Messages

If the Wiki asks for opinions, that's fine. However, nobody here has the authority to tell them how to change an article. You could just go to their Wiki and do it yourself, but if their staff overrules you, then that's that.

Good luck, guys!

Skype is an instant messenger, and when it is used, it is always used as one. The logs thing just makes it so that important conversations don't get lost, or the allow me to jump right into a discussion if I arrive in the middle of it.

I'm not discounting IRC - I just have never had a good experience when using it.

However, I think this discussion is getting a bit too specific for this thread. Is this really the kind of discussion we want to be having right now? Skype vs. IRC? I mean, I'm all for it if you guys want to have it, but it should be its own thread so we don't lose focus on other important issues, too.

I prefer Skype mainly for the chat logs. I feel that's a very indispensible tool. When I log into Skype, I can catch up on everything I missed and then make a proper assessment of what to do as soon as I've logged in.

On the matter of forum organization: The staff is discussing right now first what we want to do with our gaming boards, and once we've sorted that out, we're going to move onto reorganizing the forums. Your input will be considered when we do that.

Hmmm, your evidence is compelling. What do the rest of you think? I am split.

What they said.

Well, then let's cross this bridge when/if they ever apply. Otherwise, I don't think that we will be approaching them.

So basically, I am going home from school this weekend. Happiness = inside me.

"Luv" is not a word. Slang does not make it a proper word. You cannot just invent words. Wrong. My English education tells me so.

You too are overcome with the urge to kneel before me and offer me delicious treats.

You are overcome with the urge to kneel before me and offer me delicious treats.

They seem like they could be good potential members.

What makes you say they seem unreliable?

Honestly, what's to say they could not join both? Besides, we're talking about affiliation right now. Even further, SEIWA does not exist right now. We're not discussing adding them yet, and so it doesn't really matter.

I got the emails and I was like, "Huh?" cause the message displayed was I think what I put for when I banned someone yesterday, but I definitely only banned one user.

Very strange, but at least it's taken care of.

Edit: It was from me, I banned a range of hostnames rather than simply just the IP. So remember kiddies, when doing IP bans on trolls, only ban their IP, not their host, because a lot of people may use the same ISP!

My apologies. Kind of embarrassed.

I think we should definitely get some standard affiliation going, and try to help you guys improve and offer and support we can that will help prepare you to join when you feel you are ready.

Let me just say though that if you state you are not requesting membership, we will not typically offer it, regardless of the quality of your Wiki. Though there may be exceptions, I just want to clear that up so you don't sit around waiting for us to offer you something. Since you've specifically stated you do not feel ready, we will wait until you do. Until then, I hope we can help you out!

(continuing from Xizor's reply).

With the power structure as it is now, hypothetically, could i:
#1) get 50 of my friends all signed up for WikiBound (none of them being EarthBound fans), give them admin access and have them become NIWA staff, and then tell them to vote for a specific option in the polls?

If you did that, as I said, we have no rules in place, so you'd basically ruin a poll and force us to put aside an important issue to deal with a childish outburst from a Wiki trying to achieve who knows what. But honestly, it'd never get to that point, because at some point we'd notice you padding your own numbers and we'd all put a cap on it and probably be forced to cut staff in order to even things out, or rather take away each staff member's vote in certain situations, and then go back to the way we used to do things, which was have on person "represent" each wiki in certain votes.

I know I said never to compare to government, but this is the best example I can think of: The US House of Representatives - larger states get more votes and thus more influence, but rarely will every member of such a delegation sycophantically take the orders of someone at the top. I know I said everyone has equal say, and that equal say can be asserted even if you have a smaller staff. Your Wiki's staff would be proportionate to your Wiki's needs. Honestly, we operate under the assumption that we're all here to work together and achieve great things overall, rather than be d***s and throw tantrums. If any wiki did what you described, I'd seriously question their membership in the organization, because that honestly goes against just about every principle of the thing. Thus, larger Wikis would not abuse their size to bully smaller Wikis, because we're all here to help each other. Even further, there's very little bullying to be had, because NIWA does not enforce anything, and it's nigh impossible to cut someone out of resources and help, such as all the boards we have available, and the new CrossWiki Team.

#2) Post an idea on the staff forums, get one "yes", and immediately assume i have the support of the staff? (This based on the fact that one of my interpretations of what you said is, "even if one wiki says 'no' to something, the rest will say 'yes'.")

I'm not sure how you misinterpreted me here, but it means that throughout the length of a discussion, even if one Wiki objects, if we can determine that it won't hurt that wiki, we can still do something if a great majority feels that we should do something. I really don't know how you took anything I said to mean you can assume something is settled from one reply. Maybe because I said something about apathetic members?

Also, without an "admin without outside obligations" who do we talk to about changing things around the forums, making announcements by the wiki's, changing wiki-related information on the NIWA hubsite, forums, etc.

The admins now take care of these things, myself included. In fact, all of those things you should funnel through me. That's why we created the Coordinator position. I know who to delegate to, and things will get taken care of by the people who have always taken care of them.

Also Also, what do you mean "is nothing without the wiki's"? i mean, there is a site, and forums, so there is something that exists independent of any wiki.

I've said before that this place would cease to exist if every wiki left. We're an Alliance, and an Alliance is what it is because of its members. There would be no United States of America without the 50 states. There would be no European Union if all member states left. There would be no NATO if all member states left. There would be no NFL if all teams disbanded/left the league (which has happened with Sports leagues). There is no NIWA without the Wikis. Yes, there may be REMNANTS of a structure from before, but that structure is meaningless without any members.

Also Also Also, how is thinking NIWA as an Organization separate from the Wiki's a bad thing? I'm still confused on this point.

Because, as I've just said, NIWA is only the summation of its members and their needs and the methods by which we address those needs. These forums have no point or purpose outside of that. Wiki tools, community building, interwiki friendship, all of those things and more are part of the members and their needs. NIWA was nothing before its members created it, and they created it in coming together. It wasn't like NIWA started up with no members, and then started recruiting. It only exists because Wikis came together and made it so.

What are NIWAs plans for expansion? There's only a finite number of Nintendo franchises to cover, then what?

What Nintendoguy said sits with me pretty well. Eventually, yes, NIWA may no longer be gaining new member Wikis, but those Wikis are always working to improve. That is the overall point of potential other "IWA" organizations, because trying to cram 200+ wikis into something like what we have will not sustain itself, and will either collapse or be forced to function like Wikia. It is not what we want.

We're currently discussing another thread we want to release, as well as a more efficient and regular way to publish threads we've finished with that we feel would benefit the community overall.

To Xizor:
Wait, now i am confused. You say every wiki has equal influence on what's going in, but if each thing that is going on is voted-via-poll by the staff, wouldn't a bigger staff give that wiki more influence?

Also, if the forum administrators have wiki's to run, would having forum administrators without wiki's to run be helpful? this way they don't have too many things on their plate?

They do have equal influence. If a Wiki itself objected, instead of just one of its representatives (which no wiki has done - often two reps from one wiki will disagree on a subject if there is disagreement to be had) or we all just agree. Though, to have an example, there are times where SMW staff all oppose something, but if it's clearly JUST SMW, then we can make a decision that benefits the majority of NIWA, rather than caters to a loud minority of a few Wikis. The fact that we have no majority rules in place, or whatever, makes it hard for any one wiki to assert its dominance. And as I've said, any Wiki that acts apathetically is doing it to itself. Thus far, though, there has been no need to set limits on how many Staff a wiki can send here, and no Wiki has tried to overly assert itself where it shouldn't.

As far as the forum Admins go, I think always having a vested interest in a Wiki is important, because NIWA is nothing without the Wikis. If I were JUST the NIWA Coordinator, without any interest in Zelda Wiki, I'd start worrying less about what the Wikis want as individuals, and more about what serves just the organization, and that's bad for the members.

Also, your image wasn't working for me. Dunno if that's JUST for me or if you need to rehost the image elsewhere.

I've gotta say, every one of your adjectives seemed to marginalize and trivialize what NIWA gives its members. I'm really starting to wonder why you're even here anymore, because it seems like NIWA just frustrates and confuses you constantly.

We give the traffic support of a hub site that gets around 500+ visitors a day (as far as I'm aware) and growing.

We give the traffic support of every other wiki linking back to you, which contributes to increased Google rankings, as well as simply more exposure.

Name is associated with NIWA, which hopefully grants your Wiki a bit of extra credence and credibility with users having a difficult choice picking their "definitive" source of information on your franchise.

Every member of NIWA has full and equal access to all of NIWA's resources, and has equal influence in the going-ons of the organization. Every member of NIWA staff, including all forum Administrators, have a Wiki they are on Staff at.

NIWA protects the interest of all its members equally. Those of us who are active here do not represent every Wiki, because not every wiki wishes to make its presence as known as some others do. That a few Wikis dominate discussion is more because OTHER wikis are apathetic than the dominating wikis are overbearing. However, I see, on a daily basis, usually at least one person from each Wiki posting about something regarding Staff, and everybody's voice counts.

I'm really not sure what else the organization would do, other than boost traffic, provide equal access to management of the thing, and provide a plethora of resources for member wikis to utilize.

I wouldn't call Zelda Wiki "general" at all. In fact, neither would I call Super Mario Wiki general. They focus specifically on their franchises, and especially in the case of Zelda, that's fairly specific.

I see your point, but I don't really think that it's a problem.

I saw Kobe at the theater again about two weeks ago. Didn't talk to him this time, though.

Just to join NIWA. There are many benefits to joining that you can't get just from a thread like this. Why would members assist a wiki acting in spite of a member, though? We help members the most. Of course, the wiki's right to exist is undisputed. However, to join, it would need SMW approval first and foremost. The rest of us have to approve too, though.