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 Before I go into flashback mode, I'd just like to say to BebopKate that she pretty much covered every issue I had regarding this Wiki which, at the time of my joining, seemed like the ultimate place I wanted to be. Thank you, Bebop, for creating this forum. However, just because it is here, you cannot expect a change. None of us can. Not unless we're all willing to make the commitment to do so. I know that comes easier to some than others. Others won't be willing to change at all. Below, I'll be listing some of my issues with the Wiki and my hopes for the future, as well as my reasons for joining. I know my current and shameful level of respect here will probably get me in trouble for saying some of the things I say below. But friends, I urge you to put aside your personal opinions and prejudices to really THINK! Think about the power and meaning behind my words. Try to find an instance where this is true for you and you can relate. And now, FLASHBACK TIME!
It was summer of last year. I came across this Wiki by accident while I was working on a Wetpaint Kingdom Hearts site. I used the Wiki for images and information, but seeing the users working together and seeing all the cool stuff this Wiki had to offer made me want to join. Really badly. But my parents wouldn't let me, so I continued to beg and beg, and finally they cracked. I joined on June 6, 2009, a proud newbie. That was one of the happiest days of my life. True, I got in trouble for messing up page formatting or getting into a fight with an occasional user, but I learned. Most importantly, I made friends with some of the people I now consider the closest to my heart (you know who you are). They taught me the most important lesson of all, and that was how to be a good friend and how being a friend and having a friend felt after my rough, sad past in terms of my social life at school. That summer was one of the best of my life, and the Wiki was still the flexible, friendly place I miss today.
When school started, I wasted away looking forward to coming back onto the Wiki after homework was done, when I could socialize on the then-recently-set-up IRC. I vented my problems. I got to know even more users. Most importantly, I was able to apply what I learned in terms of socializing with others and having friends to my life at school. That certainly made Freshman year a little better for me. So what if my shoulder to cry on lived half way around the world? So what? It didn't matter to me. Unfortunately, it was about late summer-early winter when the Wiki I had grown to love started transforming into a monstrous living hell that was no better than school. True, I hung onto some friends, but I lost many others. People I look at today and think either "If only..." or "What happened?".
It was bad enough when the policy not to allow fan-images on the Wiki was enforced. Little did I know that would start us down our descent into the dark, endless abyss. One we're still falling into now. I don't recall any other policies that were set up, but I can ensure that they were done mainly by a certain group of users without others' consent, and when they were encountered about it, they denied being at fault or they stated the Wiki was a hierarchy, not a democracy like it was founded upon. Community didn't matter to those users. Only they mattered. Only they mattered to themselves. Or the users chose to favor certain other users, casting down the ideas of others just because they didn't like them. They began undoing good edits just because they didn't like what they saw, because it wasn't their style. You want to know what the Wiki and these users became after these events started and continued to transpire? Read Animal Farm. Consider the users I just mentioned the pigs, since one user ruled the entire Wiki although they denied it and had another and second-in-command brainwash us all, the rest of us not at fault and the victims of these specific users the other animals, as we suffer from the ways of the "pigs" and how they tamper with rules behind our backs. I personally think of myself as Boxer. Always working harder, trying to impress the higher authority. Always working harder to no avail, and reaching the point where it ends up destroying me. I've grown to hate what this Wiki's become. I don't hate it, but what it's become. I don't hate the users I just referenced to, I hate what they've become. I can't Wiki-break, because I'm drawn to this place. Sort of like school is your sanctuary if you have home problems and vice versa, this Wiki was and was supposed to be a sanctuary from both. But now I can't even come on here without wondering "What miraculous, once-accepted edit will I make today and spend two hours doing that will be undone today?". And now, the IRC is just as worse. I don't pay attention to the main channel anymore due to recent transpirings and the fact I prefer to just PM my dearly beloved friends, but I've heard the stories and seen both the Wiki and IRC drama increase ten-fold. Really makes me wonder why I bother with this place, and it really makes me start to sympathize with late admin and sub-Wiki-founder Azul81677. He left his position because he hated what the place he had worked so hard on to restore from the mess it was two years ago had become.
I once thought my dream of this place was to be a well-respected, well-liked staff member who had some position on this Wiki. Now I'm not so sure. While that would be another blessing, I think now my dream is to see it restored to what it once was, even though I never got to see but a small glimpse of it, too short a time after I first joined. I'd love to be able to converse freely again. I'd love to be able to use talk pages for any purpose again, to have my edits accepted for what they are, which are good and nearly flawless edits, and not have them tampered with. I'd love for even the users I just mentioned to look at me and say "Hey, that ENX guy is a good editor." But it's obvious now that this dream will never come true. Not so long as we remain blind. Not so long as we remain in this dark age. I've heard users conversing over attempting to revolutionize the Wiki, restoring it back to what it was in its hayday. But what's the point when they'll just be shot down in the end? I'm not saying allow chaos to rule the Wiki, but anything is better than what it is like now. As many previously said, this is a Wiki I used to love about a stupid video game, for cripe's sake. I joined because I thought I'd love it, love the community, and be able to make the site better. And now, what I get instead is the fact that my life's drama is doubled because of affairs on this place! We all strive for perfection on this Wiki, and it is the fact that we all strive for it but have different ways of achieving that perfection that doesn't match the styles of others where we meet conflict. Friends, and I put aside now all grudges I've beared against users or past affairs here that caused me pain such as stuff I didn't agree with when I say this, we forget one very important thing. We forget that NOTHING is perfect. No matter how hard we try, NOTHING WILL EVER BE PERFECT! I've suffered too much in life to have to deal with all the drama this place has granted me. I ask myself on the roughest of nights asking "Why?! Why must I go through this?! Why did I ever bother joining that stupid site?!" But I immediately feel ashamed for thinking such thoughts. Ashamed that I am forced by people just like me who I've never even personally met to think those thoughts. Right now, we persue a lost cause. This Wiki will NEVER be perfect. Not if each of us tries to strive for that perfection on our own. We're all similar people because we share a common interest or deal with similar problems. We all have that one close Wiki-friend. We all have that one user we just can't stand. But why can't we just join hands and strive for perfection as a team? This may sound humorous and those of you who are close to me may know I like to make jokes, but I'm saying this with the upmost of seriousness. There is no "i" in "team." We ARE a team. That's why I beg and urge us all now, for my sake and the sakes of all of us here and those of the next generation, that we join hands and do all in our power to change the things that BebopKate brought up above. I'm willing to try, stop complaining, and give up my many other flaws demonstrated here to the best of my ability. But what about you? I cannot decide things for you, but in a perfect world, I know you would agree to do the same. This Wiki now has a reputation of doing the wrong thing. So let's start by doing the right thing. I, along with several others, would love nothing more than to start anew and bring peace and fun back to this Wiki like it once had. But in the end, the only one who can make that difference is YOU. Not your best friend, not Tetsuya Nomura, not some spiky-haired brat with a giant key, but YOU! PLEASE make the right choice! TOGETHER, NOT ALONE, WE CAN DO THIS!
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I've always been a huge fan of anything Disney, and I remember renting the Kingdom Hearts when I was young, not even knowing it had Disney characters, and when they did appear on-screen, I was like "Wow!" I instantly fell in love with the game, and soon bought a copy of my own. A year or two passed, and I was watching a gaming review show on TV, and I noticed that they said Kingdom Hearts II would be released soon in Japan, but not for another year in the UK. I eagerly awaited the release of the game, and when it did, I soon grabbed a copy and began playing, thinking it couldn't possibly surpass the first game, but of course it did. I had not played CoM before KHII, as I thought it was simply the same game, but on the GameBoy, so I was a little confused with the plot.
