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made that post to vent the other day but it is a little validating to see all these anons saying 'yeah we can all leave any time but we still have like feelings about it' has been nice lol

#cherp #the thing about discourse is its cyclical everyone has said everything about why its ok to disconnect w no explanation and i agree #but also sometimes its like ah damn #thats all there is to it #or more accurately to ghost since we are all forgetful mentally ill hoes but i digress better habits would be good

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dgmr, i love the anonymous nature of the site as much as the next guy, i just hate the way ppl have decided being anonymous also means that there can’t be certain types of decency, either. 

i get that anon means that every experience is a roll of the dice, but there’s just a community culture of ‘anon=cut and run, and getting on a high horse when people don’t just accept that quietly’ that really makes it so frustratingly impossible to discuss other shortcomings of the whole experience! we could be anonymous, and have a better experience, but there’s only a weird cliquey discord server for ppl to chase clout in and nothing else to come to any sort of consensus at all which, sucks lol

plus fostering an rp relationship leads to more fulfilling rps overall and i feel like the short-term satisfaction that everyone on this site has gotten used to has completely obliterated that idea. like, my best rp relationships are on-going, years long relationships, which i gathered through cherubplay and have NEVER managed to achieve using cherp :’) 

ur right, it is sad, like... getting through the getting to know you phase can be harrowing, but then you learn over time all of those things that your partner prefers and delights to you directly ABOUT when you know to include in an rp, and it is so much more rewarding than anxiously being in a ghost or be ghosted culture all the time, there’s SO much resentment in this community and i just dont get it :’))

HATE the ghosting culture on this website, gives me so much anxiety whenever a partner just goes completely silent out of the blue. Personally, since people dipping is SUCH a problem on here, I think it would be polite to at least send a message to say you're busy, part of the time... I never hold it against anyone individually, since I know shit happens, and there are plenty of times that I've suddenly dropped off on someone for a bit. I'm not perfect, I've ghosted entirely by mistake, and I know that happens too. But if it's more than a week, I try to send a quick message to let them know, because I hate the way it makes me feel to be on the receiving end.

I just never know what's going on with people here, because they're all so afraid to talk to each other. And I get it. The one time you think communication might be a good idea, the person on the other end is obsessed w anonymity and hates ooc and disconnects. Then you decide, maybe I should keep quiet, and you get people that WANT communication, and freeze up and ghost the entire thread because they're scared to message you for even the most minor of clarifications. I've saved so many threads, chiming in with a suggestion or clarification when a regular partner suddenly freezes up, but I wish taking that initiative didn't risk a D/C for the crime of trying to collaborate, instead of read minds.

I hate it! I wish you could ask someone if they're busy for your peace of mind, like a normal person, without running the risk of people thinking you're clingy and need to touch grass. I've put HOURS of my time and emotional investment in this, and am looking forward to corresponding with you! If we have been messaging daily for weeks, I'm worried on a human level, when you just suddenly disappear! And not for nothing, but it hurts my feelings!

I love this hobby, I don't care about reading/writing fic and I never have, I like connecting to someone who shares my same passions for a character and a concept and the joy of writing, but this site is just a minefield of people that seem to hate it for some damn reason

#i just made this post to vent the other day bc i genuinely got my hopes up about a thread for the first time in ages and theyre just Gone #i think u and i basically agree on these points i hope i dont come across as lecturing u #just thinking aloud #would rather be writing an rp thread but guess NOT #i just wish u could say 'hey this sucks' without having to write an essay about the nuances of why actually parts of it dont suck every time

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HATE the ghosting culture on this website, gives me so much anxiety whenever a partner just goes completely silent out of the blue. Personally, since people dipping is SUCH a problem on here, I think it would be polite to at least send a message to say you're busy, part of the time... I never hold it against anyone individually, since I know shit happens, and there are plenty of times that I've suddenly dropped off on someone for a bit. I'm not perfect, I've ghosted entirely by mistake, and I know that happens too. But if it's more than a week, I try to send a quick message to let them know, because I hate the way it makes me feel to be on the receiving end.

I just never know what's going on with people here, because they're all so afraid to talk to each other. And I get it. The one time you think communication might be a good idea, the person on the other end is obsessed w anonymity and hates ooc and disconnects. Then you decide, maybe I should keep quiet, and you get people that WANT communication, and freeze up and ghost the entire thread because they're scared to message you for even the most minor of clarifications. I've saved so many threads, chiming in with a suggestion or clarification when a regular partner suddenly freezes up, but I wish taking that initiative didn't risk a D/C for the crime of trying to collaborate, instead of read minds.

I hate it! I wish you could ask someone if they're busy for your peace of mind, like a normal person, without running the risk of people thinking you're clingy and need to touch grass. I've put HOURS of my time and emotional investment in this, and am looking forward to corresponding with you! If we have been messaging daily for weeks, I'm worried on a human level, when you just suddenly disappear! And not for nothing, but it hurts my feelings!

I love this hobby, I don't care about reading/writing fic and I never have, I like connecting to someone who shares my same passions for a character and a concept and the joy of writing, but this site is just a minefield of people that seem to hate it for some damn reason

#cherp #it happens all the time #it just HURTS when its someone that has been excited and praising your writing nonstop ooc #so you think everything is going fine #text posts #whatever #its a 50/50 that they come back now but still hurt my feelings #u can leave for any reason but it also still hurts feelings both can be true

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here's a useful tip: you might need to log out/log back in to see ur chats

#cherp #i did anyway #man would love warnings/updates about this stuff on the site #text post

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Lmao, exactly.... Man, I remember pre-cherubplay, when it was just Trollmegle, and at the time the forums were an invaluable resource. The forums were where I made a lot of good roleplay connections, because you were able to cash in on the quick chat-format connections made on the site, which dropped connections all the time, or put out/search for prompts in a paragraph format, before there was the cherp/mxrp dichotomy we have now.

Forums are good!!!!!

Before I started using Cherp and the modern web format condensed everything into maybe five Social Media Websites, forums were the best way to find roleplay, and the community that sprung up was often rife with drama, but at least there was more camaraderie and casual socialization going on as well. There was accountability, but being able to build a reputation around your preferences and therefore find more fulfilling writing partners doesn't mesh with the anon-only style that has suddenly become the ONLY way for us to pair up. It wasn't always like that!

Don't get me wrong, I like the anon format, I like being able to try new things or take a little break from an established thread guilt-free, without worrying about specific consequences, but I'm also never able to choose to build from the things that I create. Not unless we're both verified, and my partner isn't one of the ones that hates being talked to ooc, y'know?

#cherp #i mean i know you know cherubark #but I'm just venting... generally... #i like the format but if what you want is the quality of writers on THIS site WITH continuity #you might have to get a little less shy about putting a username to things #choose your level of engagement u know but get comfortable setting boundaries and saying no without anon

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I'm curious if a forum or something along those lines might be in the cards for cardinal, down the road... Great place for site news, downtime notifications, and missed connections, first of all. Good potential for maybe starting to build a roleplay COMMUNITY, instead of a bunch of anonymous individuals quietly seething at each other because the site is ghost or be ghosted, a lot of the time.

#cherp #i could go on but the lack of community and discord pissng contests are increasingly detrimental to the whole thing #and no central nexus of communication outside of an IM service is a big negative #but i also dont know much about the logistics of running a forum so #like stay anon onsite but connect w accountability on forum

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???

#cherp #i #huh #that's a lot of HOOPLA #have loosely caught up on the sitch #and i am still boggled IRL

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Ah see I thought there might be community drama going on that I wasn't seeing, I have no idea what's going on with these cherpcord alts that are popping up.

I was more responding to people implying that wanting to stay anon was suspicious while using the language of my post, but it really is no surprise that there are people going the other way. The same people that assume you want to move off-site for illegal activities, I'm guessing, there's just no winning here lol

Big same though, like, I just want to be able to, as a reasonable adult, pick and choose who I remain anonymous with, without having to moralize everything or write an essay on my intentions, which basically boil down to "talk about writing with another adult" and not this complicated network of moral degradation that so many people seem to be imagining

I feel the need to clarify that I don't love the way that so much of the tag is people fighting on burner blogs, personally I and I think many other people just made a secondary blog because it's a normal way of dividing up your interests on Tumblr, and I think a lot of people post much more personal and nonconstructive type vent posts here because they're using their blog like a blog, and then tagging things that don't necessarily need to be shared beyond the scope of that blog and their followers. Maybe they forget it's a tag and not their dashboard, you see it in every content tag, people that tag with something that makes you wonder why they thought other people needed to read this

I've made vent posts that I've just drafted or not tagged, if I didn't just delete them, and anything I really have to say in depth I discuss in DMs, though I won't deny letting my frustration slip into actual criticisms that I have tagged

What drives me crazy is the weird way that people assign fucked up assumptions to others, though. Like every pal I've ever made on Tumblr has had like 3+ blogs that they've kept separate for varying reasons, to varying degrees, with nothing untoward about it.

The biggest initial draw of the anonymous nature of trollplay/cherubplay, as far as I understood, was that you didn't have to feel anxious. If you were self conscious about your writing, or wanted to try writing something silly, indulgent, or kinky without judgment, you didn't have to have your name on it. If you wanted to end a chat you didn't have to worry about someone stalking/harassing you, as much, anyway.

I agree that some people need to relax, but I think it's odd to suddenly say, when using a site built ground up with anonymity in mind, that if you want to stay anonymous you're shady. I think the way everyone is constantly suspicious and assuming that people on this site are using it for the absolute worst thing they can imagine is why everyone is so defensive, and people want to remain anonymous because they don't want to be branded with The P Word when the worst thing they are is a rule breaker on an RP site

#i wanna give most ppl the benefit of the doubt #i honestly feel bad for some of the devs but the unprofessionalism gets under my skin

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I feel the need to clarify that I don't love the way that so much of the tag is people fighting on burner blogs, personally I and I think many other people just made a secondary blog because it's a normal way of dividing up your interests on Tumblr, and I think a lot of people post much more personal and nonconstructive type vent posts here because they're using their blog like a blog, and then tagging things that don't necessarily need to be shared beyond the scope of that blog and their followers. Maybe they forget it's a tag and not their dashboard, you see it in every content tag, people that tag with something that makes you wonder why they thought other people needed to read this

I've made vent posts that I've just drafted or not tagged, if I didn't just delete them, and anything I really have to say in depth I discuss in DMs, though I won't deny letting my frustration slip into actual criticisms that I have tagged

What drives me crazy is the weird way that people assign fucked up assumptions to others, though. Like every pal I've ever made on Tumblr has had like 3+ blogs that they've kept separate for varying reasons, to varying degrees, with nothing untoward about it.

The biggest initial draw of the anonymous nature of trollplay/cherubplay, as far as I understood, was that you didn't have to feel anxious. If you were self conscious about your writing, or wanted to try writing something silly, indulgent, or kinky without judgment, you didn't have to have your name on it. If you wanted to end a chat you didn't have to worry about someone stalking/harassing you, as much, anyway.

I agree that some people need to relax, but I think it's odd to suddenly say, when using a site built ground up with anonymity in mind, that if you want to stay anonymous you're shady. I think the way everyone is constantly suspicious and assuming that people on this site are using it for the absolute worst thing they can imagine is why everyone is so defensive, and people want to remain anonymous because they don't want to be branded with The P Word when the worst thing they are is a rule breaker on an RP site

#confused about whether some tag comments might be directed my way #was largely making an observation about activity in the tag #not necessarily condoning or justifying it #like i said tho every post isn't a measured essay on my full perspective #cherp

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Like I’m just some dude trying to roleplay, and I don’t appreciate getting my updates in the form of “here’s my crumbs you stupid piece of shit” tones of voices lol

I know understand and appreciate that they’re doing a difficult thing I can’t do, I get that you’ve got entitled pieces of shit dealing you psychic damage, but I’ve never harassed anyone. Why do I have to come looking for updates while I’m understandably frustrated, and read them like “hey crybaby if you MUST have answers I GUESS i mIGHT tell you it MIGHT take a couple days”

just say, “it might be a couple days”, I don’t need an apology or a timeline or an essay or a dev entry. Just a bare acknowledgement with no Q&A and no undercurrent insulting me for nothing would suffice

#cherp #thought about whether to tag or not #but again damn #every extra word just gives harrassers more ammo #turn off anon say the bare facts keep the discord to site info #i think that would be healthier #does it bear saying that this is a vent post #i wish the mods good mental health #but also need to express my frustration for My Mental Health u feel

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I think that people in the tag need to remember that a majority of the content IN the tag is coming from burner/secondary blogs, and anons that are filtered through those blogs that won’t even put their name on a throwaway account. So a lot of the things that people post in here, especially in the wake of issue after issue with the site, are essentially Vent Posts, and aren’t exactly the best place to look for any sort of validation when it comes to user engagement, site functionality, or even just meta discussion of roleplaying, unfortunately

These aren’t full, measured statements of anyone’s full opinion of the entire site or their experiences with it, and any observation that someone is making about the community at any given time isn’t an end-all-be-all statement about some big issue like everyone tries to make every passing comment out to be

The mods are humans with limits that, regardless of how I feel about their handling of so many things, ARE writing and rewriting this site just so we can all use it, and if every bridge along the way doesn’t get burned down I still believe there are enough pieces here to form a half-decent community

The userbase, regardless of how thoughtless and/or bitter individuals may have become, are also human. Most of us are just regular people that have put a lot of time and energy into this site, and deserve some basic info about what’s going on without it being drowned in snark and anger at more vocal members of the community that the mods have beef with

I think being more hands-off with the community and downsizing the discord are good moves, and I truly think that revisiting the verification process and the off-site movement ban would help to offset some of the vitriol on both sides

People can understand that an indie site goes down sometimes, they aren’t that stupid. What is at the heart of this frustration is the lack of security and control that comes with feeling like it might all be gone at any moment, without any sense of knowing when it might happen and if you might ever talk to this person that you have made considerable investment of time and emotion into

Whenever people want to downsize other’s frustration over this, they say “it’s just a hobby site”, but like... Hobbies are important, and you’re here too? Especially now, in a global pandemic, being able to feel like you can foster these hobbies, particularly a hobby that is steeped in escapism and used as an emotional outlet, is important. Being made to feel like these bonds mean nothing, and that, if your shitass userbase is cruel enough to mods that lash back out at them (and, as a result, YOU), it could all just be gone one day, is stressful and irritating, no matter how much healthy detachment you have. 

People come in the tag and talk about how stressed and irritated they are, because they are usually here when the site goes down. My advice, if you want to get anything useful out of the tag, is to wait in between these waves before attempting to initiate any discussion in good faith

#cherp #didnt mean to write this much #but have kept away from the tag bc i am bitter as hell #and DONT want to vent that while the whole tag is in a tizzy #but also damn #im exhausted so im just slapping these words down bye

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Roleplayfinder here on Tumblr is an awesome resource and I've found some really talented partners there, you can send in requests and browse other people's requests similar to cherp even if it's not always as detailed

hey anon, i don't know when exactly you sent this (i've been avoiding the tag since the last indeterminate downtime, stressed me out too much, sorry!), but thanks for the suggestion! every once in a while i do get curious about roleplaying on tumblr, but it seems hard to get a foothold in.

just thought i would post this ask, since i see others are reaching out/looking for alternatives once again. so far, this is the only suggested alternative i've been sent that i haven't seen discussed in the tag, so i'm all ears if anyone has any other suggestions

to the other anons in my inbox, those are my only leads so far, but if i run across any good platforms i'll try and post about it \m/

#asks #anon #cherp

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why don’t you just export your cherubplay chats…? it’s literally built into the site?

oh i have, it's just easy...? to browse them on my phone in the night if i'm bored and suddenly want to read any given one?

#thanks for this totally good faith ask #cherp #sorry i'm in a mood #tired of how half the ppl in this tag talk down to everyone for no reason

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...hey guys, can we be cool about cherubplay’s husk? i still use it to backread my favs all the time, and if you get the mods attention he might remember to go ahead and shut it down 

#cherp #lets be cool this one time lol #its only gone down 1 time for an extended period since shutting down #and has been smooth sailin otherwise

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im not sure about chats but i had to switch computers and now i can't login :( and the error isn't about passwords, so something must be wrong with the site

aw man, i'm sorry about that!! yeah the site is majorly broken by the looks of it, trying to access the directory pulls up an error that says that there is an error with function text and inactive code, so i imagine they must have nicked something they shouldn't have when they were trying to fix the loading times on the site yesterday

idk anything about coding so i'm just. trying to stay optimistic lol, i know that they also like... reloaded an old version of the site once before, to go back on a botched adjustment, so maybe they'll be able to retrieve our chats?? i hope they arent gone??

im also trying to fight the urge to refresh the page and check over and over again, and i would suggest everyone do the same

anyway if anyone hears anything about this... pls tell me...

#asks #anon #cherp

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RIGHT i'm losing my mind, rp partner has been away all week and finally had time to respond, and the very next day the site is fucked beyond use once again :/

anyone else unable to access their chats or view the directory?

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do you know any alternatives yet?

other than roled and f-list, no, not really :c

fresh call if anyone can help me and anon find Anything that isnt cherp lol

#srry i know you asked this forever ago #i dont check this blog frequently #cherp #also have dipped my toe in w roled but havent figured out flist yet