User blog:Jeremiah Garland/A Word from the Critics: What Are We Doing??

What’s the best part about no longer being an administrator? That’s right! You can critique the site again!

Fact of the matter is, when you’re a standing bureaucrat with any sort of existing power or influence, it’s kind of awkward to admit things are going wrong, or at least moving at a ridiculously slow pace. However, when you’re one of The People (capital letters pls) there’s this awesome thing called freedom of speech that the Americans invented right before they drove in with tanks and saved the world. Therefore, this blog is dedicated to the ones who make all the magic happen; the 99%; the critics and skeptics, the workingman and even those on welfare. Friends, this blog is dedicated to The People (capital letters pls).

Let me be honest. When I resigned and left about a month ago today, I did so already anticipating my return. I was readying myself to coming back and seeing how drastically this place has changed, due to the ubiquitous cries of “reform”, the endless SSC requests calling for a renaming and rebranding of the Wiki. I thought I’d return to a completely alternate site, with a new wave of editors and a plethora of fresh material. Frankly, this is actually one of the many reasons why I decided to resign and skip town – I don’t think I was ready for all of the imminent changes. A part of me longed for the PPW of old, and I suppose I wasn’t exactly ready to see it go, so I myself left before that could happen.

However, as the weeks progressed, I found myself thinking about the wiki every once in a while. I started to change my outlook. I began to figure “change is good”. We needed a new name and a new rebranding, we needed a new wave of editors and a plethora of fresh material. When I came on the wiki, I was appalled. Nothing has changed.

I’ll give the community the benefit of the doubt and assume that such slow progress is due to life getting in the way – as it often does – but literally nothing has changed since I left. No individual is to blame for this; rather the community as a whole. And if you don’t think that this is a problem, that’s fine. It just feels rather counterintuitive for this place to promise reform and new beginnings, yet not act on these notions. I’ve seen a myriad of talk of reorganisation, yet nobody has done anything about it. Right now, it’s like the wiki is stuck in an estranged limbo of two different wikis. We’re trapped in that awkward transition period and we’re not quite sure in what direction we want to go.

“Awkward transition period”. Sound familiar? That’s right — our wiki’s hit puberty.

It’s time it became a man.

Rebrand and Identify Ourselves
Are we a POTC fanon wiki? Are we a general gaming fanon wiki? Are we a GOP erotica fanon wiki (note that one down)? Truth is, we’re not sure. As I said, we’re in the transitional phase yet and we don’t have the guts to commit to one or the other. To put it bluntly and in the style of a Texan, “crap or get off of the pot” (the word ‘crap’, however, is often switched instead with a less-friendly, cruder word beginning with an ’s’). If we’re going to change the wiki, the first and foremost step we have to take is pulling the metaphorical switch and changing our wiki’s name. Alea iacta est. The reason activity is so pathetically pathetic is because people feel weird about writing Assassin’s Creed or Minecraft fanon on a wiki dubbed “Pirates of the Caribbean Fanon”. So my question is: what are we waiting for? As I recall, all of the votes passed on the SSC requiring a wiki overhaul, isn’t it about time we started acting on that? Once we give this place a makeover and start fresh with a new name, new objective, and new priorities editing will be much easier and I guarantee we’ll see an influx in activity. Who knows? We might even attract a few new faces.

Point is, let’s get a move on with this reform. It’s been a month now; isn’t it time we made a decision as to what we’re going to do? Because, truth is, I think just about everybody here is confused as to what exactly this wiki is for.

Also, can we change this colour scheme while we’re at it? Not that "vomit-stained khaki" isn’t nice and all.

Start Writing
Step two in the process is essential: start filling the wiki with new material. A wiki is only as good as the stuff in it, and right now chat isn’t exactly flooding with fan stories. Isn’t that the whole point of the wiki? “Quote of the Week” and “If I Pictured You as a ___” blogs are always cute and fun, but we’ve forgotten the purpose of the wiki. Fanon. I've seen a few users contributing fanon material, and by a "few" I mean like two. This is a community effort. I know life is busy and hard and sad and depressing and we don’t always feel like writing fan stories; I certainly get that, because the last thing I want to be doing at the end of a long day is coming up with a way for Captain Naughty and Dirty Mallace to save Cannonwalker’s ass from Baron Von Shush’s pet Wither (all I can tell you is it’s very sticky. Almost too sticky, thanks to Cannonwalker) and write it out in great detail at a time when words really don’t come to me. However, writing for many of us is a natural hobby – that’s why most of us joined (and enjoyed!) the wiki in the first place. Why don’t we try to ignite that hobby once more? If you already dedicate your time and energy to talking in chat, why not use a little bit of that time and energy to write a story? Let’s get the creative juices flowing in this place again. After all, this isn’t a social media site, though that’s been its only practical use (arguably) since POTCO closed more than a year ago. Let’s reinvigorate this place. Why can’t we enter another golden age? Start publishing stories. Nobody cares if it’s bad. It doesn’t even have to be a long story. Just write something, my God. And even if it is bad, it can’t be worse than The Adventures of Jeremiah Garland.

And just so I don’t come across as a hypocrite, I plan on starting a few stories myself. In the past month I’ve planned a few story plots and I’m excited to share and produce. I encourage everybody here, once we get this whole “What Wiki Are We?” question settled, to hit that “create a page” button and start writing. Honestly, it’s the one and only way we can bring life and purpose back to this otherwise depressing chatroom of a wiki.

Administration Stuffs
The administration is the heart and soul of the wiki. They lead the community through hardships and prosperity alike, set the example for how a good editor acts and performs, and executes all needs without complaint. Having been an administrator for more than a year, I know the struggles and difficulties admins have to go through. Whenever a major problem hits the wiki or there’s a massive splurge in “drama” (a word which, on this wiki, is given a negative connotation and is to be avoided at all costs), everyone immediately blames the admins. And perhaps that’s rightfully so; after all, the administrators are responsible for maintaining the status quo and keeping the peace, a job which truly is stressful. That being said, it’s vital that the admins, being the superiors of the wiki, do their duty of leading the wiki in the direction in which it is intended to go; in this case, an overhaul and transformation into a gaming fanon wiki. Again, I understand that this time of year is stressful and our priorities lie elsewhere, but admins: you guys have to be the ones to take the initiative here. You haven’t done anything wrong, but I’m afraid to say you haven’t done anything right in quite a while either. If we’re going to get this place back up and running, you guys have to be the intergalactic pilots that propel the planetary transport of the wiki into hyperspace at lightspeed (I understand this analogy doesn’t make much sense, but I just finished a Star Wars marathon and, damn, it occurred to me what a cinematic achievement that franchise was. #HAN SHOT FIRST.)

Oh, and another question. Whatever happened to the “Three Admin Rule”? I don’t doubt that Par and G are more than capable of managing this place, but there’s always been a third for organisational and structural purposes. It’s an essential way to keep an equilibrium of power. Besides, a fresh addition to the admin team will do the community good. And I don't even know what's up with G right now. Kind of a mess.

Let Bygones be Bygones
This is the part that will probably be the most shocking to everyone. Buckle down.

I’m just going to come out and say it. Pearson. The P-word. He-who-shall-not-be-named. I know in the past I have zealously strove time and time again to keep Pearson’s influence on the wiki non-existent. I have fought rigorously and made it my personal crusade to make sure that he and his “fruits” never again saw the light of the wiki. But, if we are to truly become a productive and sensible community and fanon site, we have to be mature. Part of that maturity comes in ending this miniature “web war”. Call me a hypocrite, call me two-sided, but I believe it’s time we unbanned Pearson and company.

If we’re going to reinvent ourselves as a wiki, it’s nice to make fresh starts and that includes in the category of banned users. I know I once preached that “an infinitely banned user is infinitely banned for a reason” (which indeed sounds like bullet-proof logic, thank you Jeremiah), but as a wise Nults once pointed out, an infinite ban can also be overturned for a reason. For those of you skeptical to the idea of unbanning them, I certainly understand. However, it’s been a year since POTCO closed and all tension that existed between Pearson and our wiki is (or at least should be) near death. Shouldn’t it mean something if I, once the leading voice for Pearson’s permanent block from the wiki, am now entertaining the idea of unbanning him?

Rethink the Current System Here
THE MORAL OF THE STORY IS… YOU CAN’T TRUST THE SYSTEM

This will come across as controversial to some as well. I, having served as an administrator for quite a while, as well as having been a founding member of the magnificent anti-administrative think tank known as the BNO (recently in partnership with @Users), have been on both ends of the spectrum. Moreover, I account most of this wiki’s downfall to two things: irrelevance of POTCO/POTC, and the amount of leniency allowed in the administrative system. In the creation of a new wiki, I feel we should reinvent the current administrative system to give admins more power whilst also giving users a considerable amount of representation. At the end of the day, the wiki is about writing fanon. But in the past year one would certainly agree that a good deal of political deception and drama has made this place look more like House of Cards. I am purposely keeping this subcategory vague and short, for it is not my decision to propose nor is it an appropriate time to begin discussing such a reform before the greater reform has yet begun. I wouldn’t necessarily call our current administrative system and policies “disorganised” per se, but certainly in need of a good touch up. This will include a review of the existing rules, and adaptions where needed. All other policies – such as voting procedures, SSC, promotion/demotion matters, chat guidelines, et cetera – should further be revisited by the administrators to assure we’re completely up to date. Again, though, this is a discussion for the future

To Sum It Up
So, let’s review. The only way our wiki can once again be proficient is if we:
 * Start the transition process. The sooner we switch over to the new wiki the better. It seems to me everybody has forgotten about the numerous proposals to rebrand ourselves, and rather than have them swept under the carpet, we should embrace them and get it going.
 * Rebrand Ourselves. New pages. New ideas. New admins. New URL. New colour theme. It’s certainly time we liberalised the site. Any of you hesitant to the idea of a wiki makeover need only review all activity over the past month to see how much we truly are struggling, and that a new beginning is much needed.
 * Start Writing. Most importantly, we have to WANT to write fanon again, since this is after all a fanon wiki. Right now we’re more of a social media site, featuring unnecessary blogs and a population centred more on the chat feature. I realise the initiative will be a difficult one, since we all have busy lives. Nevertheless, it’s our duty as editors.
 * Take Care of the Minor Details. What game series should be allowed, who should fill the third admin role, and even the name of our hypothetical new wiki are all *secondary* matters; they can easily be settled through a serious community discussion. However, what matters the most right now is that we get ourselves in this new mentality to drive the wiki into the direction we want it to go.

When we think back on all the great reforms the wiki has been through, it comes as no surprise that what followed were only ever magnificent times. The Role-Play Revolution of April 2011 saw the focus of content shift from more objective pages to role-play matters, and thus began the wiki’s Golden Age that summer; in February 2013 the Kat Bluedog presidency was overthrown, leading to our own era of good feelings and a much-needed resurgence in activity. Truth is, in order for progress to occur, progress has to be made. There must be some sort of catalyst for the change we need. Now is the time for that change. Why must we put off this reform for another day? The votes have passed, the polls have been closed, the discussions have been made. The only things left to be done are the formalities. Summer is over, we've had our break. Let's revisit what the purpose of this wonderful community is, and strive to better it. It's time for change.