is written by me! I gave the mods full permission to just add stuff as they want, so if the writing style changes a bit, it's just because there's a lot of people working on this. :)

I think it's worthwhile to ask oneself for each point "does it concern me?" though, while keeping in mind it wasn't written for someone in particular.
Could you clarify the hipster point Taxes? I'm not sure what you meant exactly.

Building off this somewhat. Please keep in mind that your character is also not the main character of CDN. Events and other players aren't going to automatically mold themselves to your idea of how things should be and, in a similar vein, you're not right/awesome simply because you say you are.

It's not just your story being told here after all :P.

Sure - this is almost entirely a problem that shows up in IRC. Sometimes we get people who are just sarcastic to everybody, like they're the cool guy. For some reason they tend to type without using any caps while doing this, too? I'm not sure why. Anyways, nobody likes it when people do that, and the best way I could think of to describe them is as hipsters.

I want to speak to this point for a moment.

The ideas on how to create a well-rounded character are many, and there are just as many people who swear by their methods as the best way to create a character. What I have found, at least on CDN, while its good to consider your character's background and who they are, it's not the end all be all of character devolpment.

For an example, Jeral is a character I thought very little about prior to his creation. I had an idea for an introduction (someone confusing CDN for an elaborate prank) a job that fit that idea (game developer/GoF moderator who had an intrest in how to create VI that interacted "organically") and a race (salarian). Beyond that, Jeral was a blank slate.

What happen next was kind of an amazing thing to me: Jeral grew organically. I would come upon a thread about home planets and I would have to consider, what is Jeral's home planet? How does that influence who I have already established him to be and who he will be?

With that question, I had shown Jeral having a bit of ignorance about the galaxy at large, so I made him from a small backwater swamp colony. This got me thinking, why would a kid from a farming colony move to the citadel and work in game design? After some thinking, I realized that more than likely he was following his dream or passion for game design and leaving behind both his family (likely to create some tension between him and his family) and his home to do so. Also, it spoke to the fact that Jeral was both very optimistic about the future, and more than a little naive about how difficult it was to achieve your dreams.

Boom. Character devolpment.

All this is just an example that not knowing a lot about your character can be okay, if you are willing to put in the work. The key here is to be flexiblew with the character and be willing to have people point out mistakes.


I will point out, the downsides to this approach is that you are more likely to contradict yourself and it's harder to stay consistent with a character. Jeral's home planet has changed names more than once, and at the beginning Jeral ran the gaulent between being a bit of a sarcastic know it all to being an undying optimist. However, if you are willing to work through these akward stages, it can be very rewarding.

I'll be posting more about another character in which I took an opposite approach later. For now, I gots a plane to catch!

Part 2

As promised, I'm adding in a look at a character in which I did the opposite of Jeral: Henosis.

While Jeral exists as an example of a more "go with the flow" kind of system, it was necessary with Henosis to create a much more thorough background.  As a geth character, unintended contradictions would be rather sloppy and, in addition, I needed to present the character to the mods. All in all, Henosis needed a lot more consideration.

And so, I sat down with Dippy's method and hammered out nearly every detail of the character.  Starting with the reason i wanted to play Henosis, (I want to explore the Mass Effect universe through the eyes of one of its most alien beings, the Geth) and moving through each step, i was able to build the character from the ground up. With Henosis, I know when and where Henosis came into being, how it would react to the majority of situations, what it thinks about the world, its strengths weakness, struggles, ect. All in all, a very different situation than I found myself in with Jeral.

But the question is, how did this work?  How is it different than my experiences with Jeral?  

First off, Dippy's system worked great.  I was able to create a character that I feel comfortable playing while leaving room for growth (found in RPing with others and how that effects the character's view of the world). Henosis is a solid RP character.

As to how it differs, I am able to focus more on the content of threads and go more into depth on analyzing the reaction of Henosis, since I'm not focusing on building the character from the ground up. And while it takes a lot of research to post with Henosis (because, you know, it's a geth) I don't have to worry about inconsistent reactions, since I already know how it would react.

The problem with this system, however, is that since you know a lot about your character, it removes some of the mystery and fun of discovering the character through role-play. In addition, it sometimes creates a tendency to tell instead of show.

For example, Henosis may be a geth, but it has a lot of concern over the introduction of individuality into the consensus and (blah blah blah. I don't want to really give away a lot of the character's inner thoughts here, since my point is to show, not tell). The problem here is, while I know all these awesome little details about the character, no one else is privy to this info.

And so, like a child on Christmas, I burst through the doors of RP, rip of the layers of wrapping around the character, and yell "LOOK HOW COMPLICATED AND INTERESTING THS CHARACTER IS!"

But, in the end, this takes away the fun of others discovering the character. There is a reason we spend a huge amount of time in Mass Effect getting to know Shepard's crew. Proper character development takes time and patience.

So, what's my point here? I guess I just want to assure my fellow RPers, whether new or old, that there are many ways to approach character devolpment, and it's important to find one that works for you.

In addition, don't be afraid to try new things or make mistakes, as that is one of the best ways to grow in writing, role-play, and life. However, be willing to accept the critism that such mistakes or experiments may bring, as well as adopt the advice of others,

Alright, I have rambled on enough. Here's to new players, and here's to CDN.

Expand the universe!

One of the perks of sci-fi is the absurd scope it gives us. The galactic culture is thousands of times bigger than what we know on Earth. To allow this vastness to show, we need to fight the urge to just use human peppered with alien traits the canon gave us. For instance, the go-to alien pet used to be the varren. Why? Because it's the only alien pet we know from mass effect! But on all those planets there are probably millions of different species, so why not make a new one?
For example someone decided that no, they didn't have a varren, they had a moxie. Someone else decided they had a choriick! Those pets gave us nice conversations, and more importantly, flavor! So please, give us new exotic dance/music/food/drinks/art forms...

Now there are trick to introduce new things without flooding your readers with nouns they have no hope of recognizing. You can use the context to identify them (I ordered makrums because I love salarian pastries), an ooc comment ("Universal Rampage With Glitters" would be a mix between Postal and Barbie Vacation Adventures), a codex entry (I ordered a Baror Little Devil [codex entry : Batarian drink for children made with lemonade, bronzeberrie syrup, a dust of pushin dust and a green Erzsbat grape], haters be damned!), and if you feel extra awesome you can link the wiki article you just made about that exciting new thing.

Any advice I could give would boil down to this: roleplaying is cooperative storytelling.

As such, other people are an integral part of what you can and will do with your character. This is not a forum where you tell the story about your character to a captive audience, and this is not a game where you "win" by having your character "one up" everyone else's characters. The nature of the experience means that the better you work with others, the more fun you will have with your character.

...There is some irony in that statement coming from an introvert like me, but it's true.

What that means, practically:

Occasional Solo RP threads are fine, when they convey a pivotal event in your character's life or provide a glimpse into a side of your character most people don't see, but if your character never interacts with other people's characters, you're missing the point. At the farthest extreme, CDN is not the "me me me" show and interaction is the way you make other people care about your characters and what they do.

Be prepared for your character to evolve in ways you didn't expect. I have a long list of players who, by interacting with my characters, evolved them into something far beyond my original concept.

You can't presume other people are automatically going to go along with something you have in mind. You have to ask. Be prepared if they have ideas of their own. Cooperatively you can come up with something awesome that works and is fun for everyone. Insisting on your idea, unchanged, or you're not playing at all, isn't the way to go.

If you're new and don't know anyone...Join an open thread. Start an open thread. Have your character "post" on the "extranet." Let others get to know who your character is, and you'll be on your way. Joining the IRC can also help you get to know the people behind the characters; it isn't mandatory but I do most of my plot-planning that way.

And, most importantly, don't be a dick. Everyone can be dickish sometimes, but dickery isn't the best way to get along in an environment where cooperation is key to the game.

Another one:

Do Your Research

If you character has one or more of the following:

A. a profession or a hobby that you've never worked in or have no personal background in
B. a psychological disorder, or a medical condition you've never experienced or known anyone to experience
C. (human) comes from a country/area, practices a religion, or speaks a language you've never been to and don't know

You should probably invest a little bit of time in doing some research. If your character is a lawyer, and you have a BS in chemistry, chances are, you don't know anything about legal proceedings beyond what you see on TV - and as any real lawyer or law student could tell you, some things just don't work that way. Likewise, if your character is human, and you're writing a character to have a religion, or come from a country you don't know anything about, going off of stereotypes and popular depictions is not only insensitive, but can be highly offensive - and that goes double if you've afflicted your character with PTSD or some other life-affecting illness or disorder.

This isn't saying what you see in media is entirely wrong, but a lot of it gets sensationalized or over dramatized - yes, even the documentaries. There's certainly room for hand-waving certain things, but make sure you have an idea of what your handwaving - and if it even can be handwaved - first. This is the future after all, things can change.

Talk to real-life people who have aspects of your character - you're writing a lawyer, talk to a lawyer or a law student, ask them about their job, how their occupations are represented versus how they actually are. If you want a character to be fluent in German, find someone you know who's fluent in German to check your writing - throwing it through a translator doesn't always work. If your character has PTSD, talk to someone that actually has it, or a professional who deals with cases like that. If those resources aren't available, then take to the bookstores and the internet - pick up "Criminal Law for Dummies" or lurk around on forums that target the area you're interested in. A quick trip to Wikipedia and a 5-10 minute google search on the subject is better than writing in ignorance.

Speaking of translators, although the point you made was excellent, I'm not sure about that particular example. I always thought that the people who spoke half english and half spanish/french/german in their post broke a little with the "automated translator" part of the setting. The way I see it, you get something else than "english" if your character voluntarily set his translator to skip what he's saying (I think Quarian translation softwares prefer to keep Keelah'Selai in kelish instead of changing it to "By the homeworld I hope to see someday"), if the saying has no real translation (siha), or if the language itself is too obscure for mainstream translators (the gaelic your character used to speak).

This was more of a "when you write anything" suggestion. For the most part, you're correct, it does come out of the blue sometimes, depending on context. Translators glitch, a lack of proper translation (German is a good example if that, it's very difficult to translate concepts), swear words, two humans speaking to one another without their translators on, or a character not having that language "installed" - all entirely acceptable ways, in my opinion, to use multiple languages in a single thread or post.

As one of the penultimate jerks both IC and OOC, I feel obligated to point out with regards to iii.8 that if you are going to play a jerk, you need to have a moderately thick skin. Playing an IC jerk dramatically increases the chance of an OOC misunderstanding, and if you aren't ready for that or are terrified of actual confrontation it's probably a good idea to rethink your jerk character.

...what TechOptryx said.

I've found IRC and PM communication invaluable when I'm playing a jerk/argumentative character. It helps make clear to the people I'm playing with that 1. it's the character, not me personally, 2. that no matter how nasty our characters may be to each other, the players are still having fun, 3. IC namecalling doesn't paralyze the thread/what we're trying to do with our characters.

I can't count how many times I've been asked if I'm a separatist in real life. (I'm not.)

We were discussing open threads in the irc the other day and identified a few do / don't

In general, open threads are a great thing for new players/characters to get into something as well as established characters to make new acquaintances.

do:
- everyone can start an open thread. You can meet meet unexpected new players, explore new places. They can lead to further RPing.
- open threads are most likely to attract a larger audience if done at an area where people come together, like clubs, restaurants or general open areas.
- talk to people. Use the opportunity to chat with people your character wouldn't meet otherwise.

don't:
- don't just stand and stare. Don't come to an open thread and just stand in a corner doing nothing but inner monologue. It irritates people and can kill open threads. An open thread is about unexpected interaction. If you don't want to interact, you should reconsider posting in that open at all.
- don't try to be the star. Nobody likes that. It is okay if your character is an egomaniac and behaves like one, but be careful not to kill the game for everyone else.
- don't be shy. Talk up the characters that you want to talk to. If they are there, they want to be interacted with.
- don't take rejection personal. Remember not to mix IC and OOC.

- don't be disappointed if it's not flying. An open thread is like an experiment where the outcome is not certain. Some take off, some don't. An open thread depends on everyone taking part in it, not just the starter.

add to these lists if you want to.

Check the Timestamp

One of the most telltale signs of a new player is that they want to strut their stuff as soon as they can, by showing how they would respond to every thread on the IC forum. This is not bad in itself (We welcome your ambition!), but if you’re responding to an “emergency” thread that hasn’t been posted in over a week, you come off as a Johnny-Come-Lately.

So check the timestamp on the thread. If the last post in there is more than a week old, it’s probably time to just let it fade into obscurity. If you’re new around here and you’ still want to post, however, consider creating your own new thread, with a similar subject – or better yet, start an entirely new conversation! This way, you’ll get credit as a new content maker, and won’t be known as “the thread necromancer.”