There are cliques?! Well that explains why that never worked for me; way too antisocial for that. xD
Hmm, well if you're planning on posting a Roleplay somewhere, PC is usually a pretty good place. Not to mention, we have lots of good GMs around here who would be more than willing to offer good advice, seeing as it would be the first time. From my experience, the way you're supposed to GM kind of depends on the type of roleplay. There's the linear plots in which the GM basically directs the story fully, the sandbox in which players do what they want, and the in-between; something I guess you could call a 'flexible' plot. Flexible plots are usually really awesome, because the GM still directs and leads the story in a good direction, but that direction is decided by player actions. It really makes you feel like you're impacting the story a whole lot more. The issue is that flexible plots are the hardest to GM, so you don't see many of them around.
Oh yeah, also on the subject of GMing: luck also plays a big part in it. That, and timing. From what I can see, the most successful RPs start up during a time period when there aren't many other new RPs around, or when people become more active. This would be one of those 'activity' seasons, as it's summer over in the west and lots of students have holidays, for example. As for luck, well, that comes in the form of player interest, I suppose. Just because it's a Pokemon forum doesn't mean people aren't interested in all sorts of things, but it all comes down to whether they can and whether they want to. A good way to boost your chances is to post in the Roleplay Discussion and planning threads beforehand, possibly generating some hype for your RP. It's all strategy and stuff. >.>
For one-on-one's, yeah, it usually is pretty similar to JPs. At least, the way I've been doing it. In fact, my friend and I just use titanpad or Mopad (basically the same thing) for ours too. Because of that it's always in real-time, which kind of eliminates the whole 'waiting for the next person to post to see what happens next' nervousness. It's really much more immersive experience. The only downside I would say is that it can get so immersive that you lose track of time... I've had a few sleepless nights thanks to that. Hehe. I've never actually tried RPing with more than three people at a time though. And even that fell apart. Directing skills: first class. :D Couldn't say I've tried out a private RP forum either; it sounds more official than the casual stuff I usually do with friend(s).
Man, that's gotta be the longest VM I've ever written.