User:MisterPepe/Mission

After seeing some of the mission statements people have come up with as part of the current election, I started wondering about what mine would be if I were asked for one. I'm going to try and come up with one, but this is for no purpose except my own edification - I have no intention or desire to run for a bureaucrat position. TBH, I don't really see a reason why they should need to write one (they have no more say on any policy topic than a normal user - even if this is a meritocracy), as the position really has nothing to do with their personal views. Of course, that is neither here nor there. Short version: I'm writing this because I felt like it, and because it helps me get my thoughts in order.

As I'm not even sure that anyone will read this, I'm going to be as long-winded as I want. Hah.

The Tao of Pepe
With each policy discussion I have been a part of, my view of government on a wiki has shifted to a far more Republican stance than I originally came here with. Of course, I mean that not in the sense of the political party, and instead in the sense of limiting government. I've argued for, against, and sideways on quite a few policies, and I've even penned a couple drafts - but I'm starting to realize how pointless (and quite possibly harmful) this policy proliferation has started to become. If there is no need for a policy, we really shouldn't be making one - and we've got a couple pretty useless ones. I personally wrote the draft bot policy, and it's restricting something that has little or no need to be regulated (I'm probably going to start to argue against it, even though I wrote it). If anything, our policies are far harsher than they have any reason to be.

I've pushed pretty hard for restrictions on user pages. While GWW:USER is a prime example of placing restrictions on something that has very little need to be regulated, I wanted restrictions on the main userpage (I don't care about any subpages) due to my personal view of the function of a user page. My philosophy on userpages (the main page, specifically) is that it is an editing resource - it is a tool here to help us create and maintain the wiki itself. The userpage is a way for other contributers to get to know you quickly, learn about what it is you do on the wiki, and (via your talk page) get in contact with you. While many people seem to think that this is the place to put anything you want, since it's "your" space, I feel that the subpage system is a way of catering to the people who want to put their fanfictions, lists of elite skills, character shots, and other non-wiki things on the wiki. Heck, I wrote a guide that I was proud enough of to upload to a subpage - of course, I see no reason whatsoever why that would ever deserve to go on my main user page.

I think that userpages do need to be regulated, at least to some point - the main problem is figuring out what that point is. There are numerous people who disagree with the current limits. I like the idea of a page length restriction, simply because it makes life easier for people who go looking for information on another contributer. Image size restrictions also make sense if we're worried about people on dial-up connections. The problem with the page length restriction is that it comes directly from my view of a userpage's function - if the general feeling on the wiki is that a userpage is a place for self-expression, then there is no need to restrict this.

I view BCrats and ArbComm as the actual authority on the GWW. Sysops are glorified janitors, and, in my opinion, they are not moderators. They should have no extra power in resolving a conflict than any other user (other than the respect earned of their own merits - sysops are typically chosen because they are skilled, understand what they are doing, and are generally respected in the community), and all actual decisions that need to be made should be relegated to ArbComm. As such, there probably needs to be a set of limitations on the power of a sysop - i.e. the current policy regarding blocking that's been proposed. If a sysop was to be a trusted moderator, there would be no need for such a policy - but I don't see them that way. It's more a matter of a janitor (sysop) needing a mop (access rights) to clean up that puke stain (porn spam) on aisle three (Talk:Main Page/). That being said, I don't want to regulate how many times he can use that mop before he has to go buy a new one - while there needs to be policy, it needs to be reasonably limited as well.

In general, I think the guild pages section has been a successful experiment. We ran into a few bumps along the way (specifically, inconsistencies between the policy and formatting guide, as well as enforcing the formatting guide as policy), but, aside from the massive amounts of cleanup work that's come from it, I think that the guilds section is working out pretty well.

Finally, I am very much in favor of the idea of a wiki. I am aware that I am often wrong about things. I would like to thank the numerous people that have corrected me on things (Dirigible, Gem, and Rezyk come to mind), and I hope that people will continue to tell me when I'm wrong about something =) Thanks, everyone, for making this a site that's both useful and enjoyable - it's been a pretty hard few months, but I'm pretty sure all of our work has been worthwhile. MisterPepe talk 07:56, 9 June 2007 (UTC)