Forum:Wiki Thoughts - Please Read

Forums: Index > The World that Never was > Wiki Thoughts - Please Read

Alright. No Daisy here. These are some serious thoughts and observations I've been seeing going on over the last few months.

1. We have had a lot of conflict. Admins, IRC, formatting, you name it.
2. I am getting e-mails, talk page messages, IRC PMs, and so on at least once a week, usually much more, about the crumbling infrastructure of the wiki, usually about how one group of people is totally ruining everything, and then proceeding to get an e-mail from the opposite faction about how they're ruining everything.
3. We have a LOT of new people. But I see them contributing very little, other than talk page chat. And I really wonder why.

So, I want all of you...veterans, admins, mods, editors, newbies, bureaucrats...EVERYONE, to stop and read the following sentence below.

This is only a wiki.

Read it again, if you have to. Read it as many times as you need to until it sinks in.

We are fussing, fighting, wasting time and energy in our real, everyday lives on a wiki. About a video game. With talking ducks and guys who hit people with giant keys.

So, here's the deal.

We need to back off. We need to start taking this thing way less seriously. I'm not saying let the trolls run rampant and we have a second Kingdom Hearts fanon wiki. But I am saying that the nitpicking, the rules slamming, and the lack of flexibility needs to stop. That good faith thing? That's one of the most important rules in existence. Real life as well. Occasionally, it gets you burned, but it makes things better for most everyone in the long run.

We have come a long way from the scraps of info two years ago. We laid down the law because we had no rules or enforcement. We now almost have an excess of both.

A wiki is supposed to be fun. Some people gain that fun from writing entries on their favorite characters. Some do by making and editing graphics to go in those articles. Some people enjoy organizing things or gnoming. Some people like working with other people on a big goal or project. Some people just like being around other people who enjoy the same things as they do.

So, I say to the following groups:

1. Staff and admins, myself included. We need to lighten up. We are seriously making this a miserable place to be. We are editors, same as everyone else, and we need to remember it more than anyone else. We need to remember that fun from that video game we all played and enjoyed that put us here in the first place.
2. Editors, edit. Write articles. Add pictures. Just talk about the series in the forums. Enjoy yourselves. That Mirage Arena idea? That was awesome, and would fit in well with the wiki. We'll find a way to make it work.
3. New editors. Welcome. Thank you for wanting to be part of our community. Help us out. Ask questions if you're not sure. Discuss the games you enjoy. Even if you just go around fixing little things, that's one less thing that needs to be fixed, one little addition that makes the wiki that much better.

As you go around editing and posting, think upon these things. Think of how you can be the best person you can be here.

In short:

This is only a wiki.

Thank you. Now, back to getting excited over Birth by Sleep.

DoorToNothing — I dreamed last night... I got on the boat to Heaven! And by some chance, I had brought my dice along! — 00:26, August 3, 2010 (UTC) I absolutely, completely agree with KrytenKoro on every word. Saying that any fun addition to the wiki is simply not true at all. What about user talk image galleries, additional userboxes, as well as the Mirage Arena and IRC that KrytenKoro mentioned? You will need to provide more examples of these "fun additions" to say such a statement. On the note of user talk pages, notice that whenever a forum is created about issues on them, it isn't just for staffers, it is for the whole community. Also, the IRC is chaos. Absolute chaos, please read my user page for the details. This is not the trolling of a select few, I have witnessed first-hand just how bad the IRC community can be, it is much more than just a few users. We are all at fault, TNE. Virtually everyone has done something against our IRC policy, or has blown a situation on the IRC way out of proportion. I've done it, KrytenKoro had done it, you have done it, ENX has done it, maggosh, Bluerfn, LegoAlchemist, KKD, the entire bunch of us has. And for those of us who allow these rules to go unpunished or comply with not following them on a bandwagon, you are part of the problem too. If you have a problem with the rules, politely request a change in the rules, but do not just start following the rules you think are right. You are on an IRC Channel that has set rules; by joining the channel, you agree to follow them, or suffer consequences. Yes, I am the admin who initially disliked the idea of userbadges. And that tactic of yours, KKD, to show only the very beginning of the discussion is very mischevious. That discussion went on for perhaps half an hour of continuous, uninterrupted chat. I gave several reasons why I disapprove of the idea. Before you start claiming that your idea that the badges are going to help the wiki as an incentive, which I disagree with, are the right thing for the wiki, you need to mention the fact of why people did not like the idea. Also guys, admins argue because they know. I'm not even kidding here, they actually know more about the wiki than the average user in most cases. An admin is not chosen because they have a bajillion edits or are always around monitoring. An admin is chosen based on what they have done for this wiki, what they offer this wiki, their knowlege of policy on this wiki, their judgment of situations related to this wiki... I could go on, but you get my point. I argue so forcefully because I do so honestly believe that I am right. I have always been that way, even back in March and April of 2009. This is not to say that users are not as educated as admins, but admins usually have more experience on this wiki and can make a better judgment based on past events and wiki policy that many users are not fully aware of.