Role playing advice.

So, to make things a bit better for the role playing experince I'd like to set out some lose guidlines for those new to this sort of role playing.

- When you create a thread, marking it open (Normally *open* or -open- or something along these lines) in the title allows anyone to reply, providing they would have access to this place canonly. (IE 3rd years and adults in Hogsmeade, Adults in Diagon Alley during term time). You can also mark it open to a certain group of people. Like *open to 1st years* for a class role playing thread.

PLEASE NOTE ANY THREADS WITHOUT WITHOUT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING IN THE TITLE IN WILL BE CONSIDERED OPEN.

- Marking it for example *Closed for so-and-so* will mean the thread is open to them and them alone. If you see this with someone elses name, please respect that the group of members will probably have a storyline set out before they start out.

- Marking it -pm for invite- means you have to owl the owner of the thread to join in. You should have a relationship with the character, or have a good reason for being there or the owner will probably say no. These type of threads are rare though.

- *Invite only* means the owner of the thread can invite anyone into the thread. It's basically the same as the last one, but have respect and understand it's probably a pre planned group thread.

Knowing where to post.

Where you post is a bit of an issue on some forums I've been on. You should only post in places your character has a reason to be. So, for example, no 1st years are to post in Hogsmeade. They wouldn't be there. Or in other houses dorms. Some common sense is required when deciding where to post.

Minimum word count and post content.

I would expect all post to be at least 50 - 100 words long. That isn't a minimum, I've seen sites with 300 words minimum. Try to be as descriptive as possible, discribing your characters thoughts and actions in as much detail as possible. It gives the other person more chance of being to give a good reply.

Groups threads.

In group threads, it's best to follow a posting pattern of for example: Person one posts, person 2 goes next, and person 3 goes next, then 1, then 2, then 3. This is so no one gets left behind.

A good thing to remember also is that a thread with more then 5 or 6 replies is probably ethier winding down, or is getting into the swing of it. Read the posts and decide if your character will actually enchance the role play occuring.

THESE ARE NOT RP RULES. THEY ARE SIMPLY ADVICE TO HELP WITH THE OVERALL ENJOYMENT OF THE ROLE PLAY. THEY ARE HOWEVER, FOLLOWED BY NEARLY ALL EXPERIENCED FORUM ROLE PLAYERS.