Now some of this is obviously rooted in subjectivity as I have my own personal valuations of different bits of information that not everyone shares. Nonetheless, this is the basis by which I design my threads. I wrote parts of this with second-person pronouns but these are undirected pronouns not intended to reference any one specific individual (though I can think of specific examples in the 1x1 checks section for every single one of these).
[h3]The Turn-Offs:[/h3]
[b]Excess Personal Info[/b]
[indent]While it may sound callous, I don't care who you are, what's between your legs, or how long you've survived on this planet. You are merely a screen name to me and I don't need your life story. I don't even care for commentary about one's literacy level, as I find "show" much more revealing than "tell". I will click off a thread immediately if I see multiple paragraphs going on about personal details.[/indent]
[b]Pairing/Fandom/Genre Lists[/b]
[indent]Okay great, you have the most bare minimum idea for what you want to play. I've been burned in the past with people not willing to put in the worldbuilding work and instead only care about shoehorning their pairing idea at any cost. I firmly believe the worldbuilding comes first, the character building comes second, basic plot structure comes third, any any pairings are relegated to quaternary importance. These always get scrolled past in a search for actual, fleshed-out ideas.[/indent]
[b]Big Rules Section up Front[/b]
[indent]I get that rules and limitations matter, but I've come to consider this part of the negotiating process with prospective partners. Thus, I find it in poor taste to lay [i]all of it[/i] on someone up front before you've even pitched any ideas. Now I can understand if there's one or two things that are absolute deal-breakers (or content warnings) that must go up front, but I vastly prefer if the bulk of it to come after you've got me interested in an idea or two.[/indent]
[h3]The Turn-Ons:[/h3]
[b]Straight to the Meat[/b]
[indent]If I see a check with a scant six lines of text before its throwing plots/settings/characters at me, that's a good sign in my book. That's what I came here to see and getting straight to it lets me judge very early whether or not there are any ideas being presented that I am interested in pursuing. If there are I can read on and if there are not I can leave without wasting any time sifting through irrelevant content.[/indent]
[b]Detailed Pitches[/b]
[indent]I describe the showcases of plots/characters/settings/etc. as "pitches" because in an interest check you are pitching them to prospective partners (or group members in those cases). This is where I go to judge whether or not someone is putting in the writing effort to carry their share of the weight, and also to get an idea of what they're after and if that's something I would enjoy pursuing with them. I want to understand the premise, initial plot direction, world, themes, and apparent character motivations of both who I'm playing against and what I'm playing myself. I'm not looking for more than ~200 words here, but I've never once complained that a pitch was too long. Getting these right is the single most important section in my opinion as this is where my foremost judgement of you as a prospect comes from.[/indent]
[b]Clear & Concise Formatting[/b]
[indent]I despise the frequent usage of hider tags. I vastly prefer to see threads organized with headers with catchy titles to highlight each pitch. Colors can be good here for added visual distinction but that is up to personal preference. I personally favor a very quick introduction that provides a general overview of any common themes (my checks often tend to be collations of ideas with certain common themes) and any important ground rules/content warnings that absolutely must go up front. I immediately follow that with centered H3 headers titling each pitch section. I also like to separate the collection of pitches from the non-plot content with horizontal lines. I conclude with mentions of important rules/limits, an explanation of preferred contact protocol, and then thanks and salutations.[/indent]