Eighth Issue - November 20, 2013

Station Square Times
Nuntiantes in nova nuntia referens, singulis hebdomadis!
Issue 8, Vol. 1


Settling Up?

A noticeable dip in activity took its toll in prior weeks, but internal consistency is beginning to re-stabilize.  This may be due to the holiday season rapidly approaching in the weeks to come.  Or, perhaps, it may be in spite of this annual social season.  In either case, forum activity has risen again!   Members are stopping by, even just to check in, and more are arriving.  Hope is in the air.  Since hope is in the air again, we expect improvement as we look towards the future, and a sense of accomplishment and ability to accomplish.


Interview with Burning-Fox
Interview by SST Editor Quiet Light

Quiet Light: Greetings, readers. This is Quiet Light, coming to you from the Station Square Times, and today our interviewee is fearless administrator Burning-Fox. How are you, Burn?
Burning-Fox: I'm great, thanks. Nice to finally actually get a chance for you to interview me and all. Just been viewing over a few of the posts on the site and all that.
Light: Good to hear that you're well. Now, you've been administrating SRN for how long...?
Burn: ...Oh, wow. Let me think...I can't give the exact time since Sythe removed the posts she made about the actual "making me admin". But I can estimate about a couple of months or so. I got admin literally a month after I returned to SRN after the majority of the veteran members and I were at SFU. So quite a while. Sorry for not being specific though.
Light: It's fine. For those who may not know, 'SFU' was what?
Burn: It was a site that was owned and ran by "Slade22082" who used to be one of the most active members on the forum and top poster until the big move. An argument of sorts where feelings were hurt caused the move in the first place. Not going into details, but that's why we switched over in the first place. No active admin meant rules could be broken without consequence. In fact that's one of the main reasons I decided to try to get admin in the first place; there was a lack of an actual active admin. Anyway the site SFU has been "reborn" under the title of "Parallel Lives" in case any of you want to look it up. It has many, many old posts there with older versions of my character bunch. Oh lord what a laugh. XD
Light: Heh. About done with the history questions, just one more: From your viewpoint, how has SRN changed over time - Or has it not changed much at all?
Burn: It's changed a LOT... Let's see. Back in the day... about, two years back or something like that.  It used to be a really, really quiet place surprisingly. Not many people got on. Only a specific group of people actually.
Burn: Originally it was me, Aqua and Spynmaster when I joined. Then Armquest, and Spark, Skye, Slade, Punk, etc. etc. kept coming and coming. We had a lovely little community and things went really smoothly. Recently it was utter chaos everyday, the topics were all over the place. I did kind of re-organize everything, and it seems things are under control once more, but the site has definitely changed. People have grown up, new people have become more frequent, the graphics have changed a lot (as in what it looks like) and of course the roleplays that take place have gotten more serious. And in character? The majority of the older characters have changed. One heck of a great deal.
Light: Care to elaborate on the last point?
Burn: The characters? Well, of course over time people realise their characters aren't the way they want. And development happens and all that. Some age, some get stronger, some get weaker, all that. I know mine have changed for definite, considering my character Darkness was originally a hedgehog. Lots of changes have got him in particular to where he is.
Light: Changed in a good way, then. It sounds also like the rest of the developments you've mentioned have been a benefit to the forum. Is that an accurate reading?
Burn: To some, yeah. Although I know a few people who miss the "good old days". Can't argue with them. I'm not a fan of change myself, ironically.
Light: Interesting. Well, the talk of the past leads up to the present. We've recently seen such developments as a newspaper, a spike in 1x1 RPs, and a series of organized RPs intended to separate and converge in a complex web. I'm admittedly fairly guilty in not helping the last of those, but I'd like your thoughts on each of those three and any other present-day issues you see.  A complicated question, yes, so please, take your time.
Burn: The newspaper is an idea I'm quite fond of, it does seem to be getting popular. And the fact there's an In Character one in the new Station Square makes it really cool when it comes to roleplaying. I'm not too fond of 1 on 1 RPs myself, but that's opinion. Mainly because of the fact it restricts what the whole point of the site is for anyway. Roleplaying together. I see roleplaying one on one in a public forum to be pointless, it's always nice to have it so everyone can join in. Only exceptions are when no other character could possibly interfere. Then, it's for 1x1s. Although, they SHOULD be taken somewhere else. I've done it before on the forum numerous times, I know. And organized RPs are probably the ones that would go longer. A completely random RP can die easily in most places, as things to say are easily taken away. If things are planned, however, it can go on for an extremely long amount of time. I do like to see RPs lasting more than a week, so if anything, I encourage RP planning and all that.
Light: All right. A bit of a personal question, now. Since you're more or less the forum leader, what (if anything) do you want to be remembered for when, at some probably distant future point, leadership passes on to someone else?
Burn: For getting things back on track and organizing the site. When it IS passed down, I'd like a lot of my changes to stay, but if not, I'd at least like to be remembered as an admin that could graphics design, roleplay okay, and treat members equally. Something that I rarely find, to be honest. Although I hope to stick around as long as I can!
Light: And what do you look for in your members?
Burn: Loyalty for one, respect to each other secondly, and of course, the ability to RP well. Or to learn from mistakes. Although I like every member equally, don't you worry.
Light: Glad to hear that. So on a similar note as we wind down, do you have any advice for the whole forum? Diplomatic if you think necessary, but with a focus on honesty.
Burn: Advice in general or RPing? Or even both?
Light: Both if you'd like.
Burn: Well then. My main advice in general anyway is to respect eachother and make regular visits. Even if you can't stick around long, it doesn't hurt to log on for a second to see how everyone is. If you start an RP, be sure to actively post in it, and try your hardest to see it through to the end. Finally, if you're struggling to make longer posts and advance from being a one liner, then try to go outside of the character themselves. Explain not just their feelings or expressions, but the feelings they have as a result of the events that are happening, and WHY they're having those feelings. Can you explain why your character gets angry so easily? Also, it helps if you explain your surroundings too. The smallest bit of detail can help you go from one liners to a paragraph if you try hard enough. If you push yourself, you can type out a small novel for just replying to "How are you?" It's amazing what people type! Anyhow, stay safe to everyone, stick around, and be sure to enjoy yourselves. That's the key thing. Oh, and try to tell us if you're going away. It's not nice when someone randomly vanishes into nothingness.
Burn: I take it that's all?
Light: One more. Any other words you'd like to share as we close, especially as to where you're looking towards the future?
Burn: For the future hm? Well. I can't look into the future, but I can hope. I'd very much love to see this place stay together for as long as possible... The question is who do I trust enough to be a descendent. Aha. Anyway, that's all I can really say myself. Unless you want a story about my personal goals.  Anyway, I'm out of time anyway, so yeah. Peace to all of you readers. Burning-Fox - OUT.
Light: Thanks for being here!

Image of the Week
Sonic looks cool when he holds stuff, right?  Let's see just how much stuff!

Credit to DeviantArt user Thomaier.


RP Tip of the Week

(Excerpt from interview.)
"If you start an RP, be sure to actively post in it, and try your hardest to see it through to the end. Finally, if you're struggling to make longer posts and advance from being a one liner, then try to go outside of the character themselves. Explain not just their feelings or expressions, but the feelings they have as a result of the events that are happening, and WHY they're having those feelings. Can you explain why your character gets angry so easily? Also, it helps if you explain your surroundings too. The smallest bit of detail can help you go from one liners to a paragraph if you try hard enough. If you push yourself, you can type out a small novel for just replying to "How are you?" It's amazing what people type!"
- Burning-Fox


Letters to the Editor

No letters this week.  Feel free to contact the editor, whose information can be found at the bottom of the sheet.  Post here, or send a message in if you prefer to remain anonymous.


Introductions & Birthdays

This section notes any users who have recently entered and written introduction threads within the past week.
On Sunday, the 17th, we welcomed KK-Afterbrun.  Intro thread can be found [https://sonicrpnation.forumotion.com/t1992-greetings]here.[/url]
On Tuesday, the 19th, we welcomed vegetaovr9000.  Intro thread can be found here.

Also, this past week we celebrated the birthdays of Moths and Soul Eater; and this coming week, we'll celebrate the birthdays of CyanAqua, MissChaLaLa, Shadow Hedgehog, and Sythe.  Wish them a happy birthday if you see them around!


Have ideas for the RP tip or the weekly picture, or an anonymous letter?  Send the editor a message!