User blog comment:Ildsjel/An Open Letter/@comment-1613839-20190819122222

So I know I'm a bit late to the party (I don't usually get on DARP over the weekends as I reserve that time for family stuff) but I wanted to put a few thoughts here in response.

First, it seems clear to me that Jaye's blog was written to have people start asking questions and looking for answers to some of the issues on the wiki. While some questions seem pointed at the admin team (since they're the ones with the "power" and the larger ability/responsibility to affect things here) I think pointing those questions in that direction is fair. I don't think she intended to accuse anyone specifically.

Next, while I understand where the comments saying some of the issues are the aging demographic of the wiki and how the admin team have other more important commitments (and you will NEVER hear me say the wiki is more important than Real Life) I will also say that the admin team also has a responsibility to get the job done that they were elected to do. What the admin team is responsible for is pretty fluid and can be cut down if needed (see my thoughts on solutions below) but if they don't have time to do the work that's needed and if they consistently fail in those responsibilities for whatever reason they should consider stepping down so someone else with more time can try to keep things up.

As someone who hasn't been keeping up with the admin team very closely here's how things look to me (and I would imagine from a new user or non-admin user). This is the seventh or eighth year in a row where Hogwarts hasn't had consistent teaching to allow for student RPs. Quidditch has been non-existent for a couple school years now though I know we're trying something new here to try to fix this issue (I appreciate the effort to at least try to address this issue). The serial killer expansion probably should have ended six months ago but is still lingering on, and ditto with the Ministry expansion lingering. We're not getting any new people on the wiki and when we do I've seen some ignored, too bogged down by rules/processes to get started, or too confused about what's going on to want to be a part of the community. As far as I can tell no outreach to get new influxes of uses in has been done. Policies that are working on being rewritten are still sitting untouched and unfinished. New rules for races aren't getting done. Ideas that are being brought up and voted on by the userbase are never getting implemented. I could go on and on about the work not getting done and while I cannot ask more of the admin team than they can give (as I stated before RL always comes first) these issues ARE problems and when you come in and see things aren't being done, communication isn't happening, and as a general statement there's no order to when things happen (or things are consistantly late) it's a big deterrent to staying. I just wanted to briefly touch on these negative points to address some of the problems so you know where I'm coming from and what I'm trying to address in my proposed solutions below.

...so what IS getting done? As was pointed out below the admin team for the most part is active. Well...the admin team has been doing a good job of getting characters sorted so people can RP them. The admin team has been very good about making sure registries stay updated. A know a lot of good wiki-gnoming has happened (old pages deleted, categories sorted out and fixed, pictures groomed through, templates created for locations, etc.). I'd like to think a lot of good team building for the admin team has happened since there's been meetings and such but since they're not really public on the wiki it's hard to know for sure. There's been some cool new personal projects you guys were working on and have pushed out to the wiki to make things more fun. Overall a lot of good things but I feel like the admin team is missing the main point with this sort of work.

My point is this: DARP is a roleplaying wiki. When the roleplaying is taking a back seat to character planning, gnoming, and personal projects things are going to start falling apart. (Here comes the grandpa speech but I want to make it clear I'm not pining for the "good old days" just pointing out some differences between then and now to make a point I think we can learn from going forward). In years past the wiki didn't have a lot of the good things you guys are doing...but it did have people RPing. Things were often a lot messier with odd categories people had created, pages that didn't use standard templates, OP characters that hadn't been as regulated, and rules and policies that were more like guidelines...but people were here RPing. The admin team has done a good job on what they have been focused on...but something needs to change because the I think (my opinion) the lack of actual RPing from the admin team, from having new users RPing due to our stringent policies and requirements, and from people so focused on character creation and ideas/storylines they never RP out instead of just RPing and seeing what happens is slowly choking the wiki to death.

My solutions are aimed at the admin team because they're the users who have been elected to lead the wiki and help fix the problems we have but I want to be clear that I'm not blaming the admin team for the problems...hopefully just illustrating some ideas I have to help them try to solve some of the problems. Honestly I see two solutions (and maybe a third where it's a little of both). The first is the focus of the admin team can change back to RPing. Opportunities for people to RP need to become more abundant and not just from the Activities Dept. but the community as a whole. We used to have rules that every admin team member needed to post on X number of RPs a week because it meant they were actively involved in RPing. At one point it was a requirement they taught a class...and posted in it! Admin members would volunteer their characters for quidditch so it would have enough players, or have IC meetings in the Ministry so characters could get RPed and form relationships. There actually were "General RPs" that happened with whomever was in the room and anyone could just join...not all RPs were "X and X and for us alone". The RPing infrastructure that builds the wiki into a realistic and fun place to RP (Hogwarts, Ministry, St. Mungos, Calandar, Aurors/Dark wizards, Jobs, etc.) needs to be updated and maintained to give people opportunities to RP. Some of this is happening but it's not enough.

So, I said I had two solutions. The first one is basically...re-prioritize and be better (see above). I think we need some of that...but the second solution is probably easier (and like I said maybe a little of both are needed). The second is to understand the above isn't getting done...and accept that. This next set of points boils down to: "Make it easier for EVERYONE to RP". Stop keeping lists of characters that need to be updated and maintained. Allow anyone to have their character be almost any job without an interview or registration (obvious exceptions for things like Minister of Magic and Headmaster). Allow people to play any race they want without the restrictive rules. Cut down on the needed things for sorting so backstories can consist of one paragraph to make creating characters much easier. Don't attempt to teach classes at Hogwarts...just allow people to RP there during the school year if they choose. If people want to play a ghoul and we don't have rules for that understand what they want and as long as it's not completely broken approve it. One person may have a vampire who only lives 100 years and another may have one who's immortal. Understand things won't be balanced and there will be some characters more powerful than others. Rather than squashing that OOC maybe it becomes an IC thing so people will RP grouping up to do something about that. Understand Hogwarts Quidditch won't be happening so people don't expect it. Allow people to make up their own storylines and do what they want IC...if they want to attack the Ministry let them...with the understanding there may also be IC consequences for the character's actions. This will make the whole of the wiki will become more IC focused and oriented and while characters may get pulled into things the RPers didn't expect that also allows for more interesting and realistic RPs.

Overall relax the rules which will allow the Admin team to put the time and effort they were using for those things into other things like RPing, making it a fun environment rather than a strict balanced one, or personal projects the admin team wants to work on. The admin team would probably also have a lot more time in general so since everyone's schedules seem to be so busy it would require less time from them with less expectations too. Yes there will be a lot more mess with less control...but that's ok as long as it encourages more RPing and as long as it's IC mess. I think the only things someone would need to maintain would be the Calendar so everyone can stay in sync on time or year and have a general sense of cohesion. I honestly think the admin team/wiki is already beginning to head this way to some extent with the vote on archiving pages. Less stuff to update and maintain means more time for other things.

Overall, I think the wiki needs some change (which is what I think Jaye was trying to point out) and while change can be scary or take work to make happen I don't think we can keep doing the same things we have been. Hopefully some of my ideas/solutions above help. Things in DARPs past were better (my opinion) but that doesn't mean they were the best way to do things it just means they worked then. We need to find some ways to make things work better now and really it falls to the admin team to make those decisions that need to be made, communicate to the userbase what the changes are and why they're being made, and then make them in a timely manner so things don't linger on.

I want to close with the statement that my intention isn't to try to throw a disproportionate amount of blame at the Admin team. Yes we have problems and in the end it doesn't matter what the reason for those problems are because we have them. The solution to the problems will have to come from the admin team though as the users who have volunteered and were elected to lead the wiki. They're the ones with the power to affect changes here and hopefully those changes are coming.