I'm not sure off the top of my head, but I checked some recently departed characters. (Characters backgrounds/roles are not available publicly until after they die, and even then may be redacted if they deal with current events or other similar information.) had 30 chapters in his background, ranging from a paragraph to a page or so.
(Note: They're numbered 'backwards'-- Chapter 30 is actually the first entry. Always on the list of things to fix, but never gets done.)
Players can always add to it, but they cannot modify old background-- we had concerns about people retroactively justifying actions, covering up inconvenient facts, etc. Backgrounds can be written from an IC or OOC perspective, first-person or third-person, etc.
All Immortals have commands which can sort through additions in several ways-- show me all characters with newly updated backgrounds, etc. In addition, all Immortals are periodically reminded of who has unread entries, etc. (After an Immortal has looked over an entry, they have an optional way of marking it to say "I've read this, and taken steps to reward or otherwise deal with the entry.", so that other people can focus on other characters. Spreads the attention around.)
By far the #1 crime in my book is information that has no bearing on the present character. For example, a background that tells a big story about something that happened before the character was born and is unlikely to ever come up again. If I'm looking over a background, I'm trying to get some insight on how the present-day character should react.
Frequently. There are monthly 'contests' where we essentially seek out characters with exceptional backgrounds, and between that and the aforementioned updating system, we generally tailor rewards to a character. For example, is noted as receiving two otherwise unavailable abilities (called Edges) called 'Sect Champion' and 'Centurion Trainer', which reflected how he could demand more respect from underling NPCs within his particular political group.
I think it would be useful if the interface was intuitive. In other words, I don't necessarily want to type a specific command just to see if they have anything there, or to find out what they were thinking about two weeks ago. But if it tied in well with our particular interface, that can work.
As is, characters have a way to do the 'think' thing I've seen elsewhere, though with another command, if they want to run a quick thought through their head that an observing Immortal could see.
This sounds like #3!
