Posted by Kim on November 12, 2017, 12:15pm
It's dangerous to go alone, so today's batch of updates focus on making it easier to play together.Keywords come to the Find RP Search Tool
All the best search tools to help you find the RP you want, right now, are now under one roof with the Find RP Search Tool. You'll notice a new box just above the genre sliders that lets you enter a word or phrase you'd like to search for. This is just the early version -- I'm working on making the search even smarter as we go.
With the advent of keyword search being included in the Find RP Search Tool, there's virtually no reason ever to try and use the regular site search for finding a RP to join ever again. The Find RP Search Tool is packed with features to match you with the RP you want that regular search simply can't compete with:
- Never miss a relevant RP because the forum is too busy. Relevant results are shown in random order, meaning that it doesn't matter if your LFRP topic has been pushed to the second -or third- page of the LFRP forum during busy times - it won't stop it from being shown at the same rate as first page topics. And, when you're looking for a RP, you know you won't be missing out on a RP you would like just because you didn't dig far enough back in the forum pages.
- Not interested in a RP? Don't see it as a suggestion again! Just click the red X on a Find RP search result, and it won't try to suggest that RP to you again in any future Find RP searches.
- No necroed topic confusion. The Find RP Search Tool only shows results for which the original poster has been recently involved, so even if someone gets confused and posts in a topic that is months or years out of date, you won't see it in your search results.
- No results from people you've blocked, even if they are posting with an anonymous character or other identity you don't know.
- Get the most results. Keywords are searched not just in the topic title (which is the only place site-wide search looks), but also in the full content of the original post.
- Search both LFRP topics AND IC groups at once.
- No topics with (closed) in their title are ever shown.
- No locked topics are ever shown.
- No topics where the OP has been deleted are ever shown.
- Super exact searches for genre style, writing style, and play style (such as dice use) are possible, even in combination with keyword search!
- Choose to see only results where the OP is online RIGHT NOW, for those of you that just can't wait.
- If your search has dozens of matches, the Find RP search tool will start to give slight preference to ones it thinks you will like the most. For example, one criterion it might use is whether your average IC post length is not too wildly mismatched with the OPs - after all, a person who likes to write three lines is not likely to enjoy trying to RP with someone who likes to write 200 lines per post, or vice versa!
- Lots of possible results? Refresh to see more suggestions.
Updates to private messages
You've been asking for it, and I've finally done it! Instead of "Last Poster" being shown for every conversation in your inbox, the column now shows "participants."The inbox will show the icons of up to three different participants (other than you) in every conversation, and indicate how many more there are if a conversation happens to exceed more than three people.
You'll only be shown as a participant if you happen to be talking to yourself (hey, no judgement, I send myself reminders and notes sometimes too!) -- instead, it will try to show you the other people in any given conversation, since the fact a conversation is in your inbox is a pretty strong hint that you're in it anyway.
I also fixed two minor bugs with private messages:
- Fixed a bug that could sometimes cause a conversation to appear in two different folders at once.
- Fixed the bug where you could send responses to Server notices by opening up the PM chat.
Friday Sunday RP Prompt
Okay, okay, I'm a little behind on this week's Friday RP prompt, but better late than never! In honor of NaNoWriMo, I have another literary-inspired prompt for you this week.
RP prompts may be complete plot ideas, a single situation, a character, a feeling, a challenge, or even a photo to use as inspiration. Start a new RP to play them out, or use them to add a twist to an existing RP. Modify them, take inspiration from them, or use them as is!
You open a novel you found in a bookstore. Before you can begin to read, the characters leap off the pages into the real world, even the villain! What do you do? How do the novel's protagonists react to this new world? And just what dastardly plans does the villain have in store? -- This RP prompt was suggested by Heimdall
Do you have a suggestion for a RP prompt or plot bunny you'd like to see featured in the news? Send it to Kim -- if it's picked, you'll receive credit for the idea.
Comments
*Loud applause/screaming/cheering*
DewsALot
November 12, 2017
3:50pm
Great job, you're making the site even more amazing!
Fin_Fin
November 12, 2017
3:14pm
This is great! These updates are going to be very helpful to the users/community 
Keep up the great work!
Keep up the great work!
the PM participant update is super helpful for me, thanks!
just a note to anyone looking for a way to also tell if they were the last to respond or not (i never noticed this before because of the bigger notification) - the little arrows indicate it.
just a note to anyone looking for a way to also tell if they were the last to respond or not (i never noticed this before because of the bigger notification) - the little arrows indicate it.
@dray - right now, it only knows how to use posts to IC forums (public or group) for this purpose. It can't figure out which of your PMs are IC or not.
GlitterPrincess
November 12, 2017
1:25pm
I never used the search feature because I hated it and never found anything close to what I was trying to search for. Now it's much better to use
Awesome!
I have question:
Is this measuring post length on the public forums, or via PM's, or group forums away from RPR's main place? Is it only measuring the IC threads? (If I don't post in the public RP forums, will this feature not be one I see much use of?)
I have question:
Quote:
If your search has dozens of matches, the Find RP search tool will start to give slight preference to ones it thinks you will like the most. For example, one criteria it might use is whether your average IC post length is not too wildly mismatched with the OPs - after all, a person who likes to write three lines is not likely to enjoy trying to RP with someone who likes to write 200 lines per post, or vice versa!
Is this measuring post length on the public forums, or via PM's, or group forums away from RPR's main place? Is it only measuring the IC threads? (If I don't post in the public RP forums, will this feature not be one I see much use of?)
Hades_
November 12, 2017
12:27pm
Thank you so much, Kim!
These updates are amazingly useful and helpful to people like me. I found it difficult to really search for a roleplay but this is absolutely encouraging to start using the Find RP section. Thank you, thank you!
You've really outdone yourself on the update!
These updates are amazingly useful and helpful to people like me. I found it difficult to really search for a roleplay but this is absolutely encouraging to start using the Find RP section. Thank you, thank you!
You've really outdone yourself on the update!
dray
November 13, 2017
10:29am