Board Thread:SmashWiki Business/@comment-8-20130820204412/@comment-1740234-20130827222303

Sannse wrote: Yes, I agree this wiki has had trouble coming together as a community since the split. But my belief is that this is not despite the work of the admins, but because of it. That's not to say that's their intentions are not good (as I said above, I accept that they are) they have done what they can to keep the wiki maintained. But it is the result of having a wiki still controlled by people who have effectively left it.

Would you mind explaining how that is the case? As noted, we have gone to great lengths in order to allow for a new community to form. Could you point out specific actions you believe are inhibiting a new community?

This wiki needs a new chance. And for that it needs a new start. There is a nascent community growing here, and unless they have a chance to develop this wiki in the direction they think it should go, it will always remain frozen in the past.

In what ways do you believe the existing community has not been given a chance to develop this wiki in their intended direction?

I've been thinking a lot about this over the weekend, and what it comes down to is that it's time for this wiki to start on a new path, and for there to be a cleaner split between this site and ssbwiki.com

A name change seems to be a key issue for many commenting here. I'm very dubious about the benefits to this wiki of a name change, and don't agree that those who are primarily focused on the fork should be the people to decide this (and the new community isn't ready to yet). So as an interim compromise, I suggest we change this to "Smash Wikia". That will give some distinction between the two, and make it clear that the two wikis are not connected

Could you explain why you are opposed to the name change the community has selected? As you can see, "SmashPedia" is a name popular with both old and new users. You say that the current community is not ready to decide this, but with all due respect what makes you able to decide that?

I'll also ask our Community Development team to create a new theme and logo for the wiki, based on that name. The new community will be able to change that in the future of course (and let me know if they don't like it now, and we'll try again!)

Unfortunately, the name "Smash Wikia" itself has been the name of this wiki for some time, and the vast majority of the community has expressed a desire to change that name. At what point do you feel it appropriate to change the name?

And finally, and most controversially, I'm going to intervene way more than Wikia usually does and introduce a complete management change. But that, I mean I am going to remove the rights of the current admins, and start moving towards the new community having admins of their own.

If your goal is to improve the autonomy of the current community, shouldn't admin priviledges be decided by the community itself? I feel that Wikia stepping in in such a manner will only further erode the autonomy of the userbase.

I know this is a big step, but I think it is necessary. Whether it will work, will depend largely on whether the previous community is able to take a step away and leave this wiki to develop it's own future (good or bad) as well as whether the new community can step up.

Needless to say, I disagree with this action. Overall, you seem to be making too major points: that this wiki has a large enough unique community to warrant a full seperation, but also that this wiki's community is too small and "weak" to be able to make decisions on this scale on their own accord. While Ultraman and Oni Dark Link (users that can safely be considered part of "this" community) have expressed a desire for new admins, one that I can fully respect, I see no desire on their part for a complete overhaul of the adminship.

Overall, I hope you consider my response and address my major questions over your actions. Thank you.