User blog:Kiefer/Finally LyricWiki Becomes Ruined

So...it finally happened. After years of work by countless music-lovers, Sean's baby has been ruined by Fandom. I came into LyricWiki fairly early in its existence. I was looking for a non-spammy, non-copy-and-paste-from-other-sites lyric source and LyricWiki was the best. It was editable and errors could be corrected. The Help pages at the time were terrible and I asked Sean, who started the site if I could do a re-haul. I wanted to make them more detailed and yet simpler so that even more music lovers could join in and add to the site.

And things were good.

Yes, there was the usual Wiki-bickering and what-not, but the site grew and the lyrics became more and more reliable. I listened to sooooo many songs over and over and over and over again in order to get the words correct that I think I knew every drum beat and every guitar lick by heart on hundreds of songs. LyricWiki was the first lyric site to actually have the correct lyrics to Lady Gaga's huge hit "Bad Romance." Others, as well. Because it had a built-in community who was dedicated to authenticity and who knew that the words mattered....

Now, the site is locked. Instead of using the community or implementing a method to handle questionable material, Fandom has decided to shut down the community, and screw over myself and so many people who contributed millions of work-hours to the project. I haven't admin-ed or bureaucrat-ted in quite a while, but I am extremely upset at the mishandling of this situation. By the decision that has been made, it is clear that the community is not important to you. It would seem that anyone that contributes material to your site is just giving you free stuff to make money off of. When that gets complicated, you don't put in real effort to correct it, you just take the money and run.

You have deeply disappointed me, Fandom. In the end, you have broken several of my Rules. To me, that is not forgivable.

--Robert Kiefer, former LyricWiki bureaucrat and writer of Kiefer's Rules of LyricWiki

Kiefer's Rules of LyricWiki

Rule #1: Don't complicate things. (K.I.S.S.)

Rule #2: Remember to add to the database, not the bureaucracy.

Rule #3: Any formatting changes should be for the benefit of the user and usability, while not breaking any of the existing structure.

Rule #4: Don't begin anything that you aren't able or willing to finish on your own, but don't forget to ask for help when you need it.

Rule #5: Protect the integrity of the site from vandals and spammers.

Rule #6: Building the editing community is always top priority. (Without editors both "big" and "small", the site weakens and withers.)

Rule #7: Always remember that this is Sean's site. (All others borrow the site. We visit, we babysit, some of us may even be Aunts & Uncles, but it's his baby.)

Rule #8: If what you're doing on LyricWiki isn't fun, do something else. (Hopefully on LyricWiki, but this isn't a job & it isn't work, it's a hobby - a voluntary donation of time and skills and effort. It has to be enjoyable, or burnout will ensue.)

Rule #9: Listen to and love music. (Even better: Listen to and love the music while on LyricWiki. It's a reminder of why we're here.)

Rule #10: Remember that admins are not all-knowing, all-powerful, and omnipresent. (Although there's a rumor that Redxx is perfect.)

Rule #11: Set the (music) volume to 11. (An addition by User:EchoSierra to my original list...one I wish I had thought of myself!)