[Shizu Amaya]

I feel as if Fallen Blades needs another or more mods. I see a lot of new members leave because their apps take nearly a month to get a 1/2 on them. On average it takes two to three weeks for any of my apps to get a 1/2 after posting in the notify thread. Especially if you're character requires custom jutsu and weapons which need to be completed before you can put the app up for approval it can take a very long time to begin RPing. I've been here since mid August and haven't been able to yet (partly because I scrapped a character in the process). 

You are all clearly busy, and of course that is understandable. (especially with midterms / finals). My suggestion is more support staff, someone or some people who may not be as busy as everyone else is. The lengthy times I can tell deter a lot of new members who could switch to another site which may be less put together as ours, but they can be RPing within a week. 

I'm not trying to be shady or complain about my own profile. I have unreliable access to internet so I don't really mind waiting. 

[Aika]

Hi! Thank you for your concern! We take all suggestions seriously.

And here's the thing.

We are painfully aware how long it takes for a character to have their app approved. The unfortunate problem one has with having such an extensive site where one is pretty much free to do what they so desire is to have a certain level of guidelines and rules in which one can go 'creatively' wild. And with that freedom comes a heavy level of browsing from the mod team as a whole. Apps do not get 'ignored' or their noses turned up at depending on what it is - each app takes a varying length of time dependent on how complex the character is.

If you make an Academy Student, no personal items, no familiars and a history of, say, no more than 200 words then you betcha that guy will get approved within a couple of days.

But the problem with that is not everyone wants to play an Academy Student. Many people who come to this site enjoy the customisation element, so we tend to end up with a proportionate number more of Elite Jounin, Nukes, people wanting to make Sages. These characters take a consistently longer length of time, simply because if you have a jutsu list of 50 jutsu, three shiny weapons and then your character with a book length history, we have to spend a long, long period of time ensuring those things maintain a standard so that Bob Uchiha with the 50 tomoe's doesn't nuke Konoha and make the Free State of Edge Lordness. And with that kind of maintenance, one arguably could be a little more patient.

Then you're probably sitting there thinking that I've missed the point entirely because there are some apps on the notify that don't seem to complex and arguably could be done in much sweeter a time than a week or two. I getcha. Except we don't ignore them. Every single app on that list is reviewed by us and, while I can't speak for every mod, I bet it's probably safe to assume that they've read it too. If something has been sat waiting for a particular length of time, there is a reason for it. That could be a varying array of things. Lemme run through scenarios of why this happens:

1) That jutsu list is, like I said earlier, 50 jutsu and takes a significant time period to go through individually to ensure each one is fair and not going to have a buttload of members coming to us with issues down the line. That weapon that seemingly doesn't seem too bad, actually - it is bad, and a little more complicated to tackle because we don't like to say no to everyone. So we sit on it and contemplate it. I sit in work and wonder how I'm going to let someone have a sword that can cut through a moon, how do I make that remotely acceptable?

Then we run into the age old problem.

2) I tell you that you can't have the super duper bomb jutsu because its kinda impractical. You get mighty offended because you spent quite a while of your hobby time crafting this magnificent jutsu that I've apparently just shit all over. And how dare I, because I'm not your mom and so on and so on. You might think I'm joking but I've had this happen. See: my signature.

And then we end up with a new breed of problem, the super duper bomb you mentioned earlier is actually only the first of three things you want me to look at.

3) So here I am after nearly smashing my face through the computer screen once I've finished arguing with you and you thinking I'm a massive doucheturd for saying no first off, now I'm deciding how I'm going to tell you that literally all of your characters stuff is improbable and needs significant edits.

Moving on from that point though, now I've been as honest as I can with you about how we tackle the notify list. Let me move on to you suggesting we don't have enough mods.

This is more difficult to explain than every other issue you've laid down, simply because what I'm about to say arguably could either have you going 'yeah that makes sense' or 'no, you giant whackamole you're an idiot.' Our mod team is specific for a reason. Are you aware once upon a time we had a bigger mod team than what we do now? Except there was a huge problem with having a huge mod team because everyone who was on it was coming from a different perspective with their own agenda. It has taken us 5 years to get to a point where we feel comfortably acceptable about who is on our team and what we all aim for. We don't intend to expand on our team because taking someone else into the fold requires a certain level of trust that they are on the same wavelength. There is a big discussion to be had with the staff for if and when we take on a new mod. And maybe we will. Maybe we won't. Discussions are had, believe you me, but we don't air them.

Now you're probably thinking: 'Ok I get all that but to be fair half of you don't mod anyway'. That's the more difficult problem. There are reasons why some mod more than others. There are reasons why on average the notify waiting time is dictated by seasons and school semesters. Not all of us on the mod team are students. I don't actually think any one on the mod team is a student. But we all work full time and we all have lives outside of the site that require maintenance too. I work 60 hours a week, sometimes 70. Natsu has two kids she raises full time, Yoshi just moved into a new apartment. Haru, I believe, is struggling with bushfires in California. Q just stopped, from what I can gather, running his bosses company for him. Admittedly there are periods, like the last month or so, where we do have a hard time keeping up with the notify but we also are brutally aware that there are things waiting. And we ask you for patience. Because we don't get paid for modding. We do it of our own volition, when we could quite easily just RP.

So, while I appreciate your frustration of the wait times, and I appreciate your solution to the issue, what I ask of you is patience. I am not happy that some people wait a few weeks for a new character to be approved with all the belts and whistles. Honestly I am not. But what I do ask is that you don't take it personally when your hobby is put on hold for a few extra days while we try to maintain. We get to them as quick as we can. We are eternally grateful when you do decide to remain on site.

[Shizu Amaya]

Thanks for the response! When I was writing it I also was thinking about the same issue, you can't just appoint someone to mod because you all need to, relatively, be on the same page. I definitely would not ever want to be a mod, it is a lot of work.

I definitely didn't intend it to be a quick fix kind of thing, adding a mod is difficult and risky. I thought it may be a long term thing to think about. I'm still here and not going anywhere, I have enough patience. However, I know not everyone has that and I notice we have a high rate of new members (which is crazy for RP sites nowadays) but also I noticed a high rate of people who disappear.

The reason I suggested it is exactly because whenever I have talked to any mods you have all talked about how stressed/busy you are and it may relieve any stress you have because of Fallen Blades. We all appreciate that you all make time for this.

My second idea was something like soft mods. People who were considered knowledgeable enough to assist in posted apps to make them ready for approvable. Perhaps not someone who can add a 1/2 but someone who could get a profile to a point where the 1/2 and 2/2 were much smoother.