Several recent issues have grabbed my attention, and it is because of this that I am actually skipping to the bottom of my list of Newcomer Article options. I believed that this would be a topic that I would speak on when nothing else came to mind; in other words, I didn't expect that we would get to the point where anyone would need to hear this stuff. Turns out I was wrong.

Everyone is aware of the Golden Rule, right? Right?

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Treat others the way you would like to be treated.
Etc. etc. etc.

This applies mainly in the real world, but we RPers should also treat each other with a good degree of respect. It's true that some people – hereby known as Character X - seem to get online merely because they want to get on your nerves every waking moment of their pitiful, meaningless existence. Now, first you should remember that X’s existence is not meaningless – anyone can be used to help us RG's as we prepare to take over the world – I mean...uh...he's just as important as you are!

Second, X is not here simply to bug you. Every person who has ever joined HA2 – except for those spam bots we had problems with a few months back – joined for the same reason you did: to have fun. If X is keeping you from having fun, then feel free to talk to him about it. Give him suggestions, offer to proofread his posts, and give him examples of the kind of posts that you want to see – but do it respectfully. Don't shout in his face about how sick you are of him and his crappy posting.

Let me put it in a bit of perspective. Suppose you're reading about how Character X is fighting an Octorok, and he writes,

x attaks with sord and kils it XD pa-owned!

You, finally fed up with reading this awful stuff, write an excellent post, in which you completely disgrace X and all his bad habits. What's more, you manage to use correct grammar and put it in paragraph form! Within the hour, you've got 10-20 people (if we ever get that many people active...) thanking you, congratulating you, and also heaping on their own comments and insults about why X is doing so terrible.

Guess what? What you wrote is SPAM. It's more spam than anything X wrote. At least he managed to stay on topic.

Instead, you should talk calmly with X. Restrain any anger you feel, because it isn't going to do the situation any good. In fact, if you start yelling in his face, what do you think are the chances that X will actually listen to you? If he's at all human, his pride will refuse to heed someone who is bashing him, no matter how correct you are in your statements.

Take your time. Explain how you feel kindly, as if you actually want X to change his ways rather than just quit. If X thinks you're doing this to help him, he's much more likely to respond positively. Basic human nature. The fact that your true motives are selfish and that you're manipulating him like a puppet is completely beside the point.

Talking to others doesn't have to just start from the good RPers. If you are new to the world of HA2, and someone begins getting angry at you, do what you can to resolve the matter peacefully. If the other guy refuses to listen, feel free to talk to me personally. He'll listen to me. I can make him listen to me.

And who knows? As you learn more about X, you might come to understand why he isn't as good at writing as you (think you)* are. Soon enough, your selfish motives can actually transform into a real desire for X to do better. You might even befriend your former foe!

So show some respect to others, even if they annoy you to death. Chances are they just need a little bit of help before they really shine.

Until the next article, happy RPing!

-RG Draug Layor

*Anything in parenthesis can(not) be ignored. XD

PS - Just so you all know, feel free to discuss these topics further. You aren't banned from replying to the articles.



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Well since my story's pretty much frozen, I have nothing better to do so...

Anyone who feels like they're Character X, listen to this. Many of the greatest posts, even if greatly thought out, turn horrid without grammar, punctuation, and spelling (or vice versa). Now, I'm not talking about using hyphens exactly or commas, as long as it's neat and readable, and shows some decent skill, normally it will be accepted as a good post.

Try grading, or, better yet, getting someone else to grade your posts against this:
Lv-1: Bad form, not very well thought out.
Lv-1.5: Bad form, seems planned ahead. -OR- Decent form, not very well thought out.
Lv-2: Decent form, seems planned ahead.
Lv-2.5: Excellent form, seems planned ahead. -OR- Decent form, thought and planned very fluently
Lv-3: Excellent form, thought and planned very fluently.

Note: Form means Grammar, punctuation, and spelling. And feel free to use this in any way, shape, or form, as long as ZF is somewhere in it

You know what? I think that is very smart of you, ZF! My old saying is very helpful in this; QUALITY, NOT QUANTITY! Though, yes, I kind of change from quantity and quality often, I still like to keep the saying. I rate myself level 2! Thank you so much, ZF!

I'm glad this was posted here. Having just joined, I don't want to run into people who are going to act like that...still, it doesn't seem like anybody really posts anymore. Guess I was late to the party...

I guess i'm a 1...

well, i'm glads we could have this conversation...bye!

Sabertache wrote:I'm glad this was posted here. Having just joined, I don't want to run into people who are going to act like that...still, it doesn't seem like anybody really posts anymore. Guess I was late to the party...

Trust me; the party's only started...

Need any help with HA2? If so, I'd be glad to help you in the other topics of this forum, if you'd like .

If I may make a suggestion to those X's out there, it really helps if you read through your post before posting. If it makes no sense or you run out of breath before you finish, it needs better grammar and punctuation.