Helpful Teddy Is Helpful

I'm in favour of anything that makes things simpler but I'm not sure exactly how your suggestion would work. It sounds to me like what we're already using each character's bingo book for.

If what you're suggesting however is a player making a single thread for all of their current and future jutsu apps (or item apps, or both; however we'd swing it) I can think of some obstacles we'd face. I'll list them for clarity:
- How this would be executed would present a problem. There are two ways I see it being done. First, all the jutsu in one single post, updated as a person creates and buys new techniques. The issue with this is that the staff don't get notified every time someone edits their thread, so the member would have to make a post notifying staff, eliminating the ability for staff to just drive through all the topics with new posts. The second way is for a person to make a new post in their jutsu thread for every new technique. This fixes the first problem but adds an issue with clutter as staff may not approve a technique and even if they do they also have to confirm that a person wants to buy it, amounting to 3-5 posts for each jutsu. Staff can prune these threads but this ends up adding more work for staff in the end, which is counter-productive to the reason we'd implement this. Alternatively staff could do all of these things through PM but that would require staff to not only keep track of a lot more independent threads (the PM threads with each member as well as the jutsu threads) but also which staff member is handling what justu, to avoid duplication. This again amounts to more work for the staff team and creates the possibility of confusion and frustration on both the members and the staffers end.
- Now even if it means more work for the staff, I'd still be OK with that if it meant less work for the member. With that said, at the end of the day regular members would still be doing the exact same amount of work as there wouldn't physically be a change to the way jutsu are apped. Just the overall format in which they are posted.
- I briefly touched on this above, but if we changed this system for jutsu, it would only make sense to change it for all of the applications (because uniformity is important). This would include pets/items/summons. These could all have their own independent threads or one big one. If we did one big one, we'd face the clutter/confusion problem as you wouldn't know where in a thread of potentially several pages a specific technique or item was if you were say, in a fight with that person. In my opinion, the better method would be to keep them separate but have one thread for each section. The problem with this would be simply that we'd have to introduce an (albeit simple) format for this, with guidelines (clarifying the points above) for each one. While ultimately this would be simple to do for staff, this can make the process look more daunting than it is for new members who just want to get into the RP, instead of set up 3-5 separate threads before they can get going. With that said, there are some who would argue our current system is daunting, even if I personally find it simpler. This largely boils down to preference.
- Finally, this system would ultimately eliminate the need for the final portion of the bingo book, at least in the way we do it now. Not a big problem, as we'd just change the item/jutsu section to a simple link to each respective thread. But because I hate duplication, it would be a necessary change regardless. The problem with this would simply be that there isn't a central location for all of a character's information anymore. To look up a specific skill you'd have to go to that respective jutsu list and scroll through it until you found what you were looking for, instead of simply going to the person's bingo book and clicking on the technique/item link.

Despite how it may sound, I am open to the idea of modifying how we handle these apps so long as the change is beneficial to the members and to a lesser degree, the staff team, and not just an arbitrary change for the sake of change. I like the concept you're presenting, mainly because it makes everything look a lot cleaner, especially for new members who are scoping the place out. But we would have to come up with a way to address my concerns before taking any steps forward.

It might just be the fact it is 0700 where I am and I'm at the tail end of a night shift, but I don't currently have any ideas. Please review what I've said here and let's discuss this at greater length to see if there is a way we could make this work. I'd appreciate input from anyone/everyone on this point. If you've seen a system similar to the one Teddy is describing in action somewhere else, perhaps you could give us a brief overview of how they've made it work.

Sorry for the long post. If anyone has any questions or concerns regarding this post or would like clarity on anything I've said, please don't hesitate to ask. As stated, it's very late for me so my thoughts may not have correctly translated to text so I apologize for any confusion.