Posted by Kim on January 28, 2011, 2:13pm
Recently we've seen some of our members smarting from bad experiences on other RP sites, and I know that I personally have been burned by once-beloved RP communities on more than one occasion. I'm sure all of you have run into this situation as well, and if you haven't, congratulations! May you always be so blessed.But we've also heard a lot of wonderful and encouraging things about the community here at the RPR. So far, this whole group seems to be overwhelmingly positive. Personally, I could not be happier with the environment that's sprung up here, and I'd like to make sure that it lasts forever.
Of course, friends are always going to occasionally squabble, games are going to disband over real life circumstances, and sometimes, people just have bad days. But despite any bumps along our individual roads, I want the RPR overall to be a bastion of friendliness and helpfulness, for both old and new gamers. I'm sure all of you want the same.
I'd like to have a robust discussion about what we can do to preserve what's great about this community. We're still a small, young site. Now is the time to make decisions that will set the tone for the future.
I'm open to any and all suggestions. What policies or programs can we put in place to continue to promote and protect a really positive community?
To make this discussion easier, I've started a forum topic about just this. I'll meet you over there!
Earendill
January 29, 2011
2:42am
And sadly, RPR is a forum so trolls will eventually emerge. The best thing you can do about it is 'Do not feed the trolls'.
We do seem to have a solid core of decent members, which always sets a good example for newcomers. We're all pretty open-minded, so new people won't need to fear that they won't fit in. We all seem to be fans of silliness too, which is a great vent for when the serious bussiness (or perhaps your RP sessions!) is getting the better of you. And last but not least people seem willing to clarify themselves for the sake of preventing discussion before they even happen. This is a rare and precious things in online communities, where people more often than not jump at each other for the most unbelievable things just because of a disagreement (which, sadly, is often based on misconceptions about someone's post. Either through bad wording or just a general lack of knowledge about the english language. Hell, perhaps different paradigms about how things are to be said politely)
The best suggestions I can give to keep RPR as great as it is now, and possibly better when we have even more awesome members is; Never forget that behind that little glowing screen is a real-life person and those fancy letters are real thoughts and emotions. We might be here because we all love the game that is roleplay, in whatever form you might enjoy it. Forming a community, however, is not a game; it is an art, one only perfected by making mistakes and learning from them.