User blog comment:Cartoonprincess/In Response To Mak's Blogs/@comment-3424724-20111211213457

I only joined in June, so I can't really compare how it is now to how it was. But you're all right. The Wiki is evolving from an online iCarly encyclopedia/discussion forum into a chatroom. People should be editing more, because that's what this Wiki is for. But iCarly shouldn't be all that we're talking about. I mean, that isn't all that happens in our lives. We need to get to know the people that we're editing and forming a community with, and the best way to do that is through chat. In chat, I do vaguely see cliques, but I've always felt accepted no matter who's chatting. Of course, I'm more likely to chat if someone I know well is on, but I never feel like anything but time is stopping me from going on. It's hard to be on chat when you're new, which emphasizes Cartoon's point that this Wiki is turning into a high school. But I don't think that's chat's fault. If everyone made an effort to make newbies feel welcome on chat, that would solve a lot of problems. That's why I almost always say hi when someone new comes on chat. Because I know how dissappointing it is when you shout "HEY!" and no one bothers to type a simple, "Hello". That makes a huge difference. In the words of Toby Isaacs (who got it from someone else I think) "Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet". Of course there are trolls, but chat mods know how to deal with that. Although it's nice to have a democracy, I now feel like the admin vote was unneccessary. The admins are able to decide who makes enough edits and has enough free time to be an admin. They realize that the point of this Wiki is not to be with friends, but to make this website better. However, making friends along the way is never a bad thing. When I first joined, I wanted to be an admin because I saw how popular Alicia123 was. But now I understand that it's not about who has more friends, but who is trying to make pages nicer. That was basically a rant. So, to conclude, chat has it's downsides, but that's only because people who go on more often than others are more well-known and because not everyone makes an effort to make newbies feel welcome on chat. However, it is necessary because the Wiki has a social aspect that needs to be maintained. But we do need to focus on editing more and remember that this is an iCarly website.