Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

I was having a conversation with some staff members today and we were all in agreement that the amount of Placeholder threads at the end of the month is overwhelming. We'd like to change placeholder requirements to ---

1) Have a proper title, not just PH.
2) Have it timestamped with season/arc in the post details, not just PH.

What constitutes a proper thread title?

Sometimes, I’m not sure of the situation but I know I’ll want an extra thread after a first one winds down, but I’m picky about titles. What is the consensus on “proper thread title” since they are editable, after all?

I assume a thread title that just doesn't say "PH" or "Placeholder" in it. Anything else would be fair game as long as it's unrelated to the thread being a placeholder.

I guess I just don’t see why this is a change. Whether they name it or not , it’ll end up the same way.

It's either that or have a place for placeholders to be posted and moved by mods later; where the recent threads listings aren't being overwhelmed by them.

I'm all for the season/arc thing.

But if I am looking for something, I honestly find it much quicker to by-pass unposted placeholders, by having them labelled that way.
If I call up a page and see 12 consecutive titles, all with "0" responses, I won't know which ones are placeholders, likely to see no action right away, and which ones are actual thread posts that just haven't been replied to, without having to individually click and return on each one.
With all the placeholders labelled as "PH" or some such, I can tell at a glance.

I would be more likely to endorse putting a limit on the number of them a player can submit, rather then the nature of their title.
I would also endorse a time limit of two or three seasons on placeholders that see no follow-up action by even the initiating player. Delete 'em.

The follow-up problem is that this puts me on a heading of voting yes for one and no for the other.

How about just encouraging people to put season/arc in the PH thread title, to the effect of "PH Cylus 718" or whatever, to make them easier to skim past? I don't really see the use of making it into a "rule", or policy. The placeholder issue is only really a problem a couple of days a year during season change when the placeholders are put down, so I don't really think putting more policy on it will stop the number of them, nor really solve the issue. If anything, it'll take more of the moderators' attention in enforcing the policy and moving them around/cleaning them up, or at least that's how it seems at a glance.

At least where policies like these were previously enforced, it just took up moderator time to clean them up. If you stumble upon PH threads that have been sitting for ages and are starting to clog up the pages of the forum and drown out everything else, then that's something to deal with when it happens rather than putting it into policy.

I don't really think this is necessary. It is expected that, if someone is making a Placeholder now, it will by default be for "Cylus 718" regardless of whether or not they specifically put it as that.

On a related note, I know Pegasus, at the end of each season, creates a bank of placeholders in case players really need them and I like that. Gives players a safe thing to fall back on if needs be. I even did it last season in Viden too and found all of them were actually used.

If they issue is that the Placeholders are created and never used, then perhaps implement a rule where the post(s) must be populated within the next two months, or the post(s) will be deleted? I don't think being specific and creating names for each thread will make people more likely to use their placeholders. And if that isn't the issue anyway, then I don't see a problem with players having a blank space for a little while.

I’ll speak from my own experience as someone who hasn’t played their character in a while and has a number of placeholders (mainly job PHs) waiting to be filled. I really don’t like the idea of deleting placeholders after an arbitrary amount of time. I don’t think they hurt anyone and tbh I have a very hard time writing in season. Two months, while quick for others, is too short for me and so having placeholders available to help backfill when I have time has been very useful.

I voted yes to the thread title update, but I don’t feel strongly one way or the other and would be fine with continuing to allow the words “PH” or “Placeholder” in the title if folks prefer that.

x

My concern with it - and why I voted yes - is actually just that if a new player comes in and looks at a forum filled with placeholders, I'm not sure how that looks - but I think it would put me off. I'm not for deleting them, or limiting the number pcs can have. However, one player yesterday posted 15 in one forum. All entitled Placeholder <number>

I voted yes because it looks bad, I think, when there's all those placeholders and asking people to give them a name would at least look better. Just my opinion, tho. And I suppose my bottom line was, if it might look better for a new player, then why not do it?