User blog:Bond em7/Administration Activity

So, I think at this point I can safely say I've been on here continuously longer than anyone else. I know some users on here got here about the same time I did, but I don't think anyone's been active without a major break as long. That being said, I've been here long enough to see that how active and involved our Administration team is or isn't directly reflects the ups and downs of our wiki. When we have an active administration team, the wiki thrives and when we don't...we get to where we are now. Before I go any further I want to say that I understand OOC, vacations, planned trips, etc. I understand most of our administration is in high school and gets busy with other things or can't necessarily be on all the time. Personally I think scheduled wikibreaks are good for people...they help people get away from the politics and toxic environment we sometimes have here and let them clear their mind before coming back. Understand that's not what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about those on the admin team that are violating our Inactivity Policy and our Admin Job Descriptions. Looking at those policies this morning they could probably use some updating...but the point stands. When only half the administration team is active (and by active I mean doing both the job they're supposed to do and actively RPing) it means some changes need to be made. I know some are active and doing what they're supposed to be...so if what I'm writing doesn't apply to you, please don't take it personally. If it does...understand I'm not trying to attack you specifically, just get some positive change going here on the wiki. I also have no issue with administration being active on other wikis...unless all their time is going there and their duties here aren't being done. I'm not going to call users out specifically...there's no need. Lack of activity is pretty obvious to people, and each user has a contributions made which is tracked and public. Hogwarts has been highly neglected the past couple school years mostly due to the administration's lack of activity. Rbs, Admins, and Crats all have the responsibility to be active, to be the ones creating teachers and actually posting on classes consistently enough to keep others posting, and keep things interesting. I understand that challenge...I've had a lot of classes on her where few students posted which made it really had to want to post or to bother with putting up a new topic. ...but if nobody does it then things just fall apart. Maybe we need to make some changes to how classes are taught, or something else to make it interesting...but we can't just stop posting. Each Department is supposed to have roles and duties that are getting accomplished. Some seem to be getting done while others appear to not be doing anything. I'm not saying I know everything going on behind closed doors...but that's part of the point...that when things are going on users should know. When we see nothing happening for weeks or months on end...we assume no work is being done. Yes, the administration team should be RPing, but they also have behind the scenes work which should also be getting done and from what I can see it hasn't been. Also to talk about the RPing, their characters should be the ones in positions of power IC (since they're supposed to be the active users who are trusted) and making things happen IC on the wiki. At the top I posted that our wiki rises and falls with our Administration activity. The reason for this blog is that I think right now we're slowly slipping but that we're at a good spot to make some changes and start pushing back up. When was the last time we had new users that hadn't been here before...not to mention a group of them? When's the last time we made changes to make things easier to get new people RPing? When's the last time you accepted someone new into your group of RPing friends, or helped teach someone how to RP or build a talk template on here? Right now our users seem to be a mostly stagnant list, and while it's good that we have a dedicated userbase, we really need new blood, ideas, and RPers on here to revitalize the place. We need to be advertising our wiki (which can be done by a crat) so new users can see it. I was asked not too long ago about approaching Wikia with making an app for our wiki because we're the #1 RPing wiki (and have been for a while). I think it's an excellent idea...but first I think we need some changes so when those new users start coming, we're ready with an active administration team and things for them to do, easy ways for them to start RPing, and experienced users willing to help and befriend them. So...all this to say we have some work to do. I think Jaye's plan for revamping the Ministry is a good idea...but as I put in my comments there I think it's good as long as we have the active people to do it, and don't pull resources away from Hogwarts. That's what draws new users in and if that dies, so does the wiki. If you are on the Administration team please be active! Be RPing your characters, creating characters who can me movers and shakers IC and make things happen! Be doing you OOC jobs around here to help clean things up so new users are impressed and can always get questions answered. If you are unable to consistently do your job, then consider stepping down and letting someone who is active do the work. I've always felt that those in leadership should be held to higher standards, and when I was a crat here I did that. When I felt I wouldn't have the time to continue to do that job well, I stepped aside to let others do it. I hope that the positions on the administration team aren't simply steps to climb for people, but that they mean something. They mean extra work and responsibility. They mean sometimes sacrificing for the wiki. They mean being leaders and stopping the cursing that is so prevalent on chat. It's adhering to the policies we have even if you don't agree with them, or working to get them rewritten so they better apply to our environment. They mean being wise enough to realize when your absence is hurting the wiki and not helping it and stepping aside. I'll say it again...our wiki rises and falls with our administration team. It's time to start holding our leadership accountable for what they've signed up for and been elected to do. Hopefully this will make people realize the issue and those who are inactive on the admin team will come back and start being active here. Hopefully we'll get our wiki cleaned up and start attracting new people to RP with and to grow our userbase so we have more users to RP all sorts of epic storylines. Hopefully things will start to change for the good...because we're at a good place and time to do it and we can make this wiki great again