User blog:TheBroMaster/My Two Cents

Believe it or not, I'm still alive and kicking.

My time on this wiki is basically done, but that doesn't mean I can't assert my wisdom over what's currently going on. I've been watching the continuing division on the site between admins and non-admins - and I have to say this:

Both you admins and normal users need to take a serious look at yourselves and grow up. The absolute pigheadedness that has prevailed on both sides of this argument is disgusting. You folks have achieved nothing but shown that you're all too immature to calmly and intelligently settle a dispute without whining and throwing the ban-hammer around.

I'd like to address both parties of this dispute individually:

Fellow Admins, your style of governing and your attitude towards those who are not a part of the higher ranks has become questionable at it best, and shameful at its worst. Your actions and attitudes have not been impartial nor have they been professional. Quite a few of you have played stupid stunts on those who are powerless against you and have acted nonchalantly when these people come back and make legitimate complaints that they're being taken advantage of. Non-admins have legitimate complaints due to both your inactivity and your over-zealousness in others' affairs. Your job as administrators is to set an example of good, gracious and professional behavior for others to model. Your job is NOT to terrorize others and then not consider the ramifications of doing so under the admin badge. Even if your remarks and actions seem harmless to you, remember that non-administrators still have to live with the consequences of your actions, be them positive or negative. Remember that non-admins have good reason to be worried when you go off the rails, because in many cases they have no reprieve against what you do. Many a time have I seen and participated in actions against non-admins which served no purpose but to piss them off. As administrators, you are supposed to bring out the best of our wiki both in yourselves and in everyone else. Being power-drunk idiots accomplishes nothing.

Your job as an administrator is to be a FAIR and IMPARTIAL decision-maker on this wiki's affairs. I have seen almost none of this in the past while, and have rather seen too much favoritism and partisanship. Picking sides is fine, but using your power to push your personal agenda is wrong.

Regular users, however, are also not off the hook. Consistently screaming about persecution, tyranny and dictatorship does not achieve anything and only makes you look like petulant children. Even though the administration has gone off the rails, your rights as users are not under attack and they will most certainly be protected at the staff level in a worst-case scenario. The administration over the past while has done the regular user-base many grave misdeeds, but this is no excuse to be uncivil and childish. If you want to enact change on this wiki, your best bet is to lead that change yourselves. It's hypocritical to police the actions of administrators without also looking within and seeing the errors of your own ways. Your job as users is to continue building this wiki and to mold it in your image. If you want to enact major change in how things on this wiki is run, finger-pointing and blaming others for your problems is not the way to do things. Starting a "court" to override the admins whom you feel have wronged you is counterproductive and will not achieve anything other than create another mess. If you think a rule has been broken, report it and back it up with evidence. While administrators are here to uphold the best that this wiki has to offer, their job is not to pander to your every wish if said wishes are not in the wiki's best interest. Administrators have most likely been around longer than you and have a deeper understanding of what will and will not work. Nobody is expected to tolerate immaturity and childish mudslinging from anyone.

If you're not happy with what is happening here, be the change you want to see. The best way to do this is to be a stand-up person; a role model for everyone else to follow. Nobody will listen to you if you are not a model of what you want to promote - immaturity will not yield the results you wish to receive, ever.

You cannot expect to see any positive change on this wiki if there is no realization within both parties that you are not perfect. Arguing and fighting will not end well for anyone in the end, and both parties will leave hurt and unhappy.

After years of being in the heat of this fights and arguments, I decided to take a step back and I don't like what I've seen. In hindsight, I don't like many of the things that I've done or participated in, but I feel that my actions have been for the betterment of everyone.

I feel that this wiki has been irreparably fractured and that almost everyone has had a role in the deterioration of relations between the administration and the common users. The purpose of our discussions on the council and IRC are intended to come to a consensus, not to win in your little made-up ideological battle. I don't think that this message will really resonate with you folks, and to be completely honest I think the social fabric of this site has been destroyed beyond repair. But if everyone can be civil and productive with each other for a change, that will make everything just a little bit better. Before I recede back into the shadows, I have one more thing to say regarding the infighting that has festered over the past few years. To be frank:

I'm disappointed in all of you.

-- Bro  Talk to me! 17:23, 2 April 2017 (UTC)