When I was there, there was a lot of tension amongst staff and zero consensus on how to handle matters. Insta-bans were frequent. It was hard to keep people active in threads–or get anyone in a thread at all–if you weren’t interested in guilds. They (including the staff) took debate too seriously and a lot of members felt slighted in the debate forum. I was never banned, but there was always a general feeling that if you weren’t in on the guild stuff and didn’t have a few friends in the mods, you weren’t part of the “clique.”

And I had some reeeeaaaal issues with staff. It’s one of the reasons why I found it so important to tell you how happy I was with your staff, Eric.

link:
http://s11.zetaboards.com/Roleplay_Adventures/index/

Also, I’ve noticed that one reason they don’t get involved with other rp sites is becasue most other rp sites are very inactive or they just suck. There are good ones, of course. But if another site is good and RPGC is good, we really don’t need each other.

I do not feel myself burdened by the rules, either. Theya re very straightforward and fairly easy to follow. (Though I disagree with the one decision of your banning. Meh.)

Overall, it is one of the more balanced sites when it comes to quality, activity, and fun that I have been to.

First thought:
They ban you for advertisement?

Because OBVIOUSLY you were a walking billboard and completely ruining their membership.

It sounds like RpgChat needs to loosen its belt and lift the burden off their players.
They’re only hurting themselves.

Heck, the thing didn’t even link to anything, it was just a title. Meh, whatever. Maybe someone from their staff will contact me about it.

Treize Khushrenada, I’m not representing rpgchat here. I’m just a random internet person who has talked a bit with Eric and shared an occasional stumble.

If all of these points are true, the site can only benefit from what “outsiders” have to say, since they aren’t ingrained with the tired and sad patriotism of long-standing group members (a particular jab at AM, not RPGChat).

Please also feel free to offer us at RoleplayGateway criticisms of the same sort. We would welcome them and hopefully grow from them.

All in all, I’m only attempting to highlight the the things they do great, and some improvements they could make to do even better. I don’t aim to be the bad guy, and while I participated there, I really tried my best to be a good member, by participating actively in the welcome forum, and providing ample feedback in other threads.

I don’t see online communities as competitors, and instead I see them as being social - I can only hope to improve other communities, and by no intent to I hope to drag them down. If I can provide constructive criticism, I will, if not, I don’t say a word.

Thanks for your feedback!

The rules pretty explicitly condemn advertising in anything but website-part of the profile. The idea that competition is somehow bad is, of course, pretty suspect, but that is their call.

Eric, frankly, this comes off as less than polite. That probably wasn’t the intention, so let me elaborate.

You went there, broke the rules (unless they were changed post-banning, which I doubt), became the most active member (Cynical me can read this in two ways: Either you spammed a lot or you imply that most members are not very active).

The SEO stuff can be considered as constructive criticism or unsolicited sniping. One should also consider how relevant it is: They are not necessarily very considered with SEO, especially with regards to random forum threads.

All in all: Given how you were banned for evidently breaking the rules, are a “competitor” (as much meaning as that may have in internet realm of fan communities and hobbyists), and criticise them, my first impression of you would not be very good, if this was the post creating it. There are also positive parts, but they read like they are there to make your stance look more objective. The last part does sound more genuine.

Take care and don’t post website reviews immediately (well, ten days) after being banned. This is not intended as an attack.