This rant wasn't very long - there's not a lot to cover on forums, after all...
But I hope you guys enjoy it, anyways!
Rant Eight. Forums
Ahsoka clasped her hands together and looked up at the camera. "So. Forums." She said slowly. "Forums are fun – they're amazing and you get to interact with other psychopaths – ahem, I mean, FanFiction writers. Really – it's one of the easiest and awesomest ways to make friends."
"Now, there are two types of forums that I know of – RPG and a Contest forum." Ahsoka went on. "RPG, also standing for Roleplay-Game, is basically a forum in which you get to play or 'act' as a canon character, or, in some cases, an Original Character. But don't go around thinking that all RPG forums will allow you to make an Original Character – some forum administrators (who are the ones in charge of the forum, by the way,) don't allow you to make Original Characters simply because they don't want to have any Mary/Marty/whatever-they're-called Sues."
"Most RPG forums are great, but there's certain things that you want to know about when you're about to join a forum, because just like everything else on FanFiction, there are some automatic rules that you need to know." Ahsoka replied and shrugged. "It's just common courtesy, and you'll have to know about the automatic rules if you're to join."
"First of all, there's always a Chat Room, or a topic in which you're allowed to freely talk and get away from roleplaying. (RP.) In here, you can talk and talk and talk for as long as you like. You can meet a few new people and et cetera."
"But just like in real life, you'll have to greet everyone, yes? Whether you like it or not, be a good person and say hello to everyone in the chat room and hello to anyone who may come in the thread. People on the Internet can feel ignored very quickly and it is not a fun feeling." Ahsoka said halfheartedly. "That goes for RP threads as well. Some forums may allow you to do a little chat whilst roleplaying, and you can usually distinguish the text using parentheses. Example – '(Hello, everyone!) Merlin walked down the hall.'"
Ahsoka clasped her hands together. "So, don't forget to make everyone feel welcome! Secondly, do what you would normally do when you're first meeting someone or trying to make a friend. Be nice! Be patient, calm, collected – or, at least, as collected as you could possibly be. Most of the time, people on FanFiction forums get along rather well and soon enough, you'll be giving each other little names and trading stories and Skyping and ranting to each other and all of that brilliant stuff!"
Ahsoka's smile faded. "But the thing is, there are some things that cause people to run away if you do certain things. For one, it doesn't matter how close you are to a certain person on the forum – don't do anything stupid. Don't brag about certain things – if someone does something well, congratulate him/her. If you don't, you might appear to look stuck-up and selfish. If you rarely talk to anyone, people will automatically assume that you're not interested in anything related to the forum. If you're only talking about yourself and not showing any interest in how anyone else is doing, well…that'll bring you back to point A. Bottom line, people will think that you're a jerk." Ahsoka said, lifting her hands.
"Don't forget that words may translate differently into people's heads because they can't see your expression whilst writing the words. For example, you might say, 'can we just RP now?' While some people might think that you're just tired and in need for some roleplay, others might think that you're severely annoyed and you need to get your way." Ahsoka grimaced. "It doesn't matter if you weren't trying to hurt anyone's feelings – it just looks differently on the screen than in person. I advise that if you don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, put on one of those smiley-face expressions that everyone likes to do. Smiley-faces always show neutrality."
"Contest forums!" Ahsoka grinned, flashing a thumbs-up. "These things are so fun to be in – like RP forums, they might have a few chat topics to interact with other participators, though unlike RP forums, it focuses on challenges and prompts given out to the forum members."
"The forum members will usually have to take their challenge, write a story, one-shot – whatever – with it and in the end, the forum administrator (and sometimes, the moderators,) will come up with a winner. The prizes can vary – sometimes it's an interview that will be posted in public, sometimes it's some sort of Internet acknowledgement thing…"
Ahsoka smiled. "The automatic rules apply to the contest forums as well – overall, forums are great. They're fun, they're awesome, they're amazing and I hope you'll like them! Bye!"
A/N - Again, I'm sorry if I offended anyone, because I didn't mean to. Tomorrow's rant (communities, by the way,) probably won't be very long, either, merely because there's not a lot to talk about on that little bit.
As always, please review! Constructive criticism is allowed, but flames are not.
