...being able to build a profile based on what is shown in the prompts... is an analytical skill valuable in PPCing...

I agree that it's a valuable skill - but I don't think the character profile should be the way to showcase it. Actually, the best thing would probably be to write an Intelligence report on the badfic you want to take on - that's the type of analysis we need to be able to do as PPC writers, not writing character profiles.

I had long arguments over how much should be in the profiles, and - obviously! - I still think we're getting way too much in there. You ask if we plan a character arc with surprising twists... should we spoil it in the permission request?; the answer should be an emphatic 'no!'. But character profiles are the sort of writing which might end up requiring it.

For an example of what I think a profile should be like, you can check the Wiki article on Permission; I wrote both the example bios in there. I prefer the version with headings, but both contain the same information. For Lou, then, I provided:

-Basic physical information. This took about twenty words. Do you need to know where Lou buys her glasses, whether she has any birthmarks, and the history behind her feelings about her hair colour, to decide whether she's a valid character? No. {Well, since you asked-} I didn't. {Shurrup. There's an Eye Speye opticians in New Cal, I usually have a small one on my left sole, and I went through a phase of dyeing it black because it was 'more interesting'.} Great. Anyway, this is just there to catch the 'demon from the dawn of time' species entries.

-Powers and skills. This is an important section, because people have a terrible habit of giving their agents big magic, big weapons, and big problems. So we need to know what you've slapped on there, because it might not make it into the samples. As with Lou, though, hiding the details is fine! This doesn't have to be an in-universe document; it's just something for us to look over quickly and say 'yep, fine'. {Does 'talks to the author' count as Big Magic or Big Problems?} Shut up.

-Personality. This could probably go - we can see it well enough from the story - but people argued vehemently for its inclusion. Again, it's there to catch bad stuff like 'and likes to torture any minis he finds'. {Did someone really say that?} Yes, and no, they didn't get Permission. {Good. Ugh.}

-History. Once again, this just a simple filter. If your character deduced the existence of the PPC, created her own portal generator, and bullied the SO into giving her a job, we need to know. {Did that actually happen?} Not as far as I remember. But apart from that... well, look how little Lou's profile has.

Getting Permission is not meant to be a struggle against all odds. We've tried over and over to streamline the process and make it easier, but it's never worked.

'We should ask for a single story.' "But what if they write about something that doesn't tell us much?" 'Well, we should specify what to write about.' "But a specific subject might not fit their characters." 'Then we could make it a randomised choice.' "But we should see something procedural as well, as a baseline." 'Then we can ask for two prompts.' "But there's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza..."

Permission was a lot easier when everyone in the PPC wrote fanfic, and for the same couple of fandoms too. Then it was, "Yep, I've read some of your stuff, I trust you; you're in." Now... now I don't even know.

If you were trying to control the quality of a shared universe that isn't hosted at a single location, how would you do it?

hS