User blog:SallyPerson/WARNING: Controversial Subject Matter:)

So, this is my completely unbiased correction of a statement that is out there about the reason why a number of our beloved users left.

I'm sorry to bring this up, but I know that there is still a chasm between us in the way they see things, and hopefully this is a bridge.

I know this is from the other wiki that you made. It was never a secret. This is the internet.....

I know I'm banned on there, and so is Kakki10. Since we were banned before we knew about its existence, and before we even came on there, let alone did something wrong, this is considered an abuse of admin rights by wikia, but pschhhawww whatever. I don't care.

So here is an official statement that is posted on that wiki. (Actually, it got taken down).

Anyways, I've made it 100% true, whether thats in my favor or not. It wasn't meant to make one "side" look better than the other.

Again, sorry this opens old wounds. I really felt it needed to be done. And honestly? I am not angry with anyone, nor do I dislike ANY one. Promise. Swear. I give chu cookies:)

So...here we go: (the bold are my words, the rest are not)

1. The previous site used to allow just about any content that you wanted in your story, including swearing and controversial subject matter, as long as you put a warning on it for potential users. '''(and put it in a special Forum. This was before Sparrow made the big changes). It was setup very similarly to the way [the new wiki]''' is right now. Over time, for a number of reasons, it was determined that nothing over PG-13 could be posted. At the end, although it was NOT specifically stated in the rules, (it was, and more than once, actually), the admins started cracking down even further than that. They also declared that the rules applied to ANY chat or website that even discussed the fanfiction site, even it is was a private location or associated with other subject matter. If two or more members of the wikia were present and discussed anything having to do with the fanfiction site, they were bound by the laws of the fanfiction site. '''(I said if LESS than two members on the chat were NOT from PJOFFW....I mean, lots of you are on lots of different wikis! I don't pretend to control you other than PJOFFW and its chats. I'm sorry if this was a misunderstanding). '''There was no warning that this was coming, it just all of a sudden went into effect. (Actually, Kakki and I often put out little, polite warnings on chat, like "Guys, watch the language" (usually Kakki) or my *cough cought language cough cough*. As previously stated, the rules were always there, people just weren't listening to them. And this is my fault?)

2. There were clear rules for becoming an admin on that site. A person had to be nominated. They had to have the support of a certain number of people. '''(According to Sparrow, one admin had to approve). '''They also had to have fewer than a certain number of "no" voted from the community. Lastly they had to have a clean record for at least a year before stepping into that position.

One day, a particular member of the community, who I shall refer to as M, suddenly gained admin rights. His application for adminship was present, but was very old. No vote was held to confirm or veto his status. (Actually, Kakki and I voted, and also stated that this was to be temporary, an hour or so, which it was). On the same day he showed up suddenly with admin rights, he got into an argument with some of the people here. (He was trying to stop said argument. A user had flamed him). He cursed at others without penalty, (M (who is Matt) did not swear one single time that day. Swear.) but if others cursed at him, they were instantly given a ban.

This initially led some people to think he had somehow hacked the wikia to give himself these rights, because the existing admins, including the main admin that we will call S, denied an knowledge of how he got that power. (No one asked? And I wasn't present on that chat, guys...) Strangely, none of the other admins removed his power or punished him for what he had done. (Only bureaucrats can change power statuses, and a sysop blocking a sysop is impossible). A letter was sent to wikia asking them how an unauthorized person could become an admin and asked that they demote him if his rights were not given legitimately.

Wikia investigated and replied back saying M had been granted full admin rights by S. They also attached the replies they got back from M saying the promotion was done behind the scenes to avoid making S look bad to the other members of the community.

3. When enough whispers of shady deals started flying around. (???? What the heck? This is very poetic language though. Impressive). only then was M demoted. (Actually he was given rights on the knowledge that he would be given such power for approximately one hour). Not to a regular member, but dropped from an admin to a rollbacker.(Matt WAS dropped to nothing, then given rollback rights a day or two later along with Bard, because they were already chat admins, and I knew they could handle the responsibility). S also started handing out rollbacker status to a number of users who had not requested it and were not expecting it. (There was a vote. If someone objected their name being thrown into the poll, it was taken out immediately. This was not really an issue). It was done in the name of getting more veteran users involved in keeping the site clean, but when you really looked at which veterans were getting rollbacker status and which were not, it gave strong indication that these promotions were meant as a bribe. (It was meant as a compromise. I was looking for users who made people happy, including those on the other "side". If they weren't happy with me, shouldn't I let them have someone to represent themselves?).

4. Any posts that were made speaking out against the adminship and listing details of what happened were quickly deleted and the powers were banned. (Angel posted a blog that I knew would stir up chaos before an official statement went out. After the community was given the details and were taking their own opinions, Angel's blog was reinstated. You can go to it right now if you want. And Angel was never banned. Kyra was banned for flaming on chat, until she pleaded to be unbanned so that she could make a good-bye blog. Instead, she chose to write an extremely foul blog for the purpose of cussing people out). The only explanations that were allowed to remain regarding these events were ones that agreed with the admins' position or ones that were so vague that they offered no clue as tot eh extent of what really happened. (No such blogs exist, or ever did, unless you count the one that reads "What is Going On?" ).

5. On a side note to all this political stuff going on, there was also a disagreement about what demigods should be allowed on the site. Rick Riordan had already included Greek, Roman, and Egyptian gods in his books. He has further talked about other sets of gods that he may bring in during future projects. Many authors on the old site took this to mean that it was ok to write about demigods with parents from others sets of gods. However there was a group (more like one person, not even an admin) complaining that introducing children of other gods not specifically mentioned in the books was making the old site deviate from being a true PJO fan site. (Even I participated in collabs tolerating this, and loved them, like the Celtic one for instance). A number of arguments (???) over this created a lot of unneeded drama in the community.

<p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; ">So, eventually, (less than 12 hours later), those of us that were too fed up with what was going on regrouped here to form a new site, where we want people to feel free to express their ideas openly. We do not restrict what types of demigods or other myths you decide to use. We will not put a cap on language or other controversial subject matter, as long as the reader is properly forewarned about it. We want out admins to be open and accessible to the members of the community. Most of all, we want people to have fun!!!

<p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; ">That about wraps that up....  SallyPerson /   Natalie Cole  01:20, May 17, 2011 (UTC)