[Caelum's Scrapbook] Use Your Words.

[Terror]

A Clockwork Ha Ha Ha Mockingbird

It's a punk novel?

[Nivel]

Since I normally go by my middle name I have two book names

To Kill An All Flesh of the D'Urbravilles

100 years of Mountain of the D'Urbravilles

[Caelum]

These are fantastic titles! Guys, I’m having a crap week. The image below is basically where I’m at right now. My co-worker sent it to me and I find it appropriate on many levels. I mean, cursing aside.

[Evalin]

The Brief Wondrous Hopscotch and Punishment

Hm...

[Ball]

I like the image Cael and my title:

The Road to World and Punishment

[Rosela]

The guy who made that has a whole series of them. This one's my favorite:

Hope things go better for you. When you are feeling better, you can read my best-seller: The Brief Wondrous English Patient and Peace. Inspired by Hemingway.

[Estrellir Konrath]

"The Day of the Death of Small Things"

This is actually good. I should write a magical realistic novel about it.

[Caelum]

Slow As Molasses I’ve been terrible and I know it. Lately a number of my plots are in limbo and/or have to be altered because of the absence or disinterest of other players. Cleaning out thread lists proves nearly impossible. The majority of it is understandable and just part of the process of role playing on a site like this, but some of it isn’t and that is the part that has bummed me out. This combined with a terribly busy life outside of here has resulted in my own posting slowing down considerably. I’m pretty sure I’ve become “that person” for some other players. I’ve always been a slow poster partially due to the amount of threads I choose to take on. I won’t apologize for that. I also have favorite plots and PCs. Anyone who claims otherwise has burning pants, y’all. That doesn’t mean I don’t like you. It means that on that particular day I was more inspired by something/someone else. This is how I prefer to play here and I understand if a player doesn’t want to thread with me due to that. We all have our preferences. But in recent months I’ve been like freaking molasses and for that I am sorry. So! I’ve decided to try and organize my Mizahar To Do list in an attempt to revitalize and self-motivate so that I stop unintentionally bumming people out myself. There are a number of tasks on my Mizahar To Do List. There are things for my PCs, things for Alements, things for Graders, things for Ethaefal, and things for Lore Developers such as promised reviews. I’m going to attempt to organize some of it here in my scrapbook for reference. I’m a list-maker, an architect writer, and a blueprint project manager. God alone knows how I manage to do anything without first writing it down. Development Complete Ethaefal Draft, Submit to Peer Review Review Archaeology Article Advanced Thread Grading Guide Clarify other projects discussed and confirm assignments. Alements Spy Payroll Guideline & Idea Grab Bag NPC Informant Database (cross-referenced with appropriate NPC approvals) Finish 2nd Floor Addition Solo ReWrite Location Beg/bribe someone talented to help make floorplan/layout. Status Check PC Employee Job Threads Caelum Catch up on replies. Catch up on replies. Catch up on replies. See: “Alements” To Do List Draft up the next stage of overall plot. First to cross of on the Development list is the advanced thread grading. See below!

[Caelum]

Advanced Thread Grading An advanced thread is defined by advanced writing which incorporates numerous and often overlapping skills. These skills typically come in sets and share a common body of obtainable lore. Several players including a Founder have made requests or otherwise expressed a need for greater understanding by the player and grader base as a whole. The problem is two pronged. 1 – Players often don’t receive full skill credit or necessary lores in their advanced threads due to the grader’s misinterpretation or ignorance of the rules. 2 – Players don’t successfully write their threads in such a way as to be awarded all of the attempted skills and don’t understand why they weren’t awarded. Unfortunately, I have seen No. 1 happen a lot. It has happened to me personally so many times I’ve lost count and I have seen it happen to quite a few other players as well. Many of these players, myself included, fail to address the grader every time because they don’t want to offend and/or the effort to explain is too exhausting. It has occasionally gotten so bad that when I know an advanced thread is in my primary grading queues I make an effort to claim it for grading. No, this is not favoritism. Every advanced thread should be graded this way. If yours should have been and was not, then I recommend contacting the grader about it and politely making your case. Politely is the key word here. Personally, I am not in the least bit bothered when someone PMs or AIMs me with questions regarding their grade. Sometimes they are right. I make mistakes. Other times it’s a matter of preference and I did not know theirs. It’s also sometimes a misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the rules by the player which I then attempt to clarify and explain for them. I don’t always do this for myself, but I should. You should too. The majority of graders are totally nice people. Just remember that nobody likes to be told they’re wrong, perhaps especially when they have voluntarily done something nice for you. So be polite and be patient and you will receive in kind. And if they are a total jackass to you and are being a rude hell-beast, tell an RS or a Founder. Hell, tell me if you’re not comfortable contacting one of them. I have been an advocate in the past and will be so again if necessary. Fair warning, however, if you interpret being told you’re wrong as “rude” or “biased”, then you’re not going to like what I say either. Below are points meant to assist you in grading and writing advanced threads correctly. Awarding All Applicable Skills Multiple skills can be awarded for a post and sometimes also for an action. There are actions a PC takes that can receive points in several different skills and if their existing skill levels are appropriate for advancement YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PICK WHICH ONE TO AWARD. If you can’t tell by my internet screaming, this is really important, guys. It’s a big one that sums up much of the existing problem. You do not have to decide if Dr. Lovegood should be awarded Medicine or Herbalism or Philtering for diagnosing an ailment, ascertaining an herbal remedy, and then advancing that remedy to a better medicine by making it into an ointment all in one post. You don’t have to decide which to award because the PC should be awarded points in all of those skills. Skills don’t cancel each other out. They compile. This in mind, it is smart to look for other awardable skills in the same skill set as the most obvious one being used. By skill set I am referencing a group of skills that combined often translate to a profession and/or character concept. Skill sets are loose and malleable due to the unique qualities of every PC. Generally older PCs have multiple established skill sets. And, of course, PCs are often attempting to beef up and acquire more skills within their sets or a new set entirely. Here are a few skill sets examples. I chose two I am most familiar with. Please remember that all skill sets are inclusive. Physician/Healer: Medicine Herbalism Philtering Poison Animal Husbandry Psychology (Editor Note: Is this or is this not supposed to be part of Medicine skill? Find out.) Botany Gardening Leadership Persuasion Observation Deduction (Editor Note: Is this a real skill? Find out.) Intelligencer/Spy: Intelligence Investigation Subterfuge Cryptography Larceny Observation Tactics Stealth Acting Disguise Interrogation Politics Intimidation Persuasion Organization Forgery Martial Skills Skills in sets are often used in tandem. Multiple skills are often brought to bear on any given situation and without a familiarity with what is awardable then skills end up being overlooked. Finally, we come to lores. I will not soap box again on lores and will say simply that it is really important to remember that no matter what skill level a PC has, without the advantage of related lores then they are limited and diminished. Award appropriate lores. People will thank you. That’s enough for today, I should think. Write on, y’all.

[Sayana]

Hi Caelum, I just wanted to say that I really like the idea of a more thorough grading guide for advanced and complicated threads that involve many skills. As someone who has been grading for about six months, I still find there are skills that I overlook or ones that I realize that I should be looking for but haven't. Here is a list of skills that took me much longer to recognize as a grader and the reasons why I didn't award them at first: - Tactics I now award this whenever someone displays an interesting way of fighting or cleverly uses feints or tricks to get the upper hand in a fight. I used to think this was only reserved for larger scale battle strategies and the organization of multiple squads of fighters. - Interrogation I used to think this was only for characters who seek to gain information in a negative way (like through force or intimidation). Now I understand that it can be awarded for friendly yet provoking questions. Or friendly questions meant to gain specific knowledge. - Storytelling I originally thought this was only reserved for creating fictional stories. Now I award it when characters speak in detail about their past, for example. - Acrobatics At first I thought this was only for flips and cartwheels or fancy jumps. Now I award it during combat situations if the character actively jumps out of the way or displays agility. Also I have awarded it for pure flexibility, if it is demonstrated. I listed these because if I had issues with pinpointing these skills, there may be other graders who also struggle with them. I also have trouble distinguishing between Intelligence, Investigation, Interrogation and sometimes Intimidation (the collective "I"s). I don't know if you plan to clarify skills in your article but I know I would be very appreciative if these were better explained. I see that these in particular are ones that will overlap, but there would also be cases in which they don't (otherwise they would all be considered a single skill). Another question I have, is there an appropriate skill for "Lying" or "Deception"? Usually I put this under the skill "Subterfuge" but it doesn't always fall under the description of "to conceal, escape or evade". I also think that the skill "Deduction" should totally be a more recognized skill. In my mind it is quite distinct and usually involves creative or lateral thinking to deduce something properly. Another thing that would really help as a grader is to have maybe one or two additional examples of what writing constitutes a skill point earned. Currently there is a clear example for fighting and a couple examples for magic use. I find I'm more generous than some graders when it comes to skill points (especially at novice level) and sometimes I'm unsure as to whether I'm being too generous. If you plan to explain thoroughly how multiple skills can be awarded in the same post or same couple of sentences, it would be really wonderful to see an example of this. Finally lores. This was the hardest aspect of grading I found, especially at the beginning. I've gotten a lot better but it would still be very useful for new graders if the lores were explained in better detail and examples were provided. I also think that a lot of graders have a "number of lores quota" that they tend to aim for. Therefore, even though they might be grading a lore heavy thread (eg. a PC learning about several different types of herbs and their properties), the grader might still aim for their "lore quota" instead of awarding all the lores shown. I have also had this tendency to have a "lore quota" but I'm now trying to break that and really look for what is actually in the thread and is important. All in all, sorry if that was a little rambly. These are mostly just my various thoughts on grading and various difficulties and challenges I've overcome. If you need any help or input or even writing of examples, feel free to PM me. I really like that we aim for an objective system and I am happy to help make things less ambiguous for future graders. I'm also happy to discuss and debate about what actually constitutes a skill point earned. I still consider myself a fairly new grader and while I may have opinions, I am happy to be flexible and change the way I grade. I've also developed a few handy resources for myself (like a checklist and a set of skills based on the type of thread - including obvious ones and less obvious skills). I'd be happy to share, though these might be too specific to someone's personal grading process/style.