So the 'how to tell' bit tends to be more up to how individual thread leaders organize their first post and such. If they don't give the information, or don't put somewhere a message like "only post in characters tab once accepted", it's up to searching in the ooc to find out more.

Do most rps do this already where it's more of a standard expectation? Sheets gets posted in ooc first, discussed, then put in characters tab when approved?
Or is it more, Sheets get posted in characters, discussed in ooc, approved/not, and then it's up to organization on how that's displayed (or not displayed)?

Apologies if this post here is not the most well-written in my questions. It's 7 a.m. currently and I really should sleep... xD