The Zen Admin
Today's topic was suggested by 452, and it's a good one. We've talked about the attributes of the ideal admin, and about the best ways to react to trolling. But between that is the best way to react to users you dislike or are causing problems on the wikia in ways other than simple trolling.
This is related to "Don't Feed the Trolls," but there are some differences. Not feeding trolls is generally about not giving feedback to those that are editing specifically to get a reaction to their disruption. But sometimes there's more involved than that, and sometimes your reaction is not just about not feeding, it's also about your own effect on the wikia and its community.
So let's talk about your reactions to vandals, users that don't listen, or w…
Guest Blog Post - Message Wall
Welcome to today's guest blog post, written by a Community Central contributor. Today we have a blog post by Mismagius Star. Mismagius edits on many wikis, including wikis about Pokemon. His username comes from Pokemon, and you can see a picture of the original Mismagius on his user page
This blog post is all about Message Walls. This feature is used on many wikias now, and it's one that I personally find invaluable for keeping track of conversations. Masmagius Star gives a useful overview of the feature for the beginner, and help with customizing the greeting for the slightly more advanced. I hope you find it helpful!
Choosing the Right Admins
Back in May, I talked about how to become an admin. Today we're going to look at this from the other side: how should you choose a new admin?
The choice of admin or bureaucrat on a wikia is a very important one. A good admin can grow and nurture the wikia, and make it thrive. A bad one, at worst, can cause major disruption and destruction.
There are different views on how many admins a wikia needs. Some prefer to have many, to divide up the admin tasks between them, and to make sure some are always available. Others prefer a strong core of the best candidates, to make it easier for them to work directly together and in tune. I would advise starting with a very small group for a new wikia, and then deciding how many works best for your commun…
How to Get Unblocked
Recently I talked about why staff don't change admin decisions to block. But that didn't answer the related question of how do you get a block removed on Wikia.
Of course, the first way is to not get blocked in the first place! I've often heard people protest their block when they were clearly doing something wrong. So if you get blocked because you replaced the main page with "aasdkadkj" then my answer to you is "don't do that then".
But even if you act perfectly, there are reasons that you might get blocked. There might be a misunderstanding, or you may have broken a rule that wasn't obvious, or you may have come across an unreasonable admin.
So my first advice is to take an honest look at your actions. Is this really a bad block, or were you do…
Guest Blog Post - Screenshots and Chat Logs
Today we have another great guest blog post written by a regular contributor of Community Central. This one is by Master Ceadeus 27!
Cead is generally to be found here on Community Central, as well as on Monster Hunter Fanon where he's admin and bureaucrat, and is working on his own fanfiction series. He is also admin/bureaucrat on World of Tanks Wikia, The Boondock Saints Wiki and others.
In this blog post, he is going to talk about a question that staff often hear: "why won't you look at my chat screenshot? It shows someone misbehaving!" It can be hard to say no when this happens, because often we believe those showing us the screenshot. But we have to be fair and consistent, and Master Ceadeus explains why that means not accepting screens…