User blog:Jkl9817/Let's make some frigging decisions!

This is literally the first time I have ever, ever, ever, ever'' put my argumentative-essay-writing skills to actual use since I was forced to assimilate them in school. So yeah, that's Brazilian education for you.''

Well, guys, we have a problem. I didn't know about it until quite recently, to be honest, but that doesn't change the fact that it's probably the most trouble we have ever faced as a community, which is saying something considering this wiki's history with trouble. Such a problem is far too complicated and multifaceted to be summed up in a few words, but you guys already know most of the story a lot better than me. What concerns me is that it's been going on for a while now and little has been done about it. Several users have attempted to bring the community together against that common threat, a great many more have done their best to mediate arguments and spread understanding, and lots of people have justifiably expressed their anger and disappointment at the whole thing, but not a lot has come of all that. So I'm making this blog to try to come up with actual solutions.

Of course I could never do that on my own, but someone has to take the initiative, especially seeing that the latest blog post about the problem, Avi's agreeable plea for peace, resulted in even more fighting and no resolution at all even though it was fairly unbiased. So if you want to contribute to this blog with ideas, suggestions, or any concrete remedies you think could help the bigger picture rather than some localized problem that is bugging you specifically (that is up to the admins to solve, not the whole wiki), please go ahead and do. We really need that, whatever your suggestion may be. But please don't make this blog's comment section an octagon; this kind of dilemma can get anyone pretty worked up but there is a time and place for everything.

Well, that was an oversized intro. Anyway, now that it's out of the way, let's move on to the actual issue.

The actual issue
There are several main aspects to the whole generalized drama that has taken over the wiki recently: first of all, users are arguing a lot on chat, for a variety of reasons -- and mentioning said reasons again wouldn't make much of a difference since most of them stem from personal disputes. Secondly, there has been some sizable discomfort over the word "noob" and variants, coming both from people who feel severely offended by it and people who think the anger it has been causing is blown way out of proportion. And, what makes it all so urgent, many users are contemplating leaving chat or the wiki for some time -- even for good -- because of the overarching feeling of relentless conflict. It doesn't help that almost everybody who's aware of the situation has tried to do something about it and hardly anything has changed, which only adds to the impression that we're powerless to the conflict. To be honest, I fear myself that this very blog may become yet another failed attempt at a resolution, which is why it's so long: I don't think I can risk failing to cover anything if I want this to be helpful somehow. (That could always backfire and end up alienating people instead, but I'll have to take that chance.)

The fights couldn't have come at a worse time, either; recently, with Sprink's departure, plus the huge, disheartening gap between TDROTI and TDAS and the general disappointment that was season 4, activity has decreased even more than it usually does over summer, and a few well-known authors and readers have pretty much disappeared without warning (I include myself in that group, though I left when the wiki was still very busy). A good sign of that is the Featureds: does anybody here remember when, say, the Featured Image ballot would have 8 or 9 nominees with about 5 or 6 votes for or against each one? Those were great times. The term "silver age" was coined at some point to define what we were back then. Maybe the silver age still hasn't ended, but it's definitely not going as strong as it used to. That is an issue for another blog post, though, and there's no use in dwelling on the past -- my point is that we can't afford even more departures if we want this wiki to remain alive. So even if the larger inactivity issue isn't sorted out for a while, this whole fighting thing has to be taken care of ASAP, no matter what we think about the arguments and what has been causing them. That's why we need to start thinking about solutions.

Thinking about solutions
This is where it gets tricky. It will be hard to fix this whole thing for good, we've got to acknowledge that. But, from what I've seen of this community, I do believe we're perfectly capable of getting back on our feet if we all do our best. So let's go over some of the particulars and see what we can do about each of them.

First of all, the N-word. I know, that was some clever attention-calling-meets-wordplay action right there, wasn't it? I love myself. Anyway, the word "noob" has been getting on the nerves of an impressive number of people for such a small term. In case you aren't familiar, it is internet slang for "newbie," as in "someone who is fresh to the community and yet to be shown the ropes." Lately it has been used by some people to refer to users as "annoying" or "childish," which I guess is a fair appropriation. But there is a line, and that line is crossed when the word is used to actively demean people and bully them, which we can't really tolerate. I don't know if that has been the case here, because I just came back and am not on chat a lot; what I do know is that if a user is being called a noob and feels that it is bullying, the right thing to do -- the only thing to do, really, if you've asked the person to stop and they didn't -- is to get the help of an admin or chad moderator. There's no use in complaining publicly because history has shown us that can only cause more fighting. And if you have called someone a noob recently and feel they overreacted, try to be civil and talk to the person about it. I know, I know, it's a shame that you don't get to express some real human emotion and say what you have in your heart instead of being a fake hypocrite etc., but we have a name for that contradiction: order. And whatever you think of order, we need some of it to function. You don't have to like the person to keep yourself from being rude to them. (And the occasional fact that they were rude to you first is no excuse, as the mature thing for you to do would be either take the high road or report them to an admin, not fight back.)

Those two things apply to any chat conflicts, really. If you ever, ever feel harassed on chat or anywhere else in this wiki's realm (more in five), don't fuel the fire. Try to talk to the person (I said TALK) and sort things out, and if it doesn't work, contact an admin or chatmod. It's a very simple method and it actually works almost every time. And, of course, take your interlocutor's feelings into account before "opening your mouth." You may hate them with a burning passion but that doesn't make them, and everybody who happens to be around, less deserving of your civility. This is a wiki, not a war zone. Furthermore, try to think about what you're upset over before venting your spleen. I don't know for sure how most of these arguments start (there's no specific pattern), but I'm sure if people would give it a second thought now and then, a lot of fights could be avoided (not saying all fights are completely irrational, but it's merely a matter of approaching things with more restraint). We didn't have a lot of fights just a while ago; maybe we should think about how we managed that. Which, of course, is not to say it's new users' fault; a few new users couldn't establish chaos even if they wanted to.

Remember: This is Total Drama Island Fanfiction Wiki. (This fact opens itself up to all kinds of jokes and puns over the world "drama," but let's leave that alone.) It should go without saying, but the main thing that binds us all together here is the fact that we write Total Drama fanfiction. Everything else that came to bring us closer to one another is separate from this wiki's proposal and operation. This has to be pointed out again because of two distinct issues: first of all, with Epic's Big Brother thing (which I barely know anything about, but I understand it's a roleplaying game involving many of our users), lots of drama has seemingly been generated. Nothing wrong with that alone; RPs will do that. The problem is that some (no, a lot) of that drama has invaded our wiki, affecting even users who are not participating. That has obviously bothered some people (yours truly included), and even though we have no authority to intervene in Epic's or anyone's business outside the wiki, we can ask users to keep things where they belong. If you have to argue with someone about the game or any other critical matters not pertaining to this wiki, find a way to do it elsewhere. There has got to be some superior you can talk to about EBB problems, for istance. Even if it's Epic himself (pure speculation). I'm not saying TD is all we should talk about all the time; in fact, we hardly ever do on chat (okay, more so since the premiere of season 5). I'm just saying some things don't belong here. Besides that, it would be nice if people could make an effort to vary the subject on chat, even though I can't speak with authority about that since I am only there, like, once a week. I do know that whenever I'm on people are mostly talking about Big Brother and/or Survivor, and I can't be the only one who doesn't watch those. And even though I am obviously biased on that front, I have seen several people voice their disinterest in chat lately, so I guess if we could all try to make the conversation more eclectic, everyone would win? Again, that may be just me.

Think about why you're here. Mankind is a weird species and one of the consequences of that weirdness is that we form groups with which we bond over the most absurd things. For us, here, it was fanfiction, which is another very weird concept. But, even though I'm sure we all love to write and/or read, that's not the only reason why there is such a strong sense of community here. For starters, we were a very tight bunch even before chat was enabled; okay, there was Chatango and all that jazz, but still, it means something that a lot of us considered each other friends and took time to message one another constantly without the immediate tug of real-time messaging. But what is truly great to contemplate is that we actually manage to be this wonderful, almost entirely functional community even though most of us have lost interest in our main subject matter (Total Drama, not writing) over time and the Newsletter never takes off (best of luck to Rhonda). We are, like, this unwitting family that always ends up back together no matter what we have been through. Just think about all the friends you've made here; I'm sure there are several. I can say that for myself, for one. And that's not even getting into the wonderful world of fanfiction; before I joined you, my instinct was to look down on it, but now I see that there is a lot more to that genre than one would initially assume. And even though real life won't always allow us time to get here, this wiki has become a part of our lives, however minor. I think this is something worth the trouble of enduring a bunch of arguments. Even if you're sick of all this, remember why you came here in first place, what made you stay, and what you would be giving up on if you quit just because of this unfortunate mood. And also remember that each user is extremely valuable if we are to remain in operation.
 * 1) emotionalblackmail  What I'm saying is that, before you leave, you should try to reconsider. We can get past all this trouble eventually, can't we?

Those are the four main pointers; now, the main purpose of this blog is not to lecture people on what they should or shouldn't do, but to try to come up with concrete measures for peace. I will start that process myself by offering up a few risky propositions that will probably demand a little vox populi.

A few risky propositions that will probably demand a little vox populi
I'm not voting on any of those matters yet myself; I'm just bringing them up for discussion. But seriously, please vote even if it's the only thing you do in this post, because we have to make some frigging decisions.
 * 1) For us to get out of this crevasse, people have to learn to tame their impulses, and that's very hard for any human being, let alone a teenager. And if there's one harsh truth this whole mess has taught us is that not everybody here is capable of that. So I think we should consider coming up with more strict community/chat rules and penalties -- unless users prove to have enough maturity to not need such strict rules, which would be ideal. If we do decide we need more strict rules/penalties, then someone (an admin, probably) should make another blog, or any other venue, in which to decide upon such rules. So YES or NO on that one?
 * 2) I know this will get a lot of opposition -- I'm not even sure I am for it myself -- but I think the possibility of cracking down on camps should be brought to the table. I know, camps are not played out here, they theoretically don't interfere with our business, etc., but it is a fact that they have been responsible for much of the recent drama and many of the users who are not in them can feel a little alienated by their omnipresence on chat and elsewhere (I don't know if I would include myself; I really don't mind them that much). Things such as Epic's BB (I would have to mention it by name at some point) could be completely restricted to Camps Wiki, including their calls for submissions and all, since this is ultimately a fanfiction wiki. If Camps doesn't allow them due to TD connection issues, a third option (suggestions welcome) could be taken. YES or NO?
 * 3) Now would be the time to suggest some kind of chat-overseeing organization, but the thing is, that already exists. We have got to strengthen the figure of the chat moderators somehow, because they are supposed to be the users' way of dealing with chat-specific issues, and the way things are now, people barely acknowledge their role. When they do try to get the help of a superior, which doesn't happen nearly as often as it should, it's almost always an admin, and admins are busy. So to remind people that chatmods are there and they serve a variety of purposes, we might
 * 4) put more pressure on them to do their jobs by increasing the rigor with which their activity is overseen, with the possibility of demoting them if they are negligent or irresponsible; YES or NO?
 * 5) encourage them to be proactive/do their best, by means of, I don't know, "Chatmod of the Week" awards or something (note that they wouldn't be a Featured Thing sort of thing, just an acknowledgement of chatmods' work); YES or NO?
 * 6) remind the people of their existence with main page/community corner notices and perhaps an added rule, and encourage them to introduce themselves as chatmods to new users; YES or NO?
 * 7) add more chatmods to share the load; we only have four, and there are plenty of reasonably active and level-headed users with no involvement in the conflicts and no positions at the moment, such as O, CK, JER, Trey, Dyna, Mike, Avi, Jax, and Ben (and also obviously SG if he manages to be active), who might be able to help the current mods. Not saying all of those should be promoted, but at least some of them would definitely be worthy (and I might be wrong in saying none of them are involved; if so, please correct me, without turning things into a freaking flame war), and of course other users can be suggested; YES or NO, and if yes, WHO?
 * 8) demote Mana, because, seriously, he sucks ¬¬ (JK Mana, we all love you.)
 * 9) There is an obvious need to strenghten our community bond at this time of disbelief, and for that we need something that brings everyone together in a fun manner. Writing projects haven't worked well in the past, but we have managed to accomplish that oneness many times before. We could, for instance, do that second edition of the Wiki Awards if anyone is up for it; Rhonda could try to gradually open up the Newsletter to guest/staffed writers; heck, we could even start another writing competition, even if it doesn't work out. YES or NO, and if yes, WHAT?
 * 10) Starting from the roots could either be very helpful or cause more tension. I mean, something should be done about the ongoing arguments; I don't know, maybe admins/chatmods could try to approach the involved and figure out what drove them into this whole fighting mood in first place, and then perhaps work out a solution to the individual problems forming the bigger issue. I know that is obvious and has been already attempted by many users, but still, it's worth restating. On the other hand, it would be quite troublesome for whoever ended up going about it, no one here is a psychologist (I think), and delving into the arguments could also end up increasing them, so we have to be careful about this one. So yeah, on the subject of providing arguing users with closer support, YES or NO?
 * 11) Gideon recently suggested that we permanently get rid of chat, and leave instant communication to Chatango and such. It would be an extreme measure but that's perhaps exactly what the situation calls for. What do you say, YES or NO?

Phew, long blog. I guess that's it, though. I'm gonna end on a hopeful note and state that I believe 100% that we can work this out and keep our community solid, especially now that Total Drama All-Stars has premiered and we are likely to receive an influx of new users in the near future (if you have been paying attention to activity, you may have noticed it's already starting). Like I said, we're a terrific community; a series of arguments between specific users shouldn't let us all down like this. So what do you say, guys? Shall we see this thing through once and for all?