Recently, there have been some issues with the Taken Characters List regarding clean up and detailing that we would really, really appreciate your help with. Many people drop characters everyday, and while your comments to the Add/Remove List are exceedingly helpful, they aren't always caught in time and relying on those comments makes it difficult, though not impossible, to keep the Taken List as up to date as possible. Sometimes people neglect to comment to the Add/Remove List at all, and while scouring poly_tldr is also helpful, it is often difficult to judge how far back one should go in order to discern who, exactly, has dropped.

To help us out, we are asking and reminding that you please delete your information from the Taken List whenever you drop a character, so that incoming players who are browsing the lists don't get confused as to why Stick Stickly is still listed as a Taken Character when he has not updated since January of '08. On top of that, we would greatly appreciate it if, when you remove your character from his or her specific section - Rukia from the Bleach section, for example - and find that the section is now empty, you would comment to the page here letting us know that the section is now empty and can be removed from the list overall.

These are time consuming and somewhat annoying steps, but they do help to facilitate game play, and if they could become common practice it would be a huge help both to moderators and, more importantly, to new players coming into the game with hopes of apping a beloved character.

Lately we have noticed an increasing trend in placing quotations in applications to better detail personality sections and spruce up the application itself. While these quotations are insightful and sometimes amusing, we are going to have to ask that if you do place quotations in your applications, you please do so in an expository manner.

When moderators read an application, we are looking for your personal understanding of the character, and if your application is littered with and relies heavily on the use of quotations to explain the character, that does not, unfortunately, prove to us that you are comfortable or familiar with the character that you are applying for. While some quotations can add to the overall effect of an application, can enhance it or help to outline and detail it, when those quotations are manipulated by decorative font or overpower your background specifics, it makes it very difficult for moderators to read, and we are going to ask that you either include the quotations in a way that helps your application rather than becomes your application or that players stop using them altogether.

This may sound harsh and creatively limiting, but as applications are an important part of the game itself, we would really appreciate it if they could be kept under control. If you would like to include quotations in your application, we request that they be non-decorative and flow with the rest of the application in that the quotations themselves remain the same font size as the text around it. Using <BLOCKQUOTE> to offset the quotation itself is fine, but please do not use distracting font sizes, faces, and colors that might otherwise take away from your application, which is what we really are interested in and looking forward to seeing, and please do not let the quotations themselves overpower the application.

We also would like to take this time to ask, with new movies coming out this summer, that players please, please not include in their application sections that need to be highlighted in order to be read. Instead, we ask that you make mention somewhere that your application will contain spoilers for those who would like to remain in the dark about certain events and characterizations. While we definitely understand that you, as a player, are trying to be considerate to others who don't want to be spoiled, it makes the application very hard to read and if applications are submitted in this manner, we will ask that you resubmit them without whited-out text.

Finally, while we understand the desire and urge to correct typos and small mistakes made after an application has been submitted, we urge you to please not edit your applications in any capacity after they have received a 'Queued' notice. We cannot always tell what in an application has been edited, only that it has been edited, and so we would greatly appreciate it if applications remain as they are after they have been queued to avoid confusion in certain instances.