YewClan discussion thread

Ooh, what’s happening next moon?!

Yes lol 😂

Me too!

Also! I'd like to open a conversation with you all about formally making YewClan a closed/invite only rp.

What this would change: new players that would like to join the rp would be heavily encouraged to try out PlumClan first, as a sort of "proving ground" for activity. From my view managing this rp, the most friction comes from having characters that are constantly changing hands, and so get little characterization or a frequently changing personality as people come in, rp once or twice, and then disappear. By formally closing the rp, some characters might be open (and need to be NPC'd) for longer, but hopefully when they are matched to a player, that player would be here to stay, rather than the rp toggling between open/closed after activity checks, only for the character to be claimed and never rp'd in between.

I would be looking for at least four moons (two weeks) of activity with PlumClan's format, along with showcasing an ability to give a character depth in their replies to match what all yall awesome peeps put forth for YewClan.

PlumClan was always meant to be a fun, drop-in/drop-out version of this format, so I don't even mind if people use it as a tryout for YewClan and drop out once they get their qualification to move here if they only want to balance one of the two groups. But using PlumClan as an in-between trial period would reduce the chances of new members ghosting the rp and/or leaving characters in claim stasis where they can't be NPC'd and they aren't being rp'd either.

And PlumClan will, as always, remain completely open for anyone to join for their Clangen rp needs ^^ Half the reason I made it in the first place is so that I could have the opportunity to close or limit YewClan without removing the only Clangen niche from the ecosystem

Let me know yalls thoughts on this, positive and negative, and any other questions you might have with the above plan ^^

I am glad you see it that way! I do want to make a format that everyone can be happy with, but some things are, by necessity, mutually exclusive: having a solid group of people is good, but having something that is easy to jump in and out of is also good. I am really happy with the diversity of players PlumClan is attracting! I really wanted to open the format up to new players without compromising the flow of what YewClan already is, and I think PlumClan has accomplished that goal well.

I do think keeping PlumClan open but making YewClan a little more exclusive will benefit both groups and make the roleplay flow better. I'm also just a BIT scared because closed rp's aren't very common here and I don't want to be like? mean about it? but also I want to make sure people are going to mean it when they join so there aren't so many loose threads.


you are super kind ;-; it's really everyone that chooses to stay active that makes this rp great!

tho I won't deny, this place takes a LOT of upkeep time... but most of it is fun stuff (except front page editing... which is just awful uh. which is why I'm a bit lazy with it eheh) (and patrols can get a BIT tedious with the copy/pastes, but there's enough variety to make that more manageable a task)

I... wouldn't be opposed to adding FlowerClan and BurdockClan to the mix if this group got their own sub. But certainly not all at once and probably not any time soon? I just don't think there'd be enough interest to fill them quite yet, and I'm not gonna ask yall to spread yourself thin (or tempt yall with more cats. I'd rather people stay active in one Clan than struggle in four)

I agree, both version (Yew & Plum) have attracted a lot of members of different ages + new people joining the forums just because of it. That alone still has me surprised lol, it's something I didn't think was completely possible with Fan Clans.

no, they aren't too common, but it's not mean in my opinion-- when a roleplay gets full, it is sometimes better to close it or do invite only. The front page editing + writing up the moons looks like a lot of work despite the variety which is good!

you're way too kind, you've created something amazing that somehow revived Fan Clans-- it's honestly something to be proud of.

I'd be more than willing to create a sub just for these two and the potential other 2, it's really up to you. imo, I think waiting on FlowerClan and BurdockClan seems like a good idea since the temptation is definitely there for me. but I'd prefer to be active in one clan versus four because it would feel like my time isn't being wasted or that I feel overwhelmed.

It's kinda scary that this page is in the top 5 results googling "Clangen roleplay" "Clangen rp" or "Clangen story" and still on the front page for simply "Clangen" which is probably where most of the new joiners came from. I, completely unintentionally, nailed the SEO on the front page, apparently.

and I don't think it's revived fan-clans lmao the board always goes through a cycle of activity and inactivity. summer and deep winter are just the high active times. resurgence also brought a nice flow of new members to the board last fall~ and unlike YewClan, those people also joined other rps; most the clangen rpers stick here.

honestly, the fact that yewclan managed to not collapse entirely in the mid-late spring is more surprising to me. finals and the early summer vacation spree kill so many rps every year.

and... i don't think they need a sub quite yet. It's not big enough that the extra structure will help organization much, and honestly I think putting it in a sub will decrease visibility and accessibility, which isn't worth the tradeoff of extra space for sub-threads. Eventually, maybe, the scales might tip that way, when I feel that having a dedicated page for the moon updates or extra StarClan bios might be something people are willing to interact with. But for now, I don't think we're at that point quite yet. I really appreciate the offer though, it means a lot ;-;

oh wow, i feel like this is a little bit too much good luck for yewclan and next moon is gonna be a disaster ;w;
as always im so tempted to take a kit, but i've told myself two characters is my max

also yall. if proboard's thread search tool worked like. 50% better, my job would be SO so so much easier :/
even if just the "filter by user posts" actually functioned.

but no, we live in the Evil Timeline where I have to manually go through because it WILL miss things or say there are no posts by that user when I was looking at one when I made the search. smh

That might be helpful if they would, but idk how long it would last. Keeping all the information loaded probably strains the server :/

another small announcement~
outsiders that one Clan meets will be coded into the other Clan as outsiders.
Also, cats with kin outside the Clan may be coded in as well, to have increased chances of joining the Clan on a moon skip. If anyone wants their cat's outside mate coded in as an outsider, lmk. There are two options you can have with this: 1) keep them as loner status (normal odds to join) 2) make them have lost status (increased odds of joining)

jaybun! for Bubblingstar's mate
lemonshortbread for Hopbramble's mate
lazzylake for Rindlestripe's mate in PlumClan

(also I hope yall like how I designed Mistystripe uwu she gotta keep the emerald eyes and rosettes, but I gave her a slightly different white spot and different tints)

the temptation to join PlumClan is baaaad.

I love that you've coded in the outsiders! Mistyshine is beautiful o: and it seems like Bliss's litter didn't get much of her coloring, mostly Bubblingstar's.

Bliss is just a rando PlumClan met. She was Clementinescreech's friend that didnt join

do you need specifics to code him in or? O:
i didnt even know it was possible to code in cats, so i may be asking a lot of questions, sorry in advance cx