Post by Brandwyn on Feb 22, 2009 20:56:57 GMT -5
A guide on presenting good posts
Some tips on making coherent and readable posts.
First of all, please format the subject line of threads as follows:
Title of thread (names of roleplayers if private)
If you want a thread to be public or open to everyone, type just a title or Title (Open). Threads with just a title and no parentheses are understood to be public. Example:
Title of thread (open)
If a thread is private (i.e. it has specific names in paranethesis in the title), then please don't jump in on the thread.
If a thread is public you can join it within the first 10 posts after that it is not polite to jump in on it. Please ask the current players to join before you make a post on it.
If you want to speak out of "character", such as to ask to join a thread, use this format: (OOC: hey guys, can I join?") OOC stands for "out-of-character". Please make sure you put paranethesis around any OOC comment.
Second of all here are some writing tips:
1. Using Microsoft Word:
a. Compose your posts in a word processing program such as Microsoft Word that has a spell checker included, rather than composing directly in the reply box. This allows you to correct spelling and grammar checks while you are forming your reply.
b. When you have your response completed, do a spell-check on it before you post it. After the spell check is complete and you have made the appropriate corrections, then just select all the text and click on the copy button. Then go to Halt’s Playground, find your reply box and hit paste. Double check to make sure it pasted the information correctly and then hit “post reply.”
2. Composing Sentences:
a. Write in complete sentences and use punctuation marks like periods, commas, colons, question marks and quotation marks. Put a space after a period or other punctuation mark that denotes the end of a sentence.
b. When your character is speaking out loud to another character (or something else, like his horse) you need to put double quotation marks around the words he is speaking out loud. Example: Dick saw Sally run past him and said, “Hey Sally, Wait up!”
c. When your character is thinking something to themselves, but not speaking it out loud, then you should use a single quotation mark or put it in italics. Example: Dick saw Sally run past him and thought, ‘gee, I wish she would stop for a minute.’ OR gee, I wish she would stop for a minute.
d. When you are quoting what another character said or another player wrote, then put that quotation in bold print so the readers know the words are not yours.
e. A complete sentence always has a noun (subject: person, place or thing) and a verb (shows an action of some kind) at minimum. A complete sentence often includes adjectives (they describe the noun) or adverbs (they describe the verbs), pronouns (he she, it, them etc) or prepositions or prepositional phrases in addition to the noun and the verb.
f. The first letter of the sentence is always a capitol and the last letter should have a punctuation mark following it.
3. Composing Paragraphs
a. Put an empty line in between paragraphs.
b. You should start a new paragraph each time the main subject of a paragraph changes or you begin a new idea.
c. Most paragraphs run 2 to 5 sentences as a general rule of thumb. It also is easier to read if you put what your character is saying into its own paragraph, even if that is only one sentence long.
4. Double-check before Posting
a. Before you hit “Post Reply” read over what you just wrote. Now read it over again. Ask yourself the following questions:
i. Do I have complete sentences?
ii. Does it make sense? Can I understand it? Will someone else understand what I mean?
iii. Did I type everything I meant to say?
iv. Is it easy to read?
b. Make any corrections you need to and then read it again. If it is ok, hit “Post Reply”
5. Using Spell checker
a. If you don’t use Microsoft Word or another word processor program to compose your posts, then you need to do your reply in the expanded reply box.
i. Before you start composing your reply, hit the reply button at the bottom of the last post in that thread. You will get an expanded reply box to open up that has the smiley faces and the dice roll and other options in it.
ii. You can use this box to change the font type and color, add smiley faces, underline or bold or italic text and other things like you can in Microsoft Word. At the bottom is a “spell checker” button. Click on that before posting your reply.
iii. If you change the color of your font, pick a color that is going to contrast with the background color once it is posted. (Such as in Norgate skin you have a white or gray background, so your font color should be a dark one, but in Aya’s skin II the backgrounds are dark gray and green and black, so you would want a light colored or white font.)
iv. If you post the reply and the font is not visible, then hit “modify posts” and go back and change it to a different font color.
6. Powerplaying, Meta-gaming and God-moding
a. Powerplaying is controlling another person’s character’s actions or facial expressions. This is against the rules. Avoid anticipating what another character is going to do. Don’t include phrases like “I saw the look of surprise on (fill in the blank’s) face when the knife flew past his head.” Give the other person the chance to state their own character’s facial expressions and actions.
b. God-moding and Meta-gaming: Don’t make your character infallible or god-like or all knowing. Remember that even though you may be reading information from other threads, your character might not have any knowledge of what is going on in other threads, so you should play your character as if they don’t know about something that may be going on between other characters. Think “in character” when you are forming your posts. Your character should not be "the best in the world" or "invincible" because you will grow bored with them very quickly (not to mention staff will not approve such a character). [See guide on creating characters.]
>>
Some tips on making coherent and readable posts.
First of all, please format the subject line of threads as follows:
Title of thread (names of roleplayers if private)
If you want a thread to be public or open to everyone, type just a title or Title (Open). Threads with just a title and no parentheses are understood to be public. Example:
Title of thread (open)
If a thread is private (i.e. it has specific names in paranethesis in the title), then please don't jump in on the thread.
If a thread is public you can join it within the first 10 posts after that it is not polite to jump in on it. Please ask the current players to join before you make a post on it.
If you want to speak out of "character", such as to ask to join a thread, use this format: (OOC: hey guys, can I join?") OOC stands for "out-of-character". Please make sure you put paranethesis around any OOC comment.
Second of all here are some writing tips:
1. Using Microsoft Word:
a. Compose your posts in a word processing program such as Microsoft Word that has a spell checker included, rather than composing directly in the reply box. This allows you to correct spelling and grammar checks while you are forming your reply.
b. When you have your response completed, do a spell-check on it before you post it. After the spell check is complete and you have made the appropriate corrections, then just select all the text and click on the copy button. Then go to Halt’s Playground, find your reply box and hit paste. Double check to make sure it pasted the information correctly and then hit “post reply.”
2. Composing Sentences:
a. Write in complete sentences and use punctuation marks like periods, commas, colons, question marks and quotation marks. Put a space after a period or other punctuation mark that denotes the end of a sentence.
b. When your character is speaking out loud to another character (or something else, like his horse) you need to put double quotation marks around the words he is speaking out loud. Example: Dick saw Sally run past him and said, “Hey Sally, Wait up!”
c. When your character is thinking something to themselves, but not speaking it out loud, then you should use a single quotation mark or put it in italics. Example: Dick saw Sally run past him and thought, ‘gee, I wish she would stop for a minute.’ OR gee, I wish she would stop for a minute.
d. When you are quoting what another character said or another player wrote, then put that quotation in bold print so the readers know the words are not yours.
e. A complete sentence always has a noun (subject: person, place or thing) and a verb (shows an action of some kind) at minimum. A complete sentence often includes adjectives (they describe the noun) or adverbs (they describe the verbs), pronouns (he she, it, them etc) or prepositions or prepositional phrases in addition to the noun and the verb.
f. The first letter of the sentence is always a capitol and the last letter should have a punctuation mark following it.
3. Composing Paragraphs
a. Put an empty line in between paragraphs.
b. You should start a new paragraph each time the main subject of a paragraph changes or you begin a new idea.
c. Most paragraphs run 2 to 5 sentences as a general rule of thumb. It also is easier to read if you put what your character is saying into its own paragraph, even if that is only one sentence long.
4. Double-check before Posting
a. Before you hit “Post Reply” read over what you just wrote. Now read it over again. Ask yourself the following questions:
i. Do I have complete sentences?
ii. Does it make sense? Can I understand it? Will someone else understand what I mean?
iii. Did I type everything I meant to say?
iv. Is it easy to read?
b. Make any corrections you need to and then read it again. If it is ok, hit “Post Reply”
5. Using Spell checker
a. If you don’t use Microsoft Word or another word processor program to compose your posts, then you need to do your reply in the expanded reply box.
i. Before you start composing your reply, hit the reply button at the bottom of the last post in that thread. You will get an expanded reply box to open up that has the smiley faces and the dice roll and other options in it.
ii. You can use this box to change the font type and color, add smiley faces, underline or bold or italic text and other things like you can in Microsoft Word. At the bottom is a “spell checker” button. Click on that before posting your reply.
iii. If you change the color of your font, pick a color that is going to contrast with the background color once it is posted. (Such as in Norgate skin you have a white or gray background, so your font color should be a dark one, but in Aya’s skin II the backgrounds are dark gray and green and black, so you would want a light colored or white font.)
iv. If you post the reply and the font is not visible, then hit “modify posts” and go back and change it to a different font color.
6. Powerplaying, Meta-gaming and God-moding
a. Powerplaying is controlling another person’s character’s actions or facial expressions. This is against the rules. Avoid anticipating what another character is going to do. Don’t include phrases like “I saw the look of surprise on (fill in the blank’s) face when the knife flew past his head.” Give the other person the chance to state their own character’s facial expressions and actions.
b. God-moding and Meta-gaming: Don’t make your character infallible or god-like or all knowing. Remember that even though you may be reading information from other threads, your character might not have any knowledge of what is going on in other threads, so you should play your character as if they don’t know about something that may be going on between other characters. Think “in character” when you are forming your posts. Your character should not be "the best in the world" or "invincible" because you will grow bored with them very quickly (not to mention staff will not approve such a character). [See guide on creating characters.]
>>