Forum:Current Events & Resolution

Dear Terraria Community,

As you may or may not be aware, there was recently a large scale incident here on the Terraria Wiki. It consisted of a dispute which arose when administrators Gracey91 and Mathmagician attempted to push for change in the wiki's video policy, which was under the responsibility of bureaucrat HeroGaming (aka HERO on youtube). The short version of the story is that the administrators were banned, but there was some measure of outcry within the community. Ultimately, the situation was resolved with the intervention of Wikia Staff Member Sannse. As a result, HeroGaming had his bureaucratic and administrative rights removed, Gracey91 was blocked temporarily (possibly able to return later), and Mathmagician had his administrative rights restored.

As it currently stands, peace will be returning to the community, and Terraria will go on. Once some time has passed, community discussion will begin over key policy issues. The following is a conversation that took place between Mathmagician and HeroGaming after the matter had been initially resolved:

Well.
My stance and wikia's are different. I feel like we should be inclusive of the wiki and they feel like freedom is the biggest issue. It seems your goals are more inline with wikias vision for this wiki.

A friend said this to me at the start of all of this.
 * Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
 * John F. Kennedy, In a speech at the White House, 1962

35th president of US 1961-1963 (1917 - 1963) I can't pretend I didn't think the things I thought. I might have sounded like a crazy person to some. We have had curse admins pay off members and offer to pay off others. I over reacted out of fear for the wiki. I wish the old admins were around to attest to what curse has done but the time has now passed.

Well I can either accept wikias open policy or leave. I must say I don't like to loose. Now I am aware that I will never be this wikis bcrat again. I have never been a sore looser. You handeled yourself well and I mocked you for it, I am going to have to humble myself to be able to swallow this. I hope you aren't working for curse. For staff to not think so I must be to guarded from past issues with them and that clouded my judgement.

Where do I go from here? I am an editor with normal rights. I have brought thousands here but wikia's stance is very much that the editors are more important than the viewers. This is also hard to swallow. This is what made the wiki as big as it is. I am very torn here because on youtube the viewer is more important. What is the use of having a show without the viewier and that a good show with a million viewers is better than a great show with 50 viewers. Wikias stance is different. They don't see other wikis as competition where I see them as a direct threat to the life of a wiki. So I have to either accept these principals and live with them within the wiki or move on. I've decided to learn a lesson from this rather than be the same man forever.

I would like to be involved with the wiki for now. I would like you to create a discussion about video on the wiki and how it should be handled. I belive you said the best informative content is what you think should be on the wiki. I would like people to talk about it and the wiki to form its policies before I decide what I am going to do. I have learned about a lot of my mistakes and things I need to work on when I am in the publics eye. I still disagree with wikia's business model supporting the promotion of other wikis but I now understand that wikia isn't the owner of there company and that people who have everyday jobs take care of the wiki and make these dicisions. I think from a business prospective and that is what got the wiki to be so big but wikia thinks from a user prospective. I have a lot to swallow. Please get the video discussion under way as soon as you are able. Even though I am still a user I don't think it's my place to start the topic.

Again you handeled yourself well and I mocked you for it. That was very unwise.HeroGaming 03:44, February 3, 2012 (UTC)

RE: Well.
Hero,

I hear you when you say you don't like to lose--especially considering that you've been here so long and things have mostly gone your way. I must admit, I feared that you would immediately leave the community if the dispute wasn't resolved in your favor. I am glad to know that you're willing to consider staying. I hope you will understand if I am a little distrustful of you in the immediate future, given what's transpired recently. This is something that will heal with time. As I have said, I bear you no ill will.

First, let me assure you that what I said regarding Curse is true. I have not been in contact with them. I do not work for them. It is not my intention to ruin this wiki. However, I also firmly believe in trying to be friendly with them, and everyone in the worldwide Terraria Community. This is how I was able to gain the trust of the entire leadership of the Russian Community at ru.terraria.wikia.com, and why they continuously came here to speak out against you during this incident.

I understand that your willingness to remain here will depend highly on what the wiki's video policy looks like. I too am eager to start a discussion about the policy. Sannse said in the forum post that we should resume editing for the rest of this week and try to let things cool down. I am hopeful that early next week she'll be back to check up on us, and we can start a discussion about videos. You are undoubtedly an integral part of this wiki, and your knowledge of videos is vastly superior to anyone else currently here. Your voice in the video policy will be heard loudly. However--everyone must be given a say.

I too have learned some things out of this. For one, I have learned that it is absolutely important that bureaucratic and administrative powers remain in check. Secondly, I have learned that standing up for what you believe in is important. As you can see, many of the things that I believe in are different from the ones you do. I hope that we will be able to make some compromises in the future. It's in mine and the wiki's best interests to see you stay here.

I understand that you have a lot to swallow. For now, let's resume editing let some silence pass between us. For myself, I would like some time to think things over. However, I would like to copy/paste this correspondence between us and place it in a public location. This is so the community here is informed of what has transpired and that peace will be resuming on the wiki. If this is agreeable to you, I will create a forum post with a basic description of recent events, as well as this communication between us and link to it from the front page, as well as the Community Messages box. Agreed? Mathmagician ( talk ♥ blog ) 04:55, February 3, 2012 (UTC)

More Details
More exact details about this dispute and its resolution can be found at:
 * Community Central Forum
 * Wiki Mediation