The IC forums

[Nuclear Catastrophe]

Try to keep as much OOC information out of the forums as you can.

Does anyone else agree with me that it is quite jarring when you see //'s and (())'s everywhere?

[FleetingHeart]

Yar.

[Halfbrood]

I don't mind it when maybe its just a line noting a time, but yeah. When it's basically an entire paragraph, it kind of irks me.

I also prefer Merchant postings when items are described fully, and with minimal OOC tags which give PCs a chance to interact more.

[Egon the Monkey]

I try to keep the obviousness of OOC info I need to keep in there down by changing the colour to black so it doesn't snow up much. Might start reducing text sizes for it too, but OOC info rather than long running IC explanations is useful rather than spending 5 minutes an item writing descriptions up.

Examples:
//OOC info
//OOC info in black for de-emphasis
//OOC info in black small font

[Nuclear Catastrophe]

Egon, I find that grating too.

Is it really necessary?  The description of the item should be enough.

They can then interact with you to find out what things do, as HB said, to give you a more immersive experience, I guess.

[Sion Ti'ren]

I often use (( in the in character forums to show notations. such as.
 

((the letter is found with a blood stained map attatched to it))
 
image of map here

is that acceptable?

[TheImpossibleDream]

I often use (( in the in character forums to show notations. such as.
 

 
is that acceptable?

Don't need ooc brackets for that as its ic info. Just use emote format!

Example:

[The letter is found with a blood stained map attached to it.]

[Broken Crockery]

NC, I would disagree with the item thing. The forums cross timezones in a way players can't. That is their purpose. Brief ooc statements are sometimes needed for this.

[BoomdaddyBP]

I think that if you have to meet him the person IG to purchase an item either way then just coordinating a meeting time is all you need and you can find out the specific perks when you do (or the IC description can give you a good enough idea). Time is fine and often needed, as we all know it is the hardest thing because everyone is on different times. He just wants to minimize all the OOC that is unnecessary.

I also agree that trying to use as little OOC as possible makes things better. IC descriptions are always better then taking the route of just slapping down all the OOC info. Make them come find you and see what you have (then make them buy other stuff that they wouldn't normally make the trouble of finding you for ;-) ).

[MrGrendel]

Item properties are not completely OOC things, their effects are very real in-character. You can use in-character words to describe them.
 
For instance, a spear with +2 AC (Deflection) and -2 wisdom would simply be,
 
"Selling a spear that is moderately enchanted to deflect blows, but makes the wielder more prone to foolish choices."
 
Personally I prefer this, though I don't really have any issue with short (( )) tags. I do think it looks much nicer when you put them in black, and perhaps smaller font, too.

[Vlaid]

Until we can list item properties ICly in their mechanical nature, I'm fine with the //+2 AC bonus tags.

I believe it's a necessary evil, there is often a huge difference between one item that "improves your ability to deflect blows and resist poison" which is a +1 Deflection AC and +1 poisons saves, and another item which is +2 deflection AC and +3 poison saves.

Putting the OOC in black text seems a nice touch to me. You have to actually highlight it to read it....and if that's breaking your immersion, that's pretty crazy. You can choose to just not highlight it.

[artfuldodger99]

Don't find it jarring personally, as long as some effort is made to minimise the font etc. Though i understand NC's point.
 
I know it may be a "use common sense" thing, but given this is the second time a post has been raised on this, maybe some guidance on a Sticky for the IC forums could be written by the DM's?
 
Some guidance like: minimising wherever possible, using smaller font, using black text etc. would be helpful?
 
I put OOC descriptions on my PC's trading post mainly due to getting contacted a lot OOC when they didn't have OOC descriptions when i initially made the post. It was the lesser of two evils.
 
Though of course if the consensus is to remove them, I am happy to do so.

[derfo]

i don't see why you can't just write "this is protective" instead of //+1 ac

[artfuldodger99]

Derf, you can put that, i did.
 
Its just after that i got a bunch of OOC tells and IRC questions about what certain items did, so starting putting the info on.
 
Not a big deal to me. But if it is to others, happy to change it.