User blog:Sci100/2014 - A Year of Change

'''Okay before you read this blog: This is pretty much a suggestions blog with the exception of the section for Fanon Con, Wiki Cleanup, Rights and Help (only concerning chat moderators, administrators, and bureaucrats), and then the Conclusion. Anyways.... you guys are awesome. '''

Hello users! Happy News Year! I hope you've all had a good year on Ben 10 Fan Fiction.

Blocks and Rules
However, with the ups of the Alien Fests, Holidays, and Fanon Cons come the downs of day-to-day issues. In 2013, we blocked 153 users.


 * 67 of those users were sock puppets.


 * 23 users were blocked for Profanity.


 * 14 users were blocked for spamming.
 * 9 users blocked for Intimidating behavior/harassment


 * 8 users were blocked for Vandalism.
 * Another 8 users were blocked for Trolling.
 * 7 users blocked for being underage.

And many users did more then one of the above things. In fact, they usually did 2 or 3.
 * 5 people were blocked for inappropriate messages/pictures.
 * 4 people were blocked for stealing pictures
 * Another 4 users were blocked for removing content.
 * 3 users were blocked because they moved to a new account. (this is the only non-bad reason to be blocked).

In 2010, we only blocked about 25 users. In 2011, that increased by 100 users. In 2012-2013, that increased by about 25 users.

This number should be decreasing. We blocked about the same number of users this year as we did in 2012. That should not be happening. While many of the blocks are users with not as much experience who join the wiki because they're underage  and while there are users who just come to cause hell on Wikia, some of the people that have been blocked are you, the general community. I hate to see the fighting and screaming on chat, and on message walls. This is just... it hurts. A community should be STRONG, not divided. We haven't had tons of wars this year and I'm really glad for that. But what about next year? What about the generation of users that will be coming as perhaps some of our older users, particularly those who joined in 2010 and 2011 may be leaving the wiki?

That is why, in 2014 I would like to completely rewrite and update the community guidelines into a "Ben 10 Fan Fiction: 2014 Revision" version. This new revision would create a general guideline on the rules of the wiki. It would also stress the importance of kindness, charity, friendship, and good faith in others. I want to lessen the chances of fighting and blocking. We have forgotten to Assume Good Faith, to not feed the trolls, and we have only criticized common mistakes. In the past year, we have attacked new users instead of helped them. We tell them "____, you need 25 edits. Get out before we kick you", when we should be saying "_____, I'm sorry but we have a policy that requires you to make 25 edits before you can chat. This is to promote editing on the wiki as well as keep users who would cause trouble off chat. We encourage you to make these edits, and then come back where we will welcome you back with open arms. Sorry but you must get these edits now. I'm afraid if you don't, you will be warned. " While its longer, its better.

Let me ask you: How many new users have joined chat, been quickly and (albeit a tiny bit harshly) told that they can't be on and they'll be kicked off if they don't leave, and returned? .... that's what I thought.

So, as the first New Years Resolution for BTFF, let's make it: '''By the end of 2014 - we will have a significant decrease in the number of users blocked for various reasons. '''

And for our second new years Resolution: B'''y the end of 2014, we will treat others with more respect, we will be responsible with what we have said, we will be trustworthy and give a good effort to keep our word, we will be good users by following the rules and policies of the wiki (and the Terms of Use of Wikia), and we will be kind to our fellow users. We will assume good faith, do our very best to not feed the trolls, and we will help new users with their mistakes, not mock or criticize them. '''

Do you want a revision of the policies stressing the importance of kindness, charity, friendship, and good faith in others? Yes! I think this is exactly what we need. Yes, the rules need some polishing, they seem old. But none of this "stressing kindness" crap. Survival of the Fittest. No, don't fix what isn't broken Sci. No, if we do this then its gonna make the wiki worse. Survival of the Fittest. Note: I said "I would like to" not "I'm going to".

Templates
As some of you may have noticed, the latest Fanon Con has two new templates. This was designed to make things easier for the Host. However, it still takes me an hour to make the blog even with the templates. That being said, there will be some changes. Because of the template for submissions is now, users will be expected to use the template for their submission on their Special:MyPage/Fanon Con, hidden of course so that the host can simply and paste, and not even have to deal with putting it into the template. This is to make the job of the host easier, as the previous Fanon Cons have taken far too long to put all the submissions on the page.

Fanon Con Committee
If you have paid any attention to Project:Fanon Con, you will know that there has recently been a Committee formed. This group is known as the FCC or Fanon Con Committee. The Fanon Con Committee will come up with a list of users who are fit to be the host of the Fanon Con. That means they know what Fanon Con is, what Fanon Con looks like, possibly the format, and they have some knowledge of how to fix the coding if something were to go wrong with the templates or the blog itself.

There are currently six members of the Fanon Con Committee:

with Roads as an honorary member. He is welcome to come to a meeting and have equal status with the six above if he ever wants to.
 * Sci100
 * Paperluigi ttyd
 * Lego Master
 * NickFusi0n
 * Omernoy121
 * Cokedragon

As you notice, 3 users are admins and 3 users are non-admins. This is purely coincidence as these users where chosen for their experience. Though, it just so happens that there's a nice balance in between.

Voting Process
One month before the Fanon Con signup thread, the Fanon Con Committee will have a meeting and choose 3-6 users who the Committee believes will have no trouble with Fanon Con and can fufill the host duties. Then, the Community will vote for who becomes the host of the next Fanon Con. Voting will close the last Friday of that month. Whoever is chosen will be the host. If there are ties, then the host is chosen by the Committee. If at any point one of the people who are nominated for being the host decides they do not want to or discovers they can't, then they may drop out. If the Host decides not to do it, then the person with the most votes after them becomes the host. If necessary, a member of the Committee will be the host should no one else be able to.

The committee is to make sure that we don't have issues with the host selection anymore. Its more official this way.

Updates to the Fanon Con Page
We've added Fanon Con/Archive  where all the links to the previous Fanon Cons, with the exception of the last two Cons will have been placed there in the Archive.

The definition of an archive is "an accumulation of historical records, or the physical place they are located". So, we have created an accumulation of previous Fanon Cons. More will be added later on.

Fanon Con: New Additions?
Currently, Fanon Con is just a way to reveal to the world some secrets about your show. Its to get people all excited about your fan fiction. But as you all know, Comic-Con, which Fanon Con is based off of, is more then just showing trailers to the world.

Anyways, I'm considering adding new parts to Fanon Con. Hopefully by Fanon Con's second anniversary, maybe Fanon Con will have a new part to it. If you have any ideas as to how to make Fanon Con more epic, message me at Message Wall:Sci100.

BTFF Multiverse
Template:Universe is crowding up. Big time. So, I suggest instead of the Main 52, we expand it to the Main 100.

Should we expand to the Main 100 instead of the Main 52? Yes No Fuq you Sci I hate you you son of a beach go to hell

Main Page/Featureds
Should we update the main page? Yes No If you said Yes, what would you add/remove?

Do you want new Featureds? Yes No Which new Featured ____ do you want the most? The Top Two will become new additions! Featured Character Featured Omnitrix Featured Movie Featured Video Game Voted No on "Do you want new Featureds" Should we remove Featured Picture? Yes No

Visual Editor
Phase 2 of DARWIN (the thing that the new Fluid Layout is a part of). Its coming in 2014 to all wikis, and we have yet to test it.

Should we test it before Wikia forces it on us? Yes No

When should we add it? January February March April May June July August I clicked no in the last poll

How long should we test it for? One week Two weeks A month I clicked no in the last two polls

Cleaning Up the Wiki
This wiki, as great as it is is a bit... messy. Look at the Candidates for Deletion. Look at all the pages that have no categories. Look at the wanted pages. Shouldn't we clean this up? Shouldn't we remove the deleted pages, add the categories, and make the Wanted pages?

Candidates for Deletion
Admins, you have to delete the Candidates for Deletion page (I've cleaned it out 3 times between July and August so Lego, Nick, and Sub good luck).

Wanted Pages
As of now, you may make only the wanted pages that are for your show, your franchise, your movie, and so on. Do not make pages that have no connection to your show/movie/franchise/fan-fiction.

Uncategorized Pages
Uncategorized Pages is filling up the wiki. There's tons and tons of uncategorized pages. This is just plain unacceptable. Anyone can make these categories so long as you say "This is the category for (whatever the category is for).

Timeline for Cleaning Up the Wiki
So here's a goal for cleaning up the wiki:
 * 1) January 31th - Candidates for Deletion is mostly empty
 * 2) March 31st - Uncategorized Pages is making good progress
 * 3) June 30st - Wanted Pages is making good progress
 * 4) July 31st - Candidates for Deletion is re-emptied.
 * 5) August 31st - Uncategorized Pages should be 3/4 cleaned up.
 * 6) December 31st - Candidates for deletion are re-emptied, Wanted Pages should be at a maximum of 200 pages, Uncategorized Pages should be at a maximum of 200 pages.

Navigation and Page Creation Portal
Should we update the Navigation? Yes No Should we update the Page Creation Portal? Yes No

Helping New Users
I suggest we make a "Ultimate Guide for New Users", detailed how to do certain things on the wiki, giving them the necessary links, etc.

Should we make a guide for new users? Yes No

Rights and Help
Its 2014, its a new year. So, I would like to request an administrator meeting between Lego, Sub, Nick, Brian and myself to review the rights of the chat moderators, to discuss if Bink should keep her administrator rights, and... I would like to propose a new project for administrators and quite possibly chat moderators as well.

So, if we are to have a meeting, then I'd prefer January 18th, at 12 PM (Noon) EST. Admins please tell me if this is a good time and date for you. If not, we can reschedule later in the month.

Conclusion
Finally, please fill out this survey: User:Sci100/Survey if you haven't already. Please vote honestly for all the polls, and DON'T purposely troll with me by saying "No" to everything. Seriously, if I find out you did that I'm gonna be pissed off.

I think that's about it. If this is long, sorry I've had a lot on my mind including a lot of this stuff in the last few months. If I went a bit well, overboard, please don't hate me. I'm going to you, the community to get your opinion. If you don't want to change anything, that's fine. But if you want to make the wiki better, then at least consider this.

Check out this thread to discuss any changes that are absolutely 100% happening, like the Fanon Con Committee and any ideas The Suggestion Guy has.

Well, happy holidays and thanks for staying with us this year! Hope you have a great 2014!

P.S - Sorry if you're pissed off at me now. We're still friends, right ? .... right? D: