User blog:Jeremiah Garland/My Views on Various Issues

This mess has accumulated into something none of us can control any longer. It's no secret that the wiki is divided; those who support the admins (or are admins), and those who do not support the admins. The problem our wiki has, as has been stated before, is not Pearson or some outside force; it is ourselves. The way I see it, every single one of us craves drama. You can sit there all you want, denying this, but let's be honest. The only reason 90% of us are still on this wiki is not to make pages about ships or write dinky fan stories; we're here for pure entertainment the drama brings. If we hated drama so much, we all would have left by now. I'll be the first to confess, I love drama. Why do we watch entertaining television series and sitcoms? ''Humans naturally love drama. ''Point being, the problems this wiki has will not be easy to fix, considering we're all addicted to drama.

So then why is the wiki just experiencing problems now? Why hasn't the internal drama ripped us apart much earlier? There are several explanations. My theory is Pearson Wright. For the past two and a half years, he attacked our wiki and caused chaos. We retaliated, and the wiki united as one against a common foe, that being Pearson Wright. That was our dose of drama. Now that Pearson is gone and no longer chastises us, we no longer have a reason to be united. We naturally look for new targets to call our enemies, and create all new fields of drama with them. Sadly, the targets we have now chosen, are each other. What I'm suggesting here is not that we bring Pearson Wright back. Heavens, no. What I am suggesting is that we end this bickering, because, truth be told, it's meaningless. The constant attacks on the administration are a destructive blow to the wiki; not a constructive one. Bold and ridiculous theories and conspiracies have been flying left and right, but for what purpose? As I stated, humans naturally love drama. But is this really what we need?

A Word About the Administration
I love the admins on this site. I know what you're thinking: "of course Jeremiah will say that. He's a chat mod and doesn't want to lose his title so he's sucking up to the admins". Well, in all honesty, I can say that statement is false. I really do feel that the admins here are not only trying their best to make everybody happy, but are very brave and patient for putting up with a lot of the pure bull crap they get. People, open your eyes! They aren't "bias" and they aren't "power-hungry" as many of you claim them to be. They can't be power-hungry because, well, this is an online fanon site. There is only so much power one can attain here, and even that is nearly not enough to create a driving want. As for the bias, I'll be straightfoward. I won't name names, but several of you call the admins bias because maybe they give you more strikes / warnings in chat, or they're biased because you haven't been promoted yet. ''Has it ever occurred to you that maybe you receive "special treatment" or won't get promoted, because of yourself? Let me elaborate on this: the same exact ''people who accuse the admins of bigotry are the same people who cause the most drama on this wiki. They are the troublemakers, and, quite frankly, the source of our division. So of course you won't be promoted, and of course we're going to keep a stronger eye on you in chat; if you didn't call us "bias", maybe we wouldn't treat you differently!

Now, I'm personally in favour of a stronger and stricter administration. Perhaps I played a part in this over the years, but our administration has become much too lax and the rules much too forgiving. I remember when I first came to the wiki in May of 2011, the admins were so strict that half the crap many of us get away with today, would not be tolerated for a second in those days. ''Coincidentally, around the time I came was the Wiki "Golden Age", when there were no problems. ''I'm not saying the solution to everything is a stricter administration, but a stricter administration is definitely more beneficial to us than a relaxed one. For those of you who are enraged by these words, I understand. However, you can blame yourselves as well. Several of you have called the wiki "soft" or "weak" recently, and have been calling for a stricter admin team. This isn't the first time this has happened; a couple times when the admins have tightened their fists on us slightly, several of us became angry. And that is when the cries of "dictators" and "power-hungry" begin. As I said before; there's no fine line. And if there is, you aren't helping us find it. Believe it or not, we are trying our best. And I swear to you, every theory and conspiracy aside, ''we mean well. We are not your enemies.''

A Word About Nults McKagan's Promotion
I won't go too indepth here. But I will say that I have no idea why people are freaking out about this. We held a ''vote. ''A vote that passed. You can't get any more democratic than that. But then comes the question of the 10 vote thing, and several of you are upset that you didn't get your vote in, which would have altered the final outcome. Well, here's the solution, as copied and pasted from Nults's own comment: "I was discussing with Goldlock Holmes over here about having another vote in a month or two's time (after trying to prove myself as a good rollback) to see if the community still wanted me as a rollback".

I'm not defending Nults and his recent promotion. Put that aside. Because frankly, I couldn't care less if he's a rollback or not. I am, however, praising him for his maturity in this situation. He has finally achieved a position higher than user, after being here for more than two years now. Having gone through the same thing, I know exactly how he feels, and what it's like to finally achieve a promotion. ''But he isn't taking that promotion and running with it. ''He could if he wanted to. He is a rollback now. But even still, he is not satisfied, because how his vote ended in such controversy. I really admire him for trying to actually reason with all the users who caused all the fuss. This is proof that he only wants to satisfy everybody. He has come up with a completely fair and reasonable solution of holding a re-vote. He's putting his own promotion on the line to satisfy everybody, ''yet users still continue to shoot him down. ''Maybe he will be a good rollback. Or maybe he'll be horrible. I don't know. None of us do. But the point is, he's taken the first step to try to work out a problem here, and he should be praised at least for that.

Conclusion
This arguing and completely meaningless bickering has gotten to the point where I actually feel sick. But just stop and ask yourself: what is it worth? As I stated, this is an online fanon site. There is ''absolutely no reason why we should be at each other's necks. ''The admins are admins for a reason. Not any idiot will become an admin on this site. They have been here for quite some time, and they understand how to run this site. I know several of you disagree with that, but give them a chance. ''Work with them. ''Then you will see how much we can get done when we are united and not divided. To all you users who have a problem with the admins, get over it. As I said, they're admins for a reason. Stop being so one-sided and give them a chance. End the stubborn attitudes and try to actually work with us instead of meaninglessly attacking us. If you can't even do that, then leave. I really see no other solution. If you are so opinionated and stubborn that you can't even get along with the admins on a fanon site, then perhaps it would be in everybody's best interest (including your own), that you leave.

We're trying here. We really are. We do mean well, and it's sad that several of you can't see that. Just trust us, and believe us for a change.

-- Jeremiah Garland