A Friendly Suggestion or Two

[Jinx]

Hey, PTAV! I'd just like to make a few suggestions for the benefit of the site, based on my previous roleplaying experiences. Naturally, it goes without saying that it's entirely up to you if you act on them or not.

1a. I think you should change a few things about the skin. At the very least, I suggest a few side bars. In the side bars, you could list staff members—this makes it easier on the new members—OTM related things (should you choose to implement OTM voting, that is), announcements, and the like. Perhaps even a counter, listing how many heroes, villains, civilians, ect. that we have. A side bar would also be a more convenient location for the chat box, and a possible place to add that IC Box you were considering.

1b. I love the skin—it's beautiful—but you may want to consider something... More action-y? In its current state, it just doesn't seem to fit the vibe of Teen Titans all that well. But again, that's up to you!

2. Have you considered Of the Month voting or Character Spotlights? I know at this moment in time, we don't have a lot of characters to choose from, but you might want to consider it in the future. From what I've seen, the voting is beneficial because it makes roleplayers pay a little more attention to other characters than their own, and just generally brings the forum closer together.

3. Why do we have a section for Anti-Heroes, but not for Anti-Villains?

I'm sorry if this is to forward, and I definitely don't mean to stick my nose where it doesn't belong. I'm just trying to give a few helpful suggestions that I believe will benefit us all, in the end.

[PTAV]

Those are all very good suggestions, and ones that I do plan on implementing eventually! The main problem with getting these things done right now is that I have only the basest knowledge of coding and skinning when it comes to forum sites. This skin is a placeholder until I can find another suitable to be the default skin. I'm also reading up on script-coding and testing out things in the Staff Lounge (and man it's a good thing non-staff can't look in there, considering).

OTM voting is totally going to be a thing, too! I'm just waiting for the board's activity to pick up some more before that all gets started up.

As for why there's a section for Anti-Heroes and not one for Anti-Villains; my reasoning is that despite sharing the same general goals as Heroes, Anti-Heroes are distinctive enough in their methods to actually warrant a different descriptor which is frequently referred to even in the actual medium. I can see the idea behind an Anti-Villain category, with the members possibly being villains with a strict moral code (like Captain Cold) or villains with morally justifiable goals that routinely find themselves at odd with heroes and other villains. The problem I see with making it a character category, however, is that there doesn't seem to be a unifying idea of what an Anti-Villain is. Usually they're described as a "misunderstood villain", or "troubled villain", or some other similar term. If a simple description of what an Anti-Villain entails could be hammered down, then I would be open to actually adding in the category.

[Jinx]

Thank you for taking the time to read and respond to my suggestions. ^^ I'm glad to see these features will be implemented in the future. Ah yes. The terrors of coding. I myself have very little knowledge of it, and know nothing beyond editing dohtml codes, which is only applicable in Invisionfree sites. I have made my hand of attempts at skinning, and I understand your difficulties. I wish you well in your learning of how it works!

As for what an Anti-Villain is, I see your point. My understanding of what an Anti-Villlain is is a bit different, so I'll draw from the ever amazing and magnificent TvTropes.org to attempt to explain the notion.

"The Anti-Villain is a villain with heroic goals, personality traits, and virtues. Their desired ends are good, but their means of getting there are evil. Anti-Villain is an attempt to humanize, to lighten up, a villain as opposed to Anti-Hero, which has a tendency to darken the hero. Despite this humanizing characterization, they are rarely less dangerous; heroes won't know what to expect when their enemy offers cookies and then attacks their reputation, without giving them an excuse to rationalize killing them."

Looking at it now, I can see exactly why there wouldn't be a section for Anti-Villains. The definition does seem to vary. I just found the idea of a villain who offers the heroes cookies (figuratively and literally!) supremely amusing... So if you wish not to create an additional category, that seems perfectly reasonable.