User blog comment:Hockeyben/Adminship/@comment-168424-20110403204449/@comment-168424-20110406170422


 * Use your CSS wisely...

I don't have a problem with this one.
 * Customize both the MonoBook and Oasis skins. Users use both skins, it is unfair to users using either of the skins not to have it customized just becuase of the admins personal preference.

Misspelling: becuase. You should only spend time on skins that you know your community actually uses. I wouldn't give a blanket recommendation to maintain the non-default Monobook unless some group of users asks for it.
 * Be Welcoming -- I'm not a big fan of the Auto Welcome tool,although it should be used in addition. I prefer personal welcome messages, thanking them for joining the wiki, and what areas they would like to specialize in., and pointing them to the rules/help pages. Also clearly highlight the My Preferences page. This is extremely useful if you want to inform people about the MonoBook skin.

Missing a space: "tool,although" Strange puctuation: "specialize in., and" Denigrating the welcome tool without giving any good reasons (which you don't) isn't a good idea. On larger wikis the welcome tool is great. If I had to even try to personally welcome all the new users to WoWWiki... that's all I'd do and still fall behind.
 * Don't veto too many ideas, If someone wants to activate/re-do the forums, let them, if someone wants to customize the skin, let them, if someone wants to tweak the main page, let them. But don't let everything past, like someone wanting to design a Pink skin, or wanting to rename the wiki, or massively changing the wikis navigation.
 * I don't completely disagree with this, but I would recommend giving more leeway to user who at least give and edit summary for changes to high-traffic pages. Just sying "let them" is a bad idea. This point need alot more explanation as to why it is a good idea. Currently, it lacks explanation for the most part.
 * Don't have too many rules pages, one page linking to some basic policies, like image and article policies, template policies, blocking policies. Link to pages like Community Portal, Rules, Manual of Style, About, and FAQ.

As with a previous point, this should not be advice for every wiki and perhaps only the smaller ones. The amount of rules needed for a wiki depends on the community and the wiki. Just saying you should have many rules pages without much explanation to why is bad advice.
 * Don't be too hard on vandals, an infinite block for the first time the user vandalizes is too much. Use something like a three-strike system First strike, a warning 2nd strike a week or month ban (depending on severity) third strike infinite ban. Clearly highlight this in the rules page. Also be nice to the new users, recognizing they may not have much knowledge on Wiki writing and Wiki markup. If you bash them, they will likely leave after a few edits, and never come back. NOTE: The three strike system only applies to disruption/harassing. For trolls/spammers/page blankers, use a one year block for the first offense, and an infinite block on the 2nd offense. It is unlikely they will ever show themselves again, after one year.

As I said in a previous comment, first edit vandals rarely come back to productively contribute and obvious commercial spammers are often best dealt with by an immediate permaban. You need to re-write this one.
 * Don't have incredibly high admin promotion standards, Use something (on a moderately small wiki) like 250 edits makes you a rollback, 500 edits makes you an admin, and 2-5000 edits makes you a bureaucrat. On larger wikis something like 2000+ 5000+ and 15,000+ works for promotions. Always have an asterisk stating that this amount of edits does not guarantee a promotion. Also factor things like maturity, how user deals with messages on talk page, how user deals with other users. Don't just use the edit count

Missing a period at the end of the paragraph. I don't directly disagree with this, but you need to talk more about edit quality and type of contributions. People who help other users, make consistent high quality edits and create or edit pages that have shared value should be favored above other users for promotion. You advice is somewhat vague.
 * Semi-Protect your main page. Quite a simple one here, how many new users and IPs are going to do anything other than vandalize the main page? This will cut down the number of blocking/reverting times down immensely.

I agree with this one, but I'm not against fully protecting the main page on wikis with multiple active admins that can respond quickly to main page request changes.
 * Clearly design the main page and sidebar. Include links to top content, and the Block Policy, Rules, Request for adminship, and Help pages (via the template which is discussed below).

Not bad, but you need more explanation on how to choose links. Most main pages should include a link to the latest episode, expansion, etc.; links to main characters of the game/show; links to popular categories of stuff. Try to fill this point out more.
 * Use the about page to describe the vision of the wiki, and include links to the Help and Rules pages.

It's also good to put a little history of the wiki.
 * Intertwine the prefix pages. Make a template with the About, Community Portal, Forums, Block Policy, Rules, and Help pages. This makes it very easy for users to jump from help page to help page.

This is usually called a navigation box. Often called.

Is that a thorough enough an analysis of your blog?