Suggestion Long-term/short-term, Fandom/OC and post length tags

[Torruption]

Could we perhaps get some option to tag threads as such, to make it clear what you're advertising even before clicking at someone's thread?

 

[Retrojapan]

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[Torruption]

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That's a bit of a
But they still don't really show up for me while viewing the forum lists.

 

[Retrojapan]

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[Torruption]

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That's all nice and well, but I feel like it's a bit less focused than what I am looking for. Especially when seeing that stuff like sci fi, sci-fi won't be tagged the same by everyone who's interested in the genre, I feel like things are missing the point a little. It's a useful tool for those who are aware of it, but I think that these non-kink-related tags should be something you can select, have show up the, as well as be selectable the same way as the gender preference tags. Or, if that would make the thread lists too colorful and chaotic, at least have them show up when inside an actual RT. I haven't checked yet, but unless I was just super dumb, I feel like these probably aren't used that much?

 

[Retrojapan]

That's all nice and well, but I feel like it's a bit less focused than what I am looking for. Especially when seeing that stuff like sci fi, sci-fi won't be tagged the same by everyone who's interested in the genre, I feel like things are missing the point a little. It's a useful tool for those who are aware of it, but I think that these non-kink-related tags should be something you can select, have show up the, as well as be selectable the same way as the gender preference tags. Or, if that would make the thread lists too colorful and chaotic, at least have them show up when inside an actual RT. I haven't checked yet, but unless I was just super dumb, I feel like these probably aren't used that much?

I don't know if it's a matter of not being used as much as not being a priority for an ERP site, you know? I am more of a lit-based writer myself, so I understand how hard it is looking for story-driven partners here, but don't be discouraged and keep reading through the RT's! You'll find us

 

[small package]

The biggest problem I can see is the number of threads, currently you're allowed 2 per request section. With just Long-term/short-term & Fandom/OC that already 4 possible combinations, and I'm sure plenty of stories could be both long or short term, depending on how they are written etc. so it just ends up with twice as many threads to look through that just has the exact same content.

 

[Sync]

The biggest problem I can see is the number of threads, currently you're allowed 2 per request section. With just Long-term/short-term & Fandom/OC that already 4 possible combinations, and I'm sure plenty of stories could be both long or short term, depending on how they are written etc. so it just ends up with twice as many threads to look through that just has the exact same content.

I dunno. I mean, you can easily split them up into a Short-Term thread and a Long-Term thread, and have OC and Fandom ideas in each. Or you can do a Fandom thread and an OC thread, and have Short-Term and Long-Term story ideas in each thread.

It's easy enough to make it work.

 

[Murdergurl]

okay, but like.... what's the rush? It takes literally seconds to click in, ascertain what the RT is about, and then click back out. And maybe about 1/4 of the RTs have wording in their title that gives you the gist of what they are looking for within them. Others, well... they have a great multitude of cravings and ideas inside them to the point that there would be too many tags or that a single tag to indicate a genre would not be enough.

Either way, there is a little over 40 requests per page (as per my view), and going in just now and timing myself, I average about 15 to 25 seconds to get a good glance over them enough to know if I would like to read it over again more carefully or move on to read the next. Applying some rough math and rounding the numbers, that's about 15 minutes per page, assuming I read every one and don't just skip over the one's with obvious titles that I know I wouldn't be interested in. Doesn't seem like a whole lotta trouble to me, personally. I don't see the big deal in reading through a few request threads. And who knows what you might find in someone's RT that you didn't know would interest you, right? Also, if you find that searching through everyone else's threads is too troublesome, you can always just make your own. js

And are we seriously complaining about there being too much content and activity on the site? As someone who's been RPing for decades online, lemme tell ya that it's a godsend to have this much regular activity on an RP site. A huge majority of the sites out there barely crawl along and most of the members are inactive.
I'm glad we have so many requests and members posting up daily.

 

[Torruption]

It's not really about the time it takes to find out for each individual post and instead about the ability to easily search for such threads the same way it's easy to find your gender preferences for them. With that you can just click the tag and get shown exclusively what you're looking for. Feel like that would make sense to have for some other stuff, too.

 

[small package]

It takes literally seconds to click in, ascertain what the RT is about, and then click back out.

I agree with you. However, there's already a split between on and off site story request, but if you look at the content then most people essentially copy\paste between them.
So instead of having 2 identical request threads, how does it improve things if there are 4 identical request threads? If only takes a few seconds ascertain what a RT is about, then why do you need to spent a few more doing the same thing for no extra benefit?

 

[Retrojapan]

It's not really about the time it takes to find out for each individual post and instead about the ability to easily search for such threads the same way it's easy to find your gender preferences for them. With that you can just click the tag and get shown exclusively what you're looking for. Feel like that would make sense to have for some other stuff, too.

I think it's important to understand how these things work, too, because there's actually some pretty solid economics behind this. At least in terms of code For starters, Prefixes and Tags are not interchangeable currencies. They aren't even at the same market. I know a lot of people use them synonymously, but these are actually two separate functions.

Prefixes: Supply and Demand	Tags: Means of Production
Prefixes are end-user action commands used to refine large amounts of data. In programming this is called a Query. Unlike Tags, Queries are designed to exclude everything but x rather than include everything with x. See the difference? The more you Prefix --> the more narrow your scope --> the more specific your results And while more Prefixes would make it easier for lit-based writers, you also have to remember that this is an ERP site and someone else would be paying for your bandwidth to do that (ie) Vekseid and our Supporter's.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx	A Tag, however, is designed to include as much as possible related to x, which is a lot easier on the server than it is to eliminate. The more you tag --> the broader your scope --> the more your results​ And while it might seem backwards when Tags retrieve more results, remember that quantity does not always equal quality. Think of it this way: if this was the court of law, then Prefixes are beyond reasonable doubt and Tags are circumstantial until proven guilty. At best. Now which takes more work, and who put in the effort? With Prefixes, you've enlisted the server. With Tags, you've got to sort through the net yourself.

TLDR: BMR has existed for over a decade. There are over 2000 unique members who can have as many as 3 alts with 2 request threads per section. Do the math. The level of processing this volume of information would take is enormously taxing on a server, let alone a writing one. I can't imagine the level of bandwidth more Prefixes would cost so that people who aren't looking to ERP can avoid ERP on an ERP site.

 

[Torruption]

I think it's important to understand how these things work, too, because there's actually some pretty solid economics behind this. At least in terms of code For starters, Prefixes and Tags are not interchangeable currencies. They aren't even at the same market. I know a lot of people use them synonymously, but these are actually two separate functions.

Prefixes: Supply and Demand	Tags: Means of Production
Prefixes are end-user action commands used to refine large amounts of data. In programming this is called a Query. Unlike Tags, Queries are designed to exclude everything but x rather than include everything with x. See the difference? The more you Prefix --> the more narrow your scope --> the more specific your results And while more Prefixes would make it easier for lit-based writers, you also have to remember that this is an ERP site and someone else would be paying for your bandwidth to do that (ie) Vekseid and our Supporter's.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx	A Tag, however, is designed to include as much as possible related to x, which is easier on the server than it is to exclude everything but x. The more you tag --> the broader your scope --> the more your results​ And while it might seem backwards when Tags retrieve more results, remember that quantity does not always equal quality. Essentially if this was the court of law, then Prefixes are beyond reasonable doubt and Tags are circumstantial until proven guilty. At best. Now which takes more work, and who put in the effort? With Prefixes, you've enlisted the server. With Tags, you've got to sort through the net yourself.

TLDR: BMR has existed for over a decade. There are over 2000 unique members who can have as many as 3 alts with 2 request threads per section. Do the math. The level of processing the volume of this would take is enormously taxing on a server, never mind a writing one. I can't imagine the level of bandwidth more Prefixes would cost so that people who aren't looking to ERP can avoid ERP on an ERP site.

Again, didn't check yet on how widely used tags are, but if they aren't as popular as I assume at the moment, wouldn't it be good for the user experience if people were more aware of them? Like, perhaps have a really accessible thread which informs you about ways to make your own thread easy to find for users with similar interests?

 

[Retrojapan]

Again, didn't check yet on how widely used tags are, but if they aren't as popular as I assume at the moment, wouldn't it be good for the user experience if people were more aware of them? Like, perhaps have a really accessible thread which informs you about ways to make your own thread easy to find for users with similar interests?

1.) Concrit & Idea Development: ask for advice, suggestions, post your threads for critique
2.) Blue Moon Academy: read about what others are saying
3.) What's Something a Potential Partner Can Do to Make Them Stand Out?: Participate and engage with discussions like these
4.) General Chat & BMR Discord: Introduce yourself and get to know people, talk to others about what you're experiencing
5.) Express Yourself! Tutorials for Customizing Your BMR Experience: Personalize your profile so other users can identify with you
6.) Start Using Tags to include yourself in the search, and inspire others to do the same
7.) Exposure: Start a Journal and/or Worldbuilding thread to show others what you're interested in

 

[Torruption]

1.) Concrit & Idea Development: ask for advice, suggestions, post your threads for critique
2.) Blue Moon Academy: read about what others are saying
3.) What's Something a Potential Partner Can Do to Make Them Stand Out?: Participate and engage with discussions like these
4.) General Chat & BMR Discord: Introduce yourself and get to know people, talk to others about what you're experiencing
5.) Express Yourself! Tutorials for Customizing Your BMR Experience: Personalize your profile so other users can identify with you
6.) Start Using Tags to include yourself in the search, and inspire others to do the same
7.) Exposure: Start a Journal and/or Worldbuilding thread to show others what you're interested in

I don't want to come across as rude when saying this, but I feel like it should probably in the sites interest to streamline the user's experience. Community work is coop and all, but I doubt that most users check out these sections, since this is mainly an ERP site, as you've stated yourself. Even less likely that they're specifically going to read my thread talking about things the community could do. Making users aware of functions to improve the experience seems like the best approach to me personally, and I don't feel like it would require that much work to put it into something like the greetings. "Check out this link to learn how to connect with like minded people" or something.

 

[Sync]

Providing information to users is one thing; getting them to use it is something else entirely.

You can't expect everyone here to use tags to make your life easier. They're going to do what's easy for them, within the framework of the site's toolset. If other people are happy not using heaps of tags, that's on them, and for you to deal with.

 

[Torruption]

Providing information to users is one thing; getting them to use it is something else entirely.

You can't expect everyone here to use tags to make your life easier. They're going to do what's easy for them, within the framework of the site's toolset. If other people are happy not using heaps of tags, that's on them, and for you to deal with.

Okay, thanks for the useful advice. You realize that this is a suggestion thread?

 

[Sync]

Okay, thanks for the useful advice. You realize that this is a suggestion thread?

Funnily enough, I do. And what I see is a suggestion from you that already has a basic framework in place that isn't being heavily utilised by the userbase-at-large, and you saying the site should do more to promote it - even though it's apparent that a good portion of the community likely know and don't care. Thus my response which you've quoted but haven't read.

 

[Torruption]

Funnily enough, I do. And what I see is a suggestion from you that already has a basic framework in place that isn't being heavily utilised by the userbase-at-large, and you saying the site should do more to promote it - even though it's apparent that a good portion of the community likely know and don't care. Thus my response which you've quoted but haven't read.

So it's assumption vs. assumption. Gotcha. Nice talking to ya.

 

[Retrojapan]

I don't want to come across as rude when saying this, but I feel like it should probably in the sites interest to streamline the user's experience. Community work is coop and all, but I doubt that most users check out these sections, since this is mainly an ERP site, as you've stated yourself. Even less likely that they're specifically going to read my thread talking about things the community could do. Making users aware of functions to improve the experience seems like the best approach to me personally, and I don't feel like it would require that much work to put it into something like the greetings. "Check out this link to learn how to connect with like minded people" or something.

I dunno. I gave you a bunch of ideas on how to appeal to members of this community and you're back to how you can't filter them out lol

 

[Torruption]

I dunno. I gave you a bunch of ideas on how to appeal to members of this community and you're back to how you can't filter them out lol

No, I'm not, I'm merely saying that it might be a more effective way to encourage people to use tags if they were led to the info. Doesn't the welcoming committee already link you to some helpful resources? Why not potentially make it a part of that to include something like a "user manual." Not like you have to listen to me, I'm just theorizing that it might improve user experience and that it shouldn't be on the users end to inform others about forum functions.

Also, you can only use 10 tags per thread, so one thing that should definitely be changed is how there are multiple tags for the same terms. I'd waste 2 extra tag spaces already, just because I have to tag dub-con, dub con and dubious consent in order to have all bases covered.

 

[Sync]

No, I'm not,

Yes, you are.

Not like you have to listen to me,

Hmmm...

I'm just theorizing that it might improve user experience and that it shouldn't be on the users end to inform others about forum functions.

So let's assume, for a moment, that ALL members of the Welcoming Committee adjust their intro posts to include a link to a thread that tells users how to use forum features, including tags.

When you joined the site did YOU read, with a fine-toothed comb, every link/page/thread about the site's rules, features and functions? Do you keep up whenever there's an announcement about an update to a rule or feature or update?

I'll bet the answer is (possibly reluctantly) "No".

It comes back to my post above. It also digs into the core of suggestion evaluation: Effort to Implement vs Return for Effort. If there's a lot of work to do to implement something, and the return for that effort isn't going to be very high, then it's likely not going to happen. Alternatively, something could be relatively easy to implement, but the wider audience isn't going to be overly interested, and it comes back to "is it worth doing"?

You may not be considering things this way; you can bet the staff is.

 

[Murdergurl]

I agree with you. However, there's already a split between on and off site story request, but if you look at the content then most people essentially copy\paste between them.
So instead of having 2 identical request threads, how does it improve things if there are 4 identical request threads? If only takes a few seconds ascertain what a RT is about, then why do you need to spent a few more doing the same thing for no extra benefit?

You can pretty much always tell which requests are just reiterations asking for a different platform, though. It's usually pretty obvious and many times it's even the same title. And in those cases, you don't even need to click in. You just skip em' over. And most of the time, when a person bumps their threads, they bump them all at the same time. So, the threads are often right above/below each other, or in the same relative spaces in different subforums. It's just... it's not a big deal. To call it inconvenient is one helluva stretch. Redundant? sure. But it doesn't really have any more or less bearing on my searches.

 

[captain_bond]

This entire thread/conversation/whatever can be boiled down to the old proverb: "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." I dunno if OP is suggesting that more people try to lead horses to water, or that we try to make them drink. But there's a whole big-ass freshwater lake and all the horses are right at the beach. Whether or not they drink is on each and every one of them. The staff is just the few brave cowboys keeping the herd from descending into chaos, they trust that the horses will drink or not as they need to.

P.S. That was just extending a metaphor around the proverb, apologies if it confused anyone