I was thinking it would be might useful to include an (optional) posting speed flag for games.

Given the spread on the rPoll data (see here /rpoll.cgi), you could have 3 categories:

Fast (multiple per day)
Medium (one per day)
Slow (everything else)

It could be even be displayed next to the adult/mature tags, given the importance of common expectations when it comes to posting speed.

I think your definitions may be out of sync with other people's expectations.  :)  To me, for example, daily posting (even just once) would be "fast", one or more posts per week would be "medium".

Also, what about games where the GM expects multiple posts per day, but only at weekends?

I think most GMs include a target posting rate in their game information. My experience is that such targets are rarely met or even approached.

In reply to Gaffer (msg # 3):

So true, also do not forget the time of year can greatly influence posting rates.

+1 a thousand times yes !  :>

Number of times I've thought a game sounded promising only to discover after hunting through various game threads that the posting rate wasn't what I was looking for ...

Sure, it'd be nice if every prospective GM put their expected posting rate in their Player's Wanted ad as a guide, but my experience, unlike Gaffer's, is that they don't.  Either way, an optional flag in Game Info for posting rate would be a simple thing for the GM to set and forget, and it would certainly help me if it was filled in.

We can argue about definitions, but quite frankly I'd be happy with any sort of scale as it'd be at least a guide.

I'd propose expanding Vinny's definitions slightly and ignoring the Fast/Slow/High/Low labels (to avoid the perception problems BBR mentions), with the following drop down options:

multiple per day
1 per day
3-4 per week
2-3 per week
1 per week

You could go mad and include all sorts of prescriptive options such as more on weekends, less on weekends etc etc, but I think that just over-complicates the feature - go simple first and then if there's the need, add additions as feature creep later.

And optional to allow for those GMs who can't decide, don't want to, can't be bothered or are open to the rate agreed by consensus with players.

I think that there's an expectation/reluctant acceptance that posting rates will vary around major holidays - what the posting rate option should show is the rate that's generally expected for the rest of the year.

+1 from me as well.  Games flow more smoothly when everyone has the same expectations.  I agree that we should avoid terms like fast and slow though, as for me anything less than post a day is crawling, 1 per day would be medium, etc.

I have to agree with Skald. I find that post rates is missing from game information more often than not. This seems like a good suggestion. +1 from me.

Or you could ask the GM what their intention is when you submit an RTJ?

In my experience, GMs who expect people to be posting very frequently (5+ times a week) mention it in their RTJ thread or P:W ad. Those GMs are often aware in advance they don't want to get lumbered with a slow player. GMs who work on a more relaxed pace like 1-3 posts a week are (I think) the ones less likely to specifically mention their intended pace.

So from my perspective if there is no mention of posting rate in the ad or RTJ requirements thread, it will be a medium-slow game when the initial buzz settles down. If a game's RTJ thread tell me I am required to post every day, I don't join or I drop out because I can't keep up with 5+ people posting multiple times a day.

I post a minimum of twice a week, but never post a maximum. I find maximum post rates stifle player creativity, while posting less than about twice a week (except on holiday runs) stifles my interest.

I arrived at these rules because I had a game with an "initial buzz" of about 4000 IC posts. One player couldn't keep up. This caused considerable OOC strife.
This message was last edited by the user at 17:29, Tue 06 Jan 2015.

In reply to Tileira (msg # 8):

There is a big difference in time expended between going through several pages of game info, then a possibly long RTJ just to find out post rate vs seeing it at the start.