I run two games that are fairly successful, play in a third, hold down a demanding job, referee soccer (outdoor and indoor), teach Tae Kwon Do, take a daily 3 mile walk with the wife, and stay involved in my two teenagers' lives. I could easily handle running another game in the place of any one of those other activities. Without knowing the GM's lifestyle, you cannot judge how many games he/she can handle. I also never have a problem finding new players when I need them. One day on page one gives me enough RTJs to start two new parties. (Results my vary, depending on genre and rule set).

That being said, seeing the same name pop up with several games on a nearly daily basis does give me pause. And will, for right or wrong, influence my opinions.

In reply to Westwind (msg # 11):

I think an interesting side question is: Does seeing a specific GM readvertise multiple games every week make you more likely or less likely to want to join? For me it is the latter. If I see the same game bumped week after week it smacks of desperation and that the game just won't be any good. This may indeed be a wrong assumption, but one that I jump to anyway.

Alas, this is a Catch-22 situation. It may be true enough for games like D&D/PF, where there are about ten million applicants for every vacancy, but for less popular genres/rulesets, it doesn't hold water.

A couple of players dropping out with RL issues can lead to an ad, which fails to recruit because it's an obscure ruleset, leading to another ad which not only fails to recruit, but also puts off potential players because 'there was an ad out for this last week, it must be rubbish.'

What's a poor GM to do?

and don't say 'play Pathfinder'... :(

In reply to icosahedron152 (msg # 13):

:)

I was more referring to the games that are advertised week after week after week with nothing more than the word 'bump' appearing at the bottom of the post.

I appreciate that more specific/obscure systems will have more trouble finding players.

I recently made a IC check to see if there was interest in a game. So far very few replies. BUT I am wondering if anyone is reading it at all. Perhaps several people have taken a look but maybe this type of game doesn't interest them, but then again maybe no one has even looked at it.

I think a counter of some kind to see how many people read the thread would be nice. I could get a gauge on if there is no interest or some interest.

I know this doesn't mean they were going to sign up but so type of tool to gauge interest on a topic would help.

There has been all this chat about players posting multiple times and like clock work every week in the wanted threads. (it troubles me as well) BUT maybe if they saw no hits on the counter for 2/3/4 weeks he can see that there is no interest in his game.

That could be a good way to stop the activities and it can be used by others to see who many are reading the info posted, but do not reply.

In reply to Lord Caladin (msg # 15):

I doubt that would happen, the rpol community hates rating systems of any kind.

As for checking in on a thread, well new people are joining everyday. If a GM is willing to do the advertisement work, no reason not to let them do it.

In reply to Lord Caladin (msg # 15):

The nature of who's looking at/for games is incredibly fluid on RPOL.  One of the games I'm in routinely advertises for new players...at one point, I think there were only about three of us who were actively playing.  And we will go months at a time without anyone even looking twice, it seems...

And then, within a couple of weeks, we'll get four or five new players.  That doesn't count the ones who expressed initial interest but couldn't come up with a concept the GM felt would work with the game.

In reply to facemaker329 (msg # 18):

So true! I advertised for a d6 Star Wars game once upon a time and got something like four or five RTj's. And a friend of mine advertised one two or three weeks later and got a couple dozen.

Some of that might be superior game-writing skills.

But it's all over the place.

In reply to Undeadbob (msg # 16):

I don't think LordC is looking for a rating system, just an indicator of how often the post has been viewed. That's not a bad idea for certain forums, like Wanted-GM, Wanted-Players, and GPIaA.

You are assuming that we want to stop the activity.  We don't.

It is not against the rules of the Wanted - Players forum to advertise a game, bumping the ad thread once per week, for as many weeks, months, or even years, as the GM feels he needs to.  Nor is there any requirement to compose a lengthy post, if there is no further information to add.

A counter on public forum threads is not possible, since people do not log in to the forums.  They don't even need to be logged in to the site to read those threads.  Also note that, if a counter were possible, other users would probably be blocked from seeing how often a GM's ad was looked at anyway because, frankly, it's none of their business.
This message was last edited by the user at 16:57, Wed 28 Jan 2015.

I don't think you can moderate or legislate the silliness out of the Wanted - Players section and remain objective and fair.  Those that run this site certainly recognize and understand that and I for one applaud them for that.  The last thing anyone wants is arbitrary moderation of the rules.  That leads to bad, bad things.

However, I do believe that the GMs that do continually post multiple games over and over again only hurt themselves.  At this point I only need to see certain names and I immediately read right past them.  Even if one of their new games isn't a multi-listing they have become "background noise" in my mind.  That's my take.

Speaking as one who ... out of habit ... often clicks on the top post in both forums to clear the 'red' out several times a day, I doubt that knowing how many times an ad has been viewed would help.

My 'viewing' of it lasts about .01 seconds, and I didn't read a word of the ad that happened to be in the top spot.

Given how many people admit that they're obsessive about having red on their sticky list, I doubt that I'm alone in doing this.
This message was last edited by the user at 17:08, Wed 28 Jan 2015.

In reply to Shannara (msg # 23):

I'm totally one of these people. I clear the red dozens of times a day.

EDIT: Just did it again just now.
This message was last edited by the user at 17:14, Wed 28 Jan 2015.

In reply to truemane (msg # 24):

Me too.  I can't stand having any messages marked as not read.

I clear the Red too.  Which brings up another complaint about multiple posters: sometimes I catch them mid-posting and have to clear my Red 2 or 3 times in 2 minutes!

In reply to Gaffer (msg # 20):

That's is correct, a simple counter maybe.

As noted in my last post, such a counter is not feasible.

Poor choice of wording (stop the activity), What I meant is the person putting up the request can see if there is interest and maybe tell how much. They can see if its worth their time to continue.

As I appreciate the all of the Mods. efforts to keep privacy, I don't see how a counter or some type of indicator invades that privacy. And (I'm not a programmer) I think it could be hidden so only the 'author' can see it.

Also I have seen a few things that work very well on other sites that have pbp games, which have counters for viewing hits, and lists if anyone has looked at your page in the last 5 minutes, day and so on, and other features that help the owner of the game control his environment. Not the same environment as here, which is why I game here, JUST saying these features are out there.

If its viewed as a privacy issue I understood, .... and much earlier I defended those that posted weekly, because I played in those games and know the type of games they are running.

And lastly with regards to it's none of their business, I can agree - BUT I wouldn't mind seeing who is interested in what games if I'm the Arthur (or maybe not :), ... again a gauge/tool to see if that's something I may want to play or GM.

As a conversation in a chat forum, my comments are just a thought not a request.

In reply to Shiv (msg # 22):

I too do the same.

Last note for today,

About clearing the red I use 'Mark all as Read'. The comment I made would be more about if someone opened the page, I personal wouldn't mind knowing if it was.

I didn't think members just opened the page as a way to clear the red. That's interesting info, that makes me think more about my comments.

Opening the page was the standard method before the "mark all as read" option was added (Version 1.9.54 - March 2013), so for a lot of people that is still the way they automatically clear the red lights.

A counter is certainly possible and doesn't need to distinguish between someone logged in or not (I believe the counter would be based on the server getting a request for the page, which would be independent of who sent the request, but just a guess on my part) and I've seen counters elsewhere.

It would be helpful, as no matter how good the opening post is, it is no good if the title isn't getting people interested enough to look at the thread at all. A counter helps gauge whether people are ignoring the title, or ignoring the opening post. If no one is opening the thread, then I know that maybe I just need to rename the thread to attract more attention, but if lots of people are opening the thread, but not posting, then I know that they are not interested in my proposed game.

The title is the single most important piece of advertisement. Knowing when I'm messing that part up would be very helpful.

I guess I disagree on that point.  When I look at the Players Wanted thread, I usually just scroll the game system list.  Only if a game is a system I like will I bother to look at the title.  And it's usually the game description and what they are looking for that determines my interest, not the specific title.

That's a lot of clicking though. When I just open one item, it clears the indicator for that item only, not for the whole list.

Yes, gladiusdei, I look at systems first. I never open anything in systems I don't want to play or freeform. If it's a favorite system -- Call/Trail of Cthulhu, Savage Worlds, I proceed to genre. If I'm still interested I open it to read the description.