Insurrection Updates

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Post by Admin Morgan on Sept 23, 2018 21:14:06 GMT -5

INSURRECTION UPDATE #21
RULE CHANGE
All right, so as you guys all know, our character maximum was 25. And then we decided to say that you could go above 25 if you wanted, but you needed to progressively have more and more posts in order to go higher. So you needed every character to have 15 posts to get 26, every character getting 20 posts to get 27, 25 posts for 28, etc. Now, I wanted this rule to be hard because I think that it proves that people really want the new characters that they're making and they're willing to put in the effort to do it.

However, in retrospect, I think I have made this rule TOO hard. You know it's real when someone tell me me they need 300 posts until they can make a new character. And that's just daunting and not fun at all. I don't want you guys burning out and trying to fire out posts for new people that feel completely out of grasp because you need a million and a half posts in order to get them to be here.

So we're changing the rule! Now, it's still going to be harder because I still want it hard to get above our original character cap. (Remember when I said if you screwed yourself over on free app weekend, I was going to laugh at you? Well, nope, no laughing, because I feel bad!) I want you guys to feel like you can have new people. Thinking that you have 400 posts to go is not fun... at all.

So here's the new rule:

VIII. All characters must have ten in-character roleplaying posts, and a week must have passed, before any new character can be created. If you are going to your twenty-sixth character, all characters must have fifteen in-character roleplaying posts, for your twenty-seventh, they all must have twenty. For any higher than that, all characters must have twenty-five posts. Posts, including letters, only count if they are at the word minimum of 250 IC words.


Make sense? Okay good. There we go, new rule!
Admin Morgan
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Post by Admin Morgan on Oct 23, 2018 15:31:27 GMT -5

INSURRECTION UPDATE #22
ADDRESSING GOOGLE DRIVE SUGGESTIONS
As you all know, we have a forum to address issues or suggestions for the site that is on a google drive! Sometimes we forget to check it (I'll admit it) but I think it's past time we address some of them! Anonymously, of course, but we don't want people to think that we're ignoring anyone's suggestions! So, let's get started and see what ones we might be putting into affect and what ones we aren't!

Trigger Warning Labels

As you all know, in our new character applications section, we have those fun labels that tell us if an application is in progress, if it's complete, etc. And doing that for trigger warnings would be a really great idea, in theory. That way you don't have to put it on every post, it could be as simple as throwing a label on the thread. Unfortunately, we looked into this, and to do that, we would have to put labels on every single board separately and we have nearly 1,000 boards on site. As such, it would take... probably days, to put labels on every RP board. If anyone has any suggestions on how to make this easier, please let us know and we'll be glad to take it into consideration.


Registering Close Friends as NPCs

This is something that we are unfortunately going to have to deny in order to keep NPCs a little... under control. They have gotten a little out of control as of late, when we originally just wanted to keep it as mostly just immediate family, so adding friends to the mix is just too much for the staff to keep up with! You also have to realize that when characters are deleted we have to go through and delete NPCs too so adding anymore to the mix is just not something that we think we should do right now!


Outfits for Money

I know that everyone is probably still bitter about Polyvore (I am. I think about it and still get mad!) This suggestion was mostly saying that since a lot of us have stopped making outfits, we could reward people that still do! We are not going to do that unfortunately. You are still welcome to make outfits, obviously, but we're not going to incentivize it!


Collaborating on Families

This suggestion was also just suggesting to give money to people who are working together to connect families and work together to make those connections where they aren't before! This is something else that we are not going to incentivize. You guys are doing amazing with that already, our site tree is amazing, but we aren't going to give money for that!


Caps on Free App Weekend & Free Character Groups

Okay, last suggestion! This is pretty much suggesting that we put caps on our fun little character creation times. This suggestion came from someone who is being so considerate of staff (love you, whoever), and all the work we have to put in on those weekends for characters to sometimes just end up deleted! Because of that, we do think that it makes sense to put on some caps. Don't fear -- they're not that mean. We are just putting caps on the two extremes: multiple deletions and multiple people on AR!

It's pretty simple! If you have deleted three or more characters in the past two months, you cannot use the free character group for that month. So for instance, if you deleted a character in September, and two in August, you could not participate in October's free app group. But come November, if you didn't delete anymore, then you could! On the other side of this spectrum, if you have more than half of your characters on Activity Requirements for the past two months, you cannot participate (and this means if they were put on AR in general, even if you eventually got them off!)

And then for free app weekend! If you have deleted six or more characters in the past six months, you cannot take part in a free app weekend. So say we have a free app weekend in November, if you have deleted six characters between May and October, you couldn't participate this go around. I think this is sort of for all of our own good, let's be honest hahah! But again, because if we're going to check one side of things we have to check the other, if you had more than half of your characters on AR in the past six months, you cannot participate in free app weekend!

We're going to see if that helps us out at all!

That's it for keeping up with our google drive! :D

Admin Morgan
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Post by Admin Morgan on Oct 28, 2018 13:41:51 GMT -5

INSURRECTION UPDATE #23
INCOLUMEM SANCTUARY
Hi guys! I'm so sorry for the delay in this message, it is something that I can definitely admit that I dropped the ball on!

Incolumem Sanctuary! A few people have asked how people are getting infected there and I, of course, answered that it spread there because of those that help at the sanctuary that go back and forth -- before they knew what was going on! But that brings up a good question on 'okay, well then did we infect France?' and that whole can of worms! The lack of information you guys have on it is completely my fault, so let me clear up The End of Incolumem!

So, once the state of emergency was announced, and borders were locked down, they got word to those in Incolumem as soon as possible that they needed to come back to the United Kingdom or risk spreading the epidemic to other countries. They were not just told 'you're on your own!' Safe houses were offered as places to stay until something more permanent is figured out. So if you want to be a safe house for Muggleborns from Incolumem, just let me know!

So for the good of not spreading Epidemic X to the rest of the world, the sanctuary had been emptied and everyone in it was given shelter in houses in the United Kingdom. Again, sorry for the delay in putting out this information. We only have... around two Muggleborns that were in the sanctuary these days, so it fell off my radar, not that that is any excuse!

Let me know if you have any questions!

Admin Morgan
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Post by Admin Morgan on Nov 15, 2018 22:01:12 GMT -5

INSURRECTION UPDATE #24
PARTIAL PUREBLOOD BAN
Hi guys. Not much to say here. I am just officially announcing that we are reinstating the partial pureblood ban. In the month that it has been lifted, our number of purebloods has raised back up to 38%.

Because I'm not the devil, this will only be impacting new accounts made starting the 16th of November. That means you have two more hours to make accounts to get any new purebloods in that you need. But I want you to seriously consider that before you do it because our percentage is crazy high. By the time all of our unsorted accounts are made, I'm actually afraid of how high it's going to be. But I'm not mean, so I will give you two hours warning if any necessary accounts need to be made.

I also want everyone to seriously consider if unsorted characters need to be purebloods. Canons obviously I understand. But if there are a few that you could bump down to a halfblood, our percentage would really appreciate it. It is even higher than it was before.

So that is all. As of today, any account made for a pureblood will be subject to the partial pureblood ban. I'm tempted to hard ban them for a while, but I don't like extreme measures, so we'll start with that.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks!

Because I don't remember where I posted the rules to the partial ban, I'm putting it here:

If your personal percentage is over 30%, you cannot make any new purebloods. You can calculate your percentage by... well, counting your characters. And dividing your purebloods by your total amount of characters. Note that you can include magical creatures in your count, but that squibs need to go with their blood status. The only exception to this would be if you are willing to delete two of your other purebloods to make a new one, because that would still result in the percentage going down a little.
Admin Morgan
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Post by Admin Morgan on Nov 24, 2018 23:04:48 GMT -5

INSURRECTION UPDATE #25
THREAD MONITORING
Hi guys!

So some of you remember the dread Thread Monitoring and I was reminiscing about it the other day and I somehow ended up missing it! I'll explain. When I archive threads in my three month sweeps, I see a lot of threads get archived that are amazing (okay, all of our threads are amazing, but you know what I mean!) Just particularly memorable threads that I can't believe I'm archiving!

Most of the time, I feel like that is just because the person whose turn it is on doesn't realize how much time has gone by. It's very easy to just lose track of time and all of a sudden, threads you loved are archived. So it got me thinking about TM again and how it at least gave you all a warning that something was heading toward archiving.

I have been thinking about resurrecting Thread Monitoring from the day. But don't panic -- I don't necessarily mean that we will use it as a means to create characters (i.e., for those of you who remember, you could not get a character accepted if your thread was on Thread Monitoring). I am totally fine with reviving that rule if you guys think it will help keep you in check and replying to older threads before you can get new people. But I'm also just as happy to bring it back just as a way for people to be alerted that a thread is about to be archived. We are also open to any suggestions of alternatives or adjustments to the rule (maybe you all think it would be fair to let one thread on TM slip but if you have past a certain number, then it impacts character creation). We are open to ideas!

But as always, I have a poll. So go do!

HERE!
Admin Morgan
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Post by Admin Morgan on Dec 12, 2018 13:43:01 GMT -5

INSURRECTION UPDATE #26
RESULTS OF 'THE MEETING'
As you all know, three Order members and three Ministry employees went into a room and -- no, Morgan, now is not the time to make one of those a priest, a rabbi, and a nun walks into a bar joke.

Cough. Anyway -- as you all know, there was a mysterious meeting in the Ministry a couple of weeks ago. It was early in the morning to try to avoid more witnesses than necessary but let's be real, your characters know about this meeting by now! And because time goes by faster than threads can be finished (if anyone wants to let me borrow their time-turner, that'd be cool...) we figured that it was only fair to tell you guys what happened in that meeting. So that your characters can react to it and know about it, because obviously they already would! The meeting took place on November 16th, so really, I'm sorry I haven't posted this early guys. I am the worst. But better late than never, these are the results of the first (but probably not the last) Ministry meeting.
  • All Muggleborn students will be permitted to return to Hogwarts after the winter holidays are completed. Since they have missed a year of schooling, they will be put into the year that they had missed. I.E., if they were a 4th year in May 2017 when they were taken to the Ministry, they will return to Hogwarts as a 5th year (and with a term of work to catch up on, sorry about that Muggleborns, but we believe in you). If your character happened to be a 5th year, the Ministry is offering OWLs the last week of December, so they can take them to determine what classes they want to be in when they return! If your character was a 6th year, and as such now is old enough to technically have graduated, then maybe they don't want to go back to Hogwarts. That is fine. Returning to Hogwarts is not mandatory, and there will also be NEWT exams offered in the last week of December, for those that want their marks for potential future careers (for those old enough to technically have graduated).
  • With the return of Muggleborns to Hogwarts, obviously their safety is in question. Because of that Headmaster Flint has been asked to resign, and the Minister's Adviser has taken over as Headmistress of Hogwarts. Deputy Headmistress Graves still retains her position.
  • To focus on finding a cure, any Muggleborns with a medical or research background is freed from the Registration, and able to get a wand, so long as they join a research group trying to find a cure for Epidemic X. If they priorly worked at St. Mungo's, they are free to resume their employment there as well.
  • In case of any future changes of leadership within the Ministry, immunity for all crimes have been granted to Death Eaters and purists. No future Minister or head of the Wizengamot can try them for any crimes committed from the Durant Era to the date of the meeting, on the sixteenth of November, of this year.

So that is the result of that first meeting. Group threads are just hard, guys hahah, and we want to make sure everyone knows what was achieved!

Admin Morgan
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Post by Admin Morgan on Dec 12, 2018 23:22:57 GMT -5

INSURRECTION UPDATE #27
Peverell Children’s Academy
It is our pleasure to announce that we officially have a primary school for magical children! Peverell's Children Academy takes children starting from the age of four! Of course, there are also positions available for staff members! So get reading, right here:

Named for the infamous Peverell brothers, this Primary school accepts students starting at the age of 4 into their Reception Room. (For those of you here in America, that’s Pre-K.) While this isn’t the only wixen Primary School in England, it is by far the most popular. Most children that eventually find themselves in Hogwarts halls, start out here.

Located just outside of London, the grounds offer extensive room for outdoor activities, and are often the site of parties, and fairs in the spring and early autumn months.

The school year runs, like Hogwarts, from September to June, and students must be 4 years old, by September the first, to start at Peverell Academy. Enrollment in Peverell Academy is not subject to having magic, so long as you come from a magical family. Though there is a magical elective offered to upper levels. However, seeing as no magic is performed in class, those individuals that find themselves to be without magic (i.e. squibs), and those of veela descent will still find themselves engaged in the class.
Admin Morgan
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Post by Admin Morgan on May 6, 2019 18:36:42 GMT -5

INSURRECTION UPDATE #28
ACTIVITY RULE CHANGES
It has come to my attention that there are some people that are overwhelmed/stressed by the activity rules! Obviously, this is supposed to be a fun hobby more than anything else, and we don't want it to be more stressful than fun! So we are going to try something, but it is on a trial basis! See, the reasons that we have the rules that we do for posting is because I try to balance fairness to people with a lot of characters and to those with a little! When you have more characters, it's harder to stay on top of them, and their threads, and that can sometimes lead to people waiting months and months for replies to threads. It can even sometimes lead to members not wanting to plot with certain members just because they have a lot of characters and are notoriously slow! So every activity rule I've made is to try to balance that to make sure that everyone is active with the characters that they have!

But no systems are perfect! And if this system is stressing people out, then it's doing more harm than it is good! So, with that being said, we are trying something strictly on a trial basis! We are going to see how it goes and see if it helps and hurts activity! So bear with me while I lay it all out for you!
  • We will be getting rid of Activity Requirements for original characters. We will, however, still be keeping them for canons. Because they are limited and in demand, that only seems fair!
  • We will be removing Purgatory, and going back to our former method of doing monthly sweeps to archive threads that are older than three months old. As before, these threads will not be safe if you are on an absence, because three months is as long as we are going to allow a thread to sit without a reply, absence or not.

So, those are the nice things that will hopefully eliminate some stress and allow you to post where the muse is as opposed to feeling like you have to rally out posts for certain people to get them to Activity Requirements or keep threads out of Purgatory. However, because again, checks and balances are important to me, that does mean that there will be some new rules in place. Starting with:
  • We will be reinstating a character cap. It is going to go back to being 25 characters. Anyone who has above 25 characters at this time are grandfathered in, and they do not have to delete anyone. However, they will not be able to make anyone new either. I believe this is necessary with the lack of AR and Purgatory making it easy for someone to end up with 40 characters that they can't keep up with!

  • The wait time between characters will be changing from one week to two! Not too much to explain here. I just think bumping up the waiting time a week will help with it being a lot easier to create characters! Posts that you need for a new character will remain at ten!
  • Activity Checks will be changing. They will now take place quarterly, as opposed to three times a year. They will now also require you to link one active thread per character. Active means that it has not been archived, and you have replied to it since the last activity check. If you cannot link an active thread for every character by the end of the month, then...
  • Inactive Characters. If an Activity Check month ends and you have characters without an active thread, then they will be deemed inactive. What that means is pretty much, you lose claim on their face and on their job, and any other position of power (i.e., if they're a seer, or something where there is a limited amount). They are not deleted, and instead are moved into an 'Inactive' group and their applications will be moved to a new Inactive board as well.

    For the first week of that next month, you cannot reclaim their face or their job, to give anyone else a chance to take them if they want. When that week has past, you can make them active again by posting with them. Upon that first post, their face and job will be returned to them assuming they are available! If someone did claim their FC or job, there will be a code in the Inactive board for you to claim a new face or a new job. I hope this explanation makes sense -- I think it will make more sense when you see the board and the code for reclaming!

Okay! So that summarizes all of that! I hope that makes sense and eases some concerns for people who are stressed out by AR or Purgatory! I am trying to balance less stress while still keeping it fair! This is a trial period over the summer to see how it works! Feel free to give me any opinions on how you think it is going! At the end of the summer, we will determine if this worked and we'll move forward with it, or if we need to make more changes or try something else new!

Let us know if you have any questions!