The 'Shroom:Issue LXX/Retro Feature
- “And to those of you who have lost faith in The 'Shroom, I say the following: FAIL”
- —Stooben Rooben, Director's Notes, Issue XXIII
| Stooben Rooben | |
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| First article: | FTMV, Issue XI |
| Last article: | Interview/Christmas in the Key of 2012, Issue LXIX |
| Sections Written: | Main/Staff: 44 Fake News: 9 Music & Art: 1 |
| Positions held: | Director, Sub-Director, Fake News Director, Affiliates Manager |
HI, readers! I am… Well, at the moment of writing this I don't even know what I am. But anyway, welcome to this year's first installment of Retro Feature! The writers I had previously covered in this section had been either veteran writers who have been missing for years or "recent" writers who stopped writing in these past years. Can we have both qualities in just one writer? Of course we can! That writer is none other than Stooben Rooben (talk), who left his job as our interviewer last month and is one of the two users to whom I greatly owe my 'Shroom career.
If you were to tell the history of The 'Shroom, you wouldn't be able to do it without mentioning Stooben several times. Lemonface, as he was called at the time, joined the Super Mario Wiki on November 14th, 2007. A month after joining, Stooben signed up to write From the Mushroom Vaults and added a User of the Month section to the Sign-Up page. He was accepted as the FTMV writer and started on Issue XI, but his other section was declined by Wayoshi. Now, you probably remember from when I talked about 3Dejong the lack of writers the Fake News sub-team had, which caused there not be Fake News on Issues X and XI. After those two months, the Fake News sub-team had its largest issue so far, with the help of Stooben, who took over the Obituaries. One issue later, 3Dejong left Stooben in charge of the Fake News; and, after a rather quiet first month, Stoob managed to put the original sub-team back on track. Stoob directed Issues XIII to XVIII, but a hiatus made him leave his job as Fake News Director, leaving the team back in 3Dejong (talk)'s hands, who wouldn't release a single issue, due to him not receiving any sections. 3Dejong called it quits a few days before release, and Stoob was asked to return as Fake News Director in December, but no more Fake News were released that year. Since most of the writers in the team hadn't sent a section in months, Stooben proceeded to clear out most of them.
He would go on to write FTMV for 16 straight issues, making it – at the time – the section to appear on the most issues. After Glowsquid's term ended, the second Director Election took place. This election faced Stooben with then-Sub-Director, Marcelagus (talk); Fun Stuff writer, Tucayo (talk) (that's me!); and some random guy who decided to run. That election would eventually result in the election with the highest voter turnout, as well as the most lop-sided one. Stooben got 47 votes, easily defeating Marcelagus (who got 3 votes), lucas64bat (who got no votes), and myself (I got 5 votes).
Big changes came during Stooben's term. During his first month, he promoted the then-called Fun Section to the Fun Stuff Sub-Team we have now, appointing Z3r0 Tw0 (talk) as the first FS Director. Stooben had many plans for the newsletter, but Real Life stuff forced him to put them briefly on hold, as the first of the Stooben-Tucayo switches happened before Issue XXV. Stooben acted as Sub-Director for the next three issues, even writing Monthly Report for February and April, and then returned to the Director's office. While his second term only lasted one month, Stooben approved the Music & Art sub-team before switching positions with me again. The creation of the Core Staff, as proposed by Stooben, along with our underground board in the forums, greatly simplified planning and discussion. That, I believe, was one of the best contributions to the administrative side of the newsletter. For the rest of the year, Stooben stayed as Sub-Director, greatly helping plan and release our first Special Issue and our surprise Holiday Issue. But, most importantly, Stooben was the main driving force in the biggest overhaul The 'Shroom has ever had. This overhaul greatly helped The 'Shroom get back to the spotlight, and took care of most of the problems aggravating us. Section limits were established, our focus was shifted to Wiki News, entertainment sections were trimmed, higher standards were set, the Editor-in-Chief was reinstated, lateness was no longer tolerated, the Sign-Up page was massively rearranged and activity standards were set for the Core Staff.
- “I will make sure that every writer's work is appreciated. Our writers do things out of the goodness of their heart — it's completely voluntary.”
- —Stooben Rooben, 2009 Director Election
That turned out to be a major turning point for The 'Shroom. Stooben also established the basis for the End-of-Year awards, 'Shroom Awards, the various events, the current Poll system and the application process, all of which are key elements of the newsletter nowadays. After all those changes, the 2009 Director Election came, this time Stooben was facing then-Director, Tucayo; and then Pipe Plaza Director, Super Mario Bros. (talk). With 21 votes, Stooben also won this election, and so he returned to the Director's chair. 2010 was basically a continuation of the changes that started in 2009, making The 'Shroom grow more than ever. During the course of the year, Stooben wrote his first Interview, section he last wrote on our previous issue. For the most part of his term, Stoob held the record for most Main Team sections, always writing high-quality sections, which makes my job of choosing one article to show you much more difficult. 2010 ended, and with that came another election, but Stooben decided not to run again, taking a short break from the newsletter. In May 2012, Stooben returned as the first Affiliates Manager, and held the position for the rest of the term. A month after that, he returned to the Interview section, winning a SOTM Award on his first month. He would write 8 more interviews before resigning from the position.
I could go on for days detailing Stoob's career on the SMW Community, but this section has to end eventually. So, without further ado, here is Stooben's FTMV from Issue XVI, where he gave readers tips on the various RPG's of the Marioverse. Enjoy!
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Tips, Secrets, Hints, and Cheats for Mario's games! Cheats: Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES)
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In Closing
As you can see, most of what you see now was influenced by Stooben Rooben in one way or another. Except for the staff's submarine, I bought that one on my own. So I believe it's perfectly safe to say this: The 'Shroom wouldn't be where it is now without Stoob. Actually, many aspects of the Super Mario Wiki community wouldn't be where they are now if it weren't for him. Thanks, Stooby.
