Aramond said it very well.
I am enjoying the RP side of the TSN immensely, and for me it makes the shift even better; I also realise that not everyone can or wants to be this involved, and that joining a group with a long and complicated in-character history can be daunting. I have myself stepped away from a LARP group because all the characters already had a multi-generational history of alliances, feuds and vendettas when I first played, and I had no idea who I was talking to and what it meant to be seen with this or that person.
I like the streamlined, rules-light approach. One way for us as players to make the GM’s life easier is to ask questions:
I need to find out A: do I know anyone who would know?
I want to find out how B works: I look at it/examine/start taking it apart: what do I learn?
We tell the GM:
1) what the character wants to achieve
2) how they go about it
3) any relevant information or skill from past events that might affect the result (in moderation, to help the GM remember what happened to you four shifts ago, but without suddenly making up an implausibly useful skill)
And there’s always the: my character is a (pilot, engineer, disco ball aficionado) and I’m not, so what do they know that I don’t?
People don’t have to get involved in the forum discussions if they don’t want, but it’s up to us to include them in the RP during the shifts, as much as they want to participate.