PMs on this thread were sent on the day they were posted, unless otherwise noted. We didn't archive Mass PMs prior to this point. 

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Hello, and welcome to this charming MRO News PM. This is just a quick note to put us all on the same page about what's new around the site. Remember, updates to the site will always get posted by the Mods on the Board Updates thread, which is an announcement at the top of every board. Look for news there all the live-long year!

New on MRO

• Please give your congratulations and support to Sennyo and Thoth, our newest Mods! Thank you to everyone else who stepped up to volunteer for the Moderator duty, as well. It's good to see how many people care for this site.
  
  
• Please send your thoughts to our members Iris/Neena and Sonya as they continue their RL recoveries from serious health problems, and to Abyss/Mr.O, who had to leave us for RL reasons.
  
  
• We haz a Newb Guide to teh Internet Safeties. Gordan the Trench Coat Man does not want.
  
  
• We've got a Newb Guide to How the Moderators Work, for those of you who occasionally forget who we are, or want to learn the mysteries of the Mod Board and the MutantRevolver account.
  
  
• n00b has overhauled the FAQs board and condensed everything into a convenient Newb Guide to Commonly Asked Questions. Topics from the former Newb Guide to the Miscellaneous have also been posted there, for your all-in-one-place convenience.
  
  
• Been wondering how to get those elusive Attribute Points? Check out the Attributes Guide for info, as well as newly clarified guidelines for submitting training threads for points.
  
  
• Both the "Freaky Friday, MRO-style" and the "Mutation v. Adaption" plots have been approved for play by the Plot Mods; the latter will start up this January as a long-running plot line, and the former is slotted for some quick-burst summertime fun. You can always check out the Newb Guide to MRO History to check on upcoming, present, and past plots.
  
  
• We've made like an old-fashioned Japanese household and cleaned up the site in time for New Years. Some OOC boards have been combined, other boards have been wiggled around to places that fit 'em better, and the Archive board has been brought out of its clandestine corner on the Character Profiles board and put on the main page. Bet you didn't even know we had an Archives board. Feel free to use that lovely convenient space to keep track of the threads your character has been in.

Reminders of the General Sort

• If you want a power growth for your character, or if you change the powers section of your profile, please send it through the [e-mail] account for approval.
  
  
• Looking for an open thread, or advertising one of your own? Check out the aptly named RP Requests and Open Threads thread. Its threadtastic levels of threadtasticity have been rated as over 9000. It's pegged as an announcement at the top of every board, so don't worry about losing the link.
  
  
• Proboards occasionally gets struck by lightning and LIGHTS ON FIRE. Kid you not: this happened last spring, and lead to several days of server outages. No data got lost back then. Nonetheless, the Mods feel it prudent to remind you that saving a copy of your character's profile and your favorite threads to your hard drive, flash drive, e-mail account, what-have-you, is a good idea. Remember, boys and girls: it's better to be safe and paranoid than to be typing @#$%!!!11 into the keyboard with your forehead as everything you've worked so hard on goes up in a FIERY SERVER INFERNO. Just for the record, if MRO ever burns to a completely irrecoverable crisp, you'll get an e-mail at the address you registered your account under telling you where the new site address is. If you've changed your e-mail address since signing up here, please drop a quick note with your new e-mail address at the [e-mail] account.

Merry Christmakwanzakah and a happy New Year, everyone! May finals not kick your rear any worse than you kick theirs, and may 2009 be a good one for you and yours.

The Mod Team
Lady J, Historian, Calliope, n00b, Sennyo, Thoth

This PM is to get us all on the same page with major events and updates at the site. As always, important information will be posted on the News and Announcements board.

Rise of the Adapteds

Adaptation vs. Mutation
It is an observable fact in nature that when a new species of plant or animal is introduced into a previously existing Eco system one of two things will happen. Either the new species will take over and destroy all its competition for life or the previously existing species will adapt in order to counteract this new threat.

What if the human race began to adapt to the mutant threat?
What if the human race changed ever so subtley... without the X-Gene.

Full Description Of Idea:
Around the world humans are changing. The human race currently uses only somewhere between 4-10% of their brain function capacity. With the mutant threat increasing certain humans are changing so that they use 15-20% of their brain. After having been affected by the X-Gene in some way (i.e. Healed by a mutant, Hurt by a mutant, Controlled by a mutant, etc.) these Adapted Humans will develop the ability to produce an aura around their bodies that extends anywhere between 6-10 feet. This aura temporarily disables the X-Gene as well as turning any objects previously affected by the X-Gene back to their normal state.

Examples:
1. Energy beams fired from a mutants hands would disappear as soon as it hit the 'aura'.
2. Someone with super strength would suddenly find themselves only as strong as a normal person when they got within range to actually hit these people.
3. Someone with super speed would be unable to move at super speed while within the aura. If they were to already be at super speed and suddenly strike the aura inertia would carry them forward but they would suddenly be unable to control things until they were outside of the aura.
4. Someone with special vision, senses, or other abilities would find them nullified upon entering the field.
5. Objects changed and then thrown or otherwise sent into the aura (i.e. Pebble enlarged and then thrown toward an adapted, Bones transformed into a different shape and thrown, etc.) would return to their original state. The laws of inertia would continue to propel the object forward but it would no longer be different than its original form.

Attribute Profile Modification:
For an adapted human the sections of Mutated Strength & Mutated Control will be tossed aside. Replacing them will be a stat labeled Adaptation Strength. The following scale will apply to adapted humans.

1-5 = A mutant's power is weakened by not completely nullified.
6-10 = A mutant's power is canceled but objects already affected by the mutation are not changed back. (i.e. bone knives do not revert back to normal shape (Isabel), ice shaped spears or knives do not disappear (CS), etc, etc, etc.)
11+ = A mutant's powers are completely canceled out but the aura.

NOTE:
Having a stat over 11 will not increase the adapted's range or control of their aura period. This stat is a stand alone stat in that it does not fight against mutated strength. They are not comparable. This is simply a scale provided for those that wish to have an adapted that does not cancel out the X-Gene completely.


Rules/Downsides/Problem/Explanations:
1. The aura can not be turned off. It is an unconscious projection of the adapteds brain that they can not sense or control. The aura is on even if the adapted human is sleeping or rendered unconscious.
2. The aura has a maximum range of 10 feet period. There will be no power growth beyond that range.
3. The aura can not be recreated by scientists with a machine period. No matter how brilliant the scientist, for at least the next 100 years (until 2109), they will be unable to understand this previously silent part of the human brain.
4. Adapteds can not sense mutants around them period. The aura is produced unconsciously so they do not have the ability to monitor it.
5. The haywire virus does not enhance an adapted's aura. All it will do is make them sick just like any other human.
6. It makes the most sense that physical characteristics (i.e. fur, tails, scales, etc.) do not disappear upon entering the aura, however if you really want to and/or if it makes sense for your character then this is allowable.
7. Organized government strike teams will not appear until, at the earliest, September 2009 period.
8. NPC Adapted Humans will have an attribute profile with an adapted control of 11+. They will automatically be able to nullify all mutant powers. If you want to RP with an NPC adapted that does not completely nullify a mutant's ability ask a MOD for permission.

Where the Plot is Now

The Adapted are beginning to appear, but they are very rare--it's unlikely that your character will encounter one, though still remotely possible. The government, media, and public are as of yet unaware of the Adapted's existence--not even the Adapted know what they are, yet.

The first PC Adapted, Jacen King, has joined MRO's ranks, and is currently learning The Things That Happen In Banks.

Kabal Coup

There has been a coup within the Kabal ranks; Slate now leads at Mondragon Labs. Existing Kabal members will be PMed shortly, if they haven't already been, concerning the opportunity to switch their loyalty over.

Missions will be beginning shortly, and will take Kabal members all over the world. Are the X-Men and Order too petty and limiting in your character's view? Do you want six untaxed figures a year deposited into your off-shores bank account? Join us. PM Slate.

Site Updates

• Our Avatars and Signatures board has been dusted off and dragged onto the main page. Photoshop fiends, feel free to set up shop. Folks requesting avis and sigs, you've got a place for it now.
  
  
• Not clear on MRO writing conventions or what we define as God Modding? Check out the new Newb Guide to Writing Roleplay.
  
  
• We've expanded RP Requests and Open Threads from one cramped thread to a whooooole sub-board. Check it out; it's roomy.

General Reminders

• Two words: server fires. Remember to back up your character profiles and favorite threads on your hard drives!
  
  
• Remember to get all power growths for your characters approved. E-mail the growth and its weaknesses/limitations to <[e-mail]>.
  
  
• Remember the rules for creating new characters! When your first character is at 300 posts, you can apply for your second. Trying to sneak in extra characters is just about the only thing that will get you immediately banned from the site. I know that for the vast majority of you, following that simple rule is no problem.
  
  
• Make sure to say hello to our newest members on their profiles and on the Cbox! Yay, new members!

Good luck remembering to write "2009" on all your papers,

The Mod Team

Welcome to this lovely MRO News PM. This is to make sure we're all on the same page about updates around the site. There have been some big ones since last month, as you've probably noticed.

New at MRO

• We've moved to a queuing system for new character applications. This is to add in a buffer time between when people join, so that no member--new or old--starts to get that "lost in a flood" feeling. On a related note, we're on the first page of most Google searches you can think of for X-Men forums.
  
  
• We've updated the rules for gaining second, third, etc characters. The post counts were originally meant to act as a time buffer; with the hyped up activity in recent months, they're not really serving their purpose anymore, so we've added in actual time buffers. The new rules:
  

  * Second character: Wait until your first character has 300 posts and you've been active on MRO for at least four consecutive months before sending in an application for a second character.
  * Third character: First character to 1000, second character to 300 posts, and you've been active on MRO for at least nine consecutive months.
  * Fourth Character: First character to 1500, second to 500, third to 300, and you've been active on MRO for at least a year and a half consecutively.
  * Fifth Character: No one has ever made a fifth character.

  
  Important Note: All members RPing at MRO as of January 2009 will be grandfathered in under the old rule for second characters; aka, you only have to reach the 300 posts, not the four months. So don't worry; this only affects your third characters, and all the new members coming in after you.
  
  
• ZOMG I reached 100 posts I get a power growth! Busted. Check out our new ModMythBusters Guide to Power Growths; it's got answers to the questions we've heard you all asking.
  
  
• The "Infirmary" board at the Mansion is now "Offices & Infirmary"; say hello to the new location of the teachers' offices and Cold Steel and Silver Streak's new digs! Feel free to point new members there to find the here-to-fore elusive Admissions office, as well.

General Reminders

• Don't forget to advertise your open threads on the RP Request and Open Threads subboard, and look there for all your open threadin' needs!
  
  
• Remember to get all power growths and changes to the mutations and history section of your profile approved. E-mail the growth and its weaknesses/limitations to <[e-mail]>.
  
  
• Two words: server fires. Remember to back up your character profiles and favorite threads on your hard drives!
  
  
• Looking to join up with a Faction?
  
  • X-Men: contact Cold Steel or Silver Streak for a try-out to become an official X-Trainee.
    
  • Order: contact Abyss, Isabel, or Syn; showing up at the nefarious Golden Doors works well too, I hear.
    
  • Kabal: PM Slate to stake a claim on your country of choice for benevolent dictatorship. Be the knife that cuts the rot out of this world.

Thanks for making this site awesome, everyone.

The Mod Team,
Lady J, Historian, Calliope, Mr.O, n00b, Sennyo, Thoth

The Good/Evil Quiz

How good is good? How evil is evil? For years, MRO’s attribute system has failed to properly quantify this question. No more!

Thanks to the diligent work of Calliope, we now have a definitive solution to this problem: the Good/Evil Quiz. Take it. For the greater good... or evil.

E-mail your results to the [e-mail] account. If you could include a link to your current attribute profile and save us having to track it down, we’ll give you morally neutral Girl Scout cookies. Feel our +0 love.

Future Plot Attribute Points

If you participated in the Future Plot, it’s time for us to start awarding attribute points! Towards that end, we’re going to need a refresher on what ya’ll were up to, these past few months.

Please post the following on this thread:

• Character’s Name
  
• What threads you were in, and how many posts you made in each
  
• Total posts (add up all the individual posts)

Count everything that had that nice [FP] tag, but don’t count post-wake-up things, like the brawl. (Reason: so there’s minimal confusion over what to count.) Attribute points will be awarded based on your overall involvement, post quality, and efforts at deepening the plot, both IC and OOC. Deadline for submission is July 31st.

Freaky Friday Plot

Coming soon!

If you’re interested, make sure to sign up here by this Friday, July 3rd. We'll pick the names at relative random. People who sign up after that date will have to wait until someone else signs up late, too. Further plot details will be announced when it kicks off.

If you have no clue what we’re talking about, look into the Newb Guide to MRO History. The “Upcoming Plots” section at the top, to be specific.

The Usual Shtuff

• With the brawl getting into full swing, anyone who hasn't read our take on God Modding should go do that (scroll down to the "God Modding" section). Now. *gets out beatin' stick* Remember: you can launch attacks, but always leave it to the other player to decide what hits, and how much damage it causes. That's the difference between "He made her head explode" and "He tried to make her head explode".
  
  
• Back up your profiles and favorite threads. Proboards occasionally lights on fire. Kid you not.
  
  
• Power growths and any changes to the power section of your profile need Mod approval. E-mail the [e-mail] account. Make sure to check out the ModMythbuster's Guide to Power Growths, too!
  
  
• Say hi to our new players, on their profiles and on the Cbox!

We <3 good/0/evil equally,

The Mod Team
Historian, Calliope, Mr.O, n00b, Sennyo, Thoth

The Freaky Friday plot has begun! Go here for the scene setting post and your new bodies, if you signed up.

Ground rules:
1) This plot will run the course of two (2) IC Weeks. Feel free to have normal threads running at the same OOC time, as long as they are outside of the IC timeline.

2) The powers remain in the body that they were originally attached to. All that changes in the mind. For example, Luke's mind would be going into Juka's body. Luke will have all of his normal memories, but he will have a different body and different powers.

3) At the end of two (2) IC weeks, the minds will automatically switch back to the correct body. This happens whether you bump into your doppleganger or not. It is your choice whether the two of you meet up before this deadline.

4) Please put an [FF] in the title of all plots having to do with this thread so there is no confusion about whether it is a body switched post or not.

There is no need to reply on the scene-setter thread. Simply start a thread with your waking up to discover yourself in a new body. If there are any questions, feel free to PM one of the Mods. Enjoy the plot!

The Mod Team
Historian, Calliope, Mr.O, n00b, Sennyo, Thoth

(Mass PM sent on September 10, 2009.)

New on MRO

• Lori has taken over the Order. New hierarchy and philosophy to be determined. Here’s a hint: think mafia. They’re even starting off with a Family Dinner...
  
  
• Also see the nefarious new Mutant Supremacist's Guide to the Order. To access any of the Faction Guides sneakily quick, just click the group's title in the group descriptions header.
  
  
• We’ve switched the Mod Mail from Yahoo to Gmail. New address: <[e-mail]>. If you see the old address on any of the guides, please point it out to us!
  
  
• There are new (aka, actually written, as opposed to totally undefined) NPC Rules and Guidelines.
  
  
• We’ve decided to stop awarding Attribute Points for Caption Contest winners, seeing as the Caption Contest has nothing to do with your character’s IC progress. The happy “Caption Contest Winner” title prize still remains, however.
  
  
• The RP Requests & Open Threads board has been dragged out of the dark shadows of sub-board-land and onto the main page, for your seeing-new-posts-there convenience. Enjoy!
  
  
• The new skins continue to multiply, thanks to Ghost, Katrina, and Circe. Check them out on your profiles, and give the ladies your compliments.

Reminders of the General Sort

• Putting your dialogue in fancy colors is fine, but be aware that probably won’t look happy on all of the different skins. And do remember to use quotation marks, too! “For some reason, putting in the HTML tags seems to make some people forget about those... *band aids a ” back on the end*
  
  
• So. Proboards. It lights on fire, sometimes. Remember to back up your profiles and posts, if you care about them. Also, keep the Mods informed if your e-mail address changes—we’ll use those to rally the site back together, if it ever completely dies.
  
  
• Say hello to our new players!

May all your RPing be as fabulous as Juka,

The Mod Team
Historian, Calliope, Sennyo, Mr.O, n00b, Thoth

Romanian Registration Act

On November 1st, the country of Romania will pass into law a Mutant Registration Act. New York’s Factions won’t sit quietly as history repeats itself.

All players are welcome to join the latest of the Kabal’s national takeover plots. Read the plot description and missions listing, here.

(New members: it’s probably best you sit this one out, and get your characters established in New York. There are more takeovers where this one came from. )

Rules Update

We tweaked the rules for third and fourth characters, to give you greater freedom in how you get in your posts.

The new rule:

* Second character: Wait until your first character has 300 posts and you've been active on MRO for at least three consecutive months before sending in an application for a second character.
* Third character: First character to 600 posts, second character to 300, with a combined total of at least 1300 posts. Active on MRO for at least nine consecutive months.
* Fourth Character: First character to 900 posts, second character to 600, third character to 300, with a combined total of 2300. Active on MRO for at least a year and a half consecutively.
* Fifth Character: No one has ever made a fifth character.

The old rules, for those interested in comparing:

* Second character: Wait until your first character has 300 posts and you've been active on MRO for at least three consecutive months before sending in an application for a second character.
* Third character: First character to 1000 posts, second character to 300 posts, and you've been active on MRO for at least nine consecutive months.
* Fourth Character: First character to 1500, second to 500, third to 300, and you've been active on MRO for at least a year and a half consecutively.
* Fifth Character: No one has ever made a fifth character.

This will only negatively affect those who are close to getting their fourth characters. If you fit that category and would like to be grandfathered in under the old rules, tell us. Everyone else will be judged under the new rule henceforth; hopefully you’ll find it pleasantly flexible compared to the original system.

General Reminders

• Make sure to get profile changes approved!
  
  
• Proboards. It lights on fire. Make sure to back up your profile and any threads you truly treasure on your hard drive/in your e-mail/on a flash drive/on an old school 5 1/4 inch floppy disk. Your preference. Just make sure you’re not overwriting a copy of the Oregon Trail.
  
  
• We recommend viewing MRO in Firefox, Chrome, Safari, etc. Anything besides Internet Explorer. There’s a known glitch involving the usernames, and IE ravenously chewing on perfectly good HTML coding. I think Microsoft hasn’t been feeding it properly...
  
  
• Say hi to our newest members on their profiles and in the Cbox!

Happy awesome upcoming holiday of candy,

The Mod Team
Historian, Calliope, Sennyo, Mr.O, n00b, Thoth

Site updates!

• Happy 1,000,000 page views!
  
  
• Two rule updates! Changes marked in green.
  

  6. Mutant characters who join the site must have a unique mutation with strengths and weaknesses that are equally balanced. If a character has multiple powers, they must be related to each other. A moderator will work with you when you apply to ensure that your power is unique (or if it overlaps with someone, that they don't mind) and balanced. To expedite this process, check the Taken Mutations list before sending your application to see if anyone already has your desired ability and make sure your character weaknesses are strong enough to match their strengths. For more help, check the Newb Guide to Creating an Original Mutant Power. Things that are rare among the general population should be rare on MRO: mental disorders, photographic memory, etc are subject to veto both by the players who already have them and by the Mods.

  
  What this means: No more insane characters for awhile, folks! This does not affect people who have already been approved for insanity.
  
  Reason: the various insanities are getting quite common, and there were several more pending in the Mod inbox; things were getting a little crazy around here.
  

  7. All changes in the "Mutations" and “Weaknesses” sections of character profiles must be approved first. You may not use any ability that you haven't been approved to use. Send any power growths/profile changes to [e-mail] for approval before changing your profile. Power growths will be considered in light of your current abilities: how well related it is, how much sense it makes given your character’s IC training, and how powerful your character’s current abilities already are. Your current power's write up will also be looked at when you apply for a power growth, to make sure it's consistent with the overall site power level.

  
  What this means: From here on out, we’ll give your current profile and abilities a glance-though as we consider your power growth, and possibly ask to you to polish old things up before we approve new things.
  
  Reason: As some of you know, there was a power shift at MRO about this time two years ago. Since then, the Mod Team has been teaching itself the ropes of site management. People who were accepted prior to the power shift and soon after tend to have somewhat less defined applications than newer players. As people apply for power growths from here on out, we’ll be helping them polish things up to the current standards. We’ll also be checking that profiles are using the new format, and that no one’s found the Fountain of Youth. Remember: your character should age with real time.
  
  
• The Attribute Profile System has been revised! Based on your concerns/feedback, we’ve tweaked the system to function a little more smoothly. Major changes: animal shifters, light shifters, and people who move by a non-physical mutation—see the Special Notes section for new rulings on how to fit your characters to the system. This should make your points feel less pinched. The Speed scale (formerly Agility), has also been overhauled—a lot of people were pointing out how insanely fast you could get with very few points. This should make Speed more in tune with the rest of the scales. Everyone, check over the new Speed scale and make sure your character’s current score works. If it doesn’t, send your updated Attribute Profile to < [e-mail] >. Thanks! As a general reminder: your character should define the scales; the scales should not define your character. This isn’t D&D—you don’t get stronger because you have more points. You get stronger because your character is growing through IC threads. The scales are only intended for character comparison purposes. It’s quite normal not to use all of your points.

General Reminders

• Back up your profiles, and any thread you care about. Proboards: it lights on fire, sometimes.
  
  
• Remember to get changes to your mutations section approved by the Mods!
  
  
• Say hello to our new and returning members.

Romania Update

Happy Mass Turkey Genocide,

The Mod Team
Historian, Calliope, Sennyo, Mr.O, n00b, Thoth

New on MRO

• Tried of flipping through skins for something decent? Enjoy a quick trip to the Skindex, instead! Fair warning: skins not shown on the Skindex have been deemed too ugly to live, and will be deleted on January 18th. If you’re using one of them, please tell us!
  
  
• For those who haven’t seen ‘em: the 2009 MRO Survey results are out!
  
  
• So, Russia and the Middle East. They now exist. In Asia. Also: Central America now exists (with South America), North America has eaten Mexico and Canada, and other various rearrangements to the “Around the Globe” section have been made. If we’re still missing any large areas of the world, please do point it out. >.>
  
  
• Newb Guide updates: since all three individual Faction guides are now up, the “Newb Guide to MRO Factions” has been retried (read: deleted). Likewise, the “Guide to MRO Character Relations” is no more. The History guide has been updated with a somewhat concise timeline, and upcoming and ongoing plots are now being listed at the current plot guide. Also, the Guide to Creating an Original Mutant Power has gotten a facelift with new example profiles (Gawain, Saphirus, Creia, and Luke have replaced us oldies, for their apps are better than ours ever were). Also, we’ve sensed a bit of confusion on how the Attribute System works, so we tagged two clarifiers onto the end of the guide:
  

  Note on how Attribute Profiles actually play out

  
  These profiles are only for comparing your character to other characters. They’re not a “level up” system. We're a writing RP site, not a desktop RP like D&D: your character does not get stronger because they earned more points. An increase in a stat should be a direct result of something that’s happened IC (aka, training, a power growth, etc. That's why the system is tied primarily to IC things, like plots and posting activity). Even if you have the points to reach such-and-such power level, you should first consider whether it makes sense IC. And whether, OOC, you even want your character to be that strong: having stricter limits can be quite entertaining to RP.
  
  Remember that you can always bank your earned points for a later date, when a growth in power would make more sense with IC events. It’s quite common for characters (especially older characters) to have more points than they actually use. You never have to use all of your points, in fact, unless you think it’s right for your character.
  
  

  Note on the higher point levels

  
  Even if you have the points for it, the higher power levels might just be too powerful for your character. This is especially true for non-physical characters, who can pool most of their points into Mutated or Mental Strength to achieve a variety of effects.
  
  For example: a telekinetic with Mental Strength of 50 could technically lift Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa, accelerate it over the Atlantic Ocean at super-sonic speeds, and drop it on a dog in Canada. In actuality? That’s, err, a bit more powerful than we’d like any character on MRO to be. For this reason, we’ll ask players to have limitations/caps written into their character profiles. These will take precedence over attribute profile scores.
  
  For an example of this, see Maxine’s attribute profile. She’s an office supply animator. With a Mental Strength of 20, she can technically get 5.5 tons of paperclips to race around an apartment building’s range at 75 mph. In actuality, though, her character profile places caps on two of those stats: she can only move 5 pounds of supplies over a 20 foot range. Her Mental Strength of 20 is only there to reflect that max speed of 75 mph; it doesn’t change her other caps. And, given how much damage an unbent paperclip traveling at 75 mph could do, it’s not likely she’ll ever get much faster than that.

  
  
  
• The Caption Contest board is no more. Likewise, the contest itself. We are turning it over to you fine players as a game in the ooc boards: it will no longer be Mod-judged. Feel free to mix things up with your own pictures, from now on! We’ve kicked things off, here.

Romania

[/a]: contrary to crafty rumors, the Camps are not in an old concentration camp. And, err, make sure to keep your timeline straight, and hand-wave anything that needs hand-waving (like the exact events at the Senate bombing). On that note: a post-explosion thread for the rescuers will be started soon. If you’re signed up, you’ll be PMed about it. Enjoy yourselves, folks![/ul]

General Reminders

• Back up your profiles and threads. Proboards, much like Mr. Bond, cannot do coordinate replacements in its head while strapped to a centrifuge. (Also, it lights on fire sometimes.)
  
  
• Say hello to our new and returning members, on their profiles and in the Cbox!

Happy New Year!

The Mod Team
Calliope, Sennyo, Historian, Mr.O-is-pretty

This Mass PM went out on Feb 3, 2010.

Welcome, to a rare event in MRO's ongoing history: the hunt for Moderatious newbloodious. It is an elusive creature. Over the course of normal site life, it occasionally raises its head; the Mod Team catches a whiff of it, or a flash of eyes, and then it hides itself again in the camouflaged skin of a normal player. Only at the time of the Hunt does it show itself fully, and only one way of catching it is known: it must step into the trap, of its own free will.

The Hunt for new Moderators has been called.

If you are interested in slaving away your free time in a position of dubious respect and large responsibility, the net awaits. All current Mods have walked into this trap ahead of you. Be warned: once you allow yourself to be caught, there is no way out. (Unless you ask nicely.)

New Mod Requirements

• Ability to load Gmail. We do most of the daily Modwork through here. If you can't load it, for whatever reason, we can't actually use you.
  
  
• Ability to log onto MRO and the Mod email everyday, and post/reply to messages. Depending on the day, this could use five minutes of your free time, or it could take three hours. Usually it won't be too bad, but when things hit the fan, decisions need to be made quickly: hearing from all Mods helps keep those decisions fair, so we need Mods who can get online regularly.
  
  
• Ability to stay polite and professional at all times, and be a good role model to other players both IC and out.
  
  
• A strong and abiding addiction to love for MRO. We need long term Mods, yo.

Mod Responsibilities

• Mod mail duty. This includes handling new member applications, power growth requests, attribute profiles, and other miscellaneous e-mails that come through. You'll be trained in on this, never fear. The primary reason we need new Mods is to help handle new member applications.
  
  
• Mod Board discussions, and decisions. We have discussions on everything, from player concerns to rule revisions to who gets to rub Mr.O's back today. This part is both easy and hard: you've got to share your opinions, comments, questions, and concerns with the rest of the Team, and you have to work with the rest of the Team to reach consensus on the issue at hand. Once the final Mod Team decision is reached in private, you must be prepared to stand by it publically. We're allowed to have our own opinions on the Mod Board. Everywhere else, we are the Mod Borg: public Mod infighting does not help the site, and is not allowed.
  
  
• Confidentiality. New Mods are going to have access to pages and pages of past site dramas, and will get to take part in all the pages to come. They will learn more than they ever wanted to know about their fellow players. All Mod information must be kept confidential, both to protect the players involved and to shield the sites' innocents from the latest budding drama. The less people who know about what Player X is saying about Player Z's mother, the more everyone can just have fun and RP.
  
  
• PM writing duty. When a decision is reached on the Mod Board, a PM usually follows. These can be happy PMs, or sad PMs. Whoever's got the free time and motivation usually does the honors.
  
  
• Question answering. As a Mod, players will ask you questions; if you have a good grasp of site rules and policies, most of these are easy to answer. If you're ever in doubt, you can always ask another Mod, or post on the Mod Board.
  
  
• General look out duties. Keep an eye on threads, the Cbox, etc for any iffy behavior, and correct it where you see it, or bring it to the Mod Board for discussion.
  
  
• Miscellaneous. We reserve the right to sell your soul to unforeseen Mod duties, as needed.

How this will work:

[/i] For the next seven days, we'll accept new Mod applications through PM.

Second Round: All Mod candidates will be announced via another Mass PM; we'll ask all members for their thoughts on this list, both good and bad, and allow another week for those opinions to trickle in.

Last Round: The current Mod Team will take all player advice back to the Mod Board, toss in our own views, and discuss the candidates. This part will take as long as it takes; probably a few days to a week. At the end, anywhere from zero to three new Mods will be selected. Likely one or two. When the decision is reached, the new Mods will be informed by private PM--once they've got their shiny new Mod accounts, we'll tout them out onto the Mass PM stage for all to see. Then shall begin the process of breaking their so-- Err, teaching them the ropes.

Yes.

No soul breaking. What so ever.[/ul]

How New Mods will be judged:

[/i] count against you--significantly--but other factors can outweigh it. Last time there was a call out, one of the players selected had only been playing on MRO for three months. The worst that happens is that you put your name in our heads for next time, and we take a little extra care to unofficially groom you to the task in the mean time.[/ul]

To apply, copy the following code into a new message, and send it back. Don't stress about your answers; this application is only one factor among many.

[b]Character name(s):[/b]

[b]What do you think the role of a Moderator is, on MRO?[/b]

[b]Why do you want to be a Moderator?[/b]

You have seven days to apply. Late applications will not be accepted for any reason, just as late votes on the Mod Board would not change a decision made in your absence, nor late replies to a new member's application convince them that MRO is a good place to RP.

The Mod Team
Calliope, Historian, Sennyo, Mr.O

This PM went out on Feb 10, 2010.

A week has passed. All of the applications are in. Let the second round of the new Mod selection begin!

For each of the following candidates, please give us your opinion on how well you think they'd do as a Moderator. Please note that this is not a vote; the actual selection will be made in the third round, by the current Mod Team. We want to know your opinions--both good and bad--before we make those selections.

Your responses will only be viewed by the current Mod Team. We'll be deleting them before the new Mods get a chance to see them, so please speak freely, for good or ill.

Candidates: please also reply to this PM. It's likely that more than one new Mod will be selected, so we'd like to hear your opinion on your fellow candidates. Feel free to leave your own spot blank.

New Members: if you've really met one of these candidates yet, then go ahead and just say that. We greatly value your opinion on the candidates you have met, however--since one of the main Mod duties is working with new members like yourself, you're in a unique position to tell us how you, as one of those new members, feels about these players.

Replies can be as long or as short as you wish. This is voluntary; if you don't want to share your own opinions with us, you don't have to. We'll be accepting replies for the next seven days. Try not to be late--after seven days, the Mod Team will start its own discussion, and late opinions aren't likely to have the same impact that the more timely replies have.

To reply, please copy the following code into a new message, and write your comments after each candidate's name. Be happy this isn't a vote--we've got more good candidates than we have new Mod slots. The final decision is going to be hard. Please help us!

[b]My character(s):[/b]

What do you think of the following players? How well do you think they'd do as an MRO Moderator?

[b]Meld/Juka[/b]:

[b]Silver Streak/Ted[/b]:

[b]Circe[/b]:

[b]Shin/Lenna/Aurum[/b]:

[b]Tarin/Kealey/Riley[/b]:

[b]Saphirus[/b]:

[b]Cold Steel, Giant’s Bane, Carrick[/b]:

[b]Cafas (Alchemist) Johnson[/b]:

[b]Martin Stein[/b]:

[b]Zephyr, Hull[/b]:



Thank you,

The (current) Mod Team
Calliope, Historian, Sennyo, Mr.O, n00b

The new Mods have been decided! Thank you to all of the members who helped advise us—we found your opinions very helpful, both in confirming some of our own observations and for the new insights some of you provided. Thank you, also, to everyone who applied. There were no candidates who we thought wouldn’t give their best for MRO as a Moderator; the fact we didn’t pick the rest of you had more to do with there being only two open positions for ten candidates than with any other reason. We’ve got our eyes on the rest of you, for the next time MRO needs new Mods.

Firstly, a bit of sad news: we have a retirement from the Mod Team. Mr.O has been a MRO Moderator since April of 2007; he’s the player of Abyss, Koga, and Tyranny. He’s decided to hang up his Mod hat so that he can refocus on posting as he works towards bringing his fourth character into play. His last active duty was to help in the new Mod selection. The Mod Board feels less pretty, already...

Happily, we have two pretty new Mods, stepping up to fill his (very large) shoes. One of them comes with triangles; the other comes with a crowbar. Please welcome Blue Badger and Mister Yuck. Blue Badger is the player of Shin, Lenna, and Aurum; Mister Yuck is the player of Saphirus.

Please give them your congratulations, and your support in the coming months as they shoulder their new responsibilities. We’re quite proud to have them on the Team.

Sincerely,

The Mod Team,
Historian, Calliope, Sennyo, n00b, Blue Badger, and Mister Yuck

PS: For Romania RPers who've missed it: the breakout has begun!

---

Site News

[Sent February 27, 2010]

New on MRO

• The Newb Guide to the Mod Team and the FAQ (formerly the “Newb Guide to Commonly Asked Questions”) have both been completely rewritten.
  
  
• We’ve had some concerns lately with power growths becoming too common, and too frequent. Power growths, both on MRO and in the Marvel Universe, are intended to be a rare event in a mutant’s life—some characters never even have one. Up until about the past year, they were still fairly rare around MRO, as well. To reflect that philosophy, we’ve formalized our previous wishy-washy guidelines for power growths into actual rules, and provided a Power Growth Template so that everyone who does choose to apply for a power growth knows what we expect. The Site rules have also been updated accordingly, and the old “Mod Mythbusters Guide to Power Growths” retired from the Newb Guide Series.
  
  

[/color] Send any proposed changes to [e-mail]; for power growths, make sure to use the Power Growth Template. As growths are rare in the Marvel universe, you should put at least twelve months and 300 posts between your last growth and your next. Your current power write up will also be looked at when you apply for a power growth, to make sure it's consistent with the overall site power level. Growths may be denied or deferred if a character is viewed as getting too powerful, or if the growth is not related well enough to their current abilities. You may not use any ability that you haven't been approved to use.[/quote][/ul]

[/li][li] We’ve noticed some confusion about what plots do and don’t need Mod approval; as such, we present the short and aptly named guide, “Does my plot need Mod approval?” This is stickied on the Plots & Plot Ideas Board.

[/li][li] We’ll be sending out a survey soon, to help with MRO’s spring cleaning and to get some general feedback. Look for it in a PM inbox near you![/li][/ul]

General Reminders

• Make sure to back up your profile and favorite threads, and inform the Mods if your email address changes! If Proboards lights on fire (again), we’d use email to keep you all informed of what’s going on.
  
  
• Colors can be pretty, but not always readable. Please keep MRO's many different skins in mind when you choose text colors, and remember: the most readable color is the default one.
  
  
• Make sure to say hello to our new members, both on their profiles and on the Cbox!

May the new school term treat you well,

The Mod Team
Historian, Calliope, Sennyo, n00b, Blue Badger, and Mister Yuck!

A Retirement in the Family

New on MRO

• The Sbox has been replaced with Chatango, on an experimental basis. Tell us what you think! We're hoping Chatango will be more reliable. Plus, auto-refreshing!
  
  Some etiquette guidelines for Chatango (temporary, while we figure out how this puppy works):
  
  

[/i] need to register. We recommend that you register, though, since there are a few known name glitches for guest users: if you reload the page, it won't let you post from the same name again for a few minutes. Also, if you're idle for 25-ish minutes, it will show you as Anonymous to other users. Annoying. Registering will fix both.

2) If you do register, your character's name may already be taken by another Chatango user: in that case, please choose a name that's appropriate. (One that's recognizable as your character is preferred.

3) If you do register, please list your character account names on your profile. Then anyone who hovers their mouse over your image can see the info.

4) Please do not change font style, color, size, or the default background color/image. This is to keep things looking both pretty and readable for everyone.

5) Anything goes with pictures, as long as they're tasteful and safe for work.[/ul]

[/li][li]The "Newb Guide to HTML" has been re-titled to the more correct "Newb Guide to BBCode," and almost completely redone. Check it out!

[/li][li]There's a new blurb under the "Posts" section in the Newb Guide to Etiquette, to clarify a common question Mods get in the Cbox, and put the turn-taking etiquette into writing where new members can find it:

It's good form to take turns posting; ie, if Players A, B, and C are threading together, the threading order should go A-B-C-A-B-C unless there's mutual permission to change things up. If Player C drops inactive, and Players A and B wish to keep the thread going, wait a few days. If the inactive player has been logging in, try catching them on the Cbox or sending them a PM: they may not realize it's their turn. If they haven't logged in or aren't responding to PMs, it's all right to start skipping their turns after 5-7 days. Sometimes this is necessary, to keep threads moving. Just make sure not to God Mod their character while they're gone: the best etiquette is to simply not mention what the absent player's character is doing, or to take the thread to a new location and leave their character behind.

If you know you're going to be absent from MRO for a few days, please alert your current RP partners, and tell them your preferences: is it all right if they skip your turn while you're gone? Would you rather they waited until you came back? Talk things out with them before you take your break. Make sure to post up a note on the Damn! I have to leave MRO!! thread, as well, to make sure other players, and the Moderators, know you'll be gone.

[/li][/ul]

General Reminders

• Remember to keep your posts PG-13, both violence and smexiness-wise. Putting in a violence/sex warning is a nice thought, but not really allowed: you still need to keep things PG-13. Think "my grandma, my boss, or a twelve-year-old Katrina could read this over my shoulder"-level. The rating is mostly in how you describe things: cutting down on gritty details (and fading to black where appropriate) can keep even the most violent/smexy threads kosher.
  
  
• Say hello to our new members, in their profiles and on the Cbox!

Have an excellent auto-refreshing day,

The Mod Team,
Historian, Calliope, Sennyo, Blue Badger, and Mister Yuck

Romania Plot: Ze End

[/url], and follow the directions there. Points will be awarded based on IC and OOC contributions to the plot, as well as overall activity level over its duration.[/ul]

New at MRO:

• The Sanctuary’s cathedral will soon be no more. Visitors and long-term residents: please enjoy your new parking lot, and decreased religious head-scratching. Former Cathedral threads have been moved to the Foyer. If your thread archive is being affected by this, please go here within the next three days to easily update your links.
  
  
• For those of you unaware of the full joy of Proboards’ bookmarks feature: Sennyo and Kat have put together a quick guide on the FAQ board. Useful stuff.
  
  
• Proboards is updating their Terms of Service, presumably to cover their butts from lawsuits and to allow them to use examples from user-created boards for promotional purposes. Given that we’re a low-traffic niche site gleefully infringing upon Marvel’s copyrights, we don’t expect anything from MRO to be used like that, nor anything else to really change for us. Feel free to read the new terms here, if you’re interested.
  
  
• Chatango—hereby renamed the “Tbox”—seems to be working out nicely as our new backup chat, so we’re officially moving those tentative etiquette rules from the last Mass PM into the Newb Guide to Etiquette. As a reminder...
  

  We recommend registering a Tbox account, but you don’t have to. If you don’t register, please post on the Tbox under your character’s name, just like in the Cbox. If you do register, we understand if your character’s name is already taken; please just put a “player of...” note on your Tbox profile, so people can hover their mouse to figure out who you are. Anything goes for your profile image, so long as it’s tasteful and safe for work. Please do not change the font style, color, size, or the default background color/image. This is to keep things looking both pretty and readable for everyone. Thank you, and enjoy the backup box.

General Shtuff

• To the Cboxers, with regards to helping newbs on their applications: please remember that brainstorming is okay, but if you go into details with them, you may be contradicting what a Mod will later say to them. The Mod Team prefers if you leave the details to us, and that you do your chatting with newbs in the Cbox rather than whisking them off to AIM or another chat program.
  
  
• Say hello to our new members on their profiles, on the Cbox, and in their threads! New (and veteran) members: remember, the RP Requests and Open Threads board is there for all your advertising needs, and the Newb Guide Series is your source for pretty much everything else. If you ever have any questions or suggestions for the site, feel free to shoot the Mods an email at <[e-mail]>.

Sincerely,

The Mod Team
Historian, Calliope, Sennyo, Blue Badger, and Mister Yuck

(Sent June 8, 2010.)

The issue: our graphic violence rating. What level of visceral description do you want to read on MRO?

As this ruling influences both the fundamental atmosphere of our site and the members we attract, the Mod Team would like to hear as many opinions as possible before we make any final decision.

To take the survey, go here: MRO Violence Survey. It only takes about a minute to fill out. The survey will stay open for seven days (until June 15th). Participation is voluntary: if you don’t want to reply, you don’t have to. One response per player, please.

This will be our first time running a site survey through Google Forms. If you have any troubles, questions, or other comments, please let us know!

Thank you,

The Mod Team
Historian, Calliope, Sennyo, Blue Badger, and Mister Yuck