[quote=@ArenaSnow]
While we're bitching about CS, my reason for not being particularly fond of highly specific ones (I'll use the post x amount of likes and dislikes as an example) is that either
a) they form in the rp
b) they change in the rp
c) they're completely bloody irrelevant to the rp
[/quote]
Boy oh boy I get all of this. So much of it comes from false expectations set up by the GM, co-GM, genre, or even the forum that contains it. And I'm not sure how much of this is preventable in long term.

[quote]I don't really mind that information, personally, as much of it does come to my head while conceiving the character, and I like being true to the character (the foundations of which I post in a CS). But some things are unnecessary fluff, especially in regards to other roleplayers I've met.[/quote]

I don't mind explicit fluff as long as everything the players/GM(s) can find on a CS is being presented as a body of resources [i]that everyone should feel free to use.[/i] For example:

"My parents are dead," is the joke you tell about Batman. Lots of people's parents die for various reasons. If someone chucks this in their bio in one way or another, it's not presenting context and history that can be used, it's presenting springboards for character development [b]that could be better presented as revelations in roleplay.[/b] Why put it on your CS? It cheapens the fact's weight as an exposition in roleplay and worse, for the audience, everything you do as a writer to explain what was unique and impactful about the death of Batman's parents [b]is much harder to show than tell.[/b] Indeed one of the worst things about writing for comics with this constraint is how much story new writers don't get to create based on having to work with this fact.

"My parents were murdered by wizards." is the joke you tell about Harry Potter. In that universe, lots of wizards are murdered by other wizards, especially around the time period that his parents got the gibbins. Slow-dripping all of the details of the Potter murders over the course of the book series, though, is what's important. Edgy scar isn't just a scar but effectively a warding rune. Parents knew their murderer. Daddy was friends with baddie. All of thise facts are resources [b]for J.K. Rowling[/b] that we get to see as the audience. Again, putting that on a character sheet makes every single detail less important. That information belongs to the player, not the group.

[quote]Paulie's caretaker was a radical anarchist but, paradoxically, a fervent believer in The Guild's methods and goals. In short, a {hypocrit and elitist}. She grew into adolescence with {an excellent but abusive} teacher. {Shit hit the fan} as {he did all the drugs, oops} and was unable to care for her as a growing teenager and himself as a person. This coincided with her mastery of {the magic she do}. At the age of seventeen, she {ran away, taking} advantage of The Guild's {shitty information network} and her caretaker's {spiraling depression}. She {has had no contact with them since}, and {hasn't tried either}.[/quote]

This is a complete story. It gives players and the GM a lot of concrete details to work with. Telling the story in her CS isn't about giving Paulie drama or a motivation, but about knowing how to write Paulie's story as it unfolds in whatever narrative is coming up. She has an important character any player or the GM can use, undisclosed location she used to live in any player can make, an established relationship with drugs any narrative could be affected by, and close to home knowledge of abuse cycles that any GM or player can remember when they want to present a particular situation. All of these are resources to capitalize on.

[quote=@ArenaSnow]
-a bunch of other stuff relevant to the conversation at hand.-
[/quote]
Just... yup. I feel this post somethin' fierce.

Big sigh.