time to go through and update my ooc age on all my apps T.T it's gonna take a century. i'd usually just ignore it but we're public now -cri-

Just remind yourself: if your RP partners apologised for not posting because of illness or whatever, you'd forgive them.

Extend that kindness to yourself.

^{I second this Chibi! But also likewise I know for people like ourselves this is way easier said than actually done, LOL.}

The inevitable crash.... well, the high was great while it lasted.

There are few things that are more fun than scheming with a writing friend and getting to 'Yes and -' each other's ideas.

Even better? Connecting loose ends TO those ideas to weave everything together and create even more ideas to follow as the muse strikes.

it's fascinating to see the change in trends in sites and tone and aesthetic. i'm excited to see what pops up next!

I understand the need for goals in rp. Like plotting goals. but man my brain does not work with a laid out plan. Wrenches get thrown in everything.

How do people handle their thread limits? Especially with threads that feel like a dead end?

The obvious answer is just to be honest, I know, but aaaa I always feel bad because I'm usually in need of threads... yet feel like I need to just preemptively archive ones that seem like the shared responsibility of being active was just not there.

i try to cap my thread limit at 4, 5 at the most. it depends on what character it is, too, bc some characters i can write anything at any time for, or if they're a canon position or something. but i try to keep it somewhat balanced, too. like i try to keep all of my characters around the same number of plots and threads just for my own sake.

but i usually end up with one character that has way more threads than everyone else. like on the site i'm on rn, i have like literally triple the amount of threads i have for one that i have for the other.

i usually just ask if they want to archive the thread tbh. or if it’s been 2-3 weeks then i’ll go, “this thread was made last month and i’m pruning, do you mind if i archive,” or whatever

i hate being upfront about most things because of numerous bad experiences so i try to set a precedent early on of what to expect.

for example; i'll ask how often the person replies on average (unless i know) before starting the thread and make it clear what my speeds / commitment levels are. even sometimes i'll give permission for them to archive if i take too long / dip out so they don't have to ask. getting a mutual understanding early on avoids awkward (for me) conversations.

i tend to be flaky nowadays so i feel for people like me, it can save face a bit to be more communicative right off the bat.

If the other person is still active in chat/responding to other people I will gently prod them after roughly a month. "Hey, it's been [time] since you replied to thread X, are you still interested in threading or would you prefer to archive it?"

If the other person hasn't been active at all in that amount of time I assume they quietly went on a hiatus from the site, delete it from my personal checklist, and wait for the next ac to see if they're staying or going.

i don't have thread limits but sometimes it takes me a few days to work through all of them. it really depends on what's going on. if real life stuff gets in the way or not. but really it comes down to just treating people with a bit of grace when they don't reply right away. discord has a tendency of losing my tags. sometimes i lose a thread for a long time but don't get reminded because people are scared to poke me for some reason. however, apologizing for long wait times, giving grace to people for having to wait on you. it makes the whole thing a lot more comfortable than setting expectations and getting yelled at for not meeting them. our site is weird with 0 activity rules. post once a season. once a month, once a day. whatever each person wants to do. if we miss threads or are late responding its totally okay. i'm super weird though apparently about things like activity and the like. as long as people are having fun, take as many or as few as you like.