User blog:HammerOfThor/Keeping a Positive Community Spirit with Minnichi

''Hello and welcome everybody. I had the very great pleasure to sit down with my good friend and fellow Avatar fan Minnichi to discuss her introduction to Fandom, her tenure running the Avatar Wiki community newsletter, and her thoughts on how and why users should try to build a positive community spirit on their wikis.''

Read on and enjoy!

HammerOfThor: Can you give us a brief introduction of yourself and the wikis that you are active on.

Minnichi: Well, as per my very classic introduction, my username is Minnichi on Avatar Wiki, my home base, and I'm the editor-in-chief of the community newsletter The Ba Sing Se Times, which I rule over and have absolute say on when to publish. I am also an enthusiast of community activities in general, I like to design stuff for the page. Yeah, I guess I'm a community team player just like you Thor. And also, most importantly, I am head of the Dai Li fandom.

H: What first drew you into being on Avatar Wiki?

M: The Dai Li really, first it was like post show depression where I wasn't ready for Avatar: The Last Airbender to end, but then in particular, I was watching those Escape from the Spirit World videos. And then I saw the one with Kyoshi and I was like "Oh, she founded the Dai Li, that's so cool". I really thought they were cool on the show, right, but then their backstory made it super cool. So I wanted to read about the Dai Li on FanFiction.net, which to me sort of lets the show keep going, in a sense, and guess what nobody writes about the Dai Li and I was like, well, maybe I'll just take it into my own hands and then that's how I got started there.

Then after that, I got really paranoid about canon accuracy, and about how to unbrainwash people. There was this one stickler reviewer on FanFiction, who kept getting on my case with "I don't think it's possible to revert brainwashing" and I was like, well, that kind of ruins the whole story. And then after some bickering, I decided to go on Avatar Wiki to see if I could consult a specialist who happened to be Lady Lostris under the admin list; it was like "Go to Lostris for canon content." I was an anonymous user and just out of the blue with an oddly specific question: "Hey, sooo about the Dai Li's brainwashing, I'm writing a fanfiction and I need to know this now because I might actually discontinue my story if I don't solve this." And then she was nice, and there was another admin named The Bos at the time, and then they all chimed in. After that they were like, "Wait, this story of yours - maybe you want to try publishing it in the fanon portal." I think that was one of the first things that stands out in my memory, seeing the Fanon Portal for the first time. It was just beautiful, all the colors not just black, white, and blue of FanFiction.net, and there's this whole thing going on here. The fanon portal and Lostris' profile was a nice first impression of what can go on in the community. Just this whole colorful world popped up before my eyes. So that's how I got drawn to Avatar Wiki, and then I posted my story and Lostris came in and said "you know, you can have a user profile as an author" because it still says anonymous user published this.

H: The first few days and weeks that you were on the wiki, what was that experience like?

M: Oh, it escalated just from 0 to 100. I just dived into things; I tend to do that with disregard for if I have time for it or not. I had just published all the chapters of my story on Avatar Wiki. And pretty much the first person who caught it and started commenting was a member of the Fanon Review Squad. And he just went, "This is awesome". You can kind of tell from the tone of a user when they're a seasoned user and used to critiquing fanons and chapters. So I went to his profile, and I saw all the stuff you can do in the fanon portal - first being the Fanon Review Squad, which I love critiquing and silently judging others' writing, you know. (Ahem) So then I went to the FRS page, and it said applications are open right now. I just thought, "This is something I really want to do." I knew I'd just joined literally, but then, Mage who was a the FRS member who liked my story, went and said "Actually, I know she's out of the blue, but she really is a good writer and she knows what she's talking about. Maybe we should make an exception to how long you've been a user or your activity and just see what she can contribute." And so, I applied for the Squad and surprise, 2 or 3 weeks later, I was in the FRS. After that, after my first taste of being in a user group, it kind of just kept escalating.

H: So you had a very sort of welcoming first impression then?

M: Yeah, very much. I think I'm really lucky to have... Oh, actually, I forgot the first edit I ever made on my profile was really a funny story. Because, speaking of welcoming, the admins were so nice about it because I was such a noob that when I was creating a user profile per Lostris' advice. I saw everyone with their "About me" user pages, and I wanted to create one but I clicked on the Create article, instead of the About Me. So then I posted the user template there like "Hey there, I love the Dai Li", and then all of a sudden I see "AvatarRokusGhost has deleted your page and moved it." I was like, what? He posted on my wall, saying "Oh, I think you meant to post it in your user profile. I saw you made an article, but it's okay." And oh my god, I was ready to crawl into a corner and hide forever because of that mistake. But ARG was just really cool about it, really swift to act on it, but I remember that was actually the first technical user interaction I had with an admin which was also a good impression.

'''H: Your love of the Earth Kingdom is very well known on the wiki. Where did that come from?'''

M: The Dai Li fueled a lot of it, but I guess it reminds me a lot of my own heritage. If we were to say that Avatar was inspired by Eastern Asian culture that is like the finest, spitting image that you'll find of the Earth Kingdom. It had a bunch of food that I like too and I think their fashion is beautiful, when it came to Ba Sing Se and the robes. Also, when I thought about what element I would like to bend the most, I think Earth is such a practical element, you know? You can just build a house out of the blue and make a dam and just do a lot of stuff. I think it's the most readily available element that's useful.

'''H: You've already mentioned quite a few users that kind of introduced you to the wiki and helped you when you were first there. Are there any others that you want to mention or shout out?'''

The users that really contributed to my very first impression on Avatar Wiki resided a lot in the fanon portal, there was Mageddon725 and then Omashu Rocks, who acted intimidating at the time while reviewing my Fanon Review Squad application. So I got to know the fanon side first and then after that, when I started going over to the technical side, I guess the encyclopedia side per se, I saw that there's this third branch of users who I remember, The 888th Avatar being one and, and then I didn't really pay much attention to that side until the newer admins that I had been mingling with on the IRC - the infamous Iar Sea - like KettleMeetPot, my predecessor for the Ba Sing Se Times, and then there was you, Thor, who should have already been an admin for a very long time. And Bomochu, our current fanon deputy, is the GOAT for carrying us through inactivity droughts and still keeping us honestly on track.

H: There are a lot of people that you could mention I'm sure.

M: There's a list. There's probably a wish list that I promised them from Comic-Con, that I haven't given a shout out to. So I'll probably do that.

'''H: You mentioned that you're the editor-in-chief for the wiki newsletter. How did your involvement in that come about?'''

M: Like everything else, one thing just escalated after another and then you find yourself the supreme dictator of the newsletter. But I mean, if you want to get technical, it as always starts with the desire to contribute something fanon-related. Back then in the FRS, I got a taste of how to be involved, to help people improve their writing and things like that. After that, I would pay attention to how people regarded themselves and their place in the community, and especially those who are sensitive to how popular their fanon is and their writing. Actually, my very first article that I wrote for The Ba Sing Se Times was just a clickbait title, like "How to be a popular writer or user" or something. But then the actual takeaway was 'if you want to be liked, make yourself likable to begin with by helping other people and getting involved in the community. Don't just sit there and expect people to buzz around you and come read your Fanon. I approached The 888th Avatar at that time and was like, "Yo, so I was thinking of writing this article..." and I was terrified. I thought the screening process would be a lot scarier.

So, seeing an article of mine published - it's like a certain feeling that I want everyone to experience. It's important when you see your name listed as the author and your little user icon and everything. It feels so official, and the feedback to my input was really good. So after that, they would start going to me more often for fanon content and I was eventually asked to stay on the BSST as the actual deputy of the fanon portal side of the newsletter. That was the groundwork for so much of how I run the newsletter right now. I got my first taste of how to be like an Editor and having to make decisions through trial and error. Eventually, KettleMeetPot said that he wanted to pass the baton to me as the Ba Sing Se Times editor-in-chief, and I think that the process is just learning to be comfortable, and not letting it get to your head that you run everything. I mean, I realized that how I became editor was having a way with people and being able to connect with users, but not not being full of it. It's just, I was so inspired by the way I watched the admins when I first joined Avatar Wiki, where they're not this weird deity like floating up in the clouds, but you'll see them in the community and making sure that everyone has a positive experience and that they're contributing something and they feel like they're part of something.

H: So I guess that rolls nicely into my next question, which is why do you think the newsletter helps with having a positive community spirit on the wiki?

M: First of all, it is officially deemed a community newsletter, so users are going to assume by default that it's a reflection of our community culture in general. A thing that I feel I brought to the newsletter is just a culture where we are not actually taking ourselves too seriously but still know what we're doing behind the scenes. It helped that after being involved in so many activities and having run completely different community events like writing contests and being in the Fanon Awards Council and getting to see what really clicked with users, I was able to carry that into the newsletter, but now on a much bigger scale. It helped me really already know what to do to engage users. So a little bit of everything went into it, like contests and anonymous Valentines and interviews, and it's just having users actually see sort of a representation of the community. What helps is it's the community itself that feeds the newsletter. We just sort of coordinate everything, but when people see what you can do in the community, and they see just people they talk to every day in discussions, now they're up there writing for a newsletter, they see their article published, it's just getting that sort of input from the community.

This was the impression it had on me having an official newsletter, but the reaction has been the same from newer users to who say "whoa, this has a newsletter, this community is cool." And you know The Ba Sing Se Times has been around for longer than I have, but it is just a wonderful way to engage users, and community spirit, which I believe you have to have in the staff and for users to all be able to look at something that they can be part of and relate to. There's a fanon portal section and a mainspace section where people can do what they typically do in the community, either they're ranting about something in the show, or an elaborate theory, it can be an appreciation article. It can be a self promotion of a fanon or a contest, but it's like it has a little slice of anything that you like to do in the community. And so I think that really helps.

H: What would you say are some of the problems or pitfalls that you've had to overcome?

M: Co-editorship. It sounds ideal, but it's actually not. I mean, I'm not saying it doesn't work. The separation of powers between two I'm not saying it doesn't work. But I feel like that caused a lot of conflict and delays in how we would treat users and I think this applies to a lot of things. I've seen this in real life too, it's like trust yourself. That is something that I learned in a very hard way because I typically am really like, you know, I try to make everyone feel welcome and have input and take suggestions. But you have to have a certain discretion, and you have to trust yourself and your experience. So I believe that one of my biggest pitfalls was not using my own judgment a lot of times and being too scared to really, I guess, advocate and be more assertive about my values in the newsletter and getting too wrapped up in politics or who doesn't get along with who. That is a mistake I've learned from - jumping into new ideas too fast just because it sounds cool and thinking that you and another person are going to be a great team just because you happen to love the same idea. There are other ideas and maybe an entirely different vision or set of values where you do not actually align, but now you've gone and invited someone into your professional team that can disrupt the balance considerably. A very hard lesson I learned was, there is a distinction between who is great to collaborate with for singular projects/events and someone who is actually a compatible team member.

I don't want to put myself above people, but I feel like there are certain positions - like for everything in life - that you're more equipped for. For instance, I cannot in hell, for my life, do what administrators do with moderating and being quick to really maintain the flow of general chat. Admins like you can watch and you can stop a problem before it escalates when people start throwing in shady comments and stuff. And the speed at which you undo bad edits, like, I do not know how the mainspace editors stay on top of it.

'''H: You mentioned before that your love of the Earth Kingdom comes from your own sort of culture and heritage. So I wanted to ask, what was your involvement with Asian American Heritage Month this year? Perhaps you can talk a little bit about what that was like.'''

M: Sure. This is your cue to post a link to that interview. It was a really pleasant surprise to be approached for the first time to talk about my actual heritage. I've never been one to get all into it, but then when they asked me I thought, actually it's weird that a show that's so rooted in Asian culture, there's hardly any Asian users in Avatar Wiki, and so I guess I wanted to be one of the first to actually speak up about that and get into the culture. And there were many things I didn't realize people wouldn't be able to see like I do with the cultural references because it's not part of their heritage. And my involvement with that I'm very proud of, the video and I got to eat an egg custard on camera, which is great.

Also for AAPI I did actually design the site theme for the wiki with the background which is used right now, and I'm really humbled and honored that everyone actually wanted to keep that up. I was totally fine with it being for AAPI month only, so I feel like I was able to contribute past the interview and still be able to do something honoring my heritage that actually is now on the wiki and visible, and I feel like it goes a long way just from one interview and then it carries on. I wanted to carry that knowledge to my heritage wherever I went in Fandom and so then when it came to Comic-Con when they had us on the morning news, me and Supreme Emperor from Wookieepedia. When they asked me about something that people might not know about Avatar Wiki, I think my involvement in AAPI influenced me to say that there is more things related to Asian culture than you think and I wanted to speak out for my heritage and then say that you can actually find most Earth Kingdom food in like your local Chinatown. And so it was a really positive influence for me, and I learned from some Fandom staff members that they do want more representation in general of minorities. And so I feel like my involvement AAPI is honestly still going on.

'''H: We have talked a lot about community spirit and how you can build a community spirit on a wiki. So why do you think it's so important and worth putting in that time and effort?'''

M: Community spirit I think is what makes people want to stay on the wiki. You can have editors come in and out all day, but community spirit, it gives life to users, I think, otherwise, they're just usernames. I feel like community spirit helps people find or express their own identity, actually, as fans and you get to be more than a fan. It's such a nice positive term in general. It can be a generalized positivity and it can be complicated at the same time, because it's something that has to be maintained. Something I learned is that there are a lot of things that you can actually do to damage community spirit. Even one user alone can have an impact; you probably remember very well from Avatar Wiki with the WikiEqualists. And it only took like three or four users to cause tension throughout the entire community. I think that community spirit is something that's beautiful and it's not that hard actually to create, but you do have to be mindful to monitor it, too. And I think you do a great job with that.

I believe that our Avatar Wiki community is such a good community experience for me because our culture is very much "agree to disagree"-friendly. Users are allowed to express themselves but community spirit is born where you can feel supported by people in the environment to have your back and where you will not be treated differently over a mistake or some petty argument. Where people find something they can be a part of that brings out the best in them and, even better, be able to do the best together. Many find their greatest strengths through finding a home in our community and discover who they truly are. That alone makes every effort to build a strong community worth it. Community spirit is very precious to me and I think my definition of community spirit is actually literally you feel like some spirit from the users and like this wholesome, everything sort of connects. Community spirit can evolve into these beautiful things, like the Community Connect events from Fandom, it's the community spirit from each individual wiki that came together like that. So community spirit, I think, is just a beautiful bond that forms between users, that they want to be part of something bigger than just the wiki, and that has led me to some of the greatest and most important people in my life.

'''H: Final question. Can you give us something that some people might not know about you, could be wiki related or just something else.'''

M: A lot of the random crap about me users will know anyway, because I just ramble and share things on Discord for the heck of it. I guess for anyone who's not on Discord, my name is actually not original. It's based on two birds one of them being named Minnie. Maybe I should post a picture of her after this interview. But yeah, there's Minnie, the diva.

But if it was a completely random thing, I can't roll my R's, by the way, like if I speak Spanish or anything. I don't know why, I was born in San Antonio, but I cannot roll my R's and you will not make me attempt it. And I'm very bad at pronouncing things in general. Don't even get me started with the things that Lostris has laughed at me not pronouncing right or asking me to pronounce again just to laugh at me. And well, I speak Vietnamese fluently. So that's something I guess.

'''H: Well, thank you for giving up your time for this interview and for answering all of these questions. I'm sure a lot of people will find them very interesting and hopefully your experiences in building community spirit and running the newsletter can really help people that are sort of interested in doing that themselves.'''

M: Thank you for having me!