This page or section is an archive.
Please do not edit the contents of this page. Direct any additional comments to the current talk page or contact an administrator for aid if no talk page exists.

This page contains candidate presentations for the 2018 Weird Gloop board of directors elections.

Voting will begin on December 17th through the SecurePoll extension. Please ask the candidates additional questions in the sections below. If you have questions you wish to ask all candidates, please put them in all relevant sections.

RuneScape Wiki

There are 8 candidates for 3 positions.

Chessmaster

Chessmaster ^{Talk • Contribs • Meta contribs}

Statement	Hello, bad_fetus (Chessmaster) here! I have been a member of the RuneScape Wiki for a little over ten years now; starting with the friends' chat in 2007. Over time, I have passionately contributed to both the Wiki itself and its off-site installments to varying degrees and have made many friends in the community. I'm running for the board as I think it's important to have insights on the board from long-standing and trusted members that are not administrators to provide a fresh view.
Wiki work	I have been an active member of the in-game friends' chat/clan since 2007. I was given the sergeant rank in 2010 and the clan admin rank in 2012 for the purposes of maintaining a friendly chat environment. While I have made some mistakes over time; I would hope most of the community views me as friendly, honest and passionate. On the Wiki itself, I have done some of everything but a bulk of my edits came at Dungeoneering release. Due to the vast size of the update, a lot of pages needed creating/maintaining at the time and I spent many hours each day to assist that. Besides that, I have done a decent amount of image work over the years and some anti-vandalism. I would consider my most valuable contributions to be the input I have had for various discussions on the Wiki. While I have not always been on the mark; I have not been afraid to speak my mind in a civil manner even when most had a differing opinion.
Other work	I am the founder and head admin of the (now defunct) Runescape-TR forums; once the largest community and the main source of information for Turkish RuneScape players on the Internet. While nobody is active on it anymore, it boasts over 1000 registered users and over 16000 posts total with tens of active users at its peak. Despite these numbers being low compared to the Wiki; this was practically the entire Turkish RuneScape community back in the day. The website can still be found here: http://runescape-tr.yetkin-forum.com/ . I also played Dota 2 competitively from 2012 to 2017 with minor success and was the captain/manager of most of the teams I was in. As such, I have experience in communicating with and managing a diverse set of people towards a single goal. Last, I currently work as a game designer for an online gambling company. An important part of my work is to research and understand the needs and wants of the end user. I think this is a great asset for the governance of the Wiki as being able to value the views of the users over the board's is a crucial skill.

Additional questions from the community

Default questions

Why do you think you would be a good candidate for the Weird Gloop board?

First and foremost, I am passionate about the community and the work we do. As such, I desire to see the Wikis as successful as possible and the community even friendlier.

I also have experience in running a website as well as managing a diverse group of people as outlined above. Thus, while I generally have strong opinions on things; I understand the importance of putting the opinions and ideas of the community above mine if needs be. bad_fetus^Talk 11:06, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

Is there any connection between your employment (or other financial interest) and the position on the board? If so, please describe how you can ensure this does not interfere.

There is no connection between my employment and the position on the board. bad_fetus^Talk 11:06, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

I think the board should be focusing on:

Transparency. It is crucial that the board is as transparent as possible as to what is going on behind the scenes for the governance of Weird Gloop. The Wikis can only exist thanks to the tireless work of the community and as such the userbase deserves to be privy to as much information as possible.

User-governance. I believe the board has a responsibility to listen to the entire community and make sure that any user can have key input into the steering of the organization. It is critical that the board members do not prioritize their own wishes over those of the community, lest we turn into another Wikia.

Practicalities. In order to make sure that the Wikis can remain thriving communities and comprehensive sources of information, everything needs to run smoothly in the background. To this end, the board needs to be able to handle both legal and technical problems that may arise. For the legal part, the board should focus on making sure everything runs compliant with the local laws as well as being prepared to take on any legal proceedings. For the technical part, the board should focus on making sure our development practices are optimal and we run no technical debt. bad_fetus^Talk 11:06, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

Community questions

Question - To what extent would you strive for transparency? Would you feel that the existing meta-discussion channel on the Discord server accomplishes what you are aiming for, and how would you go about providing assistance in improving the current standards of transparency? Kate ^msg 18:45, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

I do not think the Discord channel is good enough as Discord is designed around being a chatting environment rather than an information source. I would strive to keep logs and notes of every decision and discussion made and publish them on the meta-wiki.

Sensitive information would still need to be handled carefully but I cannot imagine a scenario that is not resolved by either publishing redacted logs or publishing the information at a later date when it is not sensitive anymore. bad_fetus^Talk 00:39, 9 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - Do you think there is an inherent conflict between transparency and community building? I agree that important dicussion should take place in a wiki forum, but am concerned that if this goes too far it may negatively impact the community the the Discord server is helping build. cqm ^talk 17:27, 9 December 2018 (UTC)

To clarify, I have nothing against discussing things on the Discord server. An instant messaging environment is usually a lot more convenient for a discussion between fewer parties. What I meant more-so is that every conscious decision made by the board, however small, should be published somewhere on this Wiki together with its reasoning. The reasoning could be short or long depending on the complexity of the case. I would also push for the publishing of any legal, financial etc. documents the board deals with.

For any of these, there is a potential problem of being unable to share confidential information which may arise due to a plethora of reasons. As said above though, I do not think there is a situation where this would not be resolved by either publishing the information at a later date, publishing redacted information, or a combination of both.

Via all of this, the community members get a chance to keep up with what is happening behind the scenes if they desire. I believe this is crucial in order to gain the community's full trust. I also think any member of the community deserves to know how things are being handled whenever possible. bad_fetus^Talk 19:44, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - In the distant future, would you like Weird Gloop to explore hosting more than just RuneScape related wikis? What would be your concerns about this, if any? Template:Signatures/JaydenKieran 22:03, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

I do not have a personal opinion on whether we should expand to host more wikis, but I do not see harm in at least exploring the pros and cons. My main concern would be the technical side of things: We would need to handle more traffic as well as maintain more tools based on each wiki's needs. These and any other technical issues would need to be discussed with users more experienced in the field like yourself.

The only other issue I can think of is that the more wikis we have the less tight-knit the community will become. I do not think this is a concern at this stage though. bad_fetus^Talk 22:26, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - If Weird Gloop's budget was suddenly massively increased (by 10-20 times or more), where do you think that money should be spent? Gaz (talk) 17:12, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

I think the most important thing is to make sure Weird Gloop remains independent and can keep on going. To this end, having enough money in the bank to keep running for the next ~5 years would be my first goal. However, with the massive budget increase you are talking about, we would end up with enough saved in a matter of months.

My next goal would be to bring our technical infrastructure up to a level of excellence. I do not necessarily know what this would involve, but I imagine there are various things to improve from a technical standpoint. This would ultimately need input from the more technically informed users.

The next option would be to further explore the possibility of expanding Weird Gloop to other communities if there is still an interest in this. With a 10-20 times budget increase, assuming we are currently running debt free, this should easily be affordable. Whether we necessarily want to expand would need serious discussion after some initial pros/cons research.

We could also always use the money to host events; both in real life and online. Depending on the scope of it, the former might prove cost-prohibitive even with a budget though. Would need to gauge community interest and find viable options based around that.

Last, if we have enough money that we can run independently for a long while and extra money that we are not spending; I think it would be appropriate that the money goes to charities of the community's choosing. bad_fetus^Talk 22:20, 14 December 2018 (UTC)

Questions:

You've said on Discord that you find the lack of participation in these discussions by most editors concerning; why do you think that more people have not got involved? What, if anything, do you think should be done to increase participation?
At the time when the fork was announced on Yew Grove you were one of the only people to raise concerns about forking. There was some fairly heated discussion on Discord where you were insistent that Cook/Gaz should discuss your concerns with you in voice chat as you didn't want them to have chance to rehearse their answers; you suggested that information was being "hidden" and that the only reason for this could be "personal benefits"; and described the process as being a joke and cult-like. You were one of only two people who took an oppose stance on the Leaving Wikia thread. What led you to form such a negative view at that time? If you were were a director how would you handle difficult situations or discussions where you disagreed with other board members or the consensus of the community?
Given that you have not been active as a content editor for some time, what motivates you to be involved in the community aspects of the wiki?
Why do you think it's specifically important that "long-standing and trusted members that are not administrators" should be directors? What fresh views do you think can be provided from these people? Do you believe that there was an issue in how the preparation to fork the wikis was handled by the admins who were involved in this? If so, what would you have done differently? Do you believe there is an issue with admins generally outside of specific situation? IsobelJ (talk) 01:03, 17 December 2018 (UTC)

1. I do, as you said, find it concerning that the level of participation in the elections thus far has been rather low. Given the size of our editor-base; I think we need more people taking an active part in the elections as well as creating ideas towards the governance of the company post-elections. I'm worried that there will be a rift between the decisions of the company and the real needs and wants of the userbase otherwise. To answer your question though: Frankly, I do not think too much can be done besides perhaps remind community members every few days on the Wikis themselves as well as the off-site channels. I have not been doing this myself as I do not think it would be appropriate for the candidates to be the ones asking people to visit this page.

2. First of all, I'd like to clarify that I do not think I disagreed with the consensus. Moving away from Wikia has been something all of us wanted for over half a decade and it's fantastic that we successfully pulled it off. I disagreed with rushing the action however, and while it has worked out I think there was plenty of room for catastrophic problems (at least as described in the original proposal). I retracted my oppose after clarification on certain points by Cook but I think the entire thread was poorly handled and a lot of the policies I would like the board to focus on revolve around rectifying that. Mainly, I do not think lack of transparency and proper documentation is acceptable and while I do not think anything was intentionally hidden; I maintain that it is irresponsible at best that the community at the core of the Wikis do not get a thorough look at the finer details of things.

With that said, I do not think I acted as civil as I should have on the Discord channel discussions and none of the above excuses that. If elected though, I will hold myself to much higher standards as I will be in a position of responsibility.

3. While I sadly do not have the time to actively edit anymore, I am proud of all the work we have put into the Wikis as a community. Even after I stopped editing as much; I have found time to interact with a lot of users on our off-site channels over the years and have made a lot of friends. I am passionate about the community itself and what we do and as such want to do what I can to improve it.

4. I believe the problem mentioned in #2 was at least partially caused by the notion that admins being in the information loop is good enough. I do not agree with this view as adminship is based on a demonstrated use for the tools by the user and not based on planning the legal, finanical and technical side of things. I also do not think admins necessarily deserve to know more about the details of what they are contributing to than any other user. I understand that the idea was mostly to hide the process from Wikia but I do not think it was handled correctly post-thread creation either. As mentioned above though, I would like to change this situation for any future decisions the board makes.

I'm sorry for rambling on but I hope this answers your questions and thank you for bringing them up. bad_fetus^Talk 12:44, 17 December 2018 (UTC)

IsobelJ

IsobelJ ^{Talk • Contribs • Meta contribs}

Statement	I’m Isobel, an editor from the RuneScape wiki. I would like to be a director so I can put my knowledge of the wiki’s community to good use; ensuring that the company acts in the best interests of the editors that contribute to the wiki and that we act on a consensus based model as much as possible.
Wiki work	I have been editing for over 5 years, and have been an administrator for the last 3. My work on the wiki is largely project focused; I’ve worked on things such as the upcoming updates and scan clues page, as well as revamping some skill training guides and working a lot on images. I’ve also done my best to help with the community side of things; contributing to discussions, collating project ideas, keeping an overview of what people are working and on issues the community is having. One of the most important things I think I’ve done is try to encourage new editors; developing editing guides and nominating helpful newbies (and returning oldies) for the Wikian title.
Other work	In real life I am but a simple woman of no technical background. I work in an easy admin job in the UK, I’m 26 and I’m getting married in April. I like baking, playing darts (badly) and of course I am an avid RuneScape player (who likes to blame her lack of progress on the distraction of helping to maintain the wiki). Going to Jagex last year for our early stage fork discussions was the first experience I’ve had of anything business-like. It was an opportunity I am so grateful to have had, and I’m immensely proud of what the wikis have achieved.

Additional questions from the community

Default questions

Why do you think you would be a good candidate for the Weird Gloop board?

As I mentioned I have been continually active on the RuneScape wiki for several years, and feel that I know the community of the wiki well. As an admin I’ve become used to establishing consensus by evaluating the strengths and arguments made in a thread. I frequently participate in discussions, and hope that I have shown that I think carefully before forming my opinion. At times I have done things which have been difficult or unpopular, because I have believed that to be what’s best for the community. IsobelJ (talk) 08:13, 11 December 2018 (UTC)

Is there any connection between your employment (or other financial interest) and the position on the board? If so, please describe how you can ensure this does not interfere.

No connections. IsobelJ (talk) 08:13, 11 December 2018 (UTC)

I think the board should be focusing on:

Ensuring that there is good communication between the board and the Weird Gloop wiki editors. In the short term I think this should be to have public discussions about immediate meta issues that were mentioned in our talks with Jagex. The current thread about forking other Fandom wikis was one of these; we also discussed integration in-game and linking wiki and RuneScape accounts. In the long term I think we need to establish a system where editors can use the board as a means to implement meta-level changes to the Weird Gloop wikis. Use of the meta wiki to propose these changes formally, as well as informal suggestions to board members, should be encouraged. The board members should act as a go-between between editors and Jagex, when Jagex’s support is needed or would be helpful for meta projects. Transparency of board discussions through reports/meeting notes would be ideal for everything non-confidential.

From the point of view of ensuring the Weird Gloop wikis’ success I think it is important that we ensure our wikis are the best sources of RuneScape information available. Coverage of new updates, like the Mining and Smithing rework, and impactful projects, such as creating dark mode and the potential of having historical information on pages, will grow our readership and ensure that we become the dominant help source once again. As always I want to encourage more people to edit actively and I am interested in what can be done to achieve this now that we have Jagex’s support. IsobelJ (talk) 08:13, 11 December 2018 (UTC)

Community questions

Question - If you found a decision needing to be made on a technical issue, how would you approach it? cqm ^talk 17:27, 9 December 2018 (UTC)

As I don't have technical knowledge myself I look to those who do to explain these issues in a way that I can understand :) With Cook and Gaz already on the board and many candidates having a technical background I am confident that the board will have members who can decipher these issues. Although Kitty and Jayden cannot be board members due to potential conflict of interest, I do think it would be very helpful for them to be involved, in addition to the board, when making decisions about technical issues related to their work on hosting the wikis.

My way of approaching technical issues is to look at what the end result should be like and ask whether it is technically possible to do that. I think that because I approach things in a different way to many others it can provoke more in-depth discussions of issues. I also feel that it's important for the board to be diverse; not all editors have technical knowledge. To live up to being wikis that anyone can edit it is important that communication about meta issues, such as reports, are presented in such a way that anyone can understand them. As I am a technical noob myself I would make sure that this is kept in mind. IsobelJ (talk) 08:48, 11 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - In the distant future, would you like Weird Gloop to explore hosting more than just RuneScape related wikis? What would be your concerns about this, if any? Template:Signatures/JaydenKieran 22:03, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

It's important not to underestimate the impact of the support we had from Jagex in communicating with readers that we forked. We/Jagex would not be able to provide this kind of support to wikis that are not for Jagex products. The RuneScape wikis have the advantage of being about games that are updated regularly. In the long-term this is going to be critical for our success; as we can provide better coverage of new updates compared to Fandom's wikis and convert over readers. Wikis for other subjects, e.g. other games that are one off releases, would not have this and would be more or less complete. I can see it being very difficult to convince users to leave a wiki that they are used to using when the new one does not really provide any benefits for readers.

I would be concerned about the implications of forking other wikis. If we were to fork many other wikis would this be a financial burden? Would it take up time that our sysadmins could put to better use improving how we host our wikis etc? Would other wikis have active enough communities to sustain them, or would they need editors from other Weird Gloop wikis to help them? Would those communities be on board with our approaches (e.g. consensus, UTP, not having many features that Fandom's wikis have)?

I do think that we should provide advice about experiences of forking to other wikis who are interested in forking. However, my personal opinion is that actually hosting wikis that are unrelated to Jagex games would be undesirable. The goal of forking for me was never to become the next Fandom, but to make the RuneScape wikis better. IsobelJ (talk) 08:48, 11 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - If Weird Gloop's budget was suddenly massively increased (by 10-20 times or more), where do you think that money should be spent? Gaz (talk) 17:12, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

We could buy out ad space on Fandom’s RuneScape and OSRS wikis and use it to redirect people to ours. /s

So while that started as a non-serious thought, if we were in a position to offer up large amounts of money maybe we could come to an agreement with Fandom to take down the old wikis. I’m not sure even a 20 times increase on our budget would be enough for this though. Perhaps we could instead investigate a legal way to force a take down, if that even exists.

For something that’s actually a possibility; maybe look to finance incentives for editing actively and offer bonds or something as a reward. We could use this to focus work on a project chosen by the community by rewarding edits that help towards that goal. I understand that there would be a lot of considerations other than simply financing a scheme like this though.

More straight forward things would be having more money available to fund clan and ET events. Events like our wiki launch party I think really helped raise awareness of us moving. Funding of real life events like editors attending RuneFests and Wikifests would be cool. Might sound like a waste of money, but this would help reinforce that sense of community that contributes to making people stick around and keep helping the wikis. I am sure there are ways that our sysadmins could make use of more funds if there was a larger budget. For the perspective of someone using the wiki there are still times when the wiki goes down or loads a bit slowly, and there are some minor gripes with tech issues still outstanding (thumbnails anyone?). Perhaps if we had more money to throw at things we could upgrade some of the technical things that do break occasionally and cause the server issues. We could maybe also look at having more sysadmins to help with the workloads involved in getting technical things running as best they possibly could; or consulting external people on issues if there’s anything our current sysadmins would like some help with. IsobelJ (talk) 21:55, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - What is your opinion on the documentation of discussions and decisions of the board; as well as documentation of any files they deal with? What do you think about the accessibility of any documentation if you think they should exist? bad_fetus^Talk 15:51, 16 December 2018 (UTC)

As I've said in my previous answers, I think that there should be publicly available records of the non-confidential discussions had by the board and outcomes of these. I think that there should be ways for all editors to contribute items which need the board's input to an agenda prior to a meeting being held. IsobelJ (talk) 00:19, 17 December 2018 (UTC)

Merds

Merds ^{Talk • Contribs • Meta contribs}

Candidate details	Personal: Name: Diogo Castro Age: 19 Location: Portugal Languages: PT-PT, PT-BR, EN, ES (kinda), FR (barely), GER (lmao I wish) Other: Playing since: 2008 Active on wiki since: August 2018 Active wikis: RSW, have attempted PT-BR Wiki but it prover hard as I don't play on that version of the game, however let me know if I can prove useful there in any way :)
Statement	It honestly fills me with joy to help in any way possible, especially when it plays such a big part in the community. I'd love to help with not letting Wiki become Wikia, to keep it within the liking of the vast majority of the players. I'm trying to get new experiences and do more for the wiki (recently made the Christmas logo) and thought this would be a good opportunity since I'd be helping even more in a game I absolutely love and has brought so many nice things to my life. Isobel told me she believed I would be a good candidate for this due to my activity and interest in the community. Also, I see I'm one of a small number of people on the wiki that does pvm so that's a part of the community that I can talk/give an opinion on if anything pops up about it, who knows.
Wiki work	I started seriously editing on August 2018, I felt like I was needing something else from this game and wiki ended up being the solution. Since then I've been editing every day on relevant articles: Dragonkin Laboratory, Player-owned farms (made the big #Animals table by myself, which gave me a big insight on how wikitables worked), Updated RuneFest2018 page with the information acquired from the stream in real time, from Upcoming Updates to Golden gnome awards, currently working with images the most but I'm always here to help out every Monday when new updates come out. At the time of this nomination, I have 4,420 edits (2,111 Main; 1,654 Files). I started from scratch, knowing nothing about the subject of editing and quickly learned a LOT, Kelsey helped me in this journey and I owe him a lot. I'm always up to help with anything I'm capable of, and If I don't know what I'm doing, explain it to me and I'll surely get a hang of it fast. I've also made big efforts in making the community move to Wiki from Wikia and always make sure people get the message whenever I see Wikia links.
Other work	As far as volunteering and work experience, I've had rough years and was never really able to try anything asides from community work cleaning public spaces, mainly beaches (< Lives on an island), which are known efforts we make here every year. Additionaly, I'm on the 2nd year of Design, it may prove useful in the future, for the wiki, or not.

Additional questions from the community

Default questions

Why do you think you would be a good candidate for the Weird Gloop board?

First of all, I have a sweet spot for this game and for the community. As stated above, it brought me many things in life, therefore I hope to help it in the best way I can. Second of all, I'm portuguese, It may be useful in helping the PT-BR wiki eventually. I have no previous experience in board lidership, but in Portugal we do try to cultivate this mindset that is ready for it and is eager to improve. Meeeeerds ^msg 12:53, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

Is there any connection between your employment (or other financial interest) and the position on the board? If so, please describe how you can ensure this does not interfere.

Sadly I'm unemployed but still studying so there is no connection. Meeeeerds ^msg 12:53, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

I think the board should be focusing on:

I think we should keep the wiki running according to the player's interests as much as possible. I believe this was the whole point of this election, to find people who can help in making sure the decisions are made in the right direction, with the players and users in mind, after all the wiki's success came with how useful it proved and how widely it was and is used. Meeeeerds ^msg 12:53, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

Maybe it'd be a good idea to have a wiki integration in-game that allows players to search quickly on the go without having to open the browser, some people have issues with having too many things opened at the same time, plus, people wouldn't be searching the old wiki if they had access to the new one from inside the game. It's something that could be thought upon. Meeeeerds ^msg 12:46, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Community questions

Question - How would you try to stay up to date with players' interests? Would you go about that by utilising polls, or through interacting with them personally? Kate ^msg 16:10, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

A: Well, when it comes to a big community, polls are the ideal, maybe we can have our own polls next to Jagex's in-game voting system. Other than that, I talk daily with different groups of players (skillers/pvmrs (roughly 100-200 people)) through discord/game and I can ask more specific questions and for needs, if there are ever things we must do where these groups can provide some specific insights. Meeeeerds ^msg 17:57, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - What long term issues do you think the wikis will face during your time as a director? cqm ^talk 17:27, 9 December 2018 (UTC)

A: It's hard to predict what issues are gonna come to life during the next year, hopefuly we can take care of the ones we have atm. I haven't yet been part of something this big but we should most likely discuss what's the best plan of action depending on the situation on the eventuality of it appearing. Meeeeerds ^msg 21:18, 9 December 2018 (UTC)

Q: Could you elaborate on the "ones we have atm"? cqm ^talk 21:31, 9 December 2018 (UTC)

A: The admins would answer this question better than I can atm, as you can expect. I'm not 100% informed on what's failing because most of it goes behind the scenes and the "coders" usually try and take care of them without raising any alerts unless it's alarming. One of them would be thumbnails and images not updating without getting forced (sometimes not even forced) (recently happened to logo and background). Not that this is a relevant issue but it bothers me specially as I work with images the most. Meeeeerds ^msg 01:31, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

C: This is a technical issue that we’re already aware of (and you know we’re aware of), so I don’t really see this as a point. I think the best thing would be knowing what issues you expect company-wise, not purely from a technical perspective, as your comment here and the one below about MP4 files seems to indicate you’re focused on Template:Signatures/JaydenKieran 19:58, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

A: Well then, as far as the company goes, I don't think I can foresee what's coming in the future and what issues we might have. I've never been in this kind of positions so I can't really tell what are the issues a company may face. Meeeeerds ^msg 21:29, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

C: It's not really an issue, but a thing we’re trying to implement is mp4 files into the pages. Then we can have example boss fights on quests for example, or complicated mechanics that might exist, this is also where the pvm part of the community can come in to help, for example. Meeeeerds ^msg 08:13, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - In the distant future, would you like Weird Gloop to explore hosting more than just RuneScape related wikis? What would be your concerns about this, if any? Template:Signatures/JaydenKieran 22:03, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

A: ~~I don't see why we wouldn't, if it's the wiki's interest to join the Weird Gloop.~~ As long as it has a justifiable player base that's worth hosting and we can manage multiple without taking away from the others, sure. Meeeeerds ^msg 23:36, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - If Weird Gloop's budget was suddenly massively increased (by 10-20 times or more), where do you think that money should be spent? Gaz (talk) 17:12, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

A: I guess the money should be spent in increasing the size of the team working on the company (technitians mainly), maybe get a nicer provider (although the servers seem ok). Then, if we have enough, following Jayden's question, we could maybe help other people join the Weird Gloop into forking. We could also perhaps have a stronger word on having things implemented in game related to the wiki, covered by us if jagex decides not to. Meeeeerds ^msg 19:05, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - If some decision made by the board goes poorly; how would you handle any heated discussions that might arise within the board? In the scenario of this causing a gap between the board and the community; how would you communicate and rectify any issues? bad_fetus^Talk 16:02, 16 December 2018 (UTC)

A: The idea of this board is to prevent these situations from happening, but in the eventuality of them happening I would:

- Figure out what the mistake was

- Assume the error

- Appologize

- Try to amend the situation to the best of our capabilities

Meeeeerds ^msg 22:58, 17 December 2018 (UTC)

Ryan PM

Ryan PM ^{Talk • Contribs • Meta contribs}

Statement	My name is Ryan and I am 27 years old. I have been working in information technology since 2010. My first impression with the RuneScape Wiki was in 2008. I have actively contributed both on-site and in-game over the last decade. I am looking for the support of the community to extend myself beyond my existing capacity with this nomination to be on the board of directors for the RuneScape Wiki. The purpose is to assist in the betterment of the wikis, editors and readers alike, from implementation of consensus, structural improvements where required and keeping interaction with the community.
Wiki work	I have been updating and adapting content from the game, its’ forums and social media for the RuneScape Wiki throughout the years. I have previously helped with the, now defunct, program that Jagex utilized for fansites to tease updates as well as giving minor support with the Adventurer’s Log viewer when it worked to view upcoming content prior to us utilizing the cache. Most of my work over the past ten years was uploading of imagery from the game to better enhance existing and new articles. In 2012 I assisted with getting the Wiki prepared for the Evolution of Combat. Since then I have helped with styling and, formerly, JavaScript earlier on before it became more standardized between 2015 and today. My current endeavor has been with getting our Mining and Smithing articles to an acceptable standard starting with the Masterwork equipment and the corresponding files. On the administrative side, it would be making the site more user friendly on the Minerva (mobile) skin and while that work isn't finished, it is has greatly improved usability of the mobile version of the site.
Other work	I have worked with students, instructors and other faculty members during my time at Job Corps in Oklahoma. I was part of their Information Management (IT) Department for my curriculum at the time while attending college. I would manage inventory, help students and interact with faculty members with their specific issues and deployments of applications, including hardware, on an individual basis. I assisted in the improvements to the in-house ticketing system that allowed them to track issues from faculty. It was a small scale MySQL database and web interface on their local network as fewer than 30 people utilized it. I graduated from Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor’s in Information Technologies with option in Network Infrastructure. It remains the foundation for everything I have done thus far and what I see for myself going forward. Most of my actual work hasn’t revolved around networking, just the implementation, deployment and resolving of software and hardware issues client side. Over the last few years I’ve been employed as a repair technician doing a lot of the same things I performed at Job Corps. I find this work to be enjoyable and give guidance to leadership on how to proceed with resolutions.

Additional questions from the community

Default questions

Why do you think you would be a good candidate for the Weird Gloop board?

I have no prior experience in a direct leadership role. I assisted where requested, provided feedback to improve existing routines, repair methodologies and various problems that others in the same field and even same complex have difficulties resolving. A great candidate would be someone who has served on a board in the past. As someone who has yet to do so, I consider myself a good candidate in the aspect of room to grow, having taken on feedback and executing decisions where applicable in my workloads for the betterment of all parties. - Ryan PM 05:45, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

Is there any connection between your employment (or other financial interest) and the position on the board? If so, please describe how you can ensure this does not interfere.

There is no connection between my employment and a position on the board. - Ryan PM 05:45, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

I think the board should be focusing on:

Assist all projects by Weird Gloop Ltd. to be more user friendly for readability and editing on mobile platforms with the Minerva skin. Old School RuneScape Mobile has been available for iOS and Android since the end of October 2018 and it would be in the interest of the board to enhance both the Old School RuneScape and RuneScape Wiki projects. - Ryan PM 05:45, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

Community questions

Question - As a serving admin, do you think there may be instances where there is a conflict between your role as a director and your role as an admin? What would you do if such a situation arose? cqm ^talk 17:27, 9 December 2018 (UTC)

There is always a possibility where a director who is also an administrator or bureaucrat on any of the current projects could have a conflict of interest as a sitting board member. Should such an occurrence take place, I would not interfere with existing operations as an administrator and allow other capable editors to perform the task or tasks that would be needing done as intended. As a board member, an individual would be this first before an administrator, bureaucrat or editor of any wiki here.

The aim, or singular agenda, of what I want the board to do is ultimately up to the individual projects themselves in regards to mobile platforms, I have been doing such work before the announcement of candidate submissions to improve the mobile experience. Continuing mobile work after elections can be seen as a conflict of interest without getting community consensus on individual projects. I rarely close threads, block editors or protect pages as most of what I do as an administrator has always revolved around the MediaWiki namespace from CSS/JS and system messages. - Ryan PM 08:19, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - In the distant future, would you like Weird Gloop to explore hosting more than just RuneScape related wikis? What would be your concerns about this, if any? Template:Signatures/JaydenKieran 22:03, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

I would like to see Weird Gloop Ltd.'s network to revolve around all upcoming intellectual property by Jagex Ltd. Since we are in the process of adding the RuneScape Classic Wiki to the network, to which the game that it is based on is no longer in service, I forsee the possiblity of getting FunOrb on the network as well. At a lesser extent, War of Legends as many of the other venture's by Jagex haven't lasted long enough to develop decent projects including 8Realms and their acquisitions of other properties (Ace of Spades).

In the advent that we provide assistance to other non-Jagex related projects, there could be issues where editors names conflict for edit history or user rights. If a block exists for user "x" on the old installation, will that same person who is "x" here become blocked when transferring all logs and data from the old project? A different concern is what special tools or extensions were in use on the old project? Just as the RuneScape Wiki had a phpBB forum as part of MediaWiki a long time ago, would we allow a function like that to exist on our network? These are issues that make it appear as though having only two System Administrators would not be enough if we start onboarding existing projects.

In the distant future, yes it could work to host other wikis. Any possible issues that will arise from them should be explored and enumerated by the board, upcoming and thereafter, to determine what criteria any forks are to be done to this network or the creation of a new wiki for any to-be-announced developments from Jagex themselves. - Ryan PM 06:04, 11 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - If Weird Gloop's budget was suddenly massively increased (by 10-20 times or more), where do you think that money should be spent? Gaz (talk) 17:12, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

An increased budget would allow the possibility of utilizing better caching services like Fastly (a former Wikia subsidiary) for decreased load times for end-users on the network. Now it might not be an issue for all users depending on how far they are from the existing datacenters, but average page load time could be decreased with better services. We could also use an increased budget to add another person or more to the System Administrators for managing all technical aspects of the network. A different benefit with such a budget might be upgrading server side hardware, even without services like Fastly.

Now on a different take, we could use a larger budget if we were to look at assisting other projects. This all has the assumption that new projects on Weird Gloop Ltd. have some backing from a separate source and not just this company. Overall with a larger budget, we can look at hiring additional System Administrators to assist with such a venture. Finally, we don't necessarily have to spend most of any budget in the year it is destined for. Think of it as a rainy day fund where we would like to keep 10% of the budget aside for the unexpected. I do this in my own banking and budgeting in the advent of loss of house, like in 2017, or vehicular problems since no one knows what might happen the next day. - Ryan PM 18:50, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - Some users expressed worry that certain candidates might be taking the position too seriously. To what extent, if any, do you think a serious attitude from the board might be an issue? Do you expect there to be any backlash from the community for not being more laid-back? bad_fetus^Talk 16:09, 16 December 2018 (UTC)

As this would be the first board, I do not see an issue with this process being taken seriously. The existing board members currently are trying to still set up the bank account to which may require Cook's physical presence in the UK to finalize any documentation. I don't think it should be taken lightly or being laid back during the initial year of this endeavour. I doubt many will notice the board in the overall scope of the wiki's or the community itself. Overall, everyone needs to be as professional at this as much as possible in my eyes. Being silly or laid back isn't one of them. - Ryan PM 03:12, 17 December 2018 (UTC)

Ryfos

Ben Ryfos ^{Talk • Contribs • Meta contribs}

Statement	My name is Benjamin. I am a 27 year old from Pennsylvania, and I have been involved in the RuneScape community for just about 13 years. I have experience managing a RuneScape fansite (RuneSlayer, which has long since died), as well as RuneScape clans (currently Spirits of Arianwyn). My main reason for running is because I am not actively involved in the daily operations of the wiki anymore, and therefore would offer a unique viewpoint among the editors running.
Wiki work	When I was actively editing on the wikis, my contributions were mostly maintenance based. I worked on projects like adding categories to all of the articles. Also, through RuneSlayer and the wiki, I used to host weekly prize giveaways. Most of my edits were in the 2007 to 2008 range, with a slight revive during the 2011 range for the giveaways. Since then however, I have been mostly inactive editing.
Other work	Outside of the wikis, I have participated in the RuneScape community for nearly half of my life. I maintained a RuneScape fansite for several years. While I have not actively been managing websites in the last few years, I understand what it takes to run services like this. For my job, I am the lead pharmacy technician for a Walmart store, which has me supervising a team of about 15 people, and monitoring finances to try and keep budgets.

Additional questions from the community

Default questions

Why do you think you would be a good candidate for the Weird Gloop board? I believe I would make a good choice for the board because I have had experience managing similar smaller projects in the past, as well as managing a team in a professional environment. On top of that experience, the unique view of having previously been an active member of the community, but not currently being active, prevents me from being as emotionally involved in decisions, and will help me to keep my opinions separate from the will of the community and the decisions that benefit the company. Ben Ryfos (talk) 05:25, 9 December 2018 (UTC)
Is there any connection between your employment (or other financial interest) and the position on the board? If so, please describe how you can ensure this does not interfere. I have no conflicts of interest between my employment or financial interests and the board. Ben Ryfos (talk) 05:25, 9 December 2018 (UTC)
I think the board should be focusing on: Obviously, the biggest thing the board should focus on is preventing the environment that Wikia created, and to treat the community as if it has the final say in every major decision possible. In a situation with a self-managing community like this, the only time the board should have to make decisions is in the case of legal or privacy issues. The less the board does, and the more the community does, the better we respect the decisions of the community. Ben Ryfos (talk) 05:25, 9 December 2018 (UTC)

Community questions

Question - In the distant future, would you like Weird Gloop to explore hosting more than just RuneScape related wikis? What would be your concerns about this, if any? Template:Signatures/JaydenKieran 22:03, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

I'm probably overthinking this question, and I would love to see Weird Gloop expand in the future, however, I think that there are a lot of concerns about everything that would need to be discussed and contracted out on a case by case basis in advance of even creating a wiki. I don't believe the method of just creating a wiki from a webform is the proper way to address this, in our case.

My first concern is financing. Instead of just plastering ads all over the new wiki, we should meet with the community and discuss financing goals. We should allow the community to run as independent as they want, as long as they meet their financial obligations to the company. I don't believe we're out here to make everyone millionaire shareholders. We're here to better the communities under the company's banner, and we should focus not on pure profit, but on breaking even and having just enough left over to afford growth. Therefore, if the server and expenses cost Weird Gloop $1/month, and that wiki has advertisements on their pages that brought in $2.50/month, that wiki should be getting at least $1/month into a personal budget to use how they see fit, for prizes, competitions, or their own growth. Weird Gloop should facilitate the work, but the wiki community should be the ones benefiting.

My second concern is community independence. Wikis may have a need for a different server configuration, a vps, or even their own server. Wikis might use different software, have different extensions, or whatever else. We should find a way to enable a culture amongst all the wikis that they have that option, with our staff able to help them through it. We want to be there to help, to guide, and to offer support. We do not want to be there to control, or force our will on these communities. These things should all be factored into their financing plan, and should these requirements change at any point, Weird Gloop should have the option of negotiating a new financing plan with those communities.

Basically the big thing is that instead of being a Weird Gloop wiki, the wiki should be their own, supported by Weird Gloop. I want securities put in place to prevent the same thing from happening to any other community that happened to this one. I want anyone and everyone to know that this is a secure place that will never fight against their community's needs and wants. This community came from a place where it's needs weren't being met. We want to make sure that that never has to happen to other communities that trust themselves to us. Ben Ryfos (talk) 05:29, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - If Weird Gloop's budget was suddenly massively increased (by 10-20 times or more), where do you think that money should be spent? Gaz (talk) 17:12, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Well, that depends on how well finances are right now. The big thing being, Weird Gloop should have enough to fund at least a year out in the bank. After that, a dedicated public relations person would be a good choice of hire -- someone who could work social media, seo, stuff like that full time. I don't have full details on how well the existing paid server admins are doing, or the status of servers, but those needs should be looked after as well. After that, I feel the only fair way should be to distribute the funds to the wikis communities to use as they see fit. Only basic required expenses should be covered without community consensus. Ben Ryfos (talk) 07:09, 14 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - Do you think that your inactivity on the wikis will limit how effective you can be as a director? cqm ^talk 12:13, 16 December 2018 (UTC)

Honestly, I don't feel that is necessarily a bad thing. Keep in mind my inactivity is mostly just not visible participation. I still use the wiki as a general player, I'm on the discord, and I still keep up with some of the community stuff - after all, I did know about the elections. Maybe someone to represent the part of the community who reads and doesn't participate at an active editor or admin level is exactly what the board needs - someone to represent the silent majority who just want to read the wiki and find information, without being concerned with how it works, just that it's there. Ben Ryfos (talk) 16:01, 17 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - As you have been inactive on any of the Wikis for a while; do you think you will be active enough to perform your duties as a director if you get elected? Besides potential unexpected events in your life; do you foresee yourself losing interest for any reason? bad_fetus^Talk 16:13, 16 December 2018 (UTC)

I have made sure that I will have enough time for the foreseeable future to handle the commitment. The inactivity started mostly because I was managing another RuneScape fansites, and just never ended because I really had to reason to end it. Besides, even during that time, it's not like I am unreachable ever. I'm in the discord server, and I have my phone with me all the time. Being reachable will not be an issue. Active enough, I feel I can handle the commitment of time. I have reduced my work commitments by almost 10 hours a week recently, and I have all that time available to commit to the board, plus whatever time I would already be on RuneScape anyway. Finally, on the topic of losing interest, I have been slowly gaining interest in RuneScape again. I've been back for just about a year and a half after two years off, and I don't foresee leaving for the same reasons as before. I will confidently say I can handle the term length, and will reevaluate that before committing to additionally elections. Ben Ryfos (talk) 16:01, 17 December 2018 (UTC)

Salix

Salix ^{Talk • Contribs • Meta contribs}

Statement	I am Mateusz known on the wiki as Salix of Prifddinas. I am a 26 years old software engineer who likes to play RuneScape and contribute to its wiki. I am running for a position on the board of directors of Weird Gloop representing the RuneScape Wiki because I care deeply about the Weird Gloop family of wikis and especially the RuneScape Wiki. I'd like to step up and help the wikis become the best wikis they can be by assisting the board with the responsibilities it brings and always act in the best interest of the wikis and its editors.
Wiki work	Back in late 2013 when going for the quest point cape I first began using the wiki. This eventually evolved into helping documenting everything I could about Prifddinas when that was released in late 2014. At the same time, I started discovering and working with templates, especially navboxes. Since then I have tried to contribute weekly with each new update as well as working on larger overhaul projects automating many auto generated lists with the help of DPL, e.g. titles, achievements, and quests. As well as helping in setting up the individual pages for titles and achievements. In late 2015, after being nominated I became an admin and have since used the tools often (although because of abuse filters not a lot of bans) as well as representing the wiki wherever I come. Starting late 2017 until the launch of the fork, I was also involved in the forking process being part of the team that visited Jagex in October 2017, helping with the launch of the forked wikis in Cambridge in October 2018, and contributing to the discussions in between and afterwards. Post launch I advocated to get Visual Editor fixed so it wouldn’t cause so called dirty diffs.
Other work	I always try to help anyone who asks for my help. Sometimes even when they did not ask me directly, but I noticed the question and knew the answer or knew how to help. If I personally do not know the answer, but I know who does, I would either contact the person who does know the answer and/or can help with that question/issue and pass it on or get the person who asked the question to contact the person who can help. Because of this helpfulness, I was promoted to a key position in my current clan (which is not RSW by the way) as well as a previous clan. Edit comment: User was renamed from Salix of Prifddinas to Salix. // Salix // Talk-to Salix // 08:28, 3 December 2021 (UTC)

Additional questions from the community

Default questions

Why do you think you would be a good candidate for the Weird Gloop board?
- I've been a liaison for the wiki and its users for a while now and I'm not planning to stop doing that. If I'm chosen I will continue doing this on the board and advocate for issues that users of the wikis find important. // Salix // Talk-to Salix // 15:49, 10 December 2018 (UTC)
Is there any connection between your employment (or other financial interest) and the position on the board? If so, please describe how you can ensure this does not interfere.
- There is no connection between my employment (or other financial interest) and the position on the board. // Salix // Talk-to Salix // 15:49, 10 December 2018 (UTC)
I think the board should be focusing on:
- Improving the wiki in any way we can. For instance, improving the imperfections on the mobile version, such as wrapping text correctly instead of having a few words next to an image, move the text below or above the image. Another example would be to have the wiki accessible in some form from in-game. // Salix // Talk-to Salix // 15:49, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Community questions

Question - In the distant future, would you like Weird Gloop to explore hosting more than just RuneScape related wikis? What would be your concerns about this, if any? Template:Signatures/JaydenKieran 22:03, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Answer - In my opinion we should first focus on RuneScape related wikis, that said, we could potentially host other wikis too in the future. My concerns would be what others already mentioned:
- Financial stability, costs being covered by that wiki's community and/or developer of that game (if it's a game wiki).
- Technical stability, enough people to support all the wikis on the WG network and potentially hire more people if and when needed.
- Community/popularity, the wiki would need to have an active enough community and be used enough to justify hosting it.
So all in all, I think it's something we can consider. // Salix // Talk-to Salix // 10:11, 11 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - If Weird Gloop's budget was suddenly massively increased (by 10-20 times or more), where do you think that money should be spent? Gaz (talk) 17:12, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Answer - I would suggest the same as Isobel and take down the RS Wikia wikis, but in all seriousness maybe that is something we could consider since SEO still is catching up mostly on older content and pages that were created prior to the fork, for instance rsw:The Needle Skips is still second to Wikia's version on Google. I would also suggest the following:
- Use the money to increase our SEO in other ways.
- Hire more tech peeps to lower the workload on Jayden and Kitty.
- Perhaps use it an incentive to increase the number of editors on both wikis (and in the future on other wikis like RSCW and PT-BR-RSW if they fork to us which is currently pending over in Forum:Forking RSC and pt-br RS3 wikis) and perhaps especially on OSW to support the existing editors there to increase their editorbase.
- Perhaps use it to fund attendance of members of the WG communities at RuneFest and/or wikifests to increase a community sense and get to see the face behind the screennames.
// Salix // Talk-to Salix // 09:15, 13 December 2018 (UTC)
Answer part II - I would also suggest to keep some money aside to ensure the costs of operation for at least 1 year and potentially more. // Salix // Talk-to Salix // 21:44, 16 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - Most of your answers seem to be related to technical issues. What are your views, ambitions and plans about the community side of things? What about community-board interaction? bad_fetus^Talk 16:15, 16 December 2018 (UTC)

Answer - My views are to not become another Wikia/Fandom and listen to the communities of the wikis. My ambition is that Weird Gloop becomes the knowledge base of everything RuneScape and potentially other future Jagex products. My plan is to remain in close contact with the community and listen to their questions and bring those questions to the board if and when needed. // Salix // Talk-to Salix // 21:42, 16 December 2018 (UTC)

ThePsionic

ThePsionic ^{Talk • Contribs • Meta contribs}

Statement	My name is ThePsionic, and I'm a RuneScape Wiki admin, probably most notably for creating the GloopyBot (and previously WikiaLinker) bots for the wiki's Discord server. I may not be the most active admin this wiki has ever seen, but I feel like I have recently been actively engaged in the community again, and I want to help this community out by representing them on the board of directors. I have been with this wiki since 2014 and became an admin in 2015, and I would like to see the wiki continue for much longer than the time I have spent here.
Wiki work	My most significant contributions to the wiki include the creation of WikiaLinker and subsequently GloopyBot, as community tools to easily reach the wiki from Discord, which have since spread far beyond my original plans for both bots - GloopyBot currently also gets used on the official RuneScape Discord server, for example. Additionally, I have played a significant part in creating articles for achievements once the decision was made to create separate articles from them, and I have been a big advocate for adding update histories to pages when they first came up in discussion. Apart from that, the majority of my mainspace edits comes from the usual stuff, such as fixing typos and adding items to drop tables and shop stocks whenever I come across something that's not quite correct.
Other work	I don't have an awful lot of experience when it comes to being in a board of directors - in 2011 I was at the head of the technical team that supported the first Technovium LAN party in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, with an attendance of approximately 200 people (of which you can still find the not very good website we made for it here), which has since grown to an annual event with a steady attendance. I have continued to host LAN parties for friends more recently, but not at the scale that I used to.

Additional questions from the community

Default questions

Why do you think you would be a good candidate for the Weird Gloop board?

The RuneScape family of wikis has been a staple and a beacon of quality for many years, and I want to ensure that it keeps developing as good, if not better, than it did under the wings of Wikia. With the fork we have gotten a great opportunity to go above and beyond, and I want to make sure the highest management shares that mentality. I have some experience with hosting a MediaWiki install as well as programming experience both web and app, and if needed I can share my experience to push the wiki further. InvalidCards (talk) 12:32, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

Is there any connection between your employment (or other financial interest) and the position on the board? If so, please describe how you can ensure this does not interfere.

There is no connection between my current employment and the position on the board. InvalidCards (talk) 12:32, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

I think the board should be focusing on:

Continuing development of useful tools and gadgets in order to increase user friendliness, usability and quality of all of the sites on the Weird Gloop network. Having multiple wikis on the same platform under the same group gives us great opportunity for working together on various fronts, which is a big advantage that should not be overlooked. InvalidCards (talk) 12:32, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

Community questions

Question- Do you have any specific/unique ideas for "...useful tools and gadgets in order to increase user friendliness, usability and quality of all of the sites..."? - ^TylerJarret _(Talketh) 15:32, 9 December 2018 (UTC)

Not at the time of writing, no. There are currently several larger projects that fall under this header ongoing - such as the Doogle Maps project, RuneMetrics drop chances and update histories - which is approximately the size and type of update you should expect. InvalidCards (talk) 17:38, 9 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - In the distant future, would you like Weird Gloop to explore hosting more than just RuneScape related wikis? What would be your concerns about this, if any? Template:Signatures/JaydenKieran 22:03, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

It is definitely a route to consider. In my opinion, at this time the focus should be on other RuneScape-related wikis (such as the discussions surrounding PT-BR and Classic right now), but I am open to accepting other wikis in the future. Funding would be an important part however, and I think it would only be able to succeed with ample support from the creators of the subject the wiki is based on, or some other party with significant enough interest to fund the project. If anything, we should not become like Wikia and serve ads - that defeats the entire purpose of the Weird Gloop network. InvalidCards (talk) 12:13, 11 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - If Weird Gloop's budget was suddenly massively increased (by 10-20 times or more), where do you think that money should be spent? Gaz (talk) 17:12, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Upgrading and expanding the infrastructure used for the wikis, hiring more sysops to alleviate the pressure of our current two, and perhaps more servers in America and Asia/Oceania in order to increase accessibility and reduce lag/delays for people in those regions. InvalidCards (talk)

Question - Could you further elaborate what you mean by making sure the board shares the mentality of going above and beyond? How do you foresee yourself accomplishing this? bad_fetus^Talk 16:28, 16 December 2018 (UTC)

The board should always be striving towards a better and more accessible wiki, be it through employing new web and backend techniques as they are released, improving connections with the games we support on both sides, or anything else technically possible to make the quality of life for anyone using the wiki as pleasant as possible. InvalidCards (talk) 17:26, 17 December 2018 (UTC)

Tyler Jarret

Tyler Jarret ^{Talk • Contribs • Meta contribs}

Statement	Personal Name: Tyler Duncan Age: 25 Location: Upstate New York, U.S.A Languages: en Member since: October 2018 Editorial: Hello, my name is Tyler. I like long walks on the beach, and I’m an Aquarius. I am running because I have a strong passion for community and believe in what Weird Gloop is trying to do in ensuring that we have wikis for the community, by the community. While this is one of the first wiki communities I have been active in, I feel I can bring a unique perspective and different ideas to the table. I am an intensely dedicated person and when I set my mind to a project, I like to see it done. I am dedicated to this community and I wish to help in any way I can.
Wiki work	My work mainly lies on the RuneScape Wiki. At the time of this nomination, I have a little over 1,000 edits. Around 300 edits have been made on the main space, over 280 files have been uploaded, and a little over 340 edits have been made in the beta name space. While a relatively new user (post-fork), I have been active in a few main areas. Most notable with the RuneMetrics project started by Cook, helping with various “trans-ing” of images, retrieving both new item images from the inventory and their detailed versions in-game, and with the creation of dozens of pages for the upcoming mining and smithing rework. As of 27 Nov 2018, I have gained the “Custodians” access level. Recently, I have also created a bot for the RuneScape Wiki, NXTGenBot. This bot, through AWB, has been helping with some of the menial and automatable tasks throughout the wiki. Examples are, adding templates to image pages, adding categories to images and article pages, and automate the conversion of smithable drops to salvage for the upcoming rework. I do have a lot of room to grow when it comes to the inner workings of Lua, Templates, Calculators, and getting more in-depth with AWB.
Other work	I am a developed and dedicated manager with over 6 years of full-service restaurant experience with a multi-billion-dollar company accompanied by 2 years of retail sales experience. I have refined skills in recruiting, hiring, and developing well-qualified staff members in a variety of corporate cultures. With this, I have experience in budgeting, invoicing, and hiring. I have developed hobbies and skills in knowing the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, specializing in After Effects, Premiere, and Photoshop. I am well-versed with both Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel, in fact creating a semi-automatic drop table generator with information from chisel.weirdgloop.org. I have started to learn Swift (slowly) and dabbling in the capabilities of the wiki.

Additional questions from the community

Default questions

Why do you think you would be a good candidate for the Weird Gloop board?

I believe I can bring a wealth of ideas to the board as well as be a good community leader. I like to work with many different types of people and I love hearing the ideas the community has. I believe in being the "one-stop-shop" for RuneScape information. ^TylerJarret _(Talketh) 03:04, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

Is there any connection between your employment (or other financial interest) and the position on the board? If so, please describe how you can ensure this does not interfere.

Currently, I am starting a new job as a payroll processor. The hours run a standard "9-5." Financially, I am stable and I look to take this position out of the enjoyment and love for the community. I don't believe this will have any interference. ^TylerJarret _(Talketh) 03:04, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

I think the board should be focusing on:

Expanding the reach of the Weird Gloop family of wikis, along with improving its core products to produce the best user experience, and be the best community place for RuneScape.

Focusing on outreach towards general community awareness about the Wikis and ensuring that we are the first destination for any and all RuneScape related information.
Exploring options for "IRL" meetups and local hangouts. We are spread across the globe, and including our local players can help spread the word about the Wikis and the work we are doing.
Maintaining our core products in the best possible way, exploring adding .mp4's across the wikis, better music players, along with a possible mobile app.
Working with Jagex on game/mobile app integration for both RS3 and OSRS.
Weekly/Monthly communication/meetings with Jagex on directions they would like to see their community in, along with possible teasers to new content. ^TylerJarret _(Talketh) 03:04, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

Community questions

Question - Could you elaborate on what exactly you refer to by "game/mobile app integration for both RS3 and OSRS"? Kate ^msg 16:00, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

Answer: I believe there should be a mobile app developed for the Wikis. Then, with the release of an official RS3 app, there should be integration between the apps to allow for seamless gameplay and information searching. With the limited screen space that a mobile app presents we would want to ensure that we get the “best bang for our buck” within the app, but also allow for switching the between the two without logging you out from the main game. This would obviously require close work with Jagex to ensure that both products would be able to talk to, and pull information from each other. ^TylerJarret _(Talketh) 02:14, 9 December 2018 (UTC)

Do you foresee any issues with this idea? cqm ^talk 17:27, 9 December 2018 (UTC)

Answer: In terms of issues, I'm not entirely sure on the technical sides of things. So I'd have to refer to the tech peeps. ^TylerJarret _(Talketh) 21:06, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

I'm not sure I follow. Is this a progressive web app? Is this in game integration? -

Scuzzy Meta

01:44, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Answer: I'm not entirely sure what the best implementation would be, again, it would have to be a question to the more technical peeps. ^TylerJarret _(Talketh) 21:06, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

I currently have access to the RS Mobile beta and I am able to switch from the game to a webbrowser without being logged out. Initially it was indeed the case that you would be logged out if you switched away from RSM. Additionally the mobile website of the wikis are very readable although they still can be improved in certain aspects. That's why in my opinion an app isn't really necessary, but if enough people want it then obviously it should be something to be considered as you are not the first to bring up this topic. // Salix // Talk-to Salix // 08:58, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Response: I was unaware of this. In all honesty it's what the community decides. If we choose the route of the mobile website, great, if the app is decided upon, great, as well.^TylerJarret _(Talketh) 21:10, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Tbh we could have a version of that in-game on the pc. That way people wouldn't have to open the wiki on the browser (some people told me they have issues having the RS and the browser opened at the same time due to computer problems) and also they wouldn't be searching on the wrong wiki anymore :) Meeeeerds ^msg 12:44, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - In the distant future, would you like Weird Gloop to explore hosting more than just RuneScape related wikis? What would be your concerns about this, if any? Template:Signatures/JaydenKieran 22:03, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Answer: Distant future? Of course I could see Weird Gloop expanding. My main concern would be ensuring that each community’s directors are made of the current community and that Weird Gloop wouldn’t go the route of Fandom/Wikia. Weird gloop is for the people, by the people, and with expansion comes complexity. ^TylerJarret _(Talketh) 22:11, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - If Weird Gloop's budget was suddenly massively increased (by 10-20 times or more), where do you think that money should be spent? Gaz (talk) 17:12, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Answer: 10-20x? Well, first, roll around the in Gloop we could finally afford. And I agree with Iso in relation to the Fandom ad space, just to be PettyGloop.

In all seriousness, I would aim to allow for more sysadmin staff to work out technical that have been plaguing us since fork (thumbnails issues, cache issues). I would like to see a beefing up of back-end systems just to ensure extra security. I would love to use the money to see if we could get a merch shop open for Weird Gloop. No better way to advertise on the hoodies, tees, and Gloop Slime Balls, also to show the kind of community we have. Then there is the wonderful perk of supporting real life events such as WikiFest and RuneFest attendance. With money comes a lot of decisions though, and I would definitely want some community input on the matters. This, after all, is a community for the community, by the community. United under One Gloop, indivisible, for Glooping and justice, for all. ^TylerJarret _(Talketh) 23:05, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - Given that you are a rather new member of the community, do you think you will be able to understand and cater to the needs and problems of the community? Given this unique position, what issues do you think you are better or worse qualified to handle? bad_fetus^Talk 16:20, 16 December 2018 (UTC)

Answer: Being a new member of the community I think works for me, more than against me. While in some Wiki communities older members of the community could potentially get "stuck in their ways," I feel I have the advantage of "fresh eyes." I see things that people have always just accepted as fact as potential opportunities to improve or change. For example, I saw an opportunity on the OSRSW to improve the DropsLine module. With some playing around I think the admins and I have come to a solution that will be implemented soon.

I also have been a Restaurant Manager, giving me the people skills of working with many different types of people from many different background. While I may not have a direct answer to some things, I am more than willing to learn from those who have had the experience. I think that, while new, I can be an effective mediator, taking a look at both sides and try to get each party to find the common ground we can all agree on. ^TylerJarret _(Talketh) 18:22, 17 December 2018 (UTC)

Old School RuneScape Wiki

There are 4 candidates for 3 positions.

BigDiesel2m

BigDiesel2m ^{Talk • Contribs • Meta contribs}

Statement	* Personal Name: Daniel Brause Age: 22 Location: Virginia, U.S.A Languages: en Member since: May 2017 Editorial: My name is Dan, and I've been a member of the wiki here for a little over a year and half. While I initially just joined to fix a few typos, the reason I have stuck around and become more involved has been this wiki's welcoming and friendly community of editors. I want to help that community continue to thrive and grow, by lending my perspective to the Weird Gloop board as an active OSRS editor.
Wiki work	Most my work on the wikis has been focused on consistency and ease-of-use, rather than major page rewrites or guides. One of the first projects I undertook was to go through every quest's navbox, adding ones that were missing and improving the existing ones to allow for better navigation around the site. Another major project that I recently finished was transferring over hundreds of item and monster pages to a new infobox format, to allow easier editing (and potentially more features) in the future. Though lots of my work has been behind-the-scenes, I also led a major reorganization of the main Wilderness page, and have uploaded a number of new images that were missing or low-quality. Recently, I have been making an effort to better understand the various systems and plugins the wiki uses, such as DPL, Lua, and the Javascript calculator frontends, in order to improve existing tools around the wiki and hopefully add new ones as well (Magic max hit calculator, magic cast exp tables, etc.) The projects I've most enjoyed have been the ones where I have worked with other editors, either with new ones who need some help getting their improvement through, or with established editors who need help on their own big projects.
Other work	I have been contributing to wikis in some capacity for the last ten years, stretching back to a BIONICLE wiki where my biggest contribution was helping to archive the "Articles for Deletion/Creation" pages (many a spirited debate was had over whether "Vacuum" deserved its own page, or should be a subsection of "Air"). Since then, I have made minor contributions to a number of wikis (wikia, gamepedia, etc), though never in any major position of authority. In real life, during my school years I volunteered at, and later worked at my local library with their summer reading program, aimed at encouraging children to read over summer vacation. Though this experience doesn't directly relate to wiki-ing, this passion for sharing what I love with others, whether that's reading books, playing runescape, or contributing to a wiki, is a major reason I have been involved in the site and want to see it grow.

Additional questions from the community

Default questions

Why do you think you would be a good candidate for the Weird Gloop board?

A history of collaborating with other members of the community shows that I work well with others on projects, and that I have the necessary drive to learn new things in order to tackle new challenges. With the challenges that Weird Gloop will face in its first year of existence yet to be determined, I believe that this flexibility and willingness to learn are the most important characteristics that we should look for in our future board members.

Is there any connection between your employment (or other financial interest) and the position on the board? If so, please describe how you can ensure this does not interfere.

There is no current connction or financial conflict of interest with a position on the board, and I don't anticipate any potential interference.

I think the board should be focusing on:

As the parent company of the wikis, I believe Weird Gloop's responsibility is twofold. First, to provide a stable and professional platform for the existing wikis, such that they can continue to serve as the foremost resource for all RuneScape information. Second, to grow the wikis in a positive and productive way, by serving as a professional branch to reach out to other relevant groups and communities to improve the wiki's reach. Thus, the board's focus should be to ensure that the wikis continue to have the infrastructure to grow, as well as to enable professional collaboration with other groups in order to further the wikis' reach.

Community questions

Question - In the distant future, would you like Weird Gloop to explore hosting more than just RuneScape related wikis? What would be your concerns about this, if any? Template:Signatures/JaydenKieran 22:03, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

I think that in the distant future, I would love for Weird Gloop to have the capabilities to host more than just RuneScape wikis. There are plenty of other community-driven wikis that are currently languishing under the banner of wikia/fandom, with few other options for them to be stable elsewhere. However, there are a number of concerns that would need to be addressed before any new community wikis were hosted by Weird Gloop. The first and most important concern is financial stability. With the backing of Jagex, the RuneScape wikis have the ability to serve the community without relying on advertisements or donations to pay for the costs of running the sites. For any new wikis, similar financial stability would be a must, or else we risk the failure of the entire project. In the "distant future", I can imagine Weird Gloop working with these wikis to help secure this funding, either through similar deals with game developers or other methods.

The second concern I would have for new wikis is their level of community engagement. A strong connection to other communities like the RuneScape subreddits has made our fork from wikia a success, but there is still progress to be made (for example, in search engine results) on that front. For other wikis to become a part of Weird Gloop, we would need to ensure a similar community buy-in such that the new wikis are the go-to source for information, rather than a lesser alternative to existing sites. BigDiesel2m (talk) 22:23, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - If Weird Gloop's budget was suddenly massively increased (by 10-20 times or more), where do you think that money should be spent? Gaz (talk) 17:12, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Even with a larger budget, I would prefer to err on the side of caution when it comes to expanding the company, rather than risk growing larger than we can manage (as a relatively young project). As to how we could spend the money, I think the most important thing is that the wikis are prepared for a significant increase in visitors, in part due to better integration of the wikis into the ingame client (third party or otherwise). The increasing numbers of RuneScape players in general (particularly with mobile OSRS having come out and mobile RS3 on the way) will similarly increase the number of visitors to the wiki, especially if our search engine results continue to improve. Whether our preparation for this load takes the form of more server support, more personnel to manage them, or something else entirely, I would generally defer to the knowledge of our current sysadmins when it comes to spending money on technological improvements. On a more fun note, an increased budget could also be used to increase the wiki's presence at events like RuneFest, or even facilitate collaborative events with (for example) other independent wikis. BigDiesel2m (talk) 08:19, 13 December 2018 (UTC)

Riblet15

Riblet15 ^{Talk • Contribs • Meta contribs}

Statement	I am running for the board because I will represent the active editors in the business decisions of Weird Gloop. I began editing the Old School wiki because there has been a gap in the quality of content and editorship between the two wikis, despite the games being equally important among the modern player base. I would like to prevent there from being a similar gap in representation on the board, and will speak for the distinctions we draw between the two sites.
Wiki work	I joined the wiki in 2009 and became active on the old school wiki in mid 2017. Historically I have worked to granularize our content, especially item information. This involved significant work in standardizing our naming conventions, allowing us to be thorough in our coverage. I created MOID to help me and other Old School editors analyze item information. More recently I have been improving the quality of Old School modules, working to reduce the technical debt in the templates we have inherited from the RS3 wiki. I am currently active on the Discord, and aim to help newer editors understand the basics of the more confusing aspects of editing images, modules, dpl, and wikitext.
Other work	I currently work full time as a software engineer, which involves a significant amount of collaboration within a team. This has given me experience in explaining my perspective on issues precisely to work through challenges in a technical way, while still understanding the perspectives of others. This technical background has also made it easier to take the lead on the old school wiki modules to make a larger impact on the experience of the users of our site.

Additional questions from the community

Default questions

Why do you think you would be a good candidate for the Weird Gloop board?

I have a strong understanding of the issues facing Old School and how these differ from the more established history of RS3. I am not afraid to speak out when a motion by Weird Gloop may negatively impact the experience on the Old School wiki. Riblet15 (talk) 09:26, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Is there any connection between your employment (or other financial interest) and the position on the board? If so, please describe how you can ensure this does not interfere.

My employement does not have any connection to Weird Gloop, so there is no financial implication or conflict of interest in this regard. Riblet15 (talk) 09:26, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

I think the board should be focusing on:

The board will first need to define its purpose for existing. The stated responsibilities of the board are broad, and it is not yet clear what actual board conversations should look like. Should board discussions stay strictly related to business matters? Is this the place where the various representatives of the communities can discuss larger cultural issues that may come up? If not, these restrictions should be made clear so that we retain as much transparency to our community as possible. The board members should not be seen to be at a higher status than editors who are not on the board. Riblet15 (talk) 09:26, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Community questions

Question - Do you think there is still a gap between the quality of the two wikis? How do you think it could be minimalised going forward? cqm ^talk 17:27, 9 December 2018 (UTC)

Yes, there is a definite distinction in quality, especially in terms of recognition of policies and editor support.

A lot of technical infrastructure exists on RS3 wiki, such as Semantic MediaWiki integration and extensive cache analysis for items, NPCs, monsters, and maps. Most of this hasn't seen a strong editing force on OSRS, since most of the dedicated OSRS editors prioritize the more important articles on new content. I would ideally like to see editors with technical expertise spend some time on these projects.

The RS3 wiki has extensive editing guides, most of which haven't been ported over to target OSRS specific differences. For example, the image editing guides are extremely thorough, but do not match OSW's images and media policy. Converting these guides to focus on Old School would be an excellent project that could make a big impact for our newer editors.

A common concern is that there seems to be a general negative opinion of the OSRS administration coming from the RS3 side. Historically, there have not been very many editors supporting Old School, so there has never been need for a formal process to elect admins beyond having Spine hand it out at his own discretion. This doesn't sit well with the established community, given the reliance and expectation we have that consensus be determined through community discussion. It is therefore not clear that all OSRS admins have been elected as representatives by the whole community and can discuss the Old School issues appropriately. This follows from the notion that the Admin role holds some status in addition to the toolset, which consensus seems to agree with during the recent discussions at rsw:Forum:Grandfathering old sysops. I would like to see an RFA process be put in place as soon as possible as one step in the bridge to equality between the wikis. Riblet15 (talk) 09:26, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - Do you think your pre-existing relationship with a current director outside of the wikis would hinder your ability to make decisions and put forward opinions that aren't influenced by them? Template:Signatures/JaydenKieran 21:56, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

I don't believe my personal relationship with Gaz will cause any issues with my decisions on the board. Riblet15 (talk) 09:26, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Specifically, do you think that this relationship with Cook may influence your decisions that may further widen the gap between OSRS and RS editors? I'm sure you're aware of the general belief that OSRS editors are underrepresented and have less of a voice overall, and I have concerns that you may be influenced by Cook when we are making decisions. -- Spine^Talk 22:02, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

For full disclosure and context, I first met Cook on the wiki in 2009 and have been living at the same address as him intermittently since 2013. Currently, Cook's focus is the effort to form Weird Gloop, fork the wikis, and manage our collaborations with Jagex. My contributions since 2017 have focused specifically on editing the Old School wiki. Realistically, we discuss Wiki concerns daily. However, my perspective is that of an Old School player and editor, and my opinions are based in what is the most beneficial to the users of the Old School wiki, not in what is most beneficial to Cook or profitable to Weird Gloop. I often use the privilege of real life discussion to voice the concerns I hear from OSW, which is something I do to help figure out ways we can give Old School more of a voice. Riblet15 (talk) 09:26, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - In the distant future, would you like Weird Gloop to explore hosting more than just RuneScape related wikis? What would be your concerns about this, if any? Template:Signatures/JaydenKieran 22:03, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

It's premature to have any serious considerations of forking unrelated wikis. The entire staff and community is based on a shared RuneScape background, so it is our obligation to establish security in our ability to continue hosting ourselves. I would like to see Weird Gloop have a plan in case support from Jagex becomes insufficient to sustain our hosting costs. That said, I don't oppose the idea of hosting other wikis in similar situations, so long as we see financial backing from respective entities. To me, this is very long term. Riblet15 (talk) 09:26, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - If Weird Gloop's budget was suddenly massively increased (by 10-20 times or more), where do you think that money should be spent? Gaz (talk) 17:12, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Spineweilder

Spineweilder ^{Talk • Contribs • Meta contribs}

Statement	I am submitting my nomination for the Old School RuneScape Wiki seat within the Weird Gloop board of directors.
Wiki work	I have been essentially in charge of the Old School RuneScape Wiki for over five years and have been instrumental in the Wiki's success by providing info on new content within the day (depending on the size of the update) and general work and maintenance on the mainspace and files of the site. Because of this, I am knowledgeable in many aspects of the game as well as becoming somewhat well-known within the Old School RuneScape community. As such, it appears that nominating myself for a seat in the Old School group is to be expected of my peers.
Other work

Additional questions from the community

Default questions

Why do you think you would be a good candidate for the Weird Gloop board?

Right as the game began to introduce exclusive content not in RS around September 2013, the Nightmare Zone, OSRS's first exclusive minigame, severely lacked in the coverage expected of a wiki. Two days had passed since its release, and the article itself was as barebones as you can imagine before I started work on it. Because little to no one from RSW has progressed much in OSRS (I have played a bit and have decent mid-tier stats by then), I decided to step in and expand the coverage of the minigame page.

Since me stepping in to lead the wiki, I've been at the forefront of coverage of such content to ensure the players are able to read up on them, having full coverage within the day (or a week depending on the size of content; it took me nearly a month to cover Zeah entirely in Janunary 2016, as I was still severely short-staffed). Five years on, I am continuing to lead a small (but competent) team to cover new content on the wiki, though I continue do the vast majority of the fieldwork in-game since I have maxed skills and such is able to access content other users may not.

With my experience and involvement in both RSW and OSRSW (OSRS especially), I believe I would be a good fit on the board. -- Spine^Talk 21:53, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Is there any connection between your employment (or other financial interest) and the position on the board? If so, please describe how you can ensure this does not interfere.

Being an online shopper at a local grocery store is as far a connection as it can probably be concerning conflicts of interest. -- Spine^Talk 21:53, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

I think the board should be focusing on:

Ever since the OSRS wiki began to rise in visitors, we've often been compared to the Jmods working on OSRS in that we were often both underrepresented and under-staffed. Though this may no longer be true for them, it certainty still is for us, as when we require technical assistance, we frequently ask our comrades from RSW to help us out. That being said, we don't require as much assistance content-wise because it is often covered much more quickly due to multiple factors.

Ideally, the first focus of the board should be to seek a solution to bridge the gap between OSRSW and RSW users and administrators. The general atmosphere I've been told from the admins on OSRS is that they are often not taken seriously, and there's the feeling that they are belittled and treated as the little brother. This has been boiling under the surface for years now, but no one has offered a viable solution as far as I know.

If this is not addressed, the seats for the board in OSRS would likely be underrepresented or have less of a voice than those seeking seats from RSW. -- Spine^Talk 21:53, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Community questions

Question - I feel that your initial responses are no indcative of someone with an active interest in overseeing the health of the wikis. Is this the case? cqm ^talk 17:27, 9 December 2018 (UTC)

Certainly not. The submissions felt too broad and general for me to provide comprehensive answers with; I've answered the default questions in a somewhat more detailed manner. Though, one of the things that I believe should be properly addressed first is the issue constantly swept under the rug, which is the general belief that OSRS editors are underrepresented and have less of a voice overall. -- Spine^Talk 21:53, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Personally, I think you have a point with regards to equal representation. Historically, the admins of OSRSW were a subset of RSW and much of the content was imported over. It seemed like a subproject at the time and even now the developers for the game itself are far fewer (correct me if I'm wrong). The tools developed on RSW were ported to OSRSW and I'm not aware of anything that had the opposite of that process applied. This is not the fault of OSRSW, it's just how things happened.

As you've recognised this as an issue, what do you propose be done to correct it? Is the onus on you as admins of OSRSW or representatives of it on the board, or should there be a wider effort? cqm ^talk 22:19, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

If I had a solution for such an issue that's been consistently swept under the carpet for the past few years or so, I would have already brought one forward. Unfortunately, I don't; such an issue requires a much broader discussion on both wiki' s part. -- Spine^Talk 04:40, 13 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - In the distant future, would you like Weird Gloop to explore hosting more than just RuneScape related wikis? What would be your concerns about this, if any? Template:Signatures/JaydenKieran 22:03, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

I don't see us hosting wikis for existing franchises, such as Destiny, Call of Duty or Assassin's Creed, because other sites have that specific franchise covered already and it would be a bit odd to have a competing site with such broad franchises.

If we were to hosting a brand new franchise of games that do not exist yet, I can see ourselves exploring the option, though I would be concerned for the lack of interest from existing editors to aid in its coverage. -- Spine^Talk 22:10, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Support: This is a wonderful idea. Providing an alternative to Fandom is a great way to advertise such a service. The concern for editors is real, perhaps a sort of vetting process? ^TylerJarret _(Talketh) 22:33, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - If Weird Gloop's budget was suddenly massively increased (by 10-20 times or more), where do you think that money should be spent? Gaz (talk) 17:12, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Depending on the amount increased, I'd probably consider some of the following:

Bond giveaways on Twitter or other social media.
Stipends for editors
Getting part-time help for techpeeps
Legal(?) fees to take down old Wikia wikis
Better technical services like servers and stuff

-- Spine^Talk 04:40, 13 December 2018 (UTC)

With regards to 2, how would you choose who receives stipends and how would you ensure that this does not cause a (real or perceived) divide between those who do and do not get paid? Gaz (talk) 22:40, 16 December 2018 (UTC)

iN008

iN008 ^{Talk • Contribs • Meta contribs}

Statement	My name Jonathan (surely that won't get confusing), but most of you know me as iN008. I am nominating myself for the board because the wikis are very important to me, as such I want to ensure we continue to head in a positive direction whilst being completely transparent. I would be a good candidate as I am an exceedingly active admin and I am usually aware of every project that is underway or that's planned on the OSRS Wiki.
Wiki work	Historically I started editing over on the RuneScape Wiki as far back as 2011, however it was Old School that rejuvenated my interest in both the game and wiki. Since my return in 2017 I have made nearly 19,000 edits to the Old School wiki across multiple projects and large amount of maintenance work with no plans on stopping with many projects to come.
Other work	During my hiatus from editing the wikis I was a member of site staff on a retro game board, as such I am familiar with being a liaison between communities and site owners.

Additional questions from the community

Default questions

Why do you think you would be a good candidate for the Weird Gloop board?

As per my earlier statement; I am an exceedingly active admin on the Old School wiki, as such I'm often aware of every project that is in progress or planned, this allows me to communicate to the board the ongoings of the Old School wiki with ease, as well as having a general idea of what editors want to see. iN008^talk 19:03, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

Is there any connection between your employment (or other financial interest) and the position on the board? If so, please describe how you can ensure this does not interfere.

The food industry is as far removed as you can get from the wikis really. iN008^talk 19:03, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

I think the board should be focusing on:

First and foremost I believe the board should prioritise that which benefits the community at large, most importantly transparency should be a key factor for everything the board does or discusses. A balance of catering to editors and readers should be struck, whether this be a focus on editing tools for editors or readability improvements for readers, it is crucial to appease both parties. Beyond this, I see the next logical step to expand the Weird Gloop family should the support exist to do so. iN008^talk 19:03, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

Community questions

Question - You mentioned a hiatus from os wiki in the past. Do you foresee this happening again in the future and thus impeding your ability to serve as a director? cqm ^talk 17:27, 9 December 2018 (UTC)

That hiatus was a direct result of a decline in interest in RuneScape after the evolution of combat update in late 2012 aswell subsequent updates such as squeal. It is not likely for updates as polarising as these to pass for Old School and I am confident that another hiatus is improbable. iN008^talk 05:20, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - In the distant future, would you like Weird Gloop to explore hosting more than just RuneScape related wikis? What would be your concerns about this, if any? Template:Signatures/JaydenKieran 22:03, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

I can't give a straightforward answer for this, at face value it's a simple yes, I'd like to see Weird Gloop expand as long as it is not at the expense of our existing userbase. However, given that this question is geared towards non-Jagex properties it's not quite as simple. It's my understanding, correct me if I'm wrong, that Jagex currently covers our hosting costs, thus it seems par for the course that a proper meta-discussion would have to happen sometime soon before we even consider forking/starting new wikis on Weird Gloop.

If there is no foreseeable problems with forking or starting a new wiki, then I'd support it as long as there is an active community around the topic that would ensure the wiki's quality and longevity. iN008^talk 22:53, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Question - If Weird Gloop's budget was suddenly massively increased (by 10-20 times or more), where do you think that money should be spent? Gaz (talk) 17:12, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Idealistically I believe any surplus within the budget should be directed towards the technical side of Weird Gloop, whether that entails increasing the number of servers or hiring additional sysops to help with maintenance of our network (especially if we do start hosting more wikis), is up for debate.

Beyond this, we could use a small amount to fund incentives for editing, an example I can come up with right now would be that the OSRS Wiki is lacking in sufficient PvP guides, this is a part of the game that our regular editorbase doesn't really handle. This is something we could potentially reach out to the community for, using bonds as an incentive to write new guides. iN008^talk 18:23, 17 December 2018 (UTC)

Additional discussion

While I think that the board need a degree of professionalism, I think that many people here are comparing being a director of this company to being a director of a company who is out to make money, or some giant corporation. The RuneScape Wikis are player-first, and I think it’d be pretty odd for a lot of people if they saw that we had director elections in the first place. I think we should aim not to take ourselves too seriously and understand that we’re currently a help source for RS and OSRS, just like many other sites who do not bother with drawn out election processes or corporate dealings, including fansites such as Tip It and RuneHQ. Our position and our role in the RuneScape community has not changed since we left Wikia, though it appears that things look more serious than they need to be. While I do appreciate the fact that additional directors mean that control of the company is not just beholden to Cook and Gaz, I think that a few of the people who are running for the role in this thread are out of touch with what values a director of Weird Gloop should hold. Players of RuneScape maintain the RS Wiki pages well, and we all have fun - especially with things like our events team and our clan - and this level of fun and “non-seriousness” should be carried even when becoming a Weird Gloop director. You don’t suddenly turn from someone who enjoys playing RuneScape to someone who now thinks they have absolute power over the wikis, or someone who takes themselves too seriously. We all have fun. We all enjoy editing. So let’s make sure we’re not forgetting the reason we contribute to the wikis in the first place. Template:Signatures/JaydenKieran 20:10, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

TBH I have close to no idea what i'm getting myself into besides helping in decision making and what Cook told me on discord. I feel like people are asking questions like we're running for presidency... I know no more than what is told. I understand that people want to test us and whatnot but come on... To be fair I think this election came abruptly, at least for me as I had no idea of this before being pmd about it, after it started... I ran on recommendation and on the faint possibility of being able to contribute on a higher level. Point is, agreeing with Jayden, people are taking this with such seriousness that it doesn't feel good sitting here trying to write some correct phylosophy to answer questions about things I don't have an answer to. Meeeeerds ^msg 21:53, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

In the vein of Merds, I have no idea what this position will bring. I threw my hat in the ring because, like all of these candidates, I wanted to make a difference at a higher level and I believe I can bring some interesting ideas to the table. The questions being asked are definitely in the level of “political vetting” but the members want to know how each candidate is going to react. That’s completely understandable. I agree with Jayden, and Merds, this is all in good fun and we should definitely have fun while working together. We are a community, not admins against users, or OSRSW against RSW, we should all be working to progress the knowledge and the quality of the body work we are creating. ^TylerJarret _(Talketh) 22:19, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

What values do you, Jayden, think should a director of Weird Gloop hold? Most of what I would like to see should happen even without my potential involvement. I take myself very seriously outside of this environment when I am at my occupation, that is if I'm not joking around with co-workers. None of the questions posed, at least to myself, have been indicative of how to conduct themselves in all situations. Most of the questions asked have been thoughtful as to how a business should proceed and not as a playful environment. Regardless of the outcome of elections, I would still edit the wiki, upload pictures and participate as I see where needed in discussions. - Ryan PM 19:11, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

I find it odd that one can become a board member or be nominated, but cannot vote. Shouldn't the requirements to vote be a bare minimum for nomination? Natalie (talk) 17:04, 29 December 2018 (UTC)

Weird Gloop elections/2018/Candidates

RuneScape Wiki

Chessmaster

Additional questions from the community

Default questions

Community questions

IsobelJ

Additional questions from the community

Default questions

Community questions

Merds

Additional questions from the community

Default questions

Community questions

Ryan PM

Additional questions from the community

Default questions

Community questions

Ryfos

Additional questions from the community

Default questions

Community questions

Salix

Additional questions from the community

Default questions

Community questions

ThePsionic

Additional questions from the community

Default questions

Community questions

Tyler Jarret

Additional questions from the community

Default questions

Community questions

Old School RuneScape Wiki

BigDiesel2m

Additional questions from the community

Default questions

Community questions

Riblet15

Additional questions from the community

Default questions

Community questions

Spineweilder

Additional questions from the community

Default questions

Community questions

iN008

Additional questions from the community

Default questions

Community questions

Additional discussion

Navigation menu

Search