Since this seems to be an issue that pops up on my dash quite often, especially in the past month, I feel the need to address terms like selective and private in regards to role play blogs. Lately, I’ve seen these words treated with so much hostility that I feel the community needs to be reminded of why we’re all here in the first place.
First of all, I find it laughable that anybody is suggesting that some people aren’t selective. Even if you role play with everybody who approaches you, it’s a universal fact that everybody is going to have their preferred threads or preferred partners and just preferences in general. There are always going to be people you’d rather role play with than others and people whose writing style doesn’t quite click with yours. Accidentally or purposefully, everybody is going to drop threads once in a while. In short, everybody in this community has preferences; some people are simply more comfortable admitting it openly and there’s no use getting worked up over it. There are thousands of people in this community. Not being able to role play with just one isn’t really a big deal.
Secondly, many people who openly admit to being selective and/or private may do so with very good reasons. Personally, I don’t have a lot of time on my hands. Like many others, I have a full-time job, and when I’m not working that full-time job, I go to school full-time. Sometimes, I do these two time-consuming and stressful things at the same time. When I’m free, I oftentimes lack the motivation, energy, or inspiration for replies, especially lengthy ones, and as a result, I tend to be a very slow role player. By attesting to being selective and/or private on my page and on my rules, I’m attempting to avoid as much disappointment from new followers as possible by being honest about what I can take on and what I can’t. I know many other people who are in my position or similar ones. Additionally, some people don’t prefer role playing with duplicates of some or all characters, which is yet another personal preference. Some have bad experiences with certain types of characters and prefer to avoid them altogether. Others simply want the freedom to choose who they do and don’t role play without undue pressure on them to pick up threads they aren’t enthusiastic about. Nothing about any of these reasons or any further reasons people may have for being selective are in any way wrong.
Lastly, I understand that being turned down for role play hurts. We’ve all been through it. I’ve been there, along with all of my other role playing friends at some point. It’s disappointing and it can sting our egos as writers. However, this is no excuse to bully somebody for their preferences. We are here writing on Tumblr for our own enjoyment first and the enjoyment of others second. If you want others to understand your preferences and comfort level without taking issue with them, it is important that you offer others the same respect. It is not okay to try to push anybody into anything they aren’t comfortable with, whether through anonymous messages or passive aggressive (or fully aggressive) public pressure on the dash. It is not okay to harass or bully or slander for any reason. Remember that your actions and reactions reflect on you before the person that you are angry with. There is a great number of fragile egos in this community, as well as fragile hearts, but the way to react to yours being bruised is to not lash out at somebody else.
tl;dr respect the preferences, opinions, and enjoyment of others, accept that people have their reasons for being as selective or open as they wish to be, treat others the way you wish to be treated, and never think it is okay to bully, slander, or harass anybody else because you don’t like something they did or a preference they have.
baratheonpilled
izzy806
dailybridgerton
blakekathryn
andulkaphoto
turnnoffyourmind
jbbartram-illu
