1. Read: Read the thread you're replying to. All of it. Every post. Understand what's going on, who's talking, who's doing what and why (and where!). Figure out the location and position of the other characters in relationship to yours. Understand who the other characters are. If you're Bob Schmirkle, sixteen year old student who just got there, and you're in a room with Cyclops and Gambit, understand that sassing and interrupting Cyke will get you ignored and possibly sent from the room. Use common sense.

2. Reflect: When you write your post, what's going on in your character's head. What's he feeling? What's he seeing? What's he smelling, tasting, hearing? How are the events of the room affecting him? What's he doing? What are his inner thoughts? Here's where you can wax expositional if that's what you need to do, to catch the reader up.

3. React: A big one that gets missed by inexperienced role-players. If something happens in the room, react to it! If someone asks a question, does something, looks especially weird, etc and so forth. If Bobby makes an ice sculpture of the new Pope, have your character react, either passively (in thought) or actively (vocally or physically)! Even if it's just to criticize Bobby's artistic skills. Something. Anything.

We can't say it enough: react, react, REACT! And make sure you give your threadmates something to react to as well, even if it's non-verbal. Don’t be a lump, nobody likes lumps, so don’t just be a warm body to be passed over and ignored. Give your scene partner something to work with, or don't bother having the scene at all. And don't be afraid to have Something Happen. Small talk is all good for breaking the ice in a conversation, but nobody wants to be stuck there all day.

4. Reply: Now comes the fun part, replying! Some people like to Cut-n-Paste the dialog they're replying to. Groovy! Don't forget to bold it or put it in italics to separate it from what you've written. Some people just reply and that's fine, too. Just as long as you do reply, and your reply makes sense. But don't get crazy now, you don't have to reply to EVERYTHING under heaven, especially if it's a large thread with lots of people.

Keep things in perspective, if you've been missing from a thread and got skipped, try to not post a novel detailing and recapping every single thing that happened. We know what happened. We read it. Thanks so much. AND, when it comes time to post your own actions, please keep it reasonable, no Giant Super Posts jammed with a billion actions without giving others a chance to react. On the other hand, no Teeny Tiny Posts without any reactions or actions. That's a cop out and not really fulfilling your own 4 R’s, let alone allowing your threadmates a chance to have their own.

Give as good as you get, it really is that easy.