User blog:Flamefang/The End of an Era

At 10:44 tonight (August 17th) Angel Wings, bureaucrat and CHBRPW veteran, made the decision to leave this wiki and move on. Angel, better known as 'gel', was one of our oldest members, our youngest bureaucrat/admin, and headed the Activities Department. She joined us back in march and immediately stood out as one of our most cheerful and headstrong members and, in fact, I was initially surprised when she told me she was only twelve years old. Upon her arrival we were introduced to the Creativity Unleashed wiki she pioneered and soon a special relationship was formed between them which remains strong unto this day. She quickly ascended to Rollback and later proved herself worthy of adminship only few weeks after her original character creation. One of her strong points, at the time, was her ability to talk Ghost down from the worst of rages and, despite any harships or adversity, she remained upbeat and ready to go. Gel was given the bureaucrat position by TBUA and she singlehandely worked to create the Start of Summer dance which still stands as the largest event in our wiki's history.Later, as our wiki and administration were close to the breaking point on several occassions she stepped forward as a proponent of tolerance and transparency which, in the end, helped us ride through the storm. It was then that things changed. Gel suffered a series of emotional breakdowns in the face of stress; a byproduct of the conflict shaking the administration to it's core. I talked with her regarding this and I feel that some progress was made but shortly after she departed for China without appointing a temporary bureaucrat in her place. Over the next six months she made attempts to contact us despite being, literally, on the other side of the planet. When she did return not too long ago it was clear, to me, that she was different. She barely talked to me, didn't seem too talkative in chat either, and seemed generally disinterested in her own department despite declaring that it was good fit. Perhaps I should have taken action then, or perhaps I simply would have only hastened/delayed the inevitable. Over the next few weeks her general inactivity persisted and, I openly declare, became extremely frustrated with her lack of action. It mirrored a series of occurances that took place not long before with another in her exact place. Others clearly followed my sentiment and, today, arguments broke out regarding whether she was fit for the position. It was then that I felt obliged to note that she had never been voted into her position and was simply given it by our wiki's creator without the consent of anyone else. Therefore, as she was never entitled to it in the first place, we performed a vote for rollbacks and up in the aftermath of our meeting. Several of us voted, between four and five, and she simply posted 'I'm Done'. With this she proceeded to alter her userpage, delete her characters, and leave some up for adoption. And so ends an era. Despite her faults in the end Angel was, at heart, a fine person. She clearly cared for those around her and often went out of her way to assist them in any way possible. Any more than this I'm sure you know for yourself and, indeed, the above is simply a recording of my interactions with her over the months. I deeply hope that she will be remembered not with contempt or hatred, but with an overwhelming sense of meloncholy. Gel has left us and, although she is gone now, I'm sure her good will carries on as we march on into the future without her.

You may notice that I speak of Gel almost as if she has passed away. This is simply because that is the impression she left me with. Together with the deletion of her characters, the quotes written on her userpage, and final words being 'I'm done' she made it clear that she doesn't intend to return. May her characters pass on into Elysium and, regardless of her intentions, I know she will always be welcome among us here at Camp Halfblood Roleplaying Wiki.

Other Notes:
From Bach:

"I stay, for a few reasons, as most of you know I LOVE WIKIA, even have a shirt to prove it, I plan on making Wikia Helper someday, so that in part makes me dedicated to sites I put time and effort into to help flourish, it also means that surving the hard times when users are petty and mean or drama happens, will only serve me when Wikia chooses a helper, and hopefully it will be me, as if a spot opens up I am in consideration for it, but I also stay because I enjoy being part of something that is bigger then myself, I put effort here because I know what I do, there are people out there, whose time here is enriched because of the work I do, and that in and of itself is reward enough for me to stay and continue to work on wikia, and this wiki, being a bcrat isn't about your experience on the wiki or how much "fun" you have, being a bcrat on any wiki means you are dedicated to behave in a maner that is condusive to a welcoming envorinment and to help make it a better place for all to be, being a bcrat isn't about how many edits you have, or how old you are, or how much you role play, it's about integrity to stand up, and stick through the hard times."

From SoA

"Erm, id like to say, that if she is reading the blog, he should know, roleplay wont be the same without her. And that im sorry. She knows what i mean."

From Leno

"It's been coming for awhile. The only reason she stayed was because of the community. Even if she wasn't the best admin/bcrat... She tried."

And finally, from me,

Thank you all.

Flamefang 04:34, August 18, 2011 (UTC)