I would like to begin this by showing my appreciation for the creation of this thread. As someone who has felt there wasn’t enough transparency within the Hogwarts RPG, I feel like it is a good step forward; hopefully it generates constructive discussions and helps us all improve our experience here. However, a few things about it bothered me. I debated with myself on whether or not to reply but ultimately decided that nothing would be gained in keeping my concerns to myself.

My main issue is, frankly, how the members of the Hogwarts RPG are addressed, not just in the text above but also in multiple circumstances across the site. It reads like a patronising lecture, assigning the blame for the low activity/cutting down on activities solely on the members roleplaying students. I don’t get why blame needs to be assigned to anyone or why thinly veiled threats are needed. None of us have fun roleplaying into a vacuum, but there are a number of reasons that can explain why someone didn’t post their character at a certain event/place/lesson (which go from real life circumstances to IC explanations). I don’t think any of us doubt the work and effort that goes into preparing a lesson/event/plot, but it feels very ironic to be constantly told that we aren’t being active enough when the same isn’t asked of everyone. Leaders, after all, should lead by example. It’s also not particularly encouraging to see that all criticism to the plot seems to get taken personally. It’s normal for people to get defensive about something they’ve worked hard on, but surely there’s a better response to criticism than basically accusing RPers of confusing plot involvement with their character being in the spotlight.

Then there is the issue of what is and isn’t canon in the RPG we’re all a part of. I understand some RPers are of the opinion that details weigh down the RP experience but, while giving RPers room to be creative with their own canon is incredibly important, some things do need to be established for the sake of consistency. This is all a game, but we strive to be as realistic as possible and having a guideline of what’s happening is essential for that realism. Ultimately, it is on the Hogwarts RPG Staff and Admin to tell us what exactly is happening, what exists or what has been disbanded, etc. When I returned to SS, not yet a year ago, I eventually stumbled my way into the Quidditch thread and, ever since, I’ve been operating on the knowledge that Quidditch was gone from Hogwarts -- because that’s the information I could find and there wasn’t anything from a Staff member or the Admin (IC or OOC) contradicting that. We are all world-building together, so some discrepancies are to be expected but I was surprised to discover the Hogwarts RPG Admin has been pretending that Quidditch has been back IC without officially stating it somewhere so that the rest of us could follow their lead. Quidditch here is only an example; I’ve seen this over and over in the months I’ve returned, with an array of issues.

Lastly, I agree that things that happen off site don’t concern the Hogwarts RPG staff, since their positions exist only on SS. At the same time, I’m confused by the notion that those things don’t matter, yet can be used against people at certain times.

These might seem like petty issues but, in my opinion, they are all symptoms of the same thing: a badly-run Hogwarts RPG, that blames members for every single issue crippling the RPG, labels those who speak up as problematic and/or dramatic and discourages activity.