PM limits. BACK UP YOUR PRIVATE MESSAGES TO A THREAD!

This is not a drill. On January 27th, I will be enstating a 700 PM limit for ALL users that are not site contributors in some fashion. Being over the limit will freeze receiving PMs until you clean out your box. Heavy PM RPers may want to start saving PMs (To a thread?) and transferring some of their roleplays (To a thread?) -Trygon

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Depending on how some tests go, we may do a winching down instead of just tossing the limit on people, but it may go well below 700. Anyway,


1) A one-time donation of $25 or more will get you the supporter tag for good. Send me a PM for how to donate via Paypal. Once you are a supporter, you are in for good, unlike the other titles. Elliquiy donations will count. If you've donated $25 or more to Elliquiy and want recognition here, let me know : ) See the support thread for Blue Moon's costs.

2) Be one of the top twelve posters. Admins and supporters are not counted for determining the top twelve. Thus, if/when a top twelve member donates, another spot will open up. Otherwise, if you usurp the #12 spot, their privileges are lost. Some of you have enough of a PM archive that you could shake this up rather quickly.

3) Be a recruiter. Simply, meet a target for bringing people into Blue Moon, each month. This gives you the perks while you are bringing people in and making with the linkage. Once that stops, you lose the perks. The threshold for what qualifies will be determined by Trygon.

4) Be on the welcoming committee. Currently, some recruiters who are having trouble meeting quota are going into this group. Again, Trygon's whim. It is also not permanent - stop welcoming people, lose the perks.

5) Be a staff member. This is more stable than recruiting, welcoming or mass posting, but losing staff privileges for whatever reason also means losing this perk.

There are additional perks to being such a member and more will be added over time. We won't interfere with people's ability to play, but there is a VIP forum, and hiding is now for privileged members only.

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I just did some queries.
Blue Moon: 512 posts per day.
Lunar Radiance: 481 posts per day.

Lunar Radiance catching up?

Lunar Radiance: 182 private messages per day.
Blue Moon: 1,643 private messages per day.

Elliquiy barely gets that many. More to the point, though, I wanted this place to be more er, opposite of Elliquiy. Not so much hidden, more to be laid bare to see.

mysql> select username, count(msg_id) as count from phpbb_users INNER JOIN phpbb_privmsgs ON user_id=author_id GROUP BY author_id ORDER BY count DESC LIMIT 100;
+---------------------+-------+
| username | count |
+---------------------+-------+
| Zennarion | 8811 |
| RobBase086 | 6014 |
| Candira | 5834 |
| angelduskgirlcat | 5665 |
| Fancy_Brat | 5171 |
| CutePhoenix | 5089 |
| [LunarDysis] | 4923 |
| Nurse_K | 4823 |
| Distain2003 | 4362 |
| Krad_Nogard | 4280 |
| HKitten | 3994 |
| irena | 3683 |
| PadanFain | 3238 |
| Cheshire Pup | 3230 |
| desertpaladin | 3198 |
| Lucid_M | 3165 |
| Dream | 3132 |
| Mr Master | 3128 |
| Kakure | 3087 |
| Niki-Gale | 3058 |
| lanner | 3017 |
| NaoChan | 2973 |
| Inari | 2931 |
| Lisalou8917 | 2873 |
| punkjello | 2871 |
| Broomhandle45 | 2751 |
| sballjlb23 | 2708 |
| Houdini | 2700 |
| alzayin2099 | 2663 |
| Klein | 2635 |
| deerpoob | 2631 |
| Friendly Alien | 2583 |
| KiKi Umara Death | 2560 |
| dleibman | 2541 |
| sub_voyage fan | 2535 |
| rohan | 2438 |
| Broken Knight | 2407 |
| Anansi | 2396 |
| 1hinata28 | 2360 |
| Survivor00 | 2354 |
| richter | 2282 |
| MrPenguin | 2271 |
| SHIBBY+_+ | 2227 |
| Nyoko | 2195 |
| Luna | 2171 |
| Chedder Cheesie | 2159 |
| Wolf_Demon | 2093 |
| JMontvale | 2063 |
| Lan Moore | 1997 |
| OBSCENE | 1964 |
| Raiden | 1952 |
| Taidon | 1938 |
| TheDarkerMe | 1901 |
| DudeGuy | 1898 |
| Kolath | 1896 |
| Waffles | 1864 |
| Raziel200480 | 1857 |
| Intense Napkin | 1853 |
| DarknessEmbraced666 | 1828 |
| Kratos | 1821 |
| Futy | 1817 |
| PinkSinger | 1791 |
| angelicxdream | 1778 |
| WINK | 1750 |
| SSlave | 1746 |
| tempted_kitsune | 1743 |
| Yenpointfive | 1735 |
| Raziel99 | 1729 |
| Misha Hiroki | 1715 |
| Kotep | 1707 |
| Rayn_Chain | 1701 |
| kikora | 1632 |
| vampire seduction | 1601 |
| Fiye | 1588 |
| psych80 | 1582 |
| sweetnecter | 1572 |
| Nowfaleena | 1571 |
| Crystalfox | 1565 |
| Revan Leonhart | 1533 |
| Azel Stormrose | 1529 |
| The King Of Yaoi | 1520 |
| Akuma | 1520 |
| Renne_Hakumai | 1496 |
| Kaziel | 1459 |
| wrath | 1458 |
| AutumnDreaming | 1457 |
| shadoweclipse | 1452 |
| killer_kenny | 1421 |
| Midnight | 1415 |
| EuroMutt | 1391 |
| Twilight melody | 1390 |
| BlindedByTheLight | 1383 |
| Strawberry_Kiss | 1383 |
| SusanJames | 1363 |
| vampire07 | 1354 |
| RussianLullaby | 1353 |
| Ulcis God of Chains | 1350 |
| Zenia | 1347 |
| babygirl67 | 1331 |
| Dawhiterabbit | 1327 |
+---------------------+-------+
100 rows in set (1.13 sec)

>_>

Anyway, since Trygon is in charge, he'll be calling the shots regarding this, but I wanted this out here for commentary.

Re: Alright, PM limits

I'd like community input on this, actually. I don't want to harsh anyone's preferred style, but more forum activity would be very nice. Suggestions?

Re: Alright, PM limits

There does not seem to be any direct sub forums to hold the roleplays in. Atleast it isn't clearly discernable.

Re: Alright, PM limits

silver28 said:

There does not seem to be any direct sub forums to hold the roleplays in. Atleast it isn't clearly discernable.

Click to expand...

...what?

<!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://bluemoonroleplaying.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=5">viewforum.php?f=5</a><!-- l -->

Middle of the page in the main index.

Re: Alright, PM limits

silver28 said:

There does not seem to be any direct sub forums to hold the roleplays in. Atleast it isn't clearly discernable.

Click to expand...

I... just... what?


It's hard to say whether PMs should be capped, it's like saying you can only post so many times. However, if the original intent of BM is to be open about everything, then it's a good point. Kind of a related note: Why do people say it's so hard to keep track of their threads? (Which is why I'm guessing some people like PMs more) I mean, I have zero issue keeping up with any thread. But, then, I subscribe to the threads I deem important (RP or not) and so I keep the subscription page open 24x7, refreshing it when I wish to see what's going on. Plus, I have subscribed to the main non-RP forum sections, so I really get to keep track of what's going on in BM.

So, I guess I just don't see the point of PMing that much. So, I'm on the fence. It doesn't affect me so I don't really care, but the point of a forum is to have threads, right?

Re: Alright, PM limits

I can't really say Yay or Nay.

I don't really care where I role play; however, there are some people I keep in touch with solely through PMs. 'Cause I highly doubt people want to read such conversations on the threads. They would be terribly boring, I'm afraid.

Re: Alright, PM limits

The other forums I've been on have put different restrictions on PM storage depending on your post count; like as you go up in posts, you were able to hold more PMs. You would start out with a limited amount of space(250), and once you hit 1,000 posts on the forum you would suddenly be able to hold like 500 or 700 PMs and it wouldn't go any higher. Not sure if that's something you could do or not, but I agree on putting a cap on it. 700 PMs seemed like more than enough space, but then again, I don't RP in PMs.

Re: Alright, PM limits

I like Padan's idea there. Make it so that you are still able to use PM's but you have to use the actual forums too. More PM's means attention to Forums.

Re: Alright, PM limits

Obviously, I like my threads. xD -isn't even up there-

But yeah, those seem to be ridiculously high numbers for PMs. I do like the cap idea, it would cause more activity on the forums.​

Re: Alright, PM limits

I love roleplaying in PMs. I really hate roleplaying in open threads. I wouldn't enjoy having a limit on how much I could roleplay in PMs to be honest. I don't really roleplay a lot here anyway, but I don't think I'm the only one who thinks this. If you force people to post on the forums so that they can roleplay on PMs the activity will probably just be spamming up threads, or just spamming in general. Not only that, but you have to think about how much people talk via PMs and how many people don't have messengers. PMs may be the only way they can have a somewhat quick way to talk to someone in private. If you discourage people from having chit-chats in PMs they might just go somewhere else so there's no forum activity at all on their part.

I'd just say have a limit on PM storage regardless of how much you openly post. I wouldn't make it a privilege to talk to your friends without having to constantly delete a lot of PMs.

Re: Alright, PM limits

Waitwaitwait. Is all of that OP in TOTAL PMs?

Re: Alright, PM limits

haha I made the list.

Yeah I do ALL of my roleplaying in private and prefer to keep it that way. Though if things change I guess I too may have to change or simply reconsider my hesitation to play on IM. *shrug*

I agree with goatse on this one. I'd rather go through the pain of giving up the clutter in my inbox (I never want to delete old stuff yet I rarely ever read it) than be forced to play on the forums.

Re: Alright, PM limits

I think a cap some where near 700 or 1000 wouldn't be a bad idea. It gives people incentive to clean out their inbox. I hardly ever use PMs anymore, used to a lot (why im on the list. lol)
I vote for a cap!

Re: Alright, PM limits

I don't like RPing in IMs. But whether I choose threads or PMs depends on a) comfort level I have with the material, and b) how shy my partner is. There are RPs I have that, for one reason or another, aren't public. I would hate to feel limited about that.

I also have really enjoyed the freedom from having to prune down my old messages; it used to be on DERP I'd have to worry about how many PMs I had in each subdirectory, had to determine what to delete or keep... it was more time-consuming and annoying. I've very much enjoyed NOT having to do that.

I only have a few PM RPs, but I much appreciate the freedom of our current set-up.

Re: Alright, PM limits

Well, Blue Moon essentially becomes a surrogate for e-mail doing that.

The main issues are
1) It basically makes Blue Moon look about a third as active as it genuinely is. It's harder to highlight. Would anyone utilize a more private forum (not guest/search engine visible) instead?
2) phpbb is not a mail transport agent. It is an internet forum. It is not particularly well-optimized for handling private messages.
3) The current situation is nice, yes. It is only possible because someone is paying for it.

That's a serious rub. Elliquiy pays for itself and always will. Blue Moon doesn't - not even for raw bandwidth.

So something about the way things currently happen needs a bit of correction. The less intrusive any potential ads or donation requests, the better.

Re: Alright, PM limits

Vekseid said:

That's a serious rub. Elliquiy pays for itself and always will. Blue Moon doesn't - not even for raw bandwidth.

Click to expand...

That is, of course, a game-changer.

Whatever it takes to keep the place going, we'll adapt.

Query: is it volume of posts and subsequent exposure to ads that pays for Elliquiy? So they're larger, so they generate more revenue thereby?

Re: Alright, PM limits

I'm relatively new so I can't comment on what Blue Moon was intended as when it was set up, etc, so I'll just talk from my experience.

When I first joined, all my previous RP experience had been by e-mail so I gravitated towards PM rps because that felt "normal" to me. The idea of sharing the rps with the world (well, ok, the BM world at least) seemed awkward to me. My first two RPs on here are by PM as a result. When I thought about it more though, and after following a few RP threads that others were writing, I realized that RPing via forum really isn't as awkward as I thought (at least for me) - it was just a personal "block" I had to get over. I mean, we do this to have fun and to write stories and most of us probably don't mind having others read what we write. So the next two RPs I set up were slated for the forums and are both active. And I find that posting there, vs PMs, doesn't bother me now. In addition, I have found myself using forum threads to get a feel for who I might like to RP with in the future. That's a huge bonus for forum threads over PM ones in my book. And the point about PMs hiding how active we are is huge also I think.

That said, I like to give my RP partner the choice of PM vs Forum because, as Mr. Master said, some are more shy and want that privacy and others are just shy about the content (or how well they'll write the content, etc).

All of that said, I'd hate to see Blue Moon disappear. I love it here and have written more in a week with partners here than I have in months. I'm feeling energized and its flowing over into other writing that I do. So, if RP pming wouldn't be allowed any more for the long term security of the site, I would adapt.

I do think we need to be able to PM some though - if only to work out RP details before we start the forum threads or to simply chat if its our only means of communicating with a friend (not everyone has IMs or e-mails). I'd hate to work out the details of an RP in a forum thread - it would just take up useless space.

Anyway, just my two cents. I'll stop boring you now.

Re: Alright, PM limits

I guess I will say something.

Maybe you should find out how many people talk vs role-play over PMs??
If you find out most people are just talking then limit it to at least 700 PMs.
If you find out most people are role-playing then limit it to 1000 PMs.

That's just what I think.

Re: Alright, PM limits

Forever Unbreakable said:

I guess I will say something.

Maybe you should find out how many people talk vs role-play over PMs??
If you find out most people are just talking then limit it to at least 700 PMs.
If you find out most people are role-playing then limit it to 1000 PMs.

That's just what I think.

Click to expand...

That might be very time consuming to look through every member's PMs and read every single one of them. That and people might decide they want to go from talking to rping or from rping to talking. Just asking people what they mostly do over PMs or having a poll would be a lot easier than having to read through a bunch of messages.

Re: Alright, PM limits

Ilovegoatse said:

Forever Unbreakable said:

I guess I will say something.

Maybe you should find out how many people talk vs role-play over PMs??
If you find out most people are just talking then limit it to at least 700 PMs.
If you find out most people are role-playing then limit it to 1000 PMs.

That's just what I think.

Click to expand...

That might be very time consuming to look through every member's PMs and read every single one of them. That and people might decide they want to go from talking to rping or from rping to talking. Just asking people what they mostly do over PMs or having a poll would be a lot easier than having to read through a bunch of messages.

Click to expand...

I was meaning having a poll, sorry I didn't put that in there -nods- I wasn't expecting the admins or mods to go through everyone's PMs since that would be an invasion of privacy or something considered like that.

Re: Alright, PM limits

Mr Master said:

That is, of course, a game-changer.

Whatever it takes to keep the place going, we'll adapt.

Query: is it volume of posts and subsequent exposure to ads that pays for Elliquiy? So they're larger, so they generate more revenue thereby?

Click to expand...

No, Elliquiy members are just more generous. More capacity for being generous, too, average age is somewhat older, etc. That might happen here, but even running on generosity is aided by growth. Donations will scale with membership - costs won't. Everything gets cheaper the more of it you buy.

Each roleplaying thread is one or more pages of unique content. This gets noticed by search engines (that the content is unique), and it becomes a valid origination page. That in turn raises the search engine value of the rest of the site, making the site more visible in search engine results.

I don't ask everyone to get links to Blue Moon out of conceit, links to Blue Moon add value and stability. The more active a site is, the more it can make from more means per visitor, and the less it costs per visitor.

Re: Alright, PM limits

So, just so I am clear, is that list the total PMs sent or the amount stored?

Re: Alright, PM limits

Hey Vekseid..

The ones who use pms are probably the ones that don't hang out in GD or any OOC board, right?

I think if you cap the PMs..

They'll get upset and all wonder why you did it. Just my theory though.

Re: Alright, PM limits

Not playing in the forums doesn't mean I don't actively read general discussion

Re: Alright, PM limits

If I were to find a way to make the subscription function more robust, either by mod or whathaveyou, would the frequent PM users feel less stung about enstating a PM limit?