User blog:Mak23686/Time for a little reflection

Well, with iCarly's final episode being filmed right now, I thought it's time to think a little about the time on the wiki here.

I'm FAR from perfect in how I did what I did, but I might have made some experiences and mistakes that could be of some use for future wikis or similar things.

I consider this list kind of as "tips that could be useful when taking care of a wiki". You can just read it and take whatever pieces of advice you consider useful if you ever take responsibility for one.

Since my work schedule probably won't change to part-time anytime soon, I don't think I will take any rank on a wiki again (and I definitely won't take responsibility for a wiki about one of Dan's shows again; don't like his behavior). So, I'm kind of trying to pass on my knowledge, experiences and views.

#Don't have article comments
 * Yeah, I know, they are a nice way of communicating and everything, but let's be honest: MOST of the drama started there, and since people are more likely to engage in fights than just report offensive comments and having them deleted, I think they cause more harm than good. It takes more effort to write a blog to bash an episode / character / ship than to just write a comment, so this might keep trouble at bay a little (they can be turned off via "Admin Dashboard → Wiki features")

#Have at least half of your admins be near a computer half of the day
 * Housewifes, people who have part-time jobs, whatever, as long as they are near a computer that they can use to their own desire and thus, have time to take care of the wiki.

#If you want your articles to look nice, get an admin who is enthusiastic about style and stuff
 * That would have been me here (self-praise ... ETERNAL dishonor on me). But if I look at other wikis, they look kind of terrible. I was over at the Ghostbusters wiki once, and the plot summary there went "This happens. Then this happens. Then this happens." My teachers at school would have taken away a LOT of credits for repetetive writing there. On some wikis, the articles don't really have a clear structure (like our Main characters or Episodes pattern). Kind of a pet-peeve of mine, but I just like the articles looking at least half-way professional.

#If you have chat, get at least one admin who focuses on that
 * That'd be Alica here.

#Don't act spontaneously on something that made you emotional
 * Take some time to think about things that upset you (maybe half a day), maybe talk to the other admins about it. Spontaneous emotional reactions are quite likely to result in you doing stupid things.

#Don't hesitate if you feel like there's something wrong
 * If you see weird conversations between some people, for example (*cough*Katy*cough*), don't hesitate to talk to them about it and keep an eye on them. Believe me, if you wait until they spread over several people on the wiki, you kind of feel like shit afterwards for failing the people you have taken responsibility for. Even if you mainly care about formatting and style like me, being an admin ALSO means being responsible for the people on the wiki.

#If you have people who CONSTANTLY pick fights with one another, block them I think we know who I'm talking about here. Try sorting out their fights once or twice, but if they still deliberately keep getting into each others' face, kick all of them off. Constant fighting just poisons the atmosphere. Getting into fights every now and then is natural, but not CONSTANTLY with the same person.

#Don't think of yourself as too high
 * Something that might have happened to me every now and then, I admit. Admins aren't THAT different from other users, they are just willing to take care of this place and get a few more buttons as reward.

Well, that's kind of it; my experiences / views on being an admin / bureaucrat.

If you want to create / supervise a wiki or forum in the future, you might find some of it useful, maybe not; I just thought with iCarly and thus, the active times of this wiki, being about to end, it's time to do some self-reflection.

Mak23686 16:02, June 16, 2012 (UTC)