[quote=@Grimhildr]
derived from a question asked by [@cynder] on [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/162256-does-rpguild-need-more-people/ooc]this thread[/url], i wish to ask you all: what can we do to make roleplayer guild better? now, though i am willing to hear about site-based suggestions (changes mahz can make to the site in order to improve it), i'm more interested in how the [i]community[/i] can change in order to further itself and the site. compare to other rp sites, criticise current roleplays (preferably without dropping names; i don't want the mods knocking on my door), just spitball about what your thoughts on the community are - whatever you want, so long as it is relevant to the topic of this thread, do it! i am honestly really curious on a) what others think and b) how well we can take constructive criticism and learn from our mistakes.

(also: if you're gonna disagree with someone's point, don't be like me - either do it in a polite and civil manner or take your passive aggressive ass to pms. i don't want this to devolve into a shitstorm, like most other off-topic threads where scary [i]opinions[/i] get involved. cheers in advance.)
[/quote]

The answer is to simply put move away from advert based income. I don't really think that the problem lies in the community (let me rephrase: [i]I don't think the problem with the guild declining has anything to do with the community[/i]) more so than the way the forum is built. Because let's face the facts here: 40% of traffic (this is a made up estimation because I don't think there's any way to check this) is probably coming from people that want to roleplay smut and/or write smut. There are other sites that are better suited to that (bluemoonroleplay allows it in public, for example) and thus I feel like we miss out on people roleplaying here.

Besides that, there just isn't enough here to draw people to this website specifically. I like the layout. I like the way to forums are divided into OOC, IC, and char bins. But when you look at what RPG has to offer to people and contrast it to other websites, there's not a whole lot that makes RPG attractive to roleplay in. I've stuck with RPG and not any other site because I like the site, and I like how the community behaves here (but I'm a toxic shit, so that's probably negative) and I think overall you'll find many roleplayers that I'd say are ''good'' roleplayers (whatever the fuck that might mean). 

The problem with me with the community has been that OOC shit seeps into the IC/OOC of roleplays. That's why:

[quote=@vancexentan]I would also like to see a reputation system added when you can anonymously give people positive, or negative karma depending on your opinion of them as a roleplayer. So a prospective gm, or fellow roleplayer can look at their profile and see that they have a large amount of good, or bad karma stacked up. Alternatively a way to at least block/black list people from forums you post due to the performances in other roleplays.[/quote]

this idea is retarded. Because this would mean the end of roleplaying for me. I'd never get another roleplay again, period, and that's not because I'm a shitty writer. This system would kill roleplay altogether if it were implemented.

A blocklist seems to be the way forward but even then, if a GM accepts someone on your blocklist, what are you gonna do? Leave?

[hr]

Now when addressing the community itself I have no real problems with how people act on here. I've had my share of arguments with people, [i]always[/i] in the offtopic, roleplaying discussion or spam threads, [i]never[/i] in OOC of a thread except when I'm GMing and I want people to behave like adults under my authority (what can I say, maybe the people that call me Hitler are right after all). I don't think there's anything wrong with that and to be fair saying that we should stop being involved in arguments is unrealistic and hides reality. Because arguments will exist. If I don't have them here, you can bet your ass I'll do it on discord. I'd rather do it here, in the open, so that everyone can read and criticize me/the other. That's how it should be.

The [i]real[/i] problem has been and will always be community engagement. And that's a big, big issue for RPG. There are moderators but they are barely ever active. Replying to a report, question and/or even a statement takes them forever. And I realize that they are people. But becoming a moderator is a commitment, even if it's voluntary. They don't get paid for this. I get that. But if you can't spare the time needed to be a moderator then don't become one. It's as simple as that. And I used to tremendously respect the moderators and I still respect that they're doing this thankless job. And I'd say [i]'I appreciate everything they do'[/i] but honestly, haven't we reached the point at which I can already say that they won't even read this, so what's the point in saying that?

Also, the enforcement of the rules is rather shit. I've reported things to the mods before and nothing happened, no feedback, no reply, just nothing. Maybe that's a point to consider because to me that says 'okay, guess that means I can do whatever the fuck I want too then'. It's entirely unacceptable to me to let off-site things slide because 'well they are offsite so it's not RPG, so I as a moderator don't have to care about it' and then warn other people when they react to off site harassment on RPG itself. [i]I just don't get that.[/i] Like really, you have evidence of people actively trying to get people banned on RPG by harassing them into saying something stupid but that's OK? Why? Where is that OK? How is that Fonz cool? It isn't but it happens so I don't feel like I have to follow those rules either. It's really that simple.

Adding to that which I find most important perhaps is that moderators should not solely moderate. They are the face of RPG in the absence of Mahz (god bless that man, but he's been absent too long and the site is stagnating). Not engaging the community in meaningful ways is a lack of acknowledgement from their part when it comes to that. 

A potential fix for this is something simple like an update bar on the top of RPG's website. When you enter the site, it's the first thing you see. And moderators and Mahz could update the update bar every day and add something on there. It could be something simple like 'The moderators of RPG wish you a nice day' or 'happy roleplaying!' or 'We are aware of issues with spambots and are working on a solution!' or something dumb like that. It shows activity from the moderators that currently just isn't there. 

And we as a community need to pick up the slack when it comes to that. I've thought about hosting a RPGuild Giveaway Contest. That's still on the list of things I want to do. But I need to come up with a contest thing that everyone can participate in and honestly that's harder than it seems. And I don't have the best reputation (entirely my own fault but fuck that, I love it) so are people even willing to participate? I want to include everyone. Chances are that won't happen.

Then there's Mahz' absence. I can't blame him since he has work and he hosts this shit for free as a hobby or whatever it is to him. But I don't get his modus operandi. Why is he creating a system for arena shit, but not allowing us to delete PM's? Why is the visitor message system still broken as fuck? Between that and RPG crashing every month due to reasons unknown, I'm not sure how attractive it is to RP here. Why am I even RPing here? There's [i]nothing[/i] keeping me here function wise that I can't get in other forums. It's literally just the layout and aesthetics of RPG that make me stay here and when I'm fed up with the site, that's not much of an argument in the end. 

Maybe somewhat unrelated but something I feel would definitely help - diversification of RP topics. You just get a lot of fandom. In the past it was my little pony, anime, highschool/college, Marvel/DC, etcetera, and I get that these fads tend to move along with time. But it's kinda disheartening for anyone looking for a RP about a fantasy kingdom to find that it's literally just the same 30 RP's over and over. But that's not something we can nor should control. It's just something I think would help.