about counties
counties is a pb community based in the bay area, which includes Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, Sonoma, and San Francisco counties. your character can be associated with any place within these counties. we're a dedicated group of writers who are interested in reviving the time when rp was fun and creative, and we're looking for like-minded individuals who want the same. regardless of the size of our community, counties is only interested in dedicated members with friendly and welcoming attitudes who want a long term home. you can expect a lot from this community if you join and strive to be a visible, active part of it. we plan on implementing many fun group activities and will be fair to all members.

our focus on organic connections is a strong one but we're not limiting any of the lines you come in with. we encourage all members to keep anon turned off in their comment settings to discourage any form of harassment, and to report any bullying to us so that we can keep our home safe, active, friendly, and positive.

all forms of ic drama are welcome, but please avoid ooc drama! be friendly, courteous and open-minded. we welcome characters that are down to earth, unstable, shy, aggressive, or maybe even a bit of everything. however, ooc bullying, ic/ooc line-crossing, and other such shenanigans are not tolerated in this community, and if we find out that you are participating in this kind of behavior it could lead to your removal from the game with or without prior warning.

applying to the community
when you apply, we expect you to have both an ooc and friends only post up, and make sure that your ooc post is public so that people can always locate information on your character. please backdate these posts to prevent them from cluttering friends pages. we do not require a biography, but would like a small list of facts or information when you apply. we ask that usernames only include the name of your character without extra words, letters, numbers, or underscores.

examples are required. we need a minimum of 2 scene examples, and 2 update examples (at least one third person narrative will be required for acceptance.) acceptance into the community is largely based on quality of examples, so please put your best foot forward. we ask that smut and adult scenes not be included in examples here.

we will not answer questions about why an application was deleted. rejections happen when we have reviewed your examples and we do not, for various reasons, see your writing as a good fit for the current style of writing we have seen in our members. we will let you know if a rejection could be pending for other reasons (i.e. a friends list that needs to be cleared out, if we cannot access your examples, or if we need to see more). if this happens, you may feel free to provide more in depth or current examples and apply again at any time in the future.


activity and interaction
once you’re accepted into counties, you have three days (or typically until the next set of adds) to post in goldengate introducing yourself to the community. before the last day of each month, members are required to provide links to their character's activity. the following components will be required to be cleared for activity and avoid removal:
1. your intro: your intro post will always count as your first activity requirement. if you are added in the last half of the month, you will not need any other activity for the month. you must reply to the comments you receive, if you do not, you will still be removed.

2. your interaction: like most communities, we will be on a 1 month updating schedule. you're expected to post two posts on the friends page that are interactive every month, unless you use an update for one (more info on this in the next section). they can be a question, ffa, plot post, lyrics, social media post or any activity that requires people to comment back and forth! feel free to be as creative as you'd like. as long as it's something for the entire community to participate in, it counts. just like your intro, you should be replying to the comments you've received, and you must be active in your own ffa or plot post for it to count. we will not accept two activity posts from the same week toward your requirement, they must be from different weeks to count. this ensures that our friends page stays active and people aren't hiding in their customs and only meeting their requirements at the end of the month. while we expect to see at least two activity posts every month, you are not limited to just those! you may post as frequently as you'd like, so please don't be discouraged.

3. your update: we understand that most people these days are extremely busy in their real lives, so updates are not a requirement at this time. however, we do LOVE to read about characters and get to know them in ways that we may not normally have the opportunity to via commenting each other and we highly encourage anyone who wants to provide us with insight to their character to do so at any given time. this can be via narrative, mixed media updates, first person entries (blog posts, letters, etc.), phone posts, or any other way you can think to let us see the person behind the curtain. we will periodically provide fun challenges such as narrative prompt or word challenges to help motivate people and keep it fun for everyone. during the month, if you'd prefer to provide an update you may use it in place of one of your interactive activity posts. we really do want to read about everyone's characters and get to experience all of their highs, lows, secrets, dramas, or anything else you want to give us. after all, we are a community of people, so never feel afraid to share.