#post:j

Hey folks!

We have a few things we’d like to address today. Most of them are fairly important and we’d greatly appreciate if you could read all of this very long post! Here’s a quick rundown of what’s covered under the cut:

Discord server additions: two new channels;

Masterlist additions: update tab, light page editing;

Modding: mod tags, information about private asks/tumblr IM;

Reminder: activity check date and information, twitter;

Suggestions: we are looking for event ideas;

Most importantly of all, we’ve been made aware that we are not receiving every ask sent to us! If you’ve sent us a message prior to this post and it was not answered, please resend it.

Hello everyone!

This is a seriously important announcement that affects everyone in the community, so we ask that you all give this a read. This post contains the July 15th activity check results, but also a massive rule change: we have completely edited how we handle activity on the HMMasterlist.

Our next activity check will be Saturday, August 5th.

Activity Check Results 

New Arrivals:

Yuzuki

Passed:

Aden

Angela

Barrett

Chase

Ford

Gill

Iris

Klaus 

Maya

Minori

Mist

Mistel

Odette

Tori

Wayne

Warned:

Ann 

Chelsea 

Frey 

Gwen 

Holly 

Jamie 

Lest 

Molly 

Rachel 

Renee 

Dropped and Available for Reservation

Harvest Goddess 

Witch Princess 

Yue 

Characters listed under the “new arrivals” and “passed” sections are in good standing! Warned characters must pass the August 5th activity check or else they will be dropped.

Activity Rule Changes

Our current activity system was simply not working out for us: we thought that a month was too long for an activity check period, eight posts were too much if we lessened the time period, and that the warning check system had to go.

We have made the decision to switch to a three week activity period. All current members — plus members who join up to a week before the next scheduled activity check — are responsible for four posts (of at least four sentences in length) in this three week period. New arrivals who join a week before the check are only responsible for two posts, and anyone who joins the day before/the day of an activity check will receive a faux pass.

We are completely scrapping the warning check system. Before, you would have to fail an activity check for a month-long activity period, and then fail a warning check two weeks later to be removed from the HMMasterlist. To be dropped after these rule changes, you must fail two consecutive three week long activity periods to be dropped from the masterlist. Same amount of time, but just a little different!

If a character does not make the four posts required to pass the activity check, they receive an activity warning (this is not the same thing as the warning one would receive for OoC issues, like being rude to another member.) If a character with an activity warning does not pass the activity check following the check where they received their activity warning, they will be removed from the HMMasterlist immediately.

Example: Molly passes activity check #1 by making 4 posts. Molly does not meet the 4 post minimum for activity check #2 and therefore fails. Molly is given an activity warning and must pass the next activity check by making 4 posts. Molly makes 4 posts before check #3 and therefore is in good standing. However, if Molly does not make 4 posts prior to activity check #3, Molly is immediately dropped from the community and available for reservation.

If your character is dropped from the HMMasterlist following an activity check, you may reserve them again immediately afterwards. However, if you are dropped, re-reserve your character, and then fail the next activity check: you must wait 24 hours to re-reserve. In both scenarios, it is possible for someone else to get a reservation in for the dropped character before you get to reserve them again. We want to be fair to everyone, but we hope that the risk of losing your character is enough incentive to remain active.

To accommodate the new activity period length, we’ve also changed the length of our semi-hiatus status. A semi-hiatus will now last for three weeks; a hiatus will still last for six.

We have not changed the wording of the rule that states you cannot request a hiatus until passing your first activity check; it just now means you can request a hiatus a week sooner that you would have been able to otherwise.

Other Rule Changes

We’ve lightly tweaked the wording of some of the rules. Most of these are related to the above rule changes (like if a rule said “eight posts” it now says “four posts”, most likely.) There was only one rule that was changed that was not related to the activity rule changes above. As we use a password system for reservations, we decided to edit the rule that states “if you wish to remain private, indicate this in your reservation message”, as we do not answer any reservation asks publicly unless they are from roleplaying blogs already a part of HMMasterlist. We have included a disclaimer stating that due to our password system, all reservations are kept private.

We have, however, added some rules.

We have implemented a rule requesting that characters make a simple text post tagged with “hmml:activity check” after an activity check has taken place. This is just to make life easier for us mods when we check everyone’s archives for the next activity check. This post does not count as an OOC post.

We’ve decided to allow character development/roleplay starter/prompt memes every Monday. Here are some examples of what we are talking about. You can reblog them from elsewhere (other rp blogs, blogs dedicated specifically to these types of things) or make one from scratch for the community.

We ask that you only send meme asks to those characters who have reblogged/posted something asking for one. If you do not wish to partake in Meme Mondays, simply do not reblog/post any memes! You are in no way obligated to answer any unwanted asks you receive.

Meme posts will only count towards activity if they are at least four sentences long and lead to a closed roleplay (ie - a roleplay between two people). For example, if Jamie sends Molly a prompt, Molly’s response only counts for her activity if her response is over a paragraph in length. However, if Jamie cannot continue a roleplay from what Molly posted, it does not count for Molly’s activity: there is no actual roleplay between two people. If Jamie can respond, the thread that ensues would count for both Jamie and Molly’s activity, as long as each reply was a paragraph in length.

We intend for this to be a light-hearted ordeal to spur activity and character development, and we request that everyone is respectful of what they post onto the dashboard. There is certain content we require to be tagged and placed under a read more regardless — it’s fine to roleplay this content as long as you follow our rules — but use your better judgment to gauge what is and isn’t appropriate, or what could potentially really bother someone to see on their dash.

Meme Mondays will start this upcoming Monday, the 17th.

If you have any questions about the changes to our rules, do not hesitate to contact us! We will be happy to help in whatever way we can.

Survey

There will soon be a short survey — regarding ideas for events and any other suggestions members may have — posted on the OOC blog for everyone to fill out. This survey is completely anonymous! While it is not mandatory to fill one out, we would greatly appreciate if you all would take the time to submit one. Any feedback or idea, no matter how small or vague, is a great help to us. Thank you! ♥

Affiliates

Previously, our affiliate page stated that we only affiliated with Harvest Moon/Rune Factory/Story of Seasons blogs. This is no longer the case: we are accepting affiliate requests from any roleplaying community (regardless of genre, type, or fandom) as well as any Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons/Rune Factory blogs (fanblogs, fanart blogs, etc).

Blog Changelog (aka minor changes that don’t really matter)

We now have a link to our new arrivals tag in our “important” section on the right side of the blog’s homepage. This section also now contains the date of the next activity check.

I announced this previously, but we now also have a promo blog. Any advertising for our community will be posted from that blog, and it is not mandatory to follow.

Our credit page has also be updated to include anything used on hmmasterlistpromo; I’ve also included some links to things we did not have listed on there before.

The deadline for the July 15th activity check is 5 pm EST tomorrow. To pass the check, you must have your posts in by this time.

After 5 pm EST, any posts made will not count towards the July 15th check, but will instead count for the next activity check.