Now that was an answer to the discussion that gives us sparkies...

When it comes to what attracts us in an IntCk, it can be a lot. No single structural element must be there, but there are certain elements we feel should be there. Its the sum of them all that decides whether it attracts us. The one, rather indeterminate element we think should be there is the elusive "quality". But that can't simply be added, for it is a sum of the parts, so we'll cover our views of those.

First of all, there's the theme. For natural reasons, this is essential and probably the most fluctuating part of them all. For us, its generally fantasy, sci-fi or somesuch that is preferred, but again, that varies a lot. And of course that varies even more if you start comparing everyone on the guild. You'll have at least a thousand different interests in theme, many of them overlapping. One guide to picking such is to look into what is common then and there. Then, once you figure that out, you have to decide whether you want to go with the flow and take the same or a similar theme, or if you want to be the boulder resisting the flow and take a completely different theme. The effect of this choice can vary a lot.

The second thing we look for, or maybe in part the first, is the title. Sometimes we want a title that is informative, other times we want one that invites curiosity. Early on in an RP, the former might help, whereas later it'll often be a bit of a hindrance. But of course (at least now) you can't change a thread title, so you'll have to stick with one of the options all the way.

The third thing we look for is whether the first impression of the initial post (OP) still attracts us. Is it flashy? does it have a lot of text? almost no text? Is there a fitting image? Is it written as an encyclopedia or as an engaging story? There are countless other factors involved here for us, but that's what we first look for.

Only after that do we start reading anything (which happens to be step 4). If the RP is still interesting after that, we'll go on to steps five through seven.

The fifth step is looking further down in the thread (if applicable) and looking at the people there (if the thread is empty of posts, see step six). 
I. Do we know any of the people present?
a) No
b) Yes
If a: We check their post(s) (and possibly post history) to determine whether they seem like decent folks.
If b, move on to II.

II. we check our memory banks to determine the reason we know them.
a) Is it because we enjoyed playing with them?
b) Did they play poorly in the past? (bad CSs, using OoC knowledge, text walls, etc)
If a: We consider the RP worthy of further participation and move on to step six.
If b, move on to III.

III. We check the rest of the possible players to determine count of bad apples.
a) One, continue on to step six.
b) Many, discard RP as a loss.

Step six. This is where we check the GM.
I. Do we know him/her?
a) Yes. (s)he's a good one?
b) Yes. We've had bad experiences.
c) No.

If I. Was a, move on to considering RP.
If I. Was b, discard RP from consideration.
If I. Was c, check GM history to determine quality.

Step seven. If we've not discarded RP by now, we start looking through our heads for character concepts we'd like to try out. If we can find one, we'll post.
If we can't, we'll give it some time and see again. We might post tentative interest.
If we can't find anything after the wait, we'll move on to other pastures.