User blog:Flamefang/Raising Concerns

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Our wiki has stood for nearly 9 months. For a Roleplaying wiki, this is quite an achievement. We have forged a large and well developed community containing everything from real life connections, to romance. We have near a thousand characters and our active userbase reached 80 not long ago.As time has passed, and our work reached its summit, it has become clear to me and other members of our administration that this summit is in fact long past. To state things with utter clarity:

'''We feel that the wiki is falling apart at the seams. '''

Honestly, I'm not sure what to do. As I've emphasized over the past 9 months, a wiki is no more than the sum of its users. The heart of the problem we face today, is our users. I have tried to halt this problem, as has Bach and others who support us. We've struggled on despite the fact that, for us, the fun has all but left this wiki. Maturity levels have dropped significantly, the quality of claimings are lower than they ever were, chat feels empty while those in it barely talk at all, and quests trudge on at abysmally slow paces without real progress.

Our community is fading fast.

No one seems to care anymore, no one has any real enthusiasm, and the number of problems we face increases by the day. Chat is no longer filled with relevant discussion, or even interesting debate. Instead it's a contest to see who can sound more insane or be the most random at a given time. I'm writing up this blog right now and I can tell you for certain that I very much doubt more than 15% of those who read this blog, will have read it in its entirety. Blogs are my way of speaking to you; speaking to the community. They are essential for the forward progress of this wiki, and for our administration as a whole. We cannot do anything if you don't care. We have no meaning, no purpose, no "raison d'etre". If this kind of thing continues, there's a very decent chance Bach and I will be leaving the wiki. When we do, it won't come with a large blog, fanfare, or an announcement in chat. We will simply leave.

I have begun to wonder whether we are an RPing wiki, or something like a failed social network.

Roleplaying involves character creation. We all know this. Yet, consistently characters continue to dissapoint. People make them, only to pass them off for adoption, axe them, or have them brutally killed. More than a dozen characters were massacred in the forest last week for no real reason. Now we make characters for the hell of it. They have no distinct purpose or role, or even any kind of overarching story. Long term character development no longer exists. Bach, Lott, and I feel that we can't roleplay with anyone anymore. The sheer levels of immaturity, intentional stupidity, and bull shit are overwhelming. Are you here to Roleplay? Or just act like a mentally retarted lunatic? Are you here to participate in our community? Or simply to bring the worst aspects of the internet to our doorstep? I really don't know anymore.

Still more users make actions without considering the factors involved. Something like 90% of Broken Covenant characters seem to know nothing of their own ideology, and even when they do it's often put to the side and replaced by actions clearly contradicting it. Camp Characters, too, seem uninterested in combating their BC opponents and when a fight does come along, it's often a massacre simply to eliminate unwanted characters and to demonize the Broken Covenant.

I cannot fix this problem, or any of the problems we now face.

I have no solution. I cannot help you, I cannot help this wiki, beyond doing what I have already done which is writing this blog. I'm sorry but an administration like ours, based on principles of democracy and serving our users cannot function if those users don't care.

So thus I respond to impending reactions:

I know what people are going to say already. Some will have barely read this blog and may say "Great blog, I agree". Others will follow along with the others who commented, simply echoing their sentiments. Others still may feel insulted, and strike back. More, may say they're sorry and that they want to fix this issue.

Yet, unfortunately, none of those reactions help us at all.

As I explained earlier on: I'm a Bureaucrat, not a babysitter. As a Bureaucrat I am susceptible to your whims but I am also human. As said, I cannot fix this. I have no plan, no laid out instructions or blueprint. This is up to you now. Fix this wiki, because I can't.

'''Now, go back and read the entirety of this blog again, and consider what it's saying. I have made my move, now it's your turn.'''

Flamefang 23:02, December 11, 2011 (UTC)