User blog:Flamefang/The Flaming Inquisition II

Hello, and welcome to the second issue of the Flaming Inquisition, written by yours truly!

After being mostly inactive for Thanksgiving break, I've come to the conclusion that it may be more convenient for myself and ultimately more interesting for others if this series of blogs isn't set to release on a specific schedule. Thus: Nobody expects the Flaming Inquisition! My apologies for stating otherwise in my previous blog, but the retrospective always casts things in a different light. Just as the release dates are varied, so too are the topics I intend to cover; something that has not changed since the prior blog, and something I intend to use to my advantage today. Unlike the first issue, here I'm going to be taking a slightly more critical view of things. It is important to remember that everything written here is representative of nothing more than my personal opinion, and that you are more than welcome to find fault with it as long as you do so in a constructive manner. This blog is likely to be long, and I know many here find it difficult to (or at least prefer not to) read extensive writing, so I urge everyone to simply take it in sections instead of attempting to read it all in one go (Unless that is preferred, in which case you are welcome to do so).

The World Turns, and so too does The Wiki
I've been here for a long time, in fact I believe that with Ghost several months gone I am now the second longest standing member of this wiki, Bach being first by a matter of weeks. As such, you might say that I am placed so as to provide a mostly unique view of the place in which the Wiki currently stands, and of the many steps it took to get there. Naturally, as I am only human, my perception of these things is at least a little clouded and is undoubdetly subject to a great deal of personal bias. I already know that Bach and I differ on our views of the past and present, as similar as many of our thought patterns may be, and so I truly urge anyone reading this to consult others for differring opinions before taking a concrete stance for or against what I have to say.

The Present
In my personal opinion, the wiki has most certainly seen better days. By all accounts, our under-manned administration is crumbling beneath the sheer weight of work imposed upon it by the very system that maintains its ordered presence. To simplify that statement, we don't have enough people to do the work that keeps them doing the work. One thing that I think none of us have ever understood, the sole exception being Bach herself, is the soaring mountain of 'stuff' that needs to be done just to keep this wiki running effectively. We cannot wrap our minds around it in the same way that none of us can conceive of every process leading to the creation of something as simple as the clothes we now wear. At the end of the day, were this work to suddenly cease, the wiki would fall into disrepair almost immediately. One thing I should note, however, is that is has almost always been this way; the administration has always been stressed, and it has always been essential to our very presence here. What has changed is the manner in which the administration has needed to confront issues.

The Near Past
Over time, as users arrived and the old made way for the new, the structure that we built had to be expanded upon; it had to adapt to changing times and new faces. With new members stepping up to new  tasks, new positions were created and eventually I suggested the implementation of Departments. Thus we had an enormous expansion of bureaucracy within a matter of months, and by autumn we had a fairly streamlined system prepared to do whatever it had to do. It was after this sudden administrative growth, at no particular point but rather over a stretch of time, that users began to step down or leave (eventually including myself), and so the structure that we had build was left as a hollow shell. Not an entirely  hollow shell of course, members stepped in to take their places and the wiki moved on, but the department system was no longer necessarily the best way to approach problems; simply because it was tailored to a specific group of people with a specific set of aims and goals. Of course we have changed the department system since then, greatly so, but every time that happens it becomes a little less clear exactly how the system functions. Where one administrator may have had certain prorities, his replacement may have others. Where a rollback may have specialized in one thing, her replacement may specialize in something else. Or, as is all too often the case, replacements may do nothing at all. It may sound, for the moment, as if I am suggesting the removal of the Department system in favor of the earlier way of things. This is not true.

The Far Past
When this wiki was established, as all wikis are established, it came with a set of founders. Those founders eventually left us, but from that point of beginning until the implementation of the department system we had a fairly simple hierarchy based around that already created by Wikia; Rollbacks, Administrators, and Bureaucrats. Those in these positions had no particular jobs, and the limits to their powers were outlined only by policy and those abilities given to them by their position. Responsibilities, also, were fairly vague and so most did whatever they wanted, provided that some claimings were completed on the side. With that being said, this may sound like an answer to our problems; demolish the department system and let people do whatever they want! No. Because then, with no clear aims and no clear structure, only chaos would prosper. That overly organic system, without sufficient restraint and responsibility is not the answer, and nor is the ridgid establishment that we exist within today.

The Present and What I Propose
From my current position as a Rollback, after convesations with Bach and other members, as well as viewing the current state of the wiki it seems to me that a middle path is necessary to properly manage things. Something between the chaos of the original system, and the problems of the new. I could be entirely wrong in my perception of things, and perhaps this is the wrong answer, or maybe even the problem that I am trying to fix simply doesn't exist. Seeing as this is my perception, however, I may as well propose a solution to keep from sounding overly critical.

Instead of organizing into departments with set tasks, we would instead organize into "crews", consisting of anywhere from one to infinite members. These members may be of any administrative rank, and in fact members may even participate in multiple crews at the same time; allowing their talents to forward different projects within the same area, or other areas all together. Crews would be created around a singular task, that being anything from one area of claiming to the starting of a particular activity or event. Thus we might have larger and mostly permanent crews that deal with claiming, and smaller ones that deal with less permanent things. A crew might be created to deal with a particular crisis, or deal with it in a very particular way, or even just discuss it. As long as a goal is set, and the goal is completed within a set time decided at the crews' creation, that crew is legitimate. All administrative members would be involved in at least one crew at a time.

Crews would be managed in a fairly simple manner. Each admin is assigned his or her share of crews to manage; ensuring that they complete their goal within the set time. Then, each Bureaucrat manages his or her share of admins and ensures that their jobs are being done properly. When members join a crew, the admin managing them would record their name and so they will be permanently tied to the crew. This is to ensure responsiblity and consequence for that member. If a crew fails to complete their goal within the assigned time, it would be up to their manager's Bureaucrat to decide whether they are at fault or whether it was simply a matter of circumstance or an impossible goal. If they are at fault, they get one strike towards demotion. The number of those necessary is of course undecided at the moment. Naturally, edit quotas would remain the same and Admins, Bureaucrats, and Rollbacks alike could get strikes.

Now, this is just something I've come up with over the past hour, and is by no means a polished plan that I would intend to somehow implement of my own accord. This is simply an outline for an idea I would like to see used in the future, and that I hope to work on with others as it matures.

Thanks for your time, I hope this blog provoked at least a little thought!

~Flamefang