User:Dismounted Feudal Knight/Assorted thoughts
Another 'state of twc' post, part open letter part just a vent.
Contents
The situation
TWC is in maintenance mode. Nothing new here.
There are seven hex. One is basically retired, two are active in stuff and the rest drop sharply from there. Content is propped up by two members at the moment across nearly a dozen departments, Gaming is defunct, technical is awol and admin stuff is slowly moving along with the very few folks who check in. Moderation would seem to be most healthy but it's more fragile than it looks. You can count people who keep it going on one hand. I tend to feel very alone in things. I need to push, prod, pull for it and I've long abandoned 'next age of twc', instead concentrating on TWC doing the best in the form that it is. I don't know who to poke and I just make changes because I can and I like "linting". If TWC is going this way at least it doesn't have as many 404 links.
There is not a lot of room short of a miracle. The forum is on very old and slow software. The wiki software is past end of life for updates. The Discord is not owned by an active staffer and social media has gone quiet along with the hex who kept it going for a long time.
In all of this there are some bright spots.
- There is just enough hex to do general stuff
- The discord is usable
- The wiki is the fastest loading part of the site and from what I've heard elsewhere it's especially used by modders for medieval 2
- Through sheer gravity TWC can still attract faces, old and new
Options going forward
Best case
The best option would be a "new deal" with GED: hex or a rep can empowered to take creative responsibility while he does his thing in the background, patting the server's back if it chokes a bit but otherwise going about his life. Hex would be made aware of the true state of the site, including if it is solvent or losing money, and what areas of the site make returns and are most objectively valuable to its survival with clear statistics. I would guess these would be the wiki and the articles section but this would have to be confirmed including if there's any outliers to consider
GED should not be expected to put more time into the site, he's propped it up over a decade and certainly years past the average site's due date, but I think he should empower people who can put in more. A few days of contact could oil the wheels for a few more years. Tech staff and such would be a nice bonus. I know he checks email so this could be one more.
If nothing else
Barring GED's involvement there is only one thing that can be done, and that is hex who remain having a sit down and deciding where they go from here. It is my understanding they just want to keep things going. That's fine. With a bit of upfront now they can, and simpler than they have before. I'm going to be bold and say I think I could be helpful if I was in red, given some railings and allowed to prod along changes. We're all on the same team so we should all be on the same pag. If GED wants to stop by, awesome, otherwise we should do what we can. To date I have operated well beyond my scope as a moderator. I've updated a majority of pins in the Creative Workshop, audited the Modding Registries, acted as de-facto Wiki Director pushing the only creative and structural change the wiki has seen in a long time and a lot more, much of my inflated action count (ask abdul) is not moving sand piles. And if this results in nothing I will keep going I bore of it, or someone tells me no. But it doesn't have to end this way.
There needs to be a conversation and the site needs to operate in terms of where it is. The site's seen many reforms and it's time for another one. If GED doesn't give us an action plan then we figure out our own and unless he's gone back on what I've read from years ago, that he will not fault people for acting in the site's best interests, I think this is the way it should be. If he wants otherwise he should tell us so we stop putting in the energy. Or at least so I can.
Section by section
The rest of this is just review and random ideas to help streamline things.
Content
Look, there's three people who act as staff here; Caillagh, Alwyn and Raf. All have been the pillars for a long time. The rest are inactive or have not made actions corresponding to their roles. This no longer requires the greatly fragmented staff list that exists now, in membership alone it's more comparable to when the newly returned Siblesz was the face of Content production.
The biggest fragment is publications. Most have been dead for a long time. There's simply not enough people or energy to make them work. So I would suggest something simple: one publication, inclusive of reviews, highlights, state of the unions if someone wants to summarize what's new on TWC, and what have you. One publication could even attract talent by being more approachable than the formal presentation of the many forked publications. Anyone should be able to submit articles and the actual staff should assume the role of editors.
So, the wiki. I'll be straight: I wish to adopt it as Director, because I'm the only one who keeps it running and developed. Can I do most things now, yes, but it's a perversion when things are written to encourage joining the wiki team or contact the wiki staff when the wiki staff are inert and I am making all the decisions - advised by the few who still bother to discuss it, primarily by the last wiki director. There's no future in being a staffer without direction. It makes discussing the wiki in the wild difficult: I am a proactive editor trying to encourage people to use a wiki, but must avoid mentioning that the wiki is effectively abandoned by Content. This is a state of things that is fairly easy to fix and would at least oil the wheels for a bit.
TWC Downloads should become a Moderation affair
I won't say nix vacant branches, yet.
The Picture & Video Competitions are the healthiest op on the site and should be absolutely untouched except for Raf being granted any assistance he may desire to keep it going.
Modding and Total War
I'm not going to say resurrect the modding staff but I think there needs to be a red man willing to clean up sections. This is an audit that can only be done by an administrator. I know there's a little more to it in how it should be done but it should be attempted and every day that it's not makes a kitten cry, and I heard on the news that there have been salty floods in the past few years. Save the kittens: clean the TW sections.
Anything from there is... later.
Gaming & Site Awards
It's difficult to say because Gaming is defunct or nearly so. Hotseating was the last living department and the pulse is gone. To be clear this is where I got my start on the site and I've kept tabs, and I know the light has faded. While I prescribe outreach to the hotseating people to see if the forum can become a useful static resource at least, it is possible this entire branch should be cut and its operations merged into others. Perhaps active staff must become a binary: content and moderation.
Likewise the writing is on the wall with the end of the modding awards and diminishing taste in member awards though I would not say to trim this yet. I really don't know what's to be done here and I think above is more important but it's a discussion that should happen in public sooner than later before we prop up the next round in the coming year.
The Curia
distraction
Other thoughts
Hader should toss the discord keys to Abdul or Alwyn, maybe even Loli if he wants (discord staff was conventionally filed under gaming after all)
Flinn should get a gold mod mace
I kick myself for not accepting when ged offered a pink barbie for my profile
close the mudpit... elect mudpit mods idk
I should probably be spanked for sticking all this on the wiki...
