Forums » Smalltalk » Some rp websites are real sketchy looking.

They just sometimes look really sketchy/ Every once in a while I look around and they look like you've opened up a website from the 1990's and I get myspace flashbacks. It just doesn't sit right with me.

Something I must say about the RPR, it doesn't have that really sketchy look to it. It looks very comfortable and modern. Relatively speaking that is.

Anyone else have any thoughts or opinions on this?

I’ve seen this too. It depends on the website, but a lot of rp-specific sites are kind of wonky. RPR and RPN are probably the exceptions. Sites that don’t exclusively host rp (such as Dreamwidth, Tumblr, etc) can also be pretty good.

There's three kinds of RP site.

Well put together but with weird shit you have to put up with from people who don't know how to keep things private.

Badly put together but with weird shit you have to put up with from people who don't know how to keep things private.

Badly put together but with weird shit you have to put up with from people who don't know how to keep things private. But there's also nazis in the comment bar.

RPR is, happily, in the first category.

heh, and i was JUST celebrating at a friend how oldfashioned this place is, like reminds me of Elfwood and early earrrrrly gaia

RPR has got major homebrew vibe and that is super appropriate for a writing genre that shares elbow space with TTRPG (actual homebrews lol). i like that it's survived the great digital migration to smartphones, with adapting formats, and i LOVE that it keeps space open for in-thread graphics posting / thematic framing (which i missed most from gaia).

Ahhh, my childhood, like the scent of fresh lemon...

Anyway "old" doesn't mean "sketchy" per se, it 's just the people who're using it today tend to be more old-school, which means actual Nazis, or people who're just used to the Nazis and ignore them.
I tend to fall into the latter group but I also cannot say I recommend spending any more time around Nazis than absolutely critically necessary for survival if you can get what you want comfortably from a space that bothers to kick them out.

I feel like I know what one's you're talking about 😂 If I'm right, it's multiple sites all owned by the same person(s). I hated those sites because their ads were all religious and they did try to force their views on people. They are extremely strict with what you can and cannot make for a character and what you can rp in private. A reason I like *some* of this site.

Very likely because those websites (at least some of them) probably were created in the 1990s.

I really like RPR. Initially, I was hesitant, but I'm glad I dove in.

I have no idea what sites you're talking about, but I could see how that could be an issue.

Most RP sites of this style sprang up during the time it was becoming easier for more people to set up sites, but site standards (very much including design and layout) were still severely lacking. Play-by-post also isn't seen as particularly profitable, so most of the places you'll find it either weren't built for that purpose or were built by some random person who went in barely knowing what they were doing.

From what I've gathered in my time here (and I certainly may misremember things or may have misunderstood things, so don't take what I say here as fact), RPR falls into... kind of both groups, actually. This site was originally designed to be a place to host character sheets; its forums and RP-hosting capacity came later as a sort of "might as well, makes sense to do." Kim (the creator, admin, and still only formal staff member) has also expressed that she was basically a Dunning-Kruger victim when she originally created the site, and it was just a few years ago that the old code was getting so in the way of development that the site got a massive overhaul to smooth things out, tighten things up, and get things ready to better move forward with further development.

Where RPR differs is... a lot of places, actually. Fundamentally, it's that Kim simultaneously continues to take this place seriously and nourish it, and to maintain that it is a place of fun and friendship first and foremost, not a financial investment (she has a job separate from RPR!). Her mindfulness in that has resulted in several things.

• Kim has paid very close attention to input from the start about rules, best practices, the experiences others have, etc, in order to build and continue to maintain as healthy and friendly a community as possible on the internet with all its very diverse people.
• Kim and the mods take care of themselves, too, to reduce issues with burnout (that can easily kill a community or turn it toxic if not adequately managed).
• Kim has continued to pursue web development, allowing her to keep up with standards for security, design, and accessibility, even while maintaining the comforting familiarity of the sorts of sites us Millennials "grew up" on. (Yes, this site has a LOT of Millennials, but we're certainly not the only ones here.) Most of the fundamental visual design of the site hasn't changed dramatically in its decade+, either, aside from the addition of a couple options added mostly for accessibility (like a dark mode for those who have visual difficulty with bright designs). So yeah, it's able to juggle feeling both classic and modern!
• She considers the site an ongoing labor of love, so all financial aspects have been geared at getting the site to be financially self-sustaining rather than profit-oriented, keeping free features abundant, paid features very optional and pretty affordable in different ways, and letting in a lot of official contests that give tons of financially-draining prizes to the relatively small user base. Finding some corporate sugar daddy to sell to hasn't been a thing, nor has there been any marketing team pushing to maximize appeal in one way at the cost of others that get written off ss too much of a burden.
• To ensure things stay fresh and keep improving (and to combat poor service/support experiences we've likely all had), Kim continues to proactively encourage suggestions, questions, and reports of problems.

I'm sure it's probably painfully obvious that I'm a big fan of Kim (and the mods, who do their duties on an entirely volunteer basis and are seriously the most fair and mindful mods I've ever seen anywhere!), but with all she does maintaining RPR while working a separate job and maintaining her own life enough to be able to keep going and keep showing so much kindness, I mean... you gotta admit she's pretty badass.

Sorry, this was meant to be about "yeah, these are the things RPR does different that probably help it stand out as such a nicer place than most," but maybe a little too much Kim-fawning got in there. Just got mad respect for that woman.

Anyway, yeah, RPR has always had a lot more true compassion behind and in it than most places, and I think that's the biggest thing making the difference. And that's something that takes ongoing effort to maintain.

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Also, regardless what a site is for, I honestly will judge them if they're bad. The thing that probably has the most influence on me about, like, which company I'll use for some service or how much initial trust I'll have in the info presented is my experience with their website, event if the company is in no way internet-based. I think I'm actually pretty laid back about it, but there are a lot of specific things that I consider to be huge red flags.

And... I'll admit that I might not have joined RPR in the first place were it not for the suggestion of a friend. (Not because of red flags; harder to define stuff.) That's the value of a good community, though: they'll encourage their friends to come along, too.

The community events that RPR hosts are pretty great. It's important to have communal events and meeting spaces to build up and maintain a sense of community. Not having these things can kill a community before it even realizes it's dead. It wouldn't shock me to find out that the fact this community cohesion is encouraged and nurtured is part of why RPR has lasted as long as it has.

Granted, I don't take part in these events because I hate people, but do as I say, not as I do. :V

Depends since I am that one person who accidentally goes onto sketchy sites (the one that says you are the 1,000 clicker) and first roleplayed using forums on an non-rp site. I have my fair share of sketchy rp sites and most of them are unorganized or you can't find a single non-mature roleplay.

I've been around to a few when I returned before I settled here. I thought Black Dahlia was well run, and Blue Moon was a bit overbearing. They are 19+ sites though. Rolplay . me was way too confusing for me and it seems that many if not most RP sites on those 'Top Rp Sites' that are ranked by voting has their members busy voting and not doing anything with the sites as they are dead as. Overall, I wouldn't say they were 'sketchy', just different. To me, 'sketchy' would be sites that feed malware and pop-ups and stuff and are usually snagged by my anti-virus software.

I've done a number of sites over the past 20 years. For a long time, I liked Playbyweb.com but the owners basically abandoned it and the games dried up. Most sites have one of several issues that I've been part of:

Too much OOC drama

HOA syndrome- The mods are constantly spying on games and looking for violations to the point you can't have any fun even if you are following the rules- you could also call this micromanagement

Continous meetings, award events, elections- sounds weird, but some sites get so hung up on running the site, no one has time for RPing. This was a problem with a site I was on a decade ago.

I've come across a bunch of roleplaying websites, I kept on searching for the best one or more suitable for my tastes. I could name a few of them like roleplay.me, roleplayer.me... those two are very fancy when it comes to the profile editing and their banter but the writing doesn't happen that much, it's more streaming banter and that's it. Still surprises me that they are on top on the ranking of rp sites. Blackdahila, I still have an account there and it's a nice place to write, it works well, but still it's not my favorite place. I remained there mainly because of a writer I met and I'm enjoying writing with. I've been on another site for over a decade in which I own many accounts there, canon and non canon characters included. That website has many features that I love, such as the linked accounts and profile comments approval, comments approval to the gallery/albums as well... Although RPR beat that one for one specific point that I love: I can have many characters in one single account without necessarily having to create an email for each one of them, which is such a great relief for me, it's way better than any other rp site I've come across. My only wish is that I had the comments approval here as well and comments and options to like the photos in the gallery. Oh I've also noticed that we can post a status on our user account but we can't post a status in each of our characters, if I'm not mistaken, that would also be a nice option to have, with the possibility of commenting the status too. Overall I'm just really happy that I found a not so sketchy rp website with friendly people.

You might find the 'Journal' widget useful for this! I think most people use theirs for IC updates but there's absolutely no reason it couldn't be used for OOC ones! Other users will see new entries on their dash and will be able to comment on them by visiting your character's profile

Oh, look at this. I really appreciate your tips, I'm gonna take a look at that journal thingy then. I'm still exploring everything and it's always nice leatinig new ways around the rpr. Thank you so much hunny.

So I followed your advice and it's a pretty cool one. Now I have the journal on my profile and use for status updates.... Just one question tho... Whenever someone comments there or on my guestbook and I reply I am typing in white with the background also black. Can't I change the background of the space I'm typing to a darker color?

I took a look and I believe that's a bug

You should report it to Kim via the contact page. She's very receptive and active in fixing accessibility issues!

I contacted her. Thank you for the tip.

I have noted this issue on some of the user-generated character style templates. It is more a 'white-on-white' or a 'black-on-black' issue. If you're typing white text on a black background, I would think it would be visible? I don't think you can get a background darker than black. Maybe I'm reading the problem wrong.