User blog:Nick Branson/Listen to the Community

Not every wiki is the same, as most of us know. One aspect that spans across Fandom is the community aspect. Building a community can be hard, and it takes patient and listening admins. Unfortunetly, not all admins are willing to listen to the community. I am an admin on Once Upon a Time Wiki, which used to be different from what it is today, long before I joined Fandom. There was a history of rude and abusive admins who would belittle others. With the strong leadership of the admins of the past few years, it has become a very friendly place. With a long list of policies, not only would the ordinary user be held accountable, but the staff too. Admins are there to manage the wiki, and keep it going and following the rules. They are there to help anyone there, and listen to new ideas to help the wiki grow. Staff should not be treated above anyone else.

I wouldn't call out the wiki or people involved, because this isn't to trash them. A little while ago, I joined a wiki for one of my passions. The people there seemed friendly for the most half, and I was eager to jump in. I've always believed that a great design, and new additions to the wiki is always a great thing. With my experience, I was very excited to jump right in. Using Discord and message walls, I would make suggestions often. Started working on one portion of the wiki, to build it up. With a basic theme design, I thought that I could use my skills to help them. I worked on a wordmark, and showed it to one admin. Of course, I didn't know if they would like it or not. He gave me his thoughts, and we worked on it to make it better.

This was just a little project I had in mind. I thought they could give their thoughts, and if they approved, I could work on the theme. Not an admin on the wiki, but it would have worked by giving me some rights for a little bit. But sometimes, you don't understand the descions people make. Through a long discussion, I learned that I couldn't make any suggestions unless I was an admin. It continued for a while, and the one admin I had been talking to agreed with me. Both of us thought it was weird, and that I should be able to simply share my thoughts and ideas. That wiki had three adminsitrators, and the reasoning he gave me was that he couldn't do anything because it was 2-1 against him. This was disapointing to hear. From Once Upon a Time Wiki... If there was something bad or unfair on the wiki, it would be changed. No admin ran the wiki with full power, as no admin should. He continued to tell me he could do nothing about it, and that I would just have to work my way up to admin.

I absolutely agree that admins have to make the hard big descions. They are there for that. But in this case, it was a small idea that I gave because I truly wanted to help the wiki. If they hated the wordmark and didnt want me using the themes, I understand that. 100%! What I got is just being told I have to be an admin over and over. Being an admin on the wiki was something I wanted to accomplish at some point, but I shouldnt have to make 5,000 edits and be promoted to suggest something as small and simple as I did. If a casual user, which I wasn't even at that point, wants to say "Hey, I made or thought of __________. What do you think? Should we do it on the wiki?", they should be allowed to. With an informful respose from the adminstrators, that explains why or why not. What no one wants to hear if that your opinions and thoughts don't matter. And mine didn't. When I asked if I had to become an admin, for the wiki to use my wordmark, I straight up got told that I was correct.

What I got out of this conversation is that on that particular wiki, user opinions do not matter. The admins chose what they want to listen to, and don't have to explain themselves. I asked, and asked why it was like that. What I got said to me time and time is that it was a waste of their time, and that I should be editing pages instead. I was shocked that my help to the wiki was a waste of their time. I was the one taking time out of my day, creating and making examples, and making it as simple as it could be, was a waste of their time. This wasn't the only suggestion that got turned down either. Another one they didn't agree with for the same reasons. And both of these I was planning on doing on my own, and they knew it. It made no sense.

That one admin I talked to agreed with me about it being unfair, but didn't do anything about it. It was very upsetting. After a while of trying to understand and asking, he got frustrated with me and told me he was done listening. Even insisted that I wasn't listening to the only explaination that he had, which was that it its been like this forever, and they won't do anything to change it. That I would just have to become an admin. I enjoyed talking to this user outside of that conversation, but the one we had went no where. Never was I asking for much. If you liked me idea, that's great. If they don't, then at least have real reasoning. Who wouldn't want that. It was much bigger than them not letting me do one thing. It was that only admins matter, and as long as I'm a user, all I can do it edit pages. No suggestions, no ideas from an admin from another wiki! I have no idea why they wouldn't want that.

This wiki wasn't the first I've been to like this. Old wikis with admins who have been there forever tend to be stuck to their ways. Please listen to users! We are creative beings, so listen, learn, and collaborate. I am not a bitter user from this wiki, but what happened today made me want to make this blog.

In conclusion, please run wikis like they are, communties. Not hierachies.