Experiences What are some red flags in rp ads/requests? Why do they turn you off?

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  • I wouldn't say that it's a "red flag" per se, but a big ol' turn off of mine in RP requests is when the ad is formatted in extravagant BBcode. You know the ones I mean: excessive moving pics and windows in windows that you need to scroll through. Hidden bullets in stylized icons and banners for everything. It's just too much. Less is more, imo. And when I see adverts like this I just click the back button.

  • Other topics I avoid are ones where canonical characters are involved.

  • Pretty much anything that is multi-verse. Multi-verse is just a guise for lazy writing, and instead of actually proposing a story and setting, the person proposing the RP has opted to just let anything into the narrative. super lame

  • School RPs.

  • Vampire RPs. I've yet to see them done in a fashion that isn't some cringy "Interview with the Vampire" wannabe rendition or otherwise some kinda dumb familial clan thing. It's always the same tired ideas. Vampire and Werewolf is even worse in this regard.

  • A long list of prohibited themes or topics. I understand the "No Metagaming" and "no godmodding". But once they start making a blacklist of all the stuff that they find personally offensive, I start to feel like I'm going to be dealing with a group of little snowflakes that are going to get their feathers ruffled if I don't keep in line with their personal agenda
A lot of these are pretty spot on for me too.
 
the excessive bbcode has become very prevalent as of late. at least on this site in particular.
Yea, I almost always click off those. Half the time I don't even know how to navigate them. It's never really clear.
 
Yea, I almost always click off those. Half the time I don't even know how to navigate them. It's never really clear.
half the time you can't figure out where to go. The other half of the time, the link is broken! lmao
 
....which leads me to another red flag: When a req is put out, but they have zilch for their lore. It's like... bruh, finish your idea before you pitch it. what's this half-baked wad of unfinished concepts that you're tossing out at us? (Keep in mind that I refer to group RPs in all my iterations)
 
I am with you and Jannah also they use colors that makes the text hard to read.
At the very least they should be adding a plain text version as well for accessibility reasons. A lot of the codes also don't work on mobile and some members, including myself, do sometimes browse on mobile.
 
I am with you and Jannah also they use colors that makes the text hard to read.
I've seen that, where the text font and color is impossible to read against the background. As if it wasn't hard enough to figure out. lol

Seriously, who though red on red in tiny blackletter was a good idea?
 
I've seen that, where the text font and color is impossible to read against the background. As if it wasn't hard enough to figure out. lol

Seriously, who thought red on red in tiny blackletter was a good idea?
I ran into that issue with dark text against the dark back ground. Honestly I question if they want people’s interest.
 
I've seen that, where the text font and color is impossible to read against the background. As if it wasn't hard enough to figure out. lol

Seriously, who though red on red in tiny blackletter was a good idea?
In the HTML/CSS course I had to take as part of my college program we actually talked about this a bit. Colours do need to be chosen carefully, especially when designing a code for a professional setting. A lot of them just don't work well together. White and/or minimalist backgrounds are also recommended for this reason: if the background is too busy then it can distract from the text. It can also make the text difficult to read if even certain parts clash with the background colours.

Anyway, I'm rambling now so I'll shut up.
 
In the HTML/CSS course I had to take as part of my college program we actually talked about this a bit. Colours do need to be chosen carefully, especially when designing a code for a professional setting. A lot of them just don't work well together. White and/or minimalist backgrounds are also recommended for this reason: if the background is too busy then it can distract from the text. It can also make the text difficult to read if even certain parts clash with the background colours.

Anyway, I'm rambling now so I'll shut up.
I took two years of advertising design, so I know what you mean. but seriously, some of this stuff should be common sense

I ran into that issue with dark text against the dark back ground. Honestly I question if they want people’s interest.
maybe it's reverse psychology. They want people to not be able to read it, so that they have to inquire the OP to figure out whats going on. Tricking them into interest. lmao
 
In terms of 1x1s, a noticeable insecurity in identity or general oversensitivity. Coping with prejudices and self-acceptance are both struggles that I empathize with, but I'm a cynical, Midwestern gay that occasionally indulges in grit and morally gray characters. My personality and mindset don't always mesh with someone who's still wounded, or who takes many things to heart, or who might blur the lines between IC and OOC when faced with a character who holds a viewpoint that doesn't align with theirs. I will treat a partner's triggers with care, and I don't always need gray characters or situations, but I don't want to start a partnership with someone who I will probably unintentionally offend.

When it comes to groups, a lack of expectations, especially in regards to posting rate and response length. A group is more likely to be successful if the players have similar habits if not also mindsets, but a GM won't get that chemistry if they're treating their group like the wild west.
 
In terms of 1x1s, a noticeable insecurity in identity or general oversensitivity. Coping with prejudices and self-acceptance are both struggles that I empathize with, but I'm a cynical, Midwestern gay that occasionally indulges in grit and morally gray characters. My personality and mindset don't always mesh with someone who's still wounded, or who takes many things to heart, or who might blur the lines between IC and OOC when faced with a character who holds a viewpoint that doesn't align with theirs. I will treat a partner's triggers with care, and I don't always need gray characters or situations, but I don't want to start a partnership with someone who I will probably unintentionally offend.

When it comes to groups, a lack of expectations, especially in regards to posting rate and response length. A group is more likely to be successful if the players have similar habits if not also mindsets, but a GM won't get that chemistry if they're treating their group like the wild west.
Exactly this. One or two triggers I can work around and often will if I like the plot being presented, but with all this other stuff added in I just can't do it. I have nothing against people who are broken and traumatized as I am myself, but it can make writing a pretty suffocating experience when you're constantly treading that very fine line between accidentally offending your partner or not. I tend to be a very abrasive individual who will say what is on my mind so naturally I just don't mesh well with people who are super sensitive. Because of that I just actively avoid writing with anyone who gives off those vibes.
 
"I'm interested in anything."

There's a lot to unpack here, but in brief it tells me that the person is simply not willing to put effort into coming up with plots or characters. Chances are they're not actually seeking to RP anything, either. They just don't want to bother taking five minutes to list their current cravings and interests, which of course tells me they're not willing to put much effort into a RP either.
 
it wasn't on this site but once read a requirement that stated something akin to female writers only, which means no girls pretending to be men.
as a transmasc individual, i don't think I've noped out of a thread faster. it was at lightning McQueen speeds. kachow.

maybe it's just me, but it gave a sour taste.
 
it wasn't on this site but once read a requirement that stated something akin to female writers only, which means no girls pretending to be men.
as a transmasc individual, i don't think I've noped out of a thread faster. it was at lightning McQueen speeds. kachow.

maybe it's just me, but it gave a sour taste.

In general I don’t like people to gender writing anyway. So I would have noped out at the “female writers” part never mind the transphobic business. That part might have warranted a heads up to the site mods depending on how strict their policy on harassment or the like was.

Because anyone who says that in a search thread has said some truly nasty shit “behind closed doors” and should probably be monitored at minimum.

But in general if you need your partner to be a specific identity you’re either a creep or a harasser anyway.

At best you will treat roleplay like a dating site. At worst your gonna be trying to sexualize your partner in some truly gross ways.

I think I have run into only one instance that didn’t make me full body shutter. And it was this woman who flat out said “I don’t roleplay with men because of bad experiences in the past.”

Which is fair enough.
 
When a 'fandom I'm interested in' section is a 35 item list like dang boy I don't believe half of a club sandwich you are "interested" in all of them all the time. Like sure I like Game of Throne some good mood but I won't say I'll go HELL YEAH if someone come up and ask for it when I just finished catching up to One Piece and in the mood for wacky pirates with political undertone.

List with signs that mark which one the writer is interested in at the moment is more believable.
 
if it says anything about being a woman only writing mxm with only other women.

i read "i see gay men as toys for my enjoyment" and as a gay dude it's not the vibe

bonus nope points if they only rp with heavily fetishized asian or anime face claims. bonus bonus nope points if they say they write bakudeku / tododeku / todobakudeku aka the staple fujo ships
 
if it says anything about being a woman only writing mxm with only other women.

i read "i see gay men as toys for my enjoyment" and as a gay dude it's not the vibe

bonus nope points if they only rp with heavily fetishized asian or anime face claims. bonus bonus nope points if they say they write bakudeku / tododeku / todobakudeku aka the staple fujo shipsy

Yeah I’m trying to think if I have ever had a straight man even request mxm so it seems like a weird thing to specify.

Like usually when it’s “woman requesting woman partner” it’s specifically because straight male roleplayers can be creeps.

But you would be getting rid of them anyway by requesting mxm. So yeah it is very much …” so you don’t want to write gay pairings with a gay man? Yikes on bikes.”
 
Maybe I've been living under a rock, but in my whole nearly 20 years of roleplaying I have never encountered a cis male being a creep towards me. Most of them just want to write stories and, well, so do I. I've been far more likely to encounter creepy men in day to day interactions elsewhere on the internet. The only time I have encountered anything even remotely close to what is being described here is a former member on one of my former sites basically being outed by other members as a pedophile. He was insta-banned of course as soon as the mods found out.
 
oh also anyone listing real people under fandoms.

i dknt mean like markiplier's egos, he has been very clear that there is a fine line between himself and darkiplier/damien/whoever. that is fine. i mean like. kpop artists or. harry styles or smth 😭
 
Maybe I've been living under a rock, but in my whole nearly 20 years of roleplaying I have never encountered a cis male being a creep towards me. Most of them just want to write stories and, well, so do I. I've been far more likely to encounter creepy men in day to day interactions elsewhere on the internet. The only time I have encountered anything even remotely close to what is being described here is a former member on one of my former sites basically being outed by other members as a pedophile. He was insta-banned of course as soon as the mods found out.
i've managed to not really encounter this as well but i have heard so many horror stories from my writing friends regarding it. i think i may have a nose for when someone is, well, coming off as creepy and with an intent that i do not share in regards to what we both want from a roleplay.
I'm very careful though. i see some trans fetishization or well, i have or have gotten that vibe and i steer very clear. i want to say RPN has been my best bet for not running into weirdness.
 
Yeah I’m trying to think if I have ever had a straight man even request mxm so it seems like a weird thing to specify.

Like usually when it’s “woman requesting woman partner” it’s specifically because straight male roleplayers can be creeps.

But you would be getting rid of them anyway by requesting mxm. So yeah it is very much …” so you don’t want to write gay pairings with a gay man? Yikes on bikes.”
I mean cant anyone be creepy. I have had to tap out of rps where straight women were beyond creepy.
 
Maybe I've been living under a rock, but in my whole nearly 20 years of roleplaying I have never encountered a cis male being a creep towards me. Most of them just want to write stories and, well, so do I. I've been far more likely to encounter creepy men in day to day interactions elsewhere on the internet. The only time I have encountered anything even remotely close to what is being described here is a former member on one of my former sites basically being outed by other members as a pedophile. He was insta-banned of course as soon as the mods found out.

Yeah I could share some horror stories from my previous site. I had at least two person request porn from me specifically and had friends get targeted by other individuals as well. Admittedly only one of the porn requesters self-identified as a cisdude. But I heavily suspect the other person was a cis dude as well.

The site admin on that site was trash garbage though.

I think on RPN I have only seen maybe two or three people who gave off the same vibes and their searches were reported pretty quickly. And unlike on my previous site the site mods here actually did remove that kind of stuff.

So if you are used to more well monitored sites it stands to reason you probably haven’t run into as many creeps.
 
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