The P2TM Times (A P2TM Newspaper) Discussion Thread

by **The Starlight** » Fri Apr 10, 2015 4:00 pm

Founder/Editor-in-Chief: The Starlight

Welcome to The P2TM Times, or as Temp so desperately wants it to be called, StaRP News. (Star, being short for me, The Starlight+ RP, making StaRP.) Anyway, I came up with this in the Council to the Multiverse thanks to suggestions from Vancon and Temp. At first I had planned for this to be a simple newsletter, outlining some RPs for people to check out, but I've expanded my horizon. We'll see how this goes, and if enough people get on board, this could be really cool, and a nice addition to the P2TM community.

First of all, this is not a RP. This is a newspaper for the P2TM community. Oh, and it's not official, this is not of the mods or mentors. Here, I and anyone else who wishes to can write about pretty much anything involving RPs. That could be tips for Oping, BBcode help, advertisements, summaries or rundowns of RPs, interviews, or articles such as Finland SSR's "How Roleplays Die." I plan for this to be a biweekly paper, at least for long articles or a series of articles. Shorter things could be posted every 3 days, or every week, it all depends on YOU. Also, this could be a directory/database for RPs, just like the Advertisement Thread, but grouped into genres.

And if you're afraid you're not the best of writers, don't worry. I'll be like the General Manager/Editor/something, going over all of the articles and posting them, putting it altogether, and hopefully I'll have a small team of editors as well, willing to help out anyone and everyone who wants to write.

Ideas for P2TM Times Content

Again, this all depends on YOU, P2TM community, to make this work.

Tell me what you think, and feel free to express opinions, ideas, and comments!

Submitting Articles
As for submitting articles, please send them to my TG box, or post them in your thread. If you have a lot of links in yours, I require that you post it here, in its base BBCode form as it's very difficult to edit that. Thanks. Please add a bit about yourself, a title and all of those basic things. If you don't get a response, post here, as my TG box may be full. This thread will be the planning thread, along with discussions about topics and articles actually in the newspaper. The actual newspaper will be in another thread in which only I will post.

Editors
No more editors needed, thanks for all the interest. If you already haven't applied, please don't. Oh and editors, if you can, please endeavor to write some articles. It's not a requirement, but it sure would be helpful. Thanks!

Deadlines for Articles
For the seventh issue, the deadline for submitting articles to me will be November 1st.

Formatting
If you're a nice person and want to make my job easier, here you go!

Code: Select all: [table][tr][td][blocktext][hr][/hr][align=center][size=250][b][color=#0040BF]The P2TM Times[/color][/b][/size][/align] [hr][/hr][b]Issue X: Page X, Since 2015[/b] [floatright][b]Day of the Week, Month Day, 2015[/b][/floatright][hr][/hr] [align=center][size=150][b][u][color=PICK A COLOR]Title[/color][/u][/b][/size][/align] [size=90]By [i][nation]PUT NATION HERE[/nation][/i][/size] ARTICLE HERE [size=90][i][nation]YOUR NATION[/nation][/i] is a...[/size][hr][/hr][/blocktext][/td][/tr][/table]

Tags
Due to difficulty of editing links made into hyperlinks by the TG system, you can choose to post it here, and must if you have a lot of links. To ensure that I notice it, use the format below.

Code: Select all: [b][u][size=150][color=#000080]Submission for P2TM Times[/color][/size][/u][/b] [spoiler=PUT ARTICLE IN SPOILER][/spoiler]

Advertising
Want to support and advertise the newspaper? Put this in your sig, feel free to shorten it or change the color.

Code: Select all: [color=#0000FF][b]Reader of [url=http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=339450]The P2TM Times[/url], a biweekly P2TM newspaper on the RPs and happenings of P2TM. Check it out![/b][/color]

There is also this one, created by Ayr...

Ayreonia wrote:
Reader-The P2TM Times
Writer-The P2TM Times
Editor-The P2TM Times

Code: Select all
[background=#BFFFFF][color=#0000FF]Reader-[/color][/background][background=#0000FF][url=http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=339450][color=#BFFFFF]The P2TM Times[/color][/url][/background] [background=#BFFFFF][color=#0000FF]Writer-[/color][/background][background=#0000FF][url=http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=339450][color=#BFFFFF]The P2TM Times[/color][/url][/background] [background=#BFFFFF][color=#0000FF]Editor-[/color][/background][background=#0000FF][url=http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=339450][color=#BFFFFF]The P2TM Times[/color][/url][/background]

Full-Time Writers
If you want to be a full time writer, just fill your nation's name in the blanks after reading it. 5 consecutive articles will make you a senior writer, while 5 every other month(with my permission) will also make you a senior writer.

Code: Select all: [size=150][b]I,[/size] _____________ pledge to write at least one article per issue for the P2TM Times. My articles will not be rushed but well thought-out, with correct grammar, spelling and punctuation. I will put my full effort into these articles and attempt to deliver them on time. If a situation arises when I cannot fulfill my duties as a full-time writer, I will notify Star at the soonest opportunity. I am also aware that submitting no articles for several issues in a row without explanation may result in my status as a full-time writer being taken away. I am aware that when I complete 5 consecutive articles, I will become a senior writer. I also understand that sections of my articles may be edited for various reasons. X_________________[/b]

by **The Starlight** » Fri Apr 10, 2015 4:00 pm

Directory of Articles and Issues
One

State of the Multiverse, 4/28/15
A Character Creation Guide by Charmera, 4/28/15
A New Mentor in Town/RP Groups, 4/28/15
RP Advertisements, 4/28/15

Two

State of the Multiverse II, 5/19/15
Fantasy Races: The Elves, 5/19/15
An Interview with Min, P2TM's Newest Mentor, 5/19/15
A Multiversal Review by Zarkenis Ultima, 5/19/15
RP Advertisments II, 5/19/15

Three

Apologies and Announcements, 6/29/15
State of the Multiverse III
What is Nation RPing? by Alleniana, 6/29/15
Fantasy Races: The Dwarves, 6/29/15
Prevalence of Different Genres in P2TM by Constaniana, 6/29/15
Official Theme Song/Graveyard at the End of the Multiverse, 6/29/15
NS Summer, 6/29/15

Four

State of the Multiverse IV, 7/15/15
The Art of War by Ayreonia, 7/15/15
Fantasy Races: Humans, 7/15/15
The Shipping Corner by New Jordslag, 7/15/15
On Horror RPs, by Lavan Tiri, 7/15/15
A Year in Retrospect, by the Tophat Empire, 7/15/15
RP Advertisements III, 7/15/15

Five

State of the Multiverse V, 8/7/15
Nation RPing: Running the Gamut Pt 1, by Alleniana, 8/7/15
Fantasy Races: Dragons, 8/7/15
Merchant on the Silk Road: An Interview with Alleniana, 8/7/15
Scientific Accuracy in RPs, by Grenartia, 8/7/15

by **The Starlight** » Fri Apr 10, 2015 4:01 pm

Reserved.

by **The Starlight** » Fri Apr 10, 2015 4:01 pm

And reserved. I think that should be enough, you all can post now.

by **The Rebel Alliances** » Fri Apr 10, 2015 4:04 pm

Reserved. For Rebel's Character For the Week Award.

This shall be a thing.

by **The Starlight** » Fri Apr 10, 2015 4:05 pm

The Rebel Alliances wrote:Reserved. For Rebel's Character For the Week Award.

This shall be a thing.

Sure thing.

by **Swith Witherward** » Fri Apr 10, 2015 4:29 pm

It's a good idea. My concerns would be the amount of work you'd need to put into it, plus I'm not fond of "of the month" or "most interesting characters", mainly because "of the year" rubs many people (including me) the wrong way (popularity contests rather than unbiased selections).

I'd given some thought to a newspaper a while back. One of the ways it could work would be to have people submit things to you via TG. As editor, you decide if it's newsworthy. These are published on a fixed schedule (so there are indeed submission deadlines).

by **The Templar High Council** » Fri Apr 10, 2015 4:31 pm

Don't know what I'll be writing for next issue, but you know I'm in.

by **The Starlight** » Fri Apr 10, 2015 4:35 pm

Swith Witherward wrote:It's a good idea. My concerns would be the amount of work you'd need to put into it, plus I'm not fond of "of the month" or "most interesting characters", mainly because "of the year" rubs many people (including me) the wrong way (popularity contests rather than unbiased selections).

I'd given some thought to a newspaper a while back. One of the ways it could work would be to have people submit things to you via TG. As editor, you decide if it's newsworthy. These are published on a fixed schedule (so there are indeed submission deadlines).

We had been discussing how the "of the month" awards would work, but it's something to be cautious of. As for the amount of work, the directory/database would probably be the most. Perhaps a featured RPs list every month to make the burden easier, not just a huge list.

I'm a tiny bit afraid of getting flooded with TGs, but it's certainly an option that I'll consider. Thanks for your insightful observations.

The Templar High Council wrote:Don't know what I'll be writing for next issue, but you know I'm in.

Sure thing.

by **Esternial** » Fri Apr 10, 2015 5:04 pm

If you can keep up with the work, this will be a pretty useful addition to P2TM. The Café has/had something similar, but literally only Agritum wrote reports, and it's only a small teeny tiny section in what is already a pretty content-heavy thread, so sectioning off this kind of things and making a separate thread for it is a good call.

Since you also mentioned BB code help, I'll take the opportunity to once again mention this guide, which include some less-known BB codes such as anchors.

by **The Starlight** » Fri Apr 10, 2015 5:09 pm

Esternial wrote:If you can keep up with the work, this will be a pretty useful addition to P2TM. The Café has/had something similar, but literally only Agritum wrote reports, and it's only a small teeny tiny section in what is already a pretty content-heavy thread, so sectioning off this kind of things and making a separate thread for it is a good call.

Since you also mentioned BB code help, I'll take the opportunity to once again mention this guide, which include some less-known BB codes such as anchors.

Hopefully I can, I'll be putting in deadlines for submitting and so on and so forth.
Yep, that has helped me for some RPs, thanks for that. In the first post of the actual newspaper, I'll make sure to put links to these sorts of things.
Thanks for your input.

by **The Templar High Council** » Fri Apr 10, 2015 5:12 pm

Esternial wrote:If you can keep up with the work, this will be a pretty useful addition to P2TM. The Café has/had something similar, but literally only Agritum wrote reports, and it's only a small teeny tiny section in what is already a pretty content-heavy thread, so sectioning off this kind of things and making a separate thread for it is a good call.

Since you also mentioned BB code help, I'll take the opportunity to once again mention this guide, which include some less-known BB codes such as anchors.

Trust me, Esty, we've seen your BBcode thread.

Instead of pointing at the thread, we were imagining a small section with one or two little BBcode facts. I think we can call it: "Did You Know? BBcode!" Like, one week we can talk about the hexadecimal system for choosing colors, or how to use anchors, or combining simple codes for interesting effects.

by **Esternial** » Fri Apr 10, 2015 5:25 pm

The Templar High Council wrote:
Esternial wrote:If you can keep up with the work, this will be a pretty useful addition to P2TM. The Café has/had something similar, but literally only Agritum wrote reports, and it's only a small teeny tiny section in what is already a pretty content-heavy thread, so sectioning off this kind of things and making a separate thread for it is a good call.

Since you also mentioned BB code help, I'll take the opportunity to once again mention this guide, which include some less-known BB codes such as anchors.

Trust me, Esty, we've seen your BBcode thread.

Instead of pointing at the thread, we were imagining a small section with one or two little BBcode facts. I think we can call it: "Did You Know? BBcode!" Like, one week we can talk about the hexadecimal system for choosing colors, or how to use anchors, or combining simple codes for interesting effects.

It's ultimately your call, but don't try to pack your posts with too much information. You guys are already taking on a fair deal of subjects to talk about, and the risk of trying to be a jack-of-all-trades is that you might become master of none.

I brought up BBcodes because they are a limited subject to talk about, and they don't really change that much (or at all, even), so a guide can more than adequately compensate for it. It might be worthwile to go over what you plan on writing about and maybe sift out what might better be presented in the form of a guide and submit that to one of the Mentors, so it can be added to the P2TM Depot.

What a newspaper should be handling (in my own opinion) is subjects that change on a weekly or monthly basis. The state of affairs in P2TM, simply put.

Of course, that doesn't mean there's no room for "special editions" handling recurring issues.

by **Nature-Spirits** » Fri Apr 10, 2015 10:37 pm

This is a very interesting idea! I do agree that the "of the Month" things could be tricky to navigate, as well as that the BBcode column is probably superfluous.

One idea I had was that we could have an advice column. People can submit questions asking for advice on various RP- and P2TM-related things, a writer responds, and the response(s) is/are posted in the newspaper. The scope of it would depend on how many questions we get (or if anyone submits questions at all). If no questions were submitted, someone could search through the Café for common questions and answer those. It wouldn't have to necessarily have much consistency with how it's run, aside from the basic idea of it being about giving advice on RPing and navigating P2TM.

Another idea I had (though I couldn't undertake it) is that if someone with good drawing skills wanted to volunteer, we could have a cartoon strip. It could just be random little things with random characters, or random little things in the life of one (or a group of) character(s), or it could be a fun little story with some semblance of a plot. Maybe something satirising the kinds of people who frequent P2TM? I don't know; if someone wanted to make that a project of theirs, it would be up to them -- I'm just throwing out ideas as they occur to me.

by **Finland SSR** » Fri Apr 10, 2015 10:54 pm

So now this is going to be a thing, huh? ~~tag~~ Subscription.

I call dibs on Most Powerful/OP Character of the Week/Month/Year/whateveristhetimescale. If that is possible.

EDIT: Scratch that. The Fin Reaper is a better idea.

by **Zarkenis Ultima** » Fri Apr 10, 2015 11:41 pm

I give this idea my (unofficial

) support. I think it is a wonderful idea which might add quite a bit of spice to the community, though I also agree with my peers that the so-called "of the week/month" awards could wind up as more of a popularity contest than anything else, which is a concern.

Anyway, I'll be sure to drop another post if I can think of something useful for you lot. For now, maybe you could think about doing a section about worldbuilding.

by **The Armed Republic of Dutch Coolness** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 12:30 am

Most interesting indeed.

by **Alleniana** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 2:49 am

Ooh, this looks cool.

My suggestion, from looking at your list, for the things to include in each issue (at least to begin with) would be:
Introduction
An article
Some 'featured' RPs (advertisementy stuff

)
An interview

I imagine that help and reader-submitted stuff, since we're on a forum and not in RL, wouldn't be as necessary and could instead just be posted in response. Discussion is much easier; it's the getting material, like articles, that's hard. So, yeah, that's my take on it.

oh, and maybe make a way for articles to be found quickly; say, a unique tag to be searched, or a link of issues in the OP.

by **The Templar High Council** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 5:10 am

Alleniana wrote:Ooh, this looks cool.

My suggestion, from looking at your list, for the things to include in each issue (at least to begin with) would be:
Introduction
An article
Some 'featured' RPs (advertisementy stuff )
An interview

I imagine that help and reader-submitted stuff, since we're on a forum and not in RL, wouldn't be as necessary and could instead just be posted in response. Discussion is much easier; it's the getting material, like articles, that's hard. So, yeah, that's my take on it.

oh, and maybe make a way for articles to be found quickly; say, a unique tag to be searched, or a link of issues in the OP.

Star and I agree that the issues should have a separate thread. This one is for OOC discussions and for people who have comments.

by **Esselman** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 6:05 am

Well as someone who worked with a school newspaper for the past 3 years, I would love to be a part of this. Whether I'm submitting articles or being interviewed (though interviewing has usually been my job!)

Keeping the definite deadlines is good, while the most interesting character could stay as long as two people do it rather than one. Maybe having two submissions (and maybe a poll between the two) and both people wrote an OpED, so to speak, on why they believe it is the most interesting character, RP, what have you. It would work the same way of Democrats vs. Repub, XBOX vs PS3, just now Student vs. Pirate or Alien colonization vs. Pokemon.

by **The Templar High Council** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 6:33 am

Esselman wrote:Well as someone who worked with a school newspaper for the past 3 years, I would love to be a part of this. Whether I'm submitting articles or being interviewed (though interviewing has usually been my job!)

Keeping the definite deadlines is good, while the most interesting character could stay as long as two people do it rather than one. Maybe having two submissions (and maybe a poll between the two) and both people wrote an OpED, so to speak, on why they believe it is the most interesting character, RP, what have you. It would work the same way of Democrats vs. Repub, XBOX vs PS3, just now Student vs. Pirate or Alien colonization vs. Pokemon.

I like this. Gets the readers involved too.

by **The Starlight** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 7:47 am

Nature-Spirits wrote:This is a very interesting idea! I do agree that the "of the Month" things could be tricky to navigate, as well as that the BBcode column is probably superfluous.

One idea I had was that we could have an advice column. People can submit questions asking for advice on various RP- and P2TM-related things, a writer responds, and the response(s) is/are posted in the newspaper. The scope of it would depend on how many questions we get (or if anyone submits questions at all). If no questions were submitted, someone could search through the Café for common questions and answer those. It wouldn't have to necessarily have much consistency with how it's run, aside from the basic idea of it being about giving advice on RPing and navigating P2TM.

Another idea I had (though I couldn't undertake it) is that if someone with good drawing skills wanted to volunteer, we could have a cartoon strip. It could just be random little things with random characters, or random little things in the life of one (or a group of) character(s), or it could be a fun little story with some semblance of a plot. Maybe something satirising the kinds of people who frequent P2TM? I don't know; if someone wanted to make that a project of theirs, it would be up to them -- I'm just throwing out ideas as they occur to me.

The idea of an advice column sounds great to me, and so do the cartoon strips. We'll see if we can get a good drawer on board.

Alleniana wrote:Ooh, this looks cool.

My suggestion, from looking at your list, for the things to include in each issue (at least to begin with) would be:
Introduction
An article
Some 'featured' RPs (advertisementy stuff )
An interview

I imagine that help and reader-submitted stuff, since we're on a forum and not in RL, wouldn't be as necessary and could instead just be posted in response. Discussion is much easier; it's the getting material, like articles, that's hard. So, yeah, that's my take on it.

oh, and maybe make a way for articles to be found quickly; say, a unique tag to be searched, or a link of issues in the OP.

As Temp has already told you, the issues will be in another thread, but sure, the introduction sounds nice. I'll be putting a link to the issues, and specific articles in here, once they're up.

Esselman wrote:Well as someone who worked with a school newspaper for the past 3 years, I would love to be a part of this. Whether I'm submitting articles or being interviewed (though interviewing has usually been my job!)

Keeping the definite deadlines is good, while the most interesting character could stay as long as two people do it rather than one. Maybe having two submissions (and maybe a poll between the two) and both people wrote an OpED, so to speak, on why they believe it is the most interesting character, RP, what have you. It would work the same way of Democrats vs. Repub, XBOX vs PS3, just now Student vs. Pirate or Alien colonization vs. Pokemon.

Welcome! That's another interesting idea of how to do things, and we'll definitely consider it.

Zarkenis Ultima wrote:I give this idea my (unofficial ) support. I think it is a wonderful idea which might add quite a bit of spice to the community, though I also agree with my peers that the so-called "of the week/month" awards could wind up as more of a popularity contest than anything else, which is a concern.

Anyway, I'll be sure to drop another post if I can think of something useful for you lot. For now, maybe you could think about doing a section about worldbuilding.

Thanks Zark, and the worldbuilding sounds quite nice. Maybe I'll do that, we'll see.

by **Constaniana** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 1:24 pm

This looks pretty nifty. Thumbs up.

by **The Starlight** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 1:25 pm

Constaniana wrote:This looks pretty nifty. Thumbs up.

Thanks Const.

by **Rob Halfordia** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 1:29 pm

I'd like a bit called "The Rageaholic" in which I rant about various things, like overused RP ideas, and stuff like that.

The P2TM Times (A P2TM Newspaper) Discussion Thread

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