[Lightning]

There is nothing more annoying than a discombobulated thread. Nothing kills a mood better than anachronisms; nothing screams, "look, I have no idea what I'm doing," more than impossibly long events crammed in a timeline far too small. That's why you should always mind the internal clock of every thread.

Each story has its own set of internal rules. While these rules may depart from real world rules (obviously a minute out of character does not equal a minute in character), but once set, these internal rules should remain static. In the cases of our established realm, such as Utopia on Hold or An Opprobrious Rebellion, many of the rules are already established as similar to many of the rules in the real world. No one can give the state of the union in the middle of a heated battle.

There are, however, some easy and effective tactics to guard against shredding realism through a cheese-grater:

1. Avoid multi-threading.
   
   After each post, make sure you carefully read each action and respond to them as a whole. Do not try to match them action for action. This is called retroactive roleplaying, because you are inserting events that happen after-the-fact.
   
   For example, you have two players roleplaying. Keep in mind that this is highly exaggerated for demonstrative purposes. The first roleplaying posts something akin to this:
   
   

   Originally Posted by Player One

   "Speech 1."
   
   *Action.*
   
   "Speech 2."

   Player Two, who obviously is not following this rule, proceeds to post the following:
   
   

   Originally Posted by Player Two

   "Response to Speech 1."
   
   *Response to Action.*
   
   "Response to Speech 2."

   If Player One doesn't follow this rule, he too will add his responses to the speeches and actions Player Two executed. This all too familiar occurrence only retroactively adds time in between the beginning and end of the first post. Pretty soon, the timeline of the thread becomes a big pretzel where the amount of time that occurs within the first post becomes unnaturally elongated, and nothing good comes of that.
   
   This scenario often occurs when you simply try to match the previous post in length. It's okay to have a shorter post if it keeps up the flow of the thread and doesn't needlessly complicate matters.
2. Don't Assume
   
   A lot of people consider deciding if attacks hitting their opponent is godmoding (bunnying, in particular). It's true, if you forcibly control your opponent, you are effectively godmoding. If you decide for them if your punch lands on their jaw, you are effectively controlling their character. However, many people forget that bunnying, or more specifically, the act of controlling someone's character often goes much further than just deciding the actions and emotions of the other player's character.
   
   Think of it this way: if your character says something, it's because the circumstances around your character permits him to say it. Naturally, a little assumption is necessary. If every word and every gesture your character says has to be approved by every party in the thread, then no thread would ever get anywhere.
   
   Still, it's awfully pretentious of you to assume that your character can reel off the unabridged version of the Declaration of Independence in the middle of a conversation.
   
   Why? Because you are assuming that everyone else in the thread permits your character to do such without making any motion to interrupt, stop, or deter him. Try to keep your character's assumptions minimal. You are making a single post in a roleplay; there is no need for a speech or a 12 round boxing match before it ends.
3. There's no need to paraphrase
   
   Unless there's a very special circumstance, you don't need to paraphrase what the other player(s) said in their posts. If you notice something that they don't — great, feel free to mention it. That said, unless something is of great importance, there's no need for you to reiterate simply to add to your post length or to tell it in your character's perspective. We don't need to paragraph dedicated to that fist heading towards your character's face if the other roleplayer described it perfectly well with his previous post.
   
   Paraphrasing generally sparks some reaction from your character, which ties into rule 1. You and your threadmates are colluding to create a story as you go. Trust in the other players to write the adequate detail and simply add to it with your post.
4. Be Logical — Use Your Head
   
   This is far and away the most important point in this guide. Use your head before you click that "submit" button. When you commit your character to an action, map out the timeline in your head. If you say that your character sets down his coffee cup, try setting down a cup to have some idea of exactly how long it takes. Just like it's no good if you can circumnavigate the globe on a sailboat in the same time it takes to brew instant noodles, it's also no good if you spend five minutes just to clap twice. Lapses in timeline have to be filled with something, so you (as the roleplayer) have an obligation to fill it with a realistic amount of worthwhile content.
   
   The stipend is that ultimately this doesn't restrict what you can and can't do during a thread. It merely asks that you present it intelligently and continuously so that everyone can have a fluid and seamless experience. As a roleplay is effective a story told by multiple points of view, it's doubly important to keep everything logically sequential.
5. Prefacto and Postfacto
   
   You never want to change the action of another player after the fact. You also never want to presume the effects of another player prior to the fact. This only leads to discrepancies in the storyline that become harder and harder to resolve as the game goes on. This becomes especially poignant when something imperative results from the action, such as in a fight.
   
   This is an example of a bad case of this in the context of a duel. As usual, this is an extreme example for obvious educational purposes:
   1. Player One swings a punch aimed at Player Two's jaw.
   2. Player Two, however, states that he tripped and fell on his back thirty seconds earlier, and thus the punch missed.
   Now, the problem with this example is that Player Two's action retroactively changes the events. Even if he did not fill that time with an action, he is still going back and revising history. Naturally, Play One is unlikely to swing a punch at air, which would be the case had Player Two's retroactive action occured. What you have here is yet another example of a pretzel for a timeline because someone issued a prefacto (before the fact) event.
   
   Alternatively, you don't want to presume a postfacto event either. You should not assume that Player Two will be around to receive a punch 20 seconds after the beginning of your post (and hence your action). 20 seconds in a fight is a near eternity. Remember that this can apply anywhere, and that I have merely chosen to expound upon one particular example.