[b]@Dervish:[/b] Interesting that you presume that I disrespect them. I give them reasons, made up ones albeit, but ones where they can go to the effort to repair it themselves.

If they're not willing to adjust themselves to fit in with the requirements I've set, then they won't cooperate at other points in the story when the same kind of situation will crop itself up again. Not to mention, someone willing to spend the time to go over [i]why[/i] their character is good, and why they want to play it, are generally the kind of people who genuinely want to play. Not join and then disappear because the character they spent five minutes on is no longer interesting to them.

It's not a lie to reject someone. It's not manipulative to ask them to change something just to see if they are willing to be cooperative enough to work with me. This is actually why my RP's tend to last a long time: I use the character creation process like a job interview. If you prove yourself to be unwilling to work with me, even on things where it makes no sense, and would instead resort to being aggressive about it or just up and leaving, then we weren't likely going to be good for each other anyway.

This isn't being a manipulative liar: This is being a good GM. You're evil. It's in your job description, quite literally, so to give a trivial test to the occasional player to see if they actually want to play or if they just threw up a five minute CS out of whimsy? Not wrong, or cruel. Just evil...

...Which is my job.

Also, no, I shouldn't have to defend rejecting someone as the GM. If I don't like someone's sheet, or if I think I won't work well with someone, I am well within my means and rights to just say no. My world, my rules. Period. :hehe

[quote=Seravee]
And I agree with this 100%. If someone took the time to express their interest, the least you can do is be respectful. Even if they're not a good match, you shouldn't treat them poorly.
[/quote]

As I said above. Not treating them poorly by [i]giving them a test of their character[/i]. This is like saying that it's cruel to turn someone down: No, it's not.