User blog:Jkl9817/A (re)circumscription

This will most likely be the third epic-fail blog post of mine in a row. Well, here it goes. Please read, it's important.

Last month, I was in charge of the New Proposals for the Newsletter. Well, the only proposal that came up (insofar I did a good job) was Fan's long-postponed suggestion to change the required limit of Total Drama connection in this wiki.

After around one month of voting, such proposal has received eight support votes and a single oppose vote. Since it's explicitly stated that you should provide a reason either to support or oppose the idea, I guess MrD's vote won't count, though. Yeah, deal with it, MrD. :P

In any case, the idea has been accepted and this situation will hardly change in the one day there is left until the ballot is closed. Since, you know me, I'm a hurry user, I'm posting this today so we can actually make a decision. Well, fasten your seatbelts...

The situation
One of the biggest controversies we've seen in recent times in this wiki concerns some minimally TD-related stories that began to pop up, the most famous example being, perhaps, Mariah's pinup, highly illustrated noncomp, Complicated. After the popularity that story earned, some people began to question the rules as to how much TD connection a story must have to be written here. More and more stories as related as it began to grow popular and, at the same time, stoke controversy—and even criticism—due to their narrow Total Drama connection. After a lot of discussion, most of it taking place in the Featured Image ballot, we still haven't reached a final decision.

The suggestion
So, since no one spoke, I'll try to clarify the consensus that has been reached in the New Proposals ballot. First of all, even if the situation doesn't change at all after the interference of this post, we need an explicitly stated policy (sic). New users tend to get confused as to what kind of stories they should write here, since "Total Drama" may be interpreted in many different ways. Therefore, we need to create an actual policy to get things right.

That said, I move on to what I think should be our new policy.

Allowed

 * Remakes/reimaginings of the original Total Drama canon. Eg: Total Drama Island...?.
 * Competition stories that are supposedly part of the canon Total Drama series, but with original characters. Eg: Total Drama: Boney Island.
 * Competition stories with similar structures to Total Drama Island and its sequels. Eg: Endurance.
 * Any kind of sequel to stories that meet the criteria above.
 * Any kind of competition stories involving canon Total Drama characters, even if they don't have much to do with the Total Drama structure.

Not allowed

 * Competition stories with little to nothing to do with the Total Drama structure, such as an American Idol reimagining, unless they involve canon TD characters.

Allowed

 * Stories centered on one or more canon Total Drama characters. Eg: Life After Lies
 * Stories centered on one or more original characters who have first appeared in a competition story (if such stories refer in some way to the competition stories in which their characters have appeared). Eg: The Life of Michael.
 * Stories centered on many Total Drama Fanfiction Wiki users. Eg: Total Wikia Elementary.
 * Stories centered on canon Total Drama events. Eg: Legacy.
 * Episodic horror stories with regular "eliminations" (literally, in this case) in a similar structure to Total Drama competitions.

Not allowed

 * Stories with no relation to the Total Drama series. Stories with no relation except TD-ish illustrations are included.
 * Stories centered on original characters, with TD connection limited to Total Drama characters in minor/supporting roles.
 * Stories that, although centered on original characters who have appeared in competition stories, have nothing to do with such competition stories.

The epilogue
I might have missed something, and if I did, let me know.

Also, I know a lot of users who have worked hard on their stories won't know what to do if the new clause is approved, so I think there should be an ACAUS—Aid Comitee to Authors of Unrelated Stories, composed by users who would, at first, assist writers to know if they stories are related or not, and what they should do with them if they are not, in order to avoid hard work goes downhill. It wouldn't be permanent, just a little help to get the new rules estabilished without big situations. Volunteer if you want to. If no one is up to it, though, I'd also be happy to do it by myself.

Well, that's just my opinion. Comment below and help our wiki solve what's becoming quite a headache. :)