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Hi, and welcome to FH's gamewide How's My Driving meme.

Based on feedback in the Open Forums and the need to balance conversation and player comfort, we've made some changes to the setup and established a few more rules to help keep discussion productive.

Here's how it works:

Participation is completely voluntary.

Players who would like critique should ping in with your character journals (it's up to you whether you use one for each character, or just ping in once and list all the applicable characters). You can:

Specify whether you're open to anon replies, or would only like replies from logged-in players

Note specific areas/subjects you'd like crit on or would rather not discuss

Ping in just to link to an HMD post in a personal journal where you control the settings (if you would like the admins to freeze that thread on the meme afterwards, just ping us in the OOC thread to let us know)

Ping in to let people know that you'd rather receive crit via e-mail or PM (same as above, if you'd like the thread frozen afterwards, just let us know)

Other players will reply with constructive criticism, either logged-in or anonymously depending on what's been requested and their own comfort level.

Rules and Moderation

First, please know that while anon commenting is on, so is IP logging. The admins, who are the only ones who'll be able to see IP addresses, won't be participating in the meme ourselves, or using it frivolously to check up on who is saying what about who, or passing that info on to players. You can still give constructive criticism without worrying that it might be dismissed due to the source or cause personal friction, but we'll have a better ability to help keep things under control.

We also don't want to stifle discussion with too many rules, but in order to balance that with the comfort of our players, we do need some, and here they are:

Taking players to task on the meme for their choices about how to receive crit (anon, public, e-mail, frozen threads, not participating at all) is out of bounds.

Taking players to task on the meme for not replying to comments (or not replying quickly enough) is likewise off-limits. No player is required to be around all the time or be comfortable enough to engage in a dialogue about every critique they receive.

Discussing the characters of players who haven't pinged into the meme is also out of bounds.

Bringing up personal information found on the non-game journal of a player is off-limits as well. If there's something about someone's personal life that concerns you for game reasons, the HMD meme is not the place to say it; either contact the player privately about it, or if you feel it's appropriate, contact the admin team, but it doesn't belong on the meme.

If the admin team sees comments that appear to clash with the rules above, we'll freeze or screen the comment and ask the commenter to re-post without the problematic content.

Aside from those situations, the admins are only going to step in to ask that a thread be toned down if someone asks us to, or if we see blatant game-rules / LJ TOS breaking. However, if we see a situation where we suspect there might be a problem developing, what we will do is contact the original poster of the thread or sub-thread and ask if they'd like us to step in, or if they're doing OK on their own.

We understand that in the past, people weren't sure if coming to us would be overstepping, or didn't realize it was an option. It's not overstepping; it is an option. It's the best option. Please grab an admin if something being said is making you uncomfortable. Even if you're not directly involved in the thread or even participating in the meme, we can contact the OP to see if they'd like our help or not. You can use the OOC thread, grab one of us on IM, or send an e-mail to administration@fandomhigh.net.

Finally, for those participating, please remember that no matter how fast comments can fly if there's a disagreement, you're not obligated to reply. If you're uncomfortable with a question or a statement made in a comment, you can stop right there. You can ask the admins to intervene, or not address the comment at all.

You can also reply telling the poster that you're uncomfortable with something they said and would rather not pursue it, would like to take it to e-mail, or any other variation you prefer.

Or, to sum it up in the immortal words of some dudes from San Dimas, the main rule here is "Be excellent to each other." That's it, though if you have any questions, the floor is open in the OOC thread too.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I guess I don't feel that she is heavily focused on boys; it's just a nice bonus. Pouting and writing someone off is a natural response, I feel, for a seventeen year old girl who, let's face it, is pretty used to getting what she wants and, if she doesn't, finding a way to make it happen. If she tries to have fun with someone and they're just being contrary, she has to wonder why she should bother. I can see how this impression might be given off from a few interactions I've had, though, so I will try to keep an eye on that.

Competing with other girls, though, I don't see that at all. I've always felt she's celebrated and encouraged the relationships of her friends. Sure, during last summer, she competed. She had to, worried about becoming seaweed and all. But definitely not so much anymore. Even Seifer's off limits just one the basis that Rinoa used to date him...

Original anon here: I feel like you're being disingenuous. Why ping in for crit if you're going to tell your criticizers they're wrong? Clearly people are seeing something here that you maybe aren't aware of.

I definitely see the competition with other girls. It always feels like Ariel's trying to show her friends how much prettier her dress is, or how she's had sex and maybe her friend hasn't, and what you might think of as enthusiasm comes across as competition between Ariel and the other girl. I can think of at least three scenes I've read or participated in where Ariel has made her female friend feel like less, or 'playfully' stole a guy from under her friend's nose, or flirted with the male counterpart of a couple to the extent that the female felt insecure about it.

You might not mean for her to be like this. But it definitely makes me wary of pinging with her, because it feels like no one is safe, and she'll flirt with a character's boyfriend, then turn around and act like the best of friends with her while being -- by my perceptions -- sort of passive-aggressive.

I'll also touch on the Seifer issue, though I have no dog in that race -- from reading those threads, it really does not read like Ariel has no intention of going after him. I'm not sure if I'm missing something, but it seems like there's a token amount of "He used to date Rinoa, I can't....but I'll flirt up a storm anyway!" And the Ariel I know from canon has stronger ties to friendship than that. I guess that's my biggest problem. Ariel's a Disney Princess. As such, she has personality traits that are universal across all of Disney's 'good guys'. She's compassionate. She's kind. She's a good friend. I don't see a lot of any of those traits in your Ariel.

I...guess I don't see it, and I apologize for that, anon. But I try to think of which scenes you may be talking of and...don't. Maybe it's just because I do feel it's just being a typical teenage girl, but I will try to watch for it. I've always felt she's celebrated, in your examples, other girls' dresses and things like that, or perhaps if she did say anything, she was trying to be honest. I can't think of anything outside of when she started talking and was no longer trying to avoid a curse where she'd 'playfully' swiped another guy...and this is the first I've heard of any female counterpart feeling uncomfortable with Ariel's flirting, and so if they have, they should have come to me and I would have stopped it. Like I said in the last meme, I cannot fix a problem unless I know about it.

That is why I sign up for these. Because now I know about it, and now I can hopefully try to fix it or people will be honest with me and let me know when I've cross a line. I still have a right to defend my point. Though I may defend it, I will also do what I can to change it to make others comfortable, just like with Ariel's previous username.

It's a crit meme. It's not Let's Just Throw Stuff at Skylie so she can feel shitty about herself meme. I have a voice in this, too.

It's hard to take criticism when you truly don't see it, but I will try to watch for it. I guess it felt initially just more like less of a criticism and more of simply saying you don't like how I play the character. I honestly do not see myself as playing Ariel this way; it has never been my intention at all.

The way I see her, she is compassionate and kind and a good friend. So we're definitely looking through two different mirrors. Though if anyone reading this would like to address specific cases in which I have offended your character through Ariel's actions, please let me know. Her flirting is usually not anything serious; it's just her having fun and she has no intention of stealing anyone out from anyone else. Ever. She just likes to be friends with everyone. Not everyone who flirts is flirting to an end, but I will try to watch it.

Forgive me, for I apparently do not know what I do.

New anon here. I think another thing that throws people off about Ariel is that her enthusiasm makes it difficult for less enthusiastic characters to really build up a relationship with her. That might be why some characters might be offended by her or picking up on passive-aggressive vibes; she really is just that energetic, and with certain characters, that can be a little off-putting. I've seen threads in the past where characters have edged away from her in the middle of the conversation just because she's a lot to handle, and, Ariel being Ariel, she keeps coming up to those same people time and again because that's who she is. But while it makes me and my kids a little wary of pinging with her, I always picked up on that same relentless, just plain odd enthusiasm from canon!Ariel, too.

HMD

Re: Ariel / Alexander of Daventry / Shunsui Kyōraku / Jane Porter / Butters Stotch / Charlie Swan

Re: Ariel / Alexander of Daventry / Shunsui Kyōraku / Jane Porter / Butters Stotch / Charlie Swan

Re: Ariel / Alexander of Daventry / Shunsui Kyōraku / Jane Porter / Butters Stotch / Charlie Swan

Re: Ariel / Alexander of Daventry / Shunsui Kyōraku / Jane Porter / Butters Stotch / Charlie Swan