+1 ace detective

[moodkiller]

Hello, Earthlings! Zero (clockworkbrain), Rachel and Cain's player, here with a third. Meet Naoto Shirogane from Persona 4! In her past life, Naoto was a teenaged ace detective and Persona-user in everyone's favorite Scooby-Doo Simulator. (That's a surprisingly competitive field, that is.)

In her new life, Naoto is Natalie Sherman, though she prefers Nat. And, yes, she's related to exactly who the surname implies. Our esteemed Det. Jason Sherman is her uncle! (And Matt Abbot, Professional Weird Person Extraordinaire, is her cousin through the other side of the family. Saints preserve us.)

Nat is just-turned 15-years old, and finishing up her junior year at LCHS. She's skipped a grade or two along the way. She's very focused, very nerdy, and tends to close herself off. But! She's in a few clubs, and starting up a model-building club of her own. She likes to tinker with electronics and do hands-on hobby work in general, and she desperately wants to be a detective when she grows up. Loves detective fiction, robots, superheroes, and all that good stuff.

Any kids at LCHS, or people in the police who might know of her through Sherman, or any other routes you can think of, hit me up, feel free to add me on Plurk, etc! Let's figure something out.

MOD ANNOUNCEMENT

[theearth]

As many of you are aware, there has been a recent incident involving ourselves and a few players. We wish to address this matter here.

Firstly, we apologize not only for our delay in speaking on this, but for our own behavior during this. We do take fault for having been too inflexible on the matter which started everything. All of us are to blame for this inflexibility and we all take responsibility for it; not just one mod is fully to blame for anything which happened. The plot the player desired should not have been dealt with in the way that it was. Our reasoning had been that we had not seen evidence that the plot had been set in stone, we had not been given reason why change was necessary to reconcile the plots, and that the details behind this plot/what was needed to occur to bring it to fruition were not brought to us. We offered one compromise, it was not taken, and we should have been more flexible about offering further compromises. We are, again, sorry for that inflexibility on our end.

Secondly, to prevent any risk of this sort of situation ever happening again, we are discussing a frankly overdue new system of accounting for, organizing, and simplifying coordination between planned plots, both meta and player. Details on it will be coming soon.

And thirdly, the mod with the most concerns voiced about her has been issued a warning, and will be taking far less of a stance involving plot-related issues for the time being. We will monitor her behavior to ensure a repeat of this kind of situation does not occur again and, should it, she will be dealt with. In line with those concerns, while she will still be involved in plotting and whatever issues may come to us, the other mods will have far greater a say, and will be considered the figures of authority where directly addressing player concerns and needs is concerned.

However, what we stand firm about is that ganging up on a person while refusing their own comfort is not permissible. The mod in question had become extremely uncomfortable having so many people, including one not in the game, on her all at once while she was not feeling well. This was the reason warnings were issued. We do, however, concede to having been too impulsive in issuing warnings to all involved, and once more, we do apologize to the parties who had been warned without having acted severely enough to warrant a warning. All but one of the warnings has been lifted.

Finally, not all the mods are experienced mods, and even the more experienced mods will acknowledge they can always use some help. So please, we ask that if any of you have any suggestions on how we might improve to come and tell us.

Thank you and, once again, we all apologize for our respective parts in this situation.

Comments to this post are enabled. At request, they have been unscreened. If you have left a screened comment and would like it unscreened, please indicate so! As per the suggestion of Guin, if you would prefer to leave us a screened comment, please do so on the Mod Contact post.

We will make a second post addressing those concerns, resolutions, and invitation of a second round of feedback as soon as we're able.

UPDATE - 5/3:

The StE modteam is currently planning to come together as a group and discuss all the issues brought to them on this post. Linda and Guin will be present while we are all on to continue discussion as a full team in order to ensure that all points and issues are thoroughly addressed.

This discussion will be happening as soon as possible - but coordinating schedules has proven difficult, so please bear with us.

This post will be edited accordingly once the discussion's day and time have been set.

UPDATE - 5/3:

The discussion will begin Sunday, May 4th, 5:00 P.M. CDT/3:00 P.M. PST.

UPDATE - 5/4:

The discussion has begun and is underway; it's proven to be more intensive than anticipated and hasn't yet ended, but will resume tomorrow and continue until concluded.

In the meantime, screencaps of the discussion thus far are posted at Linda's public Plurk; further updates will be made on this post and the linked Plurk, including the date, once set, of the second post.

UPDATE - 5/5:

Discussion has now concluded - we're sorry for having been quiet for so long!

Formal address of the points brought to this post as well as a second OOC post and a mod apps announcement will be coming by the end of tomorrow - Tuesday, 5/6.

- THE STE MODS: Anduin, Blue, Mini, and Olga

Drop

[comparative_insanity]

 Okay, way overdue, but big girl panties on and dropping until I feel more capable of keeping up with the game, because right now I'm clearly not playing so much as squatting. I wanted to make it work, but after my hiatus I feel like I've completely lost what little grip on things I've had, so this is really for the best.

This is a lovely game and you are all lovely people, and I hope I feel capable of picking things up and doing it justice once I am capable of organizing myself somewhat better - either with this character, if not taken, or with someone else.

Fenn/Fai will lose his memories, but carry on living in Locke City together with Youou, who is also being dropped and losing his memories.

Peace <3

APRIL ACTIVITY CHECK

[theearth]

Activity check will remain open through May 7th. Only activity from April 1st through April 30th will be acceptable.

• If your character was accepted during this last month/activity cycle, you need only to check them in with their name/journal/info post/HMD, and do not have to fill out the four thread links and activity summary sections.

• If your character has an announced hiatus of a week or more in length for this month, this may be used instead of providing activity and you do not have to reply here. HOWEVER, please note that using a hiatus instead of providing full activity two months in a row will constitute a strike, which will stay in place for four months. Players who are currently on hiatus will be noted, but are encouraged to post their activity when able to avoid consequences if another hiatus has to be used next month in lieu of activity.

• Another player may provide activity for another (for example, in the case of broken computers/sickness/etc.), as long as permission is given.

• All other characters must check in with all sections (or accept a strike) by or during the 7th or be removed from the game! Even if you've spoken with a mod, please remember to post here as soon as possible! Also keep in mind the four required threads must also be with four different characters.

• All characters must also have a link to some sort of "How's My Driving"/crit post in addition to their info/Echoes post. While there's no other requirements (such as allowing anonymous posting or logging IP addresses), comments do need to be enabled.

Please fill out the following form and add it in to a new comment.
Player Section (Paste once.)
<b>Player:</b> [Whatever handle you go by.] <b>Contact:</b> [Should we feel the need to contact you privately, what is your preferred method?]
Activity Section (Paste once per character.)
<b>Character:</b> <b>Character Journal:</b> <user name=USERNAME> <b>Character's Info/Current Echoes Post:</b> <a href=URL GOES HERE>Here.</a> <b>Link to HMD:</b> <a href=URL GOES HERE>Here.</a> <b>Activity Summary:</b> [Please briefly describe what this character has been up to in the last month, with emphasis on their involvement in the game's current plot. This does not have to be linked at all, and does not have to be as dramatic as fighting baddies or organizing groups of hitmen; simply discussing or reacting to things on the network with others, gaining Echos, and other such things are fine, too.] <b>Thread 1:</b> <a href=URL GOES HERE>Thread with character 1</a> | DATE STARTED <b>Thread 2:</b> <a href=URL GOES HERE>Thread with character 2</a> | DATE STARTED <b>Thread 3:</b> <a href=URL GOES HERE>Thread with character 3</a> | DATE STARTED <b>Thread 4:</b> <a href=URL GOES HERE>Thread with character 4</a> | DATE STARTED <b>Anything else?:</b>

Threads do not have to be a set length to count, but it must be evident that some work/thought was put into them; a network-based thread of many brief comments may hold the same weight as a shorter one with a higher word count per comment. Threads can all be from the same entry and can have been originally started before the month's start. However, at least one thread provided must have been started during the actual month in question, and of course, all threads must actually have activity within the cycle duration. Please also refrain from using the same thread for an AC more than once.

In other words, don't sweat it, though if you feel four threads is not enough, you may provide up to two more here, both of which can be with a character who is the same as in one of the first four linked threads.

Strikes: If your character does not meet activity requirements for whatever reason, you may opt to take a strike for them by replying here. Characters with an existing strike who then qualify for another will be removed from the game, and cannot be apped in again until their initial strike has expired. However, again, each strike only lasts four months before being reset. For example, a character who has a strike from December will need to have activity or a declared hiatus each month up to and including April's activity check.

If you will be late posting to AC or claiming a strike, please notify a mod - however, keep in mind that you will still be required to check in to the post itself.

Current characters on strike can be found here.