Thank you to everyone who helped out by responding to the Guides Survey! Your input, especially the opinions and anecdotes some of you put in for the long responses, were very helpful in getting things spruced up. With any luck, these changes will make things more straight forward for new members and oldies alike.

With out any further ado, le changes!

New Members Tab

[/i] still know where everything is.

Specific Changes:

The Rules Are in the Rules

[/url].[/ul]

Character Application Update

"Guide to Creating a Well Defined Power"

[/url] to make sure your app has all the basics.[/ul]

Where did the Skindex go?

[/url].[/ul]

Retired Guides:

[/ul]

Plots Tab

[/url].
[/ul]

Attribute Profile Guidelines

[/i] need a standard way of displaying Attribute Profiles in people's signatures. After looking around the boards to see what people are currently doing, we've picked three of the easiest and prettiest methods, and made them official. If you use Attribute Profiles, please make sure you're linking to yours in one of these three ways (if you aren't, you'll probably receive a nudging PM sometime in the coming weeks to remind you to switch over to the new way of displaying).

Read all about it here: Attribute Profile Guidelines.[/ul]

If you have any questions or further suggestions, feel free to pop us a note over at <[e-mail]>, or reply to this message.

Thanks again to all those who voiced their opinions,

The Mod Team

PS:

I have never been more proud of 72% of you.

Two general plot announcements, to make sure everyone's on the same page:

End of the Age of Sebastian Plot

Order Council

[/url] board, and tap your new Leaders on the shoulder to let 'em know it's there. [/ul]

Cheers,

The Mod Team

AoS Alarm Clock: WAKE UP!!!

The wake up!

[/i]), the end of AoS will depend upon you. Whether your character wakes up after dying early on in the plot, simply surviving peacefully to the end, battling giant mutated Paris Hiltons, or witnessing the second nuclear blast that is currently in production, is completely up to you! We love options so have at it!

If you'd like to apply for attribute points from AoS, email the Mods at [e-mail] with a tally of how many posts you made in AoS threads. Using the AoS thread archive should make that easier. (If you see any threads that are missing from that list, send the links our way and we'll get 'em up!)

If you have any questions, do feel free to shoot them our way.[/ul]

Rules Tweak

[/url]. To be clear, that just means People Who Manipulate All the Things. Focused manipulations like water, air, metal, plastics, etc are still fine. Since we've been steering newbs away from that power for years, this doesn't actually affect much, but hopefully it will help to clarify things for applying members.[/ul]

Cheers,

The Mod Team

It's that time of year again.

Who plays at MRO? What are our characters like? Has any member yet survived joining in January?

Take the 2012 MRO survey!

This is just for fun, so if you don't want to take it, you don't need to. We'll only count players who respond, though. Get your characters in on the smexy statistical action!

The survey will stay open for two weeks. Go go go!

Cheers,

The Mod Data Jockeys

Rule Updates

Two rule updates!

First: So, it's been an ill kept secret for... ever, that MRO's 4 thread rule is more of a guideline than a rule. And has never actually been enforced. Ever. >.> Therefore: there is no longer a Rule 13 (the old "4 thread limit" rule), and rule 8 has absorbed the other half of its text. It now reads:

8. You may be in as many threads as you can actively write for and keep track of; you are in charge of keeping your own time line straight. Be aware of the current site plot and history as you RP. (Click the "Plots" tab in the header for details.)

Second: For the sake of simplification, the "combined totals" have been removed from all the new character requirements. The time-on-MRO and 300-new-posts-per-character requirements have stayed the same, but with the combined totals gone, it's about 500 posts easier to earn a third/fourth/etc. The revised rule is:

7. Rules to creating multiple characters: All characters must be approved. Send additional character profiles to [e-mail]. If a player seems to be having trouble with their current cast of characters (eg, not posting on them frequently or very much), the Mods may ask them to get their existing characters active again before approving a new character for them.

• 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, and second character to 300. Active on MRO for at least nine consecutive months.
  
  
• Fourth Character: First character to 900 posts, second character to 600, and third character to 300. Active on MRO for at least a year and a half consecutively.
  
  
• Fifth Character: First character to 1200 posts, second character to 900 posts, third character to 600 posts, and fourth character to 300 posts. Active on MRO for at least two years consecutively.
  
  
• Sixth Character: No one has ever made a sixth character.

Riot Plot

For any who may have missed the announcement thread a few days back: the Riot Plot has officially begun! Check out the Plot Description, and look for thready goodness over on the Phase 1 Thread. Both of those links are available through the Plots Tab, as well, so don't worry about losing them.


Cheers,

The Mod Team

PS: Survey data is being crunched. Expect a stocking stuffer in your PM box in the next week or so~

Spring is upon us! That means busy times ahead with the end of the school year, and the coming summer rush of newbs.

We need help!

It's that time again: the Mod Team is looking to hire.

What we look for in new Mods

• People who are here for the long haul. You may have been a member for the past five years, or you may have joined just a few months ago; but if you've become an integral member of our community, and if you're here to stay, you've got one of the most important qualifications already.
  
  
• Ability to stay polite and professional at all times, and be a good role model to other players both IC and out. Regular players can slip up and be forgiven: a Mod who slips up can result in grumblings for months, and bad blood for longer. Once you take up a Mod hat, you can't ever be a regular player again until the day you put it back down. In the Cbox, the Tbox, plot threads, AIM—people will look at what you say and do as a Mod first, and a player second. You will represent the site in all things you do, so you need to try and do it right.
  
  
• Free time. Specifically, free time that you can spend helping members with their character applications, and anything else that may crop up. Spending an hour a day Modding (or more) is not uncommon, especially during the summer rush. Usually things won't be too stressful, but when the ohcrap hits the fan, decisions need to be made quickly: hearing from all Mods helps keep those decisions fair, so we need Mods who get online regularly, and who can put in the time to get things done.
  
  
• A reliable internet connection and the ability to load Gmail. Almost all Modwork starts in the Mod Mail; if you can't load Gmail on your regular computer, for whatever reason, then we can't actually use you. Ditto if your ability to get online is sporadic.

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 open the next brandy bottle. 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, including what Zephyr had for breakfast (and lunch, and dinner). 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.

Mod Perks

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. Then, 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, but other factors can outweigh it. In past call outs, we have consistently picked one older member and one green horn. It's not a policy, but there's a lot to be said for the fresh perspective and enthusiasm that new members can bring to the table. 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 mini-app 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]Why do you want to be a Moderator?[/b]

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

[b]You disagree with something a 'senior' Mod is proposing on the Mod Board. What do you do?[/b]

[b]If you had to recommend one member (other than yourself) that would make a good Moderator, who would that be? Why?[/b]

You have seven days to apply (last day for apps will be Thursday, April 11th). 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.

Cheers,

The Mod Team
Historian, Sarasvati, Redcrosse Knight, Mister Yuck, Blue Badger, Daydreamer, and Sophrosyne

Hello MRO'ers

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 haven't had a chance to get to know one of the candidates yet, then go ahead and 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!

Thank you,

The (current) Mod Team: (Historian, Blue Badger, Mr. Yuck, Sarasvati, The Redcrosse Knight, Daydreamer, Sophrosyne, and Mr. O)



[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]Serena[/b]:

[b]Ty Fisher/Paige Mason[/b]:

[b]Locke N. Tori/Sledgehammer[/b]:

[b]Tses/Evelyn[/b]:

[b]Mirror/Muse[/b]:

[b]Sylar Scott[/b]:

[b]Andrea, Megan[/b]:



As the lovely announcement at the top has been saying for days, Proboards is getting ready to do a major version upgrade; MRO will be switching to the new version sometime over the weekend. This will be pretty cool once it happens: the new ‘global accounts’ make it much easier to switch between character accounts on the fly for posting, there’s a functioning mobile version of the site now, and many other useful changes will take effect (including major geek out options on the Mod end of things).

The day the switch actually happens is going to be total chaos from a graphics and coding standpoint, however: expect the site to look absolutely hideous until we can get everything fixed. Skins will be gussied up in order of popularity, so we recommend using Rain or Grey Abstract until we give the all clear; those two will be fixed ASAP, but the rest might take a day or two, depending on what day the version upgrade occurs. Also: make sure to grab the Cbox standalone link. Posting won’t be affected while things are uglified, but the Cbox is going to disappear until we switch in the new code.

Please be on the lookout for bugs once everything’s prettied up, and PM Historian or email the Mod Mail with anything you find. Thanks!

Cheers,

The Mod Team

PS: As some of you have noticed, there have been a few server issues and coding breakages around the site. Yep, that's due to the coming version switch; it should all smooth out afterwards.

MRO NEWS


Attention MROers! The Mod Team has just gained two new members. The first is Andrea, player of Andrea, Megan, and Elke. Andrea joined us a while back, and quickly became a warm and welcoming presence on the site. Her dedication, helpfulness and professionalism are among the reasons she was chosen.

Andrea's moderator name will be Mouse Hero!

The second one is Tses! Tses is another member who’s been on the site for a while, and quickly earned her place amongst our ranks, and in our hearts. She is equally dedicated and helpful!

Tses's mod name will be Steampunk Sparrow!

Please give your warmest congratulations and support to Steampunk Sparrow and Mouse Hero, our newest mods!

In other news, Daydreamer and The Redcrosse Knight are retiring from the moderator team.

We would like to take a minute to thank these two for their dedication to the site, and the help they've given us during their time on the mod team. Thank you both! We love you. We and MRO appreciate everything you've done.

It's possible we may need more help in the near future, so we may call upon some of the current applicants for modship, should the need arise. We were very blessed to have so many qualified people apply!

Have a great May, folks! And as always, if you have any questions, please contact a site moderator.

At Your Service,
The MRO Mod Team, Historian, Sophrosyne, Sarasvati, Mister Yuck, Steampunk Sparrow, Mouse Hero, and Blue Badger.

May Your Beard Grow Ever Longer

Riots, start!

That's right, folks! Stage three has finally arrived, and the actual rioting stage of the Riot Plot is upon us. The kick off solo is here, and the stage three plot announcement is here. The riots will happen in various locations around NYC (read: they'll happen wherever people thread them happening), and will last for one IC week, from May 6th to May 13th. You can take longer than a week to write your threads OOC, of course; just make sure that all Riot-y posts are set during that time frame. Similarly, whenever you want to start threading post-Riots, just set things after May 13th. Assume that the National Guard was called in towards the end, and the rioting was hand-wavingly ended; we're not planning any dramatic ending event for this plot, since we suspect people will find a way to make things plenty dramatic all on their own...

On that note: the RP Requests & Plot Ideas board (not to mention the Cbox) are your friends.

v5 Features

By now, you've probably all had time to poke at the new v5 features. If you have any questions, send 'em our way! Likewise, if you spot any bugs, or have a suggestion, please drop us a line (either PM Historian, or email the Mod Mail). Thanks!

Just to highlight some of the coolest new features:

- "Participated" threads: this is a list of every thread you have ever posted in, ever.

- Global accounts. You can check your PMs, Bookmarks, and Participated threads by going to the "Switch Forum" view (bottom right hand corner of the screen, the tiny hoover menu). For those of you with more than one account, switching accounts for posting just got a whole lot easier (and you can see PMs/BM/Participated for all of your accounts, simultaneously). 'Nough said.

- When you have a PM conversation with another member, it will now show all your messages on one page; no more annoying quoting back-and-forth to get your private plotting done.

- Standalone Cbox and Tbox links. This isn't so much a v5 feature, as one of those things were the Mods Team went "why didn't we think of that sooner?" For those of you who like to pop out the Cbox or Tbox, there are now links right below them to do so.

- Code omg <3. Not so cool for members, but trust us, certain Mods are geeking out: we have almost blanket access to the site coding now, and the Admin menu is so very nice and shiny and new. We're still exploring everything that we can do~

- Just to confirm: yeeeeah, the karma system is no longer supported in v5. It's possible we'll be able to put one back in later, but for now, we're waiting on some things to stabilize (the Proboards Support guys are doing just as much bug-wrangling in the servers at large as the Mod Team has been doing around MRO).

If you spot any glitches, be sure to let us know! We'll be working on making things all-around prettier (adjusting the fonts and so forth), but all the major coding changes are in place across all skins: if you see anything odd, it may be something we don't know about yet. Grab a screenshot and send it in~


Cheers,

The Mod Team (including our brand new Mouse and Sparrow)

First off: apologies for the skin switches! We updated all the skin fonts, and everyone got booted to Clover. Do feel free to change your accounts back to your preferred skin. The skins are still something of a work in progress, but we'll try not to do that to you again. >.>

In better news:

- MRO has a <3 system! If you like someone's post, click the <3 to let them know. They'll be notified, and it will show up on your and their "Following" pages. (This is the replacement for Karma.)

- MRO also has auto-saving of posts. (Thank you, Proboards techies!) To turn it on, go to Edit Profile > Settings > Enable Drafts. No more browsers eating your replies~

- Proboards switched up its defaults, so the new Avatar max size is 150 x 150, and the new Signature max size is 545 x 190. (These are updated in the Avis & Sigs guide, and on the text of the Avi & Sigs board description.)

Cheers,

The Mod Team

PS: Yeeeah, there's no way to turn off the "Stories from around the web" that appear under threads; it's part of the ad system. Just ignore 'em.

July is upon us! What does this mean for MRO? For one whole week we will be reviving and celebrating Good Karma week, with a shiny new name and a colorful new mascot to boot!

The second week of July, the 8th through the 14th, <3 week will be upon us. How does one participate in the festivities, you might wonder? It's easy! Simply click the pink heart button to like as many posts as you can! While looking through new applications, while reading OOC threads, or while reading IC posts! Anywhere, anything, all day and every day until July 14th!

And remember! You can like posts year-round! If you enjoy liking posts this week, feel free to keep the spirit alive! C'mon, people, let's show some love!

Happy <3ing, and watch out for the Issy!Shark!

Attention MROers!

As some of you may have noticed, MRO has acquired a new mod! Please welcome Fish to newly minted mod status. After our last call-out, we made the note that we may need a hand in the near future, and Fish was helpful enough to take up the job. His assistance and creative input to the site has been appreciated.

Fish's new Mod name is Cybershark!

Thanks so much to Fish for being willing to step up in our community. It's tough to take on extra work at this time of year and we appreciate everything our members do to keep MRO thriving!

One last item of news, Sophrosyne has officially retired from mod status. We have loved and enjoyed everything she gave to our site, and wish her the best in her future endeavors! MRO will miss you!

If you have any questions about this announcement, feel free to contact a moderator.

Sincerely,
The MRO Mod Team, Historian, Sarasvati, Mister Yuck, Steampunk Sparrow, Mouse Hero, Cybershark and Blue Badger.

It's that time of year again~

The 2013 MRO Survey is up! For the next week (11/23 – 11/29), it will open its arms to your loving data. Go forth, and become one with the stats...

Last year's Survey results are here, for those who wish to see what great deeds shall be accomplished with their data. <3