GIVE ME THE REAL TALK.

[Belle]

I use present-tense or past-tense in chatroom RPs, but just past-tense in play-by-post RPs. The former has a delay in responses measured in minutes or even seconds, and doesn't really seem like actually 'writing' to me, so perhaps that's why I think present-tense is preferable there. There's an immediacy of tone which is borne out by the speed of the back and forth.

Present tense in PBP, though, I think would be... weird. I don't think I've ever seen it done except by newbies/people speedposting and trying to treat a forum like a chat room.