[Pool Boy]

I'd like to discuss activity checks, and the most ideal way to use them. How often, if ever, is the ideal activity check schedule? Monthly? Seasonal? Never?

The pros of activity checks involve clearing characters with high probabilities of never participating in the site again, clearing face claims that might want to be used, as well as ic positions that might be wanted to be played. I guess there's a fear for admins that site-hoppers can hog face claims and canons positions, and leave everyone else high and dry.

On the other hand, there are members that might return. It's more welcoming to come back to a site where you can just pick up where you left off. Sometimes muse might only temporarily leave a member, and to keep a site laid back as to require no activity checks is a plus for general member stress.

If you run a site, what's your system, and why does it work for you?

[habs]

i like activity checks because like you said it helps keep the site clean. i dont really know what a good schedule is...every three-ish months is what we do on tih.

instead of deleting characters, their stuff can be archived. i also don't do this myself but you can reserve usernames i think, so if you delete the account i think you can reserve their username so nobody signs up with that name. cuz i've seen that happen, if your account is named something common and someone else comes along and registers with that name...it looks like they posted all this stuff they didn't lol.

after a certain amount of time the stuff could be deleted if you wanted to go through the trouble, but maybe encourage members to speak up if they need to take an extended hiatus. or let them know that if they need to leave they can always come back and get all of their old characters and stuff back.

i just hate having a cluttered site filled with characters that haven't logged in for months. and like you said, it clears up fcs (sometimes really popular ones) and possibly canon roles that need to be filled for whatever the site plot is.

plus the ac's on tih aren't really like. INTENSIVE. it's like. "are you still here? good." even if they haven't posted for a while for whatever reason, if they're still around then we keep their stuff unless they tell us otherwise.

[katya]

It depends.

For a site with canons, like PRE (and my pet project right now), I think you've got to have activity checks. The main purpose is to sweep out inactive canons. Canons are pretty helpful for attracting new members. Some people avoid canon roles/characters, but other people love to fill them. If the canon isn't being played actively, I think a new guy ought to be able to have a stab at it, and that's healthier for the site overall.

But if your site doesn't have canons, then I really don't see the point of activity checks. They're not really a horrible burden, but they're still a pain for staff, and I don't wanna do them without a concrete reason. I do think it's helpful if you make a separate subboard to sort out inactive characters though, so people know not to get their hopes up plotting with them.

There's so many face-claims out there that I don't think it's really worth having an AC if that's the only concern. If it's getting outrageous and a lot of popular FCs are claimed but inactive, then FC AC might be worth it? I've never really had that problem though.

[Egao, Egao Everywhere]

Oct 8, 2013 13:21:49 GMT -8 Pool Boy said:

On the other hand, there are members that might return. It's more welcoming to come back to a site where you can just pick up where you left off. Sometimes muse might only temporarily leave a member, and to keep a site laid back as to require no activity checks is a plus for general member stress.

I think this is just a convenient way of thinking. It's harder to pick up where you left off than just starting again, because by the time you come back people would have had different plots and their chars would have been through some char development. And it's better to start a fresh with a new mindset than tracing your steps back and trying to catch up.

Yeah, there are people who would feel bad for being inactive and having to drop plots, stopping them from rejoining. But that does not mean if they weren't deleted from the AC, they would happily come back. Most of the time, they don't either way, or they just start fresh.

And this is actually coming from a person who didn't do activity checks. I don't think it (not having activity checks) works very well in something like a freeform rp. It could work if everyone is actually invested in the site but you shouldn't be too optimistic. If one or two person started becoming lazy, more people would follow. That's just how communities work.

When I joined proboards, ACs were quite new to me and I thought it was ridiculous. I was never worried about ACs and the only time I was actually deleted from it was because I didn't meet the amount of posts per month - which I felt was not my fault because of the plot I had in mind. I could have salvaged the situation but decided it wasn't worth it.

I like the tumblr way of ACs. It's something Spectrum / Gossamer does. The mods themselves filter characters who haven't posted for the a certain amonth of time (two weeks for Spec/Goss) and they send a PM, asking the member to post soon. I believe tumblr is like this. It might sound crazy to you guys having to check that every now and then but it would be your own schedule regardless, and I do think it helps to relieve burden from the members who don't have to watch out for AC announcements like a big, bad exam. And you'll actually see it coming if you haven't been active. Two weeks is a long time not to post unless you've been busy and left a note, of course.

Having to clean, update, and check data from characters is a pain for the staff but I think that's just part of their responsibilities. To me, if you're really thinking of making a site and handling things like AC, think of the members first.

[SIFR]

I prefer not to use ACs. That being said, they're almost necessary not only for sites with canons but sites with teams/partners: example, Soul Eater & RWBY. So I'm using monthly activity checks, so that those with teams on my forum aren't burdened with inactive players. These players who fail the AC are declared missing in action IC. If they don't come back after a couple of ACs, their characters are permanently removed from the game via "death". Either way, once they're mia, they lose their team position and it's taken by another.

[katya]

Oct 8, 2013 17:36:03 GMT -8 Egao, Egao Everywhere said:

I like the tumblr way of ACs. It's something Spectrum / Gossamer does. The mods themselves filter characters who haven't posted for the a certain amonth of time (two weeks for Spec/Goss) and they send a PM, asking the member to post soon. I believe tumblr is like this. It might sound crazy to you guys having to check that every now and then but it would be your own schedule regardless, and I do think it helps to relieve burden from the members who don't have to watch out for AC announcements like a big, bad exam. And you'll actually see it coming if you haven't been active. Two weeks is a long time not to post unless you've been busy and left a note, of course.

Personally, I loathe this method, but it depends on the staff team and how overbearing they are about it. I've had some pretty bad experiences with it, but the admins in the animanga community in general seem saner about stuff like this overall. I still get like kneejerk flashbacks though, so a modly reminder still feels the same as another player nagging me about it. In fact, I'd actually prefer a player nag me about it over a mod. I owe my rp partners a reply, after all.

The site that gave me PTSD over this system actually had a nifty idea for activity requirements. Instead of a post requirement, they asked for new threads. Sure, plots only get going when they get going, but I did find that requiring new threads pushed the site along really well and encouraged people to thread with new and different people. (If you needed a new thread and didn't have anything in mind, why not plot with someone new?) For a lot of reasons, it was a great idea.

(The reason it pissed me off was because the mods were insane about it, and they asked for a truly hardcore one new thread a week, which adds up after a year. This was back when I was your age in my rping prime when I was spamming 2-5 posts for every thread every day. There was zero room for doubt that I was active, but if six days had past [not even a week yet!], they'd all start badgering me about a new thread. I'm pretty sure no admin would ever be so stringent in the animanga fandom here.)

[redox-kun]

what katya said

personally, no matter how staff does it, i get panic attacks when the staff check up on me. which burns me out really fast.

HAHA KAT UR OLD

[GMOT]

I honestly loathe when sites clear out accounts themselves, maybe its because they make the whole rping experience kinda stressful? Like I was on this site for around two months and anyone who currently rps with me as of this moment knows I'm busy with irl commitments whether its school or hanging out with friends but w/e. I prefer activity checks to anything, that way I know what's going on

Personally I think an activity check once every, three months or so is good. 'Cept if a site has canon spots.

[Egao, Egao Everywhere]

Oct 9, 2013 10:50:20 GMT -8 katya said:

(The reason it pissed me off was because the mods were insane about it, and they asked for a truly hardcore one new thread a week, which adds up after a year. This was back when I was your age in my rping prime when I was spamming 2-5 posts for every thread every day. There was zero room for doubt that I was active, but if six days had past [not even a week yet!], they'd all start badgering me about a new thread. I'm pretty sure no admin would ever be so stringent in the animanga fandom here.)

Oh yeah, I think you mentioned this to me once. It was a Harry Potter site, right?

I think it would be annoying if they were very strict about it. Usually if you're like, familiar with everyone in the community of even a relatively big size (30ish different members? I feel like that's a big com already), I don't think you need to be too strict with activity checks. I know some sites just want you to log in and you're all good.

I think ACs are more important with members who have 3+ chars. It's easier to be lenient when this person only has one or two chars, depending on what kind of site it is, and if the char holds a special role.

[Zozma]

I used to clean out stuff on my sites and on the canon sites, I checked in on any canons that hadn't posted in a month. I've never ran activity checks on any of my sites, however. And with my current site, I'm much more laidback (IE, lazy) to be doing anything like it. So now I just let my members be. Since a member must be validated by me to even join the site, almost all accounts do make at least one character and post fairly regularly.

Those who disappear or the rare member who is validated and then decides the site isn't for them are treated differently. If somebody has posted with a character even once ICly, they don't get deleted. Their face might be revoked if a newer or more active member asks to use it and it's been months since I've last seen the other member but other than that, why do I need to delete them? They're always welcome to come back and by keeping their account around, I'm reflecting that. I'm not anal about the registered member number. So that's not a big deal to me. And anybody who wants to see who's active can easily tell by clicking the recent topics and checking for themselves. I do, however, delete accounts if a member asks me to.

People who register and are validated and still never post, though...? I delete those accounts. There's nothing attached to it, so why bother keeping it around?

So yeah... I'm not really that bothered about activity checks. It's just another boring staff job I don't want to do so... Why do it? Since there's no real point to me, I don't.