User:Super Martyo Brother
From Homestar Runner Wiki
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| - | + | I am temporarily replacing my user page with an open letter to the general administration and upkeepers of the Homestar Runner Wiki's sister, the Fanstuff. | |
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| - | I | + | I recently found out that the fanstuff was permanently locked. Okay, maybe not that recently, but still. Anyway, I was kind of miffed that so soon after the wiki's reopening, the wiki was locked. I went to Talk:Main Page and was told to go to Super Sam's talk page for answers on why it was locked. |
| - | + | What I saw, quite frankly, shocked and disgusted me. | |
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| - | I | + | I hate it when politics forces any good thing to close. This was what seemed to be the case with the fanstuff wiki. The opening of the discussion included a slew of what were, essentially, insults tossed between It's Dot Com and Super Sam. This bothered me. Reading the discussion further, It's Dot Com gave several reasons as to why the closure was necessary, and they came across as legitimate. |
| - | + | Sadly, I don't think this was the case. | |
| - | + | The sysops leaving was cited several times, but this was easily fixed. Just make new sysops. | |
| - | + | The lack of quality fanstuff and users was also cited, but as Super Sam pointed out, "When the userbase and general interest has been decimated by 527 days of not-having-a-wiki, of course it's going to be hard to build it back up again." | |
| - | + | I think, ultimately, if It's Dot Com gave the slightest crap about the Fanstuff, it would not be locked. This isn't an insult; it's perfectly fine to not care. However, closing the wiki simply because the old users miss what they created and the new users haven't had time to discover it yet was a poor decision. | |
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| - | + | The problem with the fanstuff was an influx of lesser-quality, "Hey wouldn't it be cool if I just made an interactive in five minutes?" articles. The answer to that was the purge. After the purge, people seemed to think there was still a problem, but '''there was only the problem of no time'''. Interest was totally destroyed over the course of 527 days, and when you have a userbase that's stopped bothering to check and has moved on, you need to start treating the wiki as not the bustling community it once was, and more of a fledgling wiki just learning to fly. It's Dot Com gave the wiki no chance. | |
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| - | + | If, instead of expecting the wiki and its community to suddenly come back to life, the wiki was treated as if it was new, I think we would still be editing it today. Also, quite frankly, we need the fanstuff wiki back. The hiatus has been hard on those of us fans, and our daily dose of Homestar has been missing for a while. There were lots of great comics, scripts, and interactives at the fanstuff, and since they were all created by fans, they kind of had the same sort of humor the Brothers Chaps use in their cartoons. | |
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| - | + | The community was great; the reviews tab was never abused and everyone tried to be constructive. There wasn't a competitive nature around the site, which unfortunately has become the case at so many other social media sites where ratings and views and subscriber counts are the ultimate indication on whether or not you are any good. The wiki's community was vastly welcoming, since everybody was eager to see new stuff. So many other sites have users who won't even look at your stuff unless you have a thousand views or something. The fanstuff wasn't like that. | |
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| + | Ultimately, the fanstuff was a great place, and even though it got a little chaotic before the purge, I think it was an essential part of our wiki. I wish the politics of the whole lack of administrative users was a lot more minor than it was, because quite frankly, it was '''not that big of a deal'''. The sysops didn't really need to take any administrative actions because there was little vandalism and the rules hadn't even been set up yet. I wholeheartedly disagree with the opinion of It's Dot Com on this subject, and I hope that one day, the fanstuff might re-open. It doesn't look good now, but if the hiatus ends and new viewers want a place to post their fan creations, there might be a chance. | ||
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| + | Sorry if I offended, and I know this is probably five months too late, but I just needed to get this off my chest. | ||
Revision as of 05:25, 15 September 2010
I am temporarily replacing my user page with an open letter to the general administration and upkeepers of the Homestar Runner Wiki's sister, the Fanstuff.
I recently found out that the fanstuff was permanently locked. Okay, maybe not that recently, but still. Anyway, I was kind of miffed that so soon after the wiki's reopening, the wiki was locked. I went to Talk:Main Page and was told to go to Super Sam's talk page for answers on why it was locked.
What I saw, quite frankly, shocked and disgusted me.
I hate it when politics forces any good thing to close. This was what seemed to be the case with the fanstuff wiki. The opening of the discussion included a slew of what were, essentially, insults tossed between It's Dot Com and Super Sam. This bothered me. Reading the discussion further, It's Dot Com gave several reasons as to why the closure was necessary, and they came across as legitimate.
Sadly, I don't think this was the case.
The sysops leaving was cited several times, but this was easily fixed. Just make new sysops.
The lack of quality fanstuff and users was also cited, but as Super Sam pointed out, "When the userbase and general interest has been decimated by 527 days of not-having-a-wiki, of course it's going to be hard to build it back up again."
I think, ultimately, if It's Dot Com gave the slightest crap about the Fanstuff, it would not be locked. This isn't an insult; it's perfectly fine to not care. However, closing the wiki simply because the old users miss what they created and the new users haven't had time to discover it yet was a poor decision.
The problem with the fanstuff was an influx of lesser-quality, "Hey wouldn't it be cool if I just made an interactive in five minutes?" articles. The answer to that was the purge. After the purge, people seemed to think there was still a problem, but there was only the problem of no time. Interest was totally destroyed over the course of 527 days, and when you have a userbase that's stopped bothering to check and has moved on, you need to start treating the wiki as not the bustling community it once was, and more of a fledgling wiki just learning to fly. It's Dot Com gave the wiki no chance.
If, instead of expecting the wiki and its community to suddenly come back to life, the wiki was treated as if it was new, I think we would still be editing it today. Also, quite frankly, we need the fanstuff wiki back. The hiatus has been hard on those of us fans, and our daily dose of Homestar has been missing for a while. There were lots of great comics, scripts, and interactives at the fanstuff, and since they were all created by fans, they kind of had the same sort of humor the Brothers Chaps use in their cartoons.
The community was great; the reviews tab was never abused and everyone tried to be constructive. There wasn't a competitive nature around the site, which unfortunately has become the case at so many other social media sites where ratings and views and subscriber counts are the ultimate indication on whether or not you are any good. The wiki's community was vastly welcoming, since everybody was eager to see new stuff. So many other sites have users who won't even look at your stuff unless you have a thousand views or something. The fanstuff wasn't like that.
Ultimately, the fanstuff was a great place, and even though it got a little chaotic before the purge, I think it was an essential part of our wiki. I wish the politics of the whole lack of administrative users was a lot more minor than it was, because quite frankly, it was not that big of a deal. The sysops didn't really need to take any administrative actions because there was little vandalism and the rules hadn't even been set up yet. I wholeheartedly disagree with the opinion of It's Dot Com on this subject, and I hope that one day, the fanstuff might re-open. It doesn't look good now, but if the hiatus ends and new viewers want a place to post their fan creations, there might be a chance.
Sorry if I offended, and I know this is probably five months too late, but I just needed to get this off my chest.
