and again, the problem becomes 'who are the prospective players going to play with'? Each other? And if not all of the players app in, again, that's cr and interactions that might have to be either redone in game or retconned, which again, isn't fair to the players that actually app in.

which is why i stand by my earlier statement of having it be mods/helper mods/volunteers that tag around in the test drive meme and make sure that everyone gets a tag and has a thread to use as a sample that's game specific.

agreed, though. apps as they are aren't cutting it. i've found that a lot of the reason people go way too overboard on apps with personality/history sections is because it's hard to know what the mods want to see. you could write out a succinct and readable app that has all the main points touched on and gives a look into the personality, but you'll get a revision request over not having gone into their childhood enough or their motivations or their fears or their etc, etc. so people just shove stuff in there, even if it seems banal and pointless, because they're less likely to get a revision request stating they missed something if everything and the kitchen sink is in there.