I read interest checks and I see that flashiness and over the top checks are always the ones that will always get noticed before ones that do not have any sort of flash of images. I don't think I look lazy with my interest checks and with the effort I have put into them but it doesn't seem to be enough since everyone leaves for fickle reasons and their obsession for flashiness.
So I'll just get this straight.
A) You want more hits on your 1x1 interest check.
B) You have noticed more 'flashiness' and 'over the top' checks get more hits.
C) Still you don't want to add 'flashiness' and 'over the top elements' to your interest check.
D) Now you are confused as to why you don't get more hits.
Then haven't we solved the thread here? There are only 2 elements to someone PMing you for a 1x1: a good idea, and a nice looking and organized thread. Anything else is secondary.
I would also like to remind you that RPG is not a site with a thousand concurrent users. There are 200 online at a good time on a good day. Of those, I'd say most of them don't even look at the 1x1 interest checks (ever) and most of them don't look at them daily. As harsh as this may sound, the audience for 1x1 is relatively small, the audience that might even look at your thread is even smaller, the amount that might have sent you a PM despite your thread flashiness is smaller than that even, and you have stated yourself that several people have dropped out of RPing with you even after they PMed you.
I'm starting to think maybe your issue isn't flashiness or images or over the top aesthetics, I'm starting to think that your issue is just that people don't want to roleplay with you. Sorry if that sounds mean -- and I don't know if it's the truth -- but you should ask yourself if maybe that's what's going on here.
Okay, just by skimming this thread alone. The only thing I've seen is critiques on someone's 1x1 page (done in a non-constructive manner) and calling it lazy, convoluted, and to "change it to make it look pretty."
@Sola, was one of the only people to even provide an example of what they might be even talking about for directions of improvements...
The rest of that alone really isn't helpful at all. So people lambasting the "I dunno, how flashy I want it to be." Makes you come across more unnecessarily spiteful than anything. It seems people love having the excuse to act aggressive on this site, but if I have to be the only one again, cut it out.
I think it was very constructive. We told him what to improve and how to do it. Multiple people agreed (even you yourself admit that changing the thread might be smart!) so it was clearly a good idea. Unlike you, apparently, I do not have the time to create a nice looking 1x1 interest check for someone that holds up to my own standards -- I already spent enough time on my own interest check and it paid off. And even if I did have the time, my time costs money, so I'd like to get paid to do things like that (which no self-respecting person would consider paying for).
The power to write, whether it be plaintext or BBcode, is right here in your own hands. Rebornfan can do it himself if he really wanted to.
He does not want to.
And I'm not gonna do it for him, because I'm not a babysitter and I have other things to do. Plus, I just don't want to.
You can take your passive aggressive attitude and take a hike, SleepingSilence.