Board Thread:SmashWiki Business/@comment-8-20130820204412/@comment-8-20130827213004

Mr. Anon wrote: So far, the "old" admins have mainly restricted themselves to janitorial work, and most of this wiki's activity is by non-NIWA users. However, this has clearly failed to create any sort of "community" like one that existed prior to the split.

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.

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.

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

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!)

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.

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.

To the "oldbies": There are two groups of you. Those that have been here to disrupt this wiki, and those who have been here to maintain the "remnants" of the wiki you left.

Dr. Pain and friends, I'm asking you to back away and concentrate on positive competition. Go and make your wiki as good as you can. Work to surpass this wiki in any way you can, by building your community and content, and taking that wiki in new directions. All those are positive ways of trying to make your wiki the primary resource for Super Smash Bros. But please don't try to surpass this wiki by underhanded vandalism and disruption.

To the departing admins: Thank you for your stewardship. I ask now that you let this wiki go its own way - even if that way seems wrong to you. If the future community of this wiki decides to add a picture of Hello Kitty to every page, that is no longer something you need to worry about. Please let go, and let everyone move on.