Why is everything [ASK] these days?

[Ser Yorick]

So I came back after a few years to try and RP a little. What's with hardly anybody starting [OPEN] threads? I made one last night and it's already on the second page, 0 replies, with it being drowned in [ASK] threads. I made a new character too, and got nothing after a few days in terms of comments. Obviously I'm going to try and join one of the few [OPEN] story threads soon, because I don't want to have to read page-long threads just to figure out what's going on and THEN ask the poster to join, but this is very discouraging. It wasn't like this back in the day, at least not this bad.

 

[Wyeffe]

I think it's because people mainly want to be able to follow their wanted storylines in the ways they wanted them to. In an ASK thread the person will usually already have at least one person involved but instead of just making it a private thread they want to allow for the possibility of someone else joining. Open threads have to much potential for being derailed I guess. I personally prefer hopping into an OPEN thread rather than asking to join an ASK thread.

 

[Schwarz]

Maybe its because there are too many threads about: missions, training, classes, duels and closed social threads... as well as threads with your RP friends​...

 

[Bee]

I'm antisocial. And sometimes its really unfun to have a random person show up and then have to figure out a way to include them in whatever's happening without going, "oh look at that guy" and moving on. People tend to just show up and contribute nothing and I don't have the patience to deal with it. (Not saying you personally do this, its just my experience on other sites)

 

[Cortan]

Schwarz has the real gist of it, I'd say. The sheer scope and diversity of the Star Wars setting, then combined with the specific factions and interests and such, normally makes it difficult to justify someone who's not an independent schmuck wandering the galaxy turning in some random place at some random time. People fall more on doing deliberate stories and threads, and well, get used to it.

I will however do you a solid.

 

[Jiang Winters]

Everything's also [ASK] because the [CLOSED] and [INVITE] tags were removed, which nowadays makes it nearly impossible to tell if you can actually ask to enter a thread or if it's actually 110% off limits to newcomers.

I still make [OPEN] threads from time to time, and I intend to do so again here soonish. It's great fun, and there's nothing quite as delightfully unpredictable as an [OPEN] thread.

 

[Jake]

Everything "wasn't like this back in the day" because instead of being cluttered with [ASK] tags, the story forum was filled with [CLOSED] and [INVITE] instead.

EDIT: Also, many of those threads start out open and become ask-only after they fill up with people.

 

[Dmitri]

Everything's also [ASK] because the [CLOSED] and [INVITE] tags were removed, which nowadays makes it nearly impossible to tell if you can actually ask to enter a thread or if it's actually 110% off limits to newcomers.

True. I think that became an unintended consequence. In the past, occasionally people would ask if they could join a thread. Now no one does. ASK has become seen as CLOSED, rather than everything having the opportunity to join.

 

[Schwarz]

True. I think that became an unintended consequence. In the past, occasionally people would ask if they could join a thread. Now no one does. ASK has become seen as CLOSED, rather than everything having the opportunity to join.

You're right, to me everything looks CLOSED, as well as that everything is decided previously via OOC, there you will officially ASK to get in a thread. Or maybe it's just decided via VM/PM, where only the invited ones know about that.
Nobody will reads several threads just to ask if he can jump in and in the end receive a big no.

 

[Ser Yorick]

Everything "wasn't like this back in the day" because instead of being cluttered with [ASK] tags, the story forum was filled with [CLOSED] and [INVITE] instead.

EDIT: Also, many of those threads start out open and become ask-only after they fill up with people.

I don't remember it being this bad though. The majority of my time here was joining or starting random [OPEN] threads and just having a good time. Also the site on the whole seemed more interested in newcomers, encouraging people and the like. This thread is literally the most feedback I've gotten the whole week.

EDIT: A word.

 

[Jake]

The site still seems pretty interested in promoting new growth, to be honest. It's weird that your profile hasn't gotten any feedback, because if you scan through some other threads, a lot of newcomers get criticism/praise on whatever characters they make and they generally are guided rather quickly in the direction they need to go. As far as Open threads, whenever I posted one awhile back (A Tredecillion Songbirds), it filled up much faster than I'd expected.

What Schwarz said about people organizing things OOCly is true though. I posted an OOC thread as soon as I posted the intro, so that people could ask any questions if they felt hesitant to join. Maybe that's the key.

 

[Ser Yorick]

Or people just hate me.

 

[Jake]

Also possible.

 

[Schwarz]

Or people just hate me.

Hey man, why you don't receive VM/PM?

 

[Cortan]

So, two posts for you Yorick.

Have fun.

 

[Ser Yorick]

Hey man, why you don't receive VM/PM?

Sorry, I left to go do a few things. Replied.

So, two posts for you Yorick.

Have fun.

Cool beans, thanks for joining in.

 

[Green Ranger]

God help me, but I agree with you. I miss open threads. There's something about batshit unpredictability and bar fights that makes an RP fun.

 

[Ser Yorick]

God help me, but I agree with you.

Holy shit.

 

[Green Ranger]

I know, right?

 

[Sleven]

It's weird that your profile hasn't gotten any feedback, because if you scan through some other threads, a lot of newcomers get criticism/praise on whatever characters they make and they generally are guided rather quickly in the direction they need to go.

To be fair, most of the time I post a profile I don't get a single comment unless I have a question about something in the profile. I think people focus more on making newcomers feel welcome than stroking the egos of the oldies.