Compiling Information in a PBP Game

One of the strong points of pbp gaming is the manner in which information is recorded, both in the active play medium (the IC and OOC threads) and in tangential storage centers (other subforums for a multi-thread centered game, or a wiki). The first is easy to archive and access; it happens automatically as posts are made, the second requires engagement from both players and DMs.

Every post made during play is recorded in either the IC or OOC thread. If you're using a forum with search software (highly recommended) it's trivially easy to search through a thread for mention of what you're looking for -- be it a place, an event, or something else. Can't remember how many XP your character got after that last adventure? It should be right there, in the OOC thread. Can't remember how much treasure you got after slaying the dragon, or the name of that NPC you met in the villlage three months ago in game? Going back through the relevant thread is an excellent way to find out.

The more time consuming, but ultimately more rewarding, method of record-keeping involves using a wiki. Ideally the players will be largely responsible for maintaining and adding to the wiki; in reality the minimum I ask for is that each player maintain their own character sheet and a record of the treasure they are currently carrying. At least one player will typically be motivated enough to add other important information to the wiki. Some of what can be added includes:

1. Maps. Both overland and dungeon maps. These can either be loaded directly onto the wiki or, if you're using something like Google Draw to create battlemaps, can be linked to.
2. Rumors. It is helpful having rumors and plot hooks added to the wiki so they can be referenced later. Again, given the slow pace of pbp, when it might take a month or more to play through a week of game time, a rumor may still be active but forgotten by the players. It's nice for all of the rumors and hooks to be in a central place where they can be crossed off as they either "expire" or are completed (by the PCs or rival parties). 
3. Encumbrance and Current movement rates.
4. Mounts.
5. Hirelings, retainers and mercenaries.
6. Inactive or dead PCs.

The key to using a wiki is to keep it updated on a regular basis, as events unfold, otherwise you end up with a month's worth of information to upload and it just becomes daunting (this is, a of course, a key to managing life as well).

If you're using a multi-thread forum without a wiki you can set up separate threads to manage all these things. I'll typically set up one thread for PCs, one thread for hirelings, a thread to track treasure and XP, and so forth. I find it also helpful to have a Calendar thread, maintained by the DM, that can be used to track events. Ideally the PCs would reference this thread as well.

I'm linking to two examples of the different kinds of pbp record-keeping:
1. Here is the wiki for an ambitious, high-level game I ran where the players were getting into establishing their own domains.
2. Here's a game I ran years ago that used multiple threads to track information.

Both wiki and thread based record-keeping offer roughly the same degree of infomation handling. The advantage to using a wiki is that anyone can edited, as opposed to thread-based forums where only the poster can edit a given post. The advantage to running a thread-based game (here I refer to a game with multiple threads beyond the IC and OOC threads) is that everything is in one sub-forum and is easy and quick to reference. Some forums also offer integrated dice rollers and character sheets.