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I'll have to ask forgiveness for not reading all 53 pages of this thread, so if this random complaint has already come up and been beaten to death, then that's my bad.
This isn't something I've encountered explicitly on RPG (at least, not yet--the night is still young and whatnot seeing as I've only recently joined), but just something I've come across fairly often on other RP forums: minimum length requirements per post.
This is different from recommended lengths, which serve as a rule of thumb to elicit more detail than just "he said, she said, he ran, she ran."
While I tend to align my posting style with the GM's demands out of respect for the hard work they've put into creating a RP, I personally do not feel comfortable with RPs that demand "at least x number of paragraphs per post." My philosophy has always been "If you can do everything you need and want to do in one line, then do it in one line." Obviously, this is an extreme, but the point is I've come across RPs that emphasize quantity over quality and have always found myself a little annoyed when a GM PMs me saying "Your latest post is one paragraph short of the requirements." At least give me a reason other than length, even if you have to lie about it. I would gladly edit a post if I was unclear, or if I forgot to address something I should have, but requiring useless fluff just to meet min. reqs. is a little offensive to the craft and process of writing.
Concision is an art form, I believe, one I'm still struggling heavily to improve in my writing style, and I really can't put up with people who want length for the sake of length.
The minimum post requirements are to ensure the quality of the rp does not waver with a few people who'd rather not do it because of x and y reasons. The fact of the matter is that, if one cannot maintain the minimal amount of length for one's post, then it's more than likely that the person in question probably shouldn't be joining that rp because it might be too much for them(they might be a casual writer, but are trying High Cas or Low Advanced).
The GMs want to enforce certain standards and the bare minimum of paragraphs within posts are doing just that. I understand your gripes about it forcing your hand or whatever, but you also have to put yourself in the mind of the GM. Like stated, they want to maintain certain standards throughout their game and by extension, their players.
For me personally, I really have no problems with it. If I really want to be in a certain game, I will do my best to meet the minimum requirements of posts(which usually is only 2-3 paragraphs, so it's not like it's that much). Of course, there are some games that require 4-5 paragraphs on average and that's usually too much for me haha; so again, I understand your qualms with it,@January. Things like that could definitely kill the flow of creativity within one's noggin. :/
