Very Controlling/Stubborn Admin, Help Please | Fandom

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DuchessDream·2/7/2021 in Support Requests - Community Management

Very Controlling/Stubborn Admin, Help Please

So there's a small Fandom that I want to help with, but the admin in control basically only allows for grammar lackeys and writers. They won't take ANY suggestion for how the wiki should look, function, or operate.

The wiki looks boring and out dated, I suggested some new backgrounds and infobox looks: No.
They still use message walls, which are a pain to use and don't give notifications when someone replies. I suggested updating to the threads: No.
The wiki is a mess when it comes to trying to navigate, I suggested a better way of organizing the drop down menus and the like: No.

They barely give good reasons either. It's usually something to the tune of "I don't like it that way." Which is ultra frustrating, because they are going for personal-taste of functional.

I've had bad conversations with admins before, but would usually gain some common ground, but this is by far the most stubborn admin I've ever had the displeasure of communicating with. They aren't rude, but they are extremely stubborn, in which case, I would rather argue with a rude admin.

What should I do? I don't want to demote them, or get on their bad side. There is little to no activity from other others, so votes and community input is null. This admin edits the entire wiki basically by themselves. It feels like they aren't able to cooperate with others to better the wiki.

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DuchessDream·2/7/2021

While I can understand having little edits to support the admin rights, that wasn't the focus. I think if you can prove yourself through the means of other wikis you contribute or admin, that should mean something. It's by those means that you can see if a user is a troll/spammer as well.

I'm not sure how many people have read the entire conversation because yes, the first few correspondence were cordial and nice. It's later on that they just continue to shoot down every idea even after I explained why they'd better the wiki for users. I don't know how else to explain it other than, the edits I was suggesting/putting forth were for functionality. I wouldn't get hung up just because they said no to a knew background wallpaper or something.

(edited by DuchessDream)

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Morty Clowney·2/7/2021

HumanCanWinElves this post is not mine i didn't made this it was DuchessDream so

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HumansCanWinElves·2/7/2021

True, and you are taking this thread to something totally unrelated on a different wiki.

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HowardLawrence145·2/7/2021

Arguing with administrators probably won't help out the situation but only threatens you to ban your account if you keep and keep arguing with them especially if they are losing their side to fight on. rather than losing it they'll just ban you and stamp out reasons that you vandalizing pages or harassed them even you actually did nothing in the first place

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DuchessDream·2/7/2021

@Tamirobson I'm not sure if you read my posts from before but Ultimo Hana was made an admin because the the last admin was leaving. The last admin saw that Ultimo Hana was present on the wiki and just made the next active editor an admin, despite aptitude. So to me, 10 years and 6k edits mean nothing if you just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I've been on Fandom for 4-5 years and have proven to others that my ideas have worth and benefit.

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Morty Clowney·2/7/2021

HumanCanWinElves yes different and unrelated wikis but same problem with admins

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HumansCanWinElves·2/7/2021

@DuchessDream I understand you are talking about functionality improvements that are very important from your point of view. I didn't read all the conversation between you and the admin but @Tamirobson did and I trust her judgement. Opinions can differ a lot, things that seem obvious and necessary to you may seem unnecessary to someone else, and even if you were 100% right someone still has to take the decisions. This is just how the world work. I don't know what your age is, but if you are not very young, I'm sure you faced such situations in real life too.

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DuchessDream·2/7/2021

@HumansCanWinElves Then my point still stands. Later in the conversation, Ultimo Hana tries to make the "This wiki is so small so there's no point." excuses which doesn't make any sense. They don't seem to want to grow the wiki at all and prefer to poke and prod at it themself. That's not how an admin should operate a wiki. You should want to expand and make it better. But they are actively talking about shrinking it down.

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HumansCanWinElves·2/7/2021

They want to keep it simple and solid, which is not a violation of Fandom Terms of Use nor an unreasonable decision. Anyway, I think we are going in circles. You have your opinions and that's fine.

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Mendes2·2/7/2021

Clearly this post has long strayed from its original purpose. There have been replies from quite a few very experienced admins, and the main outcome is that no admin is going to change the entire wiki because a user comes up with "ideas" without 1) backing them up or explaining why or 2) editing much on the wiki itself. Saying no to such ideas generally isn't power abuse or "being controlling", and trying to push those ideas yourself without remorse may even point towards the exact opposite, that they are trying to refrain the users who are being controlling. You can look into the step-by-step change process of John Kotter to see how you can bring others to adopt your changes, but based on the three proposals you mentioned in the original post, I would probably say no to all three either, especially because those proposals contain solely opinions. With such a case of opinion vs opinion, it's usually the status quo that is upheld, generally because there is no proof that the alternative works. In extreme cases, there are quite a few wikis that get you blocked for proposing major interface changes without actually contributing otherwise.

What do you think?