Jacklin’s Guide to creating an OP Sunday 14th of July 2019 10:03:02 PM CDT Jacklin’s Guide to creating an OP Or: How I learned to stop worrying and be a faggit According to what I can find on Desuarchive, the first /hmofa/ thread that was created with the OP format we’re familiar with was the 3rd general on April 5th 2017, over two and a half years ago. Most generals on /trash/ do not last nearly an iota as long as we have, this is because we have something that many generals lacks: Organization. We have a masterbin of virtually all writefag content that is updated semi-regularly and even more importantly we have an efficient OP format that tells all anons what is the most recent work that has been put out by writefags. This is probably the most crucial aspect to maintaining the thread’s longevity. Any general on this board (or any other board) can be struck with the right concept, and the right art, and the right content creators that are willing and enthusiastic to churn out the next big hit. But if these things aren’t cultivated, maintained, and organized then it will all prove to be a big waste of time. Quick! What do the SCP, Bleached, Susie, JOI, Furry JOI, Awoo, and yes, HMOMA generals all have in common? Either a formatted OP with new updated content or at the very least an archive of past work. Hell the Caption and bleached generals have an entire separate website dedicated to their degeneracy. All these generals maintain their longevity through these methods. Even the recently created HMOMA general is maintaining it’s much smaller user base of around 30-45 anons (according to Desuarchive) because they basically copied and pasted our OP format. In those two and half years a lot has changed for our general. The original uploader of the OP kept at it for I think over 250 generals but eventually had to step aside because of real life obligations. At this time, myself and probably a few others with too much free time decided we could pick up the slack. You may also know me as Bunny Mom. I stopped making generals right before the “infamous” Nazi general that started a huge shitshow. I too now have real life obligations and don’t have the time to keep track of the thread and make a new OP. However I have decided to make this guide for one simple reason: The Format is going to absolute shit. New OP posters now make too many mistakes. Too many little mistakes that on their own can be brushed off but overtime can build up to the point where the Format is completely broken. This is because the way the OP is made is largely a copy and paste job with a bit of editing thrown in. This means that previous errors and mistakes can be carried over into new threads if OP’s aren’t being diligent and paying attention. This also creates a toxic mindset for writefags who now will be wondering if the work they put up will be put on the Story list next thread or simply forgotten. When this happens it absolutely kills the motivation for that writefag and other writefags to create content and the general increases the risk of losing another writer due to something that can be easily fixed. Note: I am not saying that mistakes can’t happen or that you have to be perfect every time. I’m pretty certain I forgot to put a “Chickenman ‘s Wild Ride” update on the Story list one time when it was at the height of it’s popularity. Shit happens and people make mistakes. The problem is with how consistent it’s been lately and it needs to be nipped in the bud before we run the risk of the format getting completely broken and having to re-do the whole thing from scratch. This is a step-by-step guide throughout the entire process that if done right should take no more than 20 minutes. The Picture, Edition name and general number. I think the shitshow from the “Nazi” thread awhile back shows just how important this basic shit is. For those newfags, a general was done (I think it was #640 or something) with the picture being a SS waifur doing lewd things on a machine gun while that machine gun was being fire by very unamused Germans. The Thread edition was “Hitler did nothing wrong” Unlike most Anons, I do not think this thread was done by our /pol/ troll Burzum. Looking at it in the desuarchive now, it just doesn’t seem like it was written by him (if you’ve been in the thread for long enough you can easily identify him). It was probably typed up by a naive Anon who thought it would be a funny thing to do on the D-Day anniversary. You pretty much know how it went from there: A giant fucking shitshow where four threads were being created per general. A “Fuck Nazi’s” edition as someone else (allegedly from /co/) flipped out over the hitler edition. Burzum then saw an opening and created fully fledged 14/88 editions in response. The whole thing spiraled out of control and it was only because the mods on /trash/ wiped the slate clean and banned Burzy-Wurzy for the umpteenth time that things were restored to order (and we managed to do the beloved #666 thread without incident). This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. I more often than not have spouted that despite being one of the most vanilla generals on /trash/ that the mods must fucking hate us because they have to clean up our autism fits more than any other general. However, this past spergery was probably the worst it’s ever been, and for the stupidest fucking reason. So nothing in the picture or the edition name should have anything to do with politics: at all. No fucking awoos wearing MAGA hats and no felines wearing ANTIFA masks with a “Communism will win edition”. Anyone who is doing stuff like that at this point is a massive faggot trying to stir shit. They know damn well what they’re doing and should be called out on it if it ever happens again. The jury is still out on religion for me for this one. I can see a “Catholic waifur” edition being cute and comfy but I know the moment someone does something with Islam we’re already on the road to a shitshow. The general rule is to be conscious of what picture you’re using and what edition you want it to be. Use common sense. And if you’re an Anon who can’t utilize common sense because your parents gave you too many vaccines as a young lad, than don’t make the OP in the first place. Generally when you’re picking a picture you should try to pick one that was posted in the previous thread (it establishes a “link” of sorts). What we used to do (and still sometimes do) is ask the thread when it hits the bump limit what kind of edition it wants and others would put out suggestions. I personally don’t do this anymore. Either because the thread is at page 10 already and there isn’t enough time, or more likely I just don’t want to. If I’m making the thread I want to pick out the sexy waifur and I want to make an edition. A lot of Anons in the paste have complained about OP pics being sfur. Which is a good point. For those newfags, sfur is “Straight Fur”. And what is being implied is that the picture that is posted is just a sexy furry wolf or something without the human element. Compare this picture: https://s2.desu-usergeneratedcontent.xyz/trash/image/1509/37/1509377837904.jpg With this one: https://s2.desu-usergeneratedcontent.xyz/trash/image/1539/30/1539300079901.jpg That first one is nice right? Cute lynx. WRONG! Where is the humie in that one, huh? Where the fuck is it? Who do you know who she’s giving bedroom eyes to. It could be furboi, it probably is. You probably got cucked by a furboi and you’re such a pathetic piece of shit that you made that OP picture. You don’t deserve a waifur, you ain’t gonna make it. Your dad left the gun in his drawer for such an occasion. Save a bullet for himself because the best he could produce is a son who likes getting cucked by furries larping as wolves. DO IT, PRESS THAT BARREL AGAINST THE SOFT PART OF YOUR TEMPLE- There are exceptions to this however. Art that is done by our local drawfags is always welcome, even if is just the fuzzy whamen in question. This also goes for art done based on characters from stories done by our writefags. The best example of this is our lovable midget thot, Ruby. (Vuko pls I need you to read Amaroq no Longer so you like my work enough to draw the ending for free because I got two nickels and six dollars to my name right now). Also people tend to tolerate art lacking humies if the Anthro in question is more rare or underrated (think Wasps, Girraffes, a chameleon maybe, I dunno.) Not using a sfur image isn’t a “rule” that’s been carved in stone but you should always lean heavily towards something that emphasizes some kind of relationship between a Human male and a Female anthro (it’s also worth mentioning that it by no means has to be lewd). Also for God’s sake don’t make the picture one of the ones that gets posted in the threads constantly. Pick some stuff that people don’t see too often that can stimulate the brain. Not the same 10-15 awoo or lynx art everyone knows by heart (if you don’t know which ones I’m talking about you shouldn’t be reading this guide in the first place and you need to lurk moar). I try to pick ones that will hopefully generate conversation or maybe even something that’s a little funny (I one time posted a Capybara for example). I personally however don’t put Reptiles other than sneks on the OP pic for fear that we’ll look too similar to /scaly/ and I never put Kobolds on the OP for the same reason. Finally the thread number. Listen, we all know you copy and paste a good chunk of the OP format. Please remember to update the thread number, otherwise it might look like this: #703 #703 #704 You see the problem? 704 should be 705 but because mistakes carry over from previous OPs we can run the risk of things becoming all screwed up. And nothing on the Desuarchive will help with stuff like this. The theme of this whole guide is diligence. If you don’t have the patience to check and make sure everything is as it should be then fuck off and let someone else make the thread who does. Pastebin stories Actually that title is wrong, it should be --Pastebin Stories-- Followed by a space between the title and the content below. NOW here is the definitive way this is done! By [Author] >[Story Title according to the Pastebin link] [Line update or chapter X added on an existing story] [Pastebin link] So for this pastebin specifically it will look like this: By JacklinMauer >Jacklin’s Guide to creating an OP https://pastebin.com/a2FugGWT Remember, we do do the 14 most recent AUTHORS not stories. This is because some writefags update more than one story in a short amount of time. Sometimes if multiple authors have two or more stories updated you’ll run into the unfortunate scenario where you’ll hit the max line limit for a post (not the max character limit, but max line limit). Every time this has happened to me I just reduce the author number from 14 authors to 13 and that usually fixes it. Just remember that when those Authors with multiple stories have finally gone to the bottom and dropped out to bump things back to 14 authors again when you can. Here is how the format should look for one author with multiple stories By [Author] >[Story Title] [Line or chapter update] [Pastebin Link] >[SECOND story title] [Line or Chapter Update] [Pastebin Link] Once again if we use me as an example it will look like: By JacklinMauer >Amaroq No Longer (Chapter four has been added) https://pastebin.com/jg2fncyM >Have You Seen the News? (Update starts at Line 2492) https://pastebin.com/xDXtKwbs Sometimes you will run into a scenario where an Author with two stories is at the bottom of the list and hasn’t updated either in a while. They’re on the verge of getting bumped off and then BAM they updated one of the two stories. Wat do? Do you bring both stories to the top again? Or do you only bring the first story to the top and bump off the second one anyway? It depends and really as the OP you have to be the one to call something like that. Personally if the Author in question was in the top 3/4ths of the thread and only one of the stories gets bumped, I tend to put both of them at the top anyway, reasoning that the second story is still recent enough that it’s fine (and remember that we do this list by most recent authors, not stories anyway). If however the Author in question is at the bottom quarter of the list and only one story gets updated, I will bump off the second story and only leave the most updated one. You may slightly disagree with me on this and that’s fine. It’s important that you utilize you’re own judgement for little formatting issues like this, just make sure things stay consistent. Now we’re gonna go into how to add new stories into the pastebin list. And we’re gonna do it with this thread as an example, thread #490: https://desuarchive.org/trash/thread/19736202/#19736202 Now I want you to Ctrl+f and type in “pastebin” 29 results should pop up. Now in this particular thread, 20 of those results are from the OP, which means there are 9 more mentions of “Pastebin” somewhere in this thread. The reason we search for “pastebin” is because that in order for an author to show us their work, they obviously have to give us a pastebin link. Simple shit right? Now let’s take a look at those 9 other results because this is important. Some of those results are just Anons saying the word “Pastebin”. But there are pastebin links in here, but they AREN’T updated content. Someone in the thread has asked for a link to a previous story and someone has given it to them. Once again be diligent and PAY ATTENTION. Do you know how many times somebody asks for the link to “That one where the crazy bunny stalks and rapes the guy”? You don’t want to be plastering “My Obsession” all over the OP for no reason. Out of those 9 results, only two are for new content. Which is “Leaves of Fall” and “You’re Always so Warm”. Out of those two “Leaves of Fall” was the most recently updated and so when the next thread goes up, “Leaves of Fall” With the Author and pastebin link (formatted as described above) goes on top followed by “You’re Always so warm”. Two stories have been added, one of which is a brand new story that wasn’t on the Pastebin list at all, and the other, “Leaves of Fall” was in the middle of the pastebin list and it just got bumped up. What this means is that ONE author at the very bottom gets bumped off, not two. For every one NEW author that goes up or gets updated, ONE author at the bottom gets bumped off. Don’t fuck up and bump off authors just because there is some reshuffling going around and authors at the bottom are going back to the top because they updated. Same thing goes if the Author is already on the pastebin but they created a NEW STORY. Just put the Author's two stories to the top and don't bump the bottom author off just yet! Here is the next thread after this one, thread #491 you can see that this exact mistake was made: https://desuarchive.org/trash/thread/19767927/ Compare the bottoms of the two threads. While the two new stories at the top of #491 were put on properly, two stories at the bottom were bumped off instead of only one. To be fair, this may very well be because there are three authors with two updated stories and the OP hit the max line limit. Which if we remember, means that the OP had to bump off that extra story anyway to fit everything in. There is something else too. Something I didn’t mention, another mistake that was made. Look back on those two stories in #490, “Leaves of Fall” is clearly posted by Oliver Hart. He is tagging everything and telling everyone that his story has been updated. The author himself is telling everyone about his story and subsequently letting the OP for the next thread know to update the pastebin list with his story. Compare it with the other story, “You’re Always so Warm”. That wasn’t posted by the Author. That was posted by an Anon who read a story from /Scaly/ and thought it would be a good fit. And it is. I like that story very much. But it’s from another general and more importantly, it wasn’t posted by the Author. We can’t have every single story from other generals that might relate to /hmofa/ going on the pastebin list and we can’t be putting stories up on the pastebin without the Author’s blessing. This is the primary reason why Snekguy’s stories are rarely on the pastebin list despite how often he updates (and publishes) stories. It’s because he rarely goes on the general to let everyone know (Which is ironic because Snekguy was my gateway to this general). Another thing that is popping up more recently is that some stories may not just fit /hmofa/. The rules are loose enough so that authors can be free to write whatever they want and the only scrutiny they will face is if the story is good or shit. A story basically needs to only have three criteria: *It involves a human male and a female anthropomorphic animal in some capacity (A human woman transforming in a female anthro will certainly almost never count). *Doesn’t have obviously disgusting fetishes like Scat, Vore, Inflation, Farts (Brap shitposter not withstanding), etc. Note: This doesn’t include rape scenes, or heavy bdsm or any other heavy kink stuff. You should all know I’m talking about the kind of things only seen on /d/ or deviantart. *It does not have blatent homosexual themes meant to troll or subvert the thread. It does not surprise me that writefags or others involved with content in the general do things beyond /hmofa/ that are outside the tolerated bounds. You may find that some are into blacked, or gay dragon dildo shit and there is that kind of content on their furry website account or pastebin account. The Thread itself can shitpost and ridicule that kind of thing all it wants. But it’s the OP’s job to be unbiased. If the Author in question posts a new story and that story fits within the EXTREMELY LOOSE guidelines mentioned above then it’s fine. It’s also not your job to decide if a story is “good enough” to be on the general. You are here to post the most updated content, not to elect yourself as the filter for good taste. The previously mentioned /pol/ shitposter attempted to do this in the past when he found a story he didn’t like and was subsequently called a pedo faggot. Also, one final thing before we move on: Look at thread #490 again. Look at that fucking pastebin list. Everything is scrunched up and I had to actually drag the highlighter across it to count how many authors were listed. Please put a space between each author so that it is actually readable. It should look like this By JacklinMauer >Amaroq No Longer (Chapter four has been added) https://pastebin.com/jg2fncyM By SOMETHINGABOUTSHARKS >Anon Finds a Way (Updated NEVER HE NEVER FUCKING UPDATES WHERE IS MY GOD DAMN CUDDLE RAPTOR) https://pastebin.com/ykdMxJHG NOT LIKE THIS By JacklinMauer >Amaroq No Longer (Chapter four has been added) https://pastebin.com/jg2fncyM By SOMETHINGABOUTSHARKS >Anon Finds a Way (Updated I GOT THE GUN SHARKS, PUT THE UPDATE IN THE BAG AND NO ONE GETS HURT) https://pastebin.com/ykdMxJHG The pastebin list is the most important part of the OP followed by the opening picture and the thread edition. If you can do this right then you’ve pretty much done 90% right. But that other 10% is also vital and it’s the stuff people fuck up on the most. Everything else: DON’T COPY AND PASTE OLD LINKS YOU FUCKS The next two things that go below the Pastebin list is the Masterbin with every single piece of written content created for the general. This increasingly massive pastebin is updated by Deimos_Lynx so give him a thank you. I’m going to bet that there will come a time when this fucking monstrosity gets too big and we’ll have to have a dedicated archiving site to keep track of everything. But that’s a conversation for someone else. For the OP all you have to do is Copy and Paste. Same with the Pastebin for the writing guides. It’s pretty much the only thing that never changes. Next up is the previous thread and the archive link, both of which are Desuarchive links. This more than anything else is what gets fucked up and I’ve been guilty of it myself more than a few times. Here is what happens: It’s thread #400 and the previous thread link is to #399. However the OP, because he is getting impatient copies and paste the links for the next thread without changing them. So now we have Thread #401 with the previous thread link still set to #399. Here is what you are supposed to do. Go to Desuarchive, go to the /trash/ section and type in “hmofa” in the search bar. The latest thread should be right there on the top. Click on that thread and make sure the URL is set to the OP post and not to some random post in the middle of the thread. Copy and paste that URL into the Previous thread section for the new OP. Note: You can expedite this process by just going to the “ You missed a Thread or Two?” Link. Keep in mind that the most recent /hmofa/ thread will be on the desuarchive EVEN IF IS STILL LINGERING ON PAGE 10 AND HASN’T BEEN BUMPED OFF YET. Is this tedious? Slightly yes but it takes less than a minute to do. So fuck you, do it. In terms of the actual archive link. I want to propose a change. The current archive link is the following: https://desuarchive.org/trash/search/text/hmofa/ That link is exactly what it says it is. It’s just searching the archives of trash for every time “hmofa” is mentioned by anyone. This includes people typing that out in the thread and people in other generals bitching and complaining about us because they’re jealous that we’re better than they are. Miss me with that gay shit. Instead I think the link should change to this: https://desuarchive.org/trash/search/text/hmofa/type/op/ This URL instead is more detailed and only searches for OPs within /trash/ with “hmofa” typed in. This is so much cleaner and wipes away all that useless clutter. This gives the person looking through it exactly what they’re looking for: a way to access all of the OPs. And now they can do it without scrolling through what the my little inflated pony fart fetishist thinks of us. These two links are important because you’ll be surprised at how many people will use them. I’m not as active as I used to be and it’s nice to read through previous threads to see what I missed. Write or drawfags might use them to scroll back to past criticism or praise they’ve received on their work, etc. So try to make sure they’re properly maintained please. Final thoughts Since the general has pretty much been going through a revolving door of people creating the OP, always make sure to go to the catalog and refresh the page to make sure someone didn’t beat you to the punch and created a new thread already (I always do this right before I post something). This has happened to me more than a few times and it can fuck everything up. I’m almost certain you can delete your own threads so if you were genuine and not a troll and just a simple fuck up was made you can erase it. Really, this whole guide should really only be applicable to like…ten people at most. The vast majority of Anons who frequent the general should not be clamoring to make the OP. However, everyone should be aware of how they’re supposed to be made and what the general attitude should be regarding creating new threads. As of making this we are at thread #704 I wanna get it to 1000 and then maybe 2000 and then, quite possibly 10,000 But than can only happen if we make sure that the Thread’s formatting and organizational structure remains healthy and intact. It can survive shitposters throwing autism fits (because it’s always obvious when they’ve tampered with it) but it can't survive gradual decay due to negligence and laziness. Don’t let that happen. The little surprise Oh and uh, I’m still working on my newest story “The Adventures of Andi of Oakenhowler”. I just finished chapter three the other night. As a reward for reading through this whole guide on how to suck cocks, here is the first 500 words: “...Once the Beast Races looked upon Man’s great cities and fortresses with envy. For though the Pearlen God had endowed them with the innate gift of magic, they lacked Man’s ingenuity. There was no clearer example of this gap when the Great Sundering of Man began, with each of the ancient Kingdoms claiming supremacy over all of the others. As Man butchered itself the Beast races fled into the depths of their forests and caves. Their magic just barely protecting them. For over 150 years the Great Sundering raged on as legendary Warrior Kings fought and died, their names and deeds recorded for eternity in their great stone tablets. But to the Beast races, only one man matters, and his name was never written down. He was no self proclaimed God-King, or a towering fighter. He entered history as no more than a peasant carpenter who deserted the armies of Man and fled into the forests where the earliest tribes of the fearsome Wolven dwelled. They took him in as a guest and as payment taught them how to build the sturdy Longhouses that are still in use to this day. He then travelled to the North and encountered the Rams, who worshiped their ancient trees and did not wish to cut them down. He taught them how to carve and build into the goliath trees without causing them harm. It is said that as the Rams slept within their revered Hickory Forests, they were embedded with the ancient magic of the world-a direct connection with the Pearlen God-giving them the powers of prophecy. And so the Builder went to all the Beast races, gifting them his knowledge of Architecture. He was no King but he created many Kingdoms in his wake. When he returned to the Wolven, the newly crowned Wolven King, in recognition for his talents, granted the Builder a plot of land to call his own: a small patch of the forest which contained the strongest Oak trees. As the builder, with his Wolven servants, began construction of his new fortress, he took the name Oakenhowler, in reference to both the wood used to build his new home and to the race that had gifted it to him in the first place. Thus began the official history of House Oakenhowler, a small but respected family that had always been nominally a vassal to the Wolven Kings but in reality ruled independently. Mimicking their semi-mythical founder, they never found themselves embroiled in violent conflict (The great Siege of Oakenhowler by the 23rd Demon Lord, Foxtrot the Fat, is a notable exception). They also never produced any notable generals or warriors in their long history. Instead the family focused more on education and scholarship, producing treatises on a wide array of disciplines. It is a miracle that any of them survive today. Of course there was an exception to this as well…” -Excerpt from Yarlen’s ‘Encyclopedia of History’