The 'Shroom:Issue XXXIII/Director Election

Director Election

It's that time of the year again, the Director Election!

What is This?

• This is an election to decide the new director of The 'Shroom. Naturally, the one with the most votes wins the title.
• If a director retires, then an election is held again in the latest issue of The 'Shroom.
• An election takes place every December Issue regardless whether an election has already been held that year.
• The current director may run in elections if they wish.
• This election will start December 20nd.
• In the January issue (16.00, January 7th), the winner will be announced, and they will have at most a week to announce their Core Staff in the comments section at the bottom of the page, as well as their calendar.
• There will be a debate between the candidates, please also state when you can participate in the debate in order to get this to work.
• You must submit your campaign at least a week ({{{2}}}) before the release of the January issue, or else it will be considered invalid and removed by the Core Staff!

It is currently 17:28, November 5^th (EST/EDT)
This election ends {{{3}}} (EST/EDT)

Candidate Rules

• Anyone may run for director during any time of the election (except in Overtime), but they must have a forum account.
• A user may only run for themselves, another user cannot nominate them.
• All candidates must say what changes will they make. They can also campaign to promote voting for them.
  • Campaigns must use acceptable grammar (judgment is given to the Core Staff).
  • Campaigns must be original. Nobody is allowed to steal another candidate's ideas. However, if campaigns, for the most part, differ from each other or have key elements to which the candidates disagree on, then sharing a few ideas here and there is allowed.
  • No joke campaigns are allowed to be ran.
  • No bribing voters is allowed.
• Candidates can also hold debates among them in the comments section at the bottom of the page.
• This is what a voting section should look like:

===Candidate===
What will you do, etc.
 #'''X'''
 #'''X'''
 #'''X'''

So as you can see, that candidate has three votes.

Voter Rules

• Voters may vote with their username, no signatures allowed, or they opt to list themselves as X ('''X''') in order for their vote to not be immediately identifiable– note that people may see who voted in such a manner in the page editing history.
• Anonymous editors (who do not sign in to edit) are not allowed to cast votes. If you have an account and are simply logged out, please sign in to your account. If you want to vote and you do not have an account, simply create one, sign in, and vote!
• Voters may only cast one vote.
• Voters may change their vote at any time while the election is in progress.

Ties

• In the case of a tie, the Core Staff will establish a runoff election for another week between the tying candidates. Ties beyond that will be handled if they come up by a process decided by the Core Staff.

Duties of the Director

This is what you must do if you win, so read carefully.

• The director must accept or decline all new writers' ideas for sections they want to write.
• The director assigns a section to users who want to write, but don't know what to write.
• The director gives out a warning to users who have not yet sent in their sections one week before The 'Shroom is due.
• The director puts The 'Shroom together, and edits the front page, the single page, the 'Shroombox template, and the Shroom Issue template.
• The director writes the Director's Notes section, which comments about the month's issue.
• The director includes the due date of the next 'Shroom in the Director's Notes, and in the Shroomwarning template.
• The director gets to choose their Core Staff, this is: Fake News, Fun Stuff, Music & Art, Pipe Plaza, Critic Corner directors and Sub-Director.
• The director must send applications to users who want to become writers.

Looks easy? It is not. So get ready.

Now get out there and go!

Candidates

Tucayo

Qualifications

Well, I like short and straight points, so let's skip the "I have experience" thing, however, I will elaborate this a little bit. If I get chosen to be director, I promise to keep inviting guest writers, to get The 'Shroom always on time, to mantain just the writers who meet our quality standards, and I also promise contests and those things for users to participate in. I think I did an overall good job this year, specially with the Special Issue, so I think I am fit to be re-elected. (Well, I was actually never elected at first...... anyway....). Ok, I wasnt planning to say this, but if I win, I will make everything possible to include a podcast in The 'Shroom, yes, a podcast, with actual users recording it. I have seen other podcasts made in other online communites I am in, so I guess this should work. My motto: "Like The 'Shroom the way it is? Vote for me". Of course that doesn't mean it will stay the same, it will get better. I joined the wiki because of The 'Shroom. The 'Shroom is what keeps me here. I have a dream. And I actually had a really weird one last night, but anyways. Vote for me if you feel I am appropiate for the job. Summarized? Here. What? Wrong campaign? oh sh-- True. Anyways, vote, please :).
Ok, I was told to improve this so people would vote, so here is my experience:

• I joined The 'Shroom June '08, and from then on I have written from 3 to 5 sections per issue, and I have never been even a day late. Under my directorship, The 'Shroom has always been released in the day it is supposed to.
• I am good working under pressure. I had to direct one issue fully on my own, as I was told like 4 days before the issue that Stooby wouldn't be able to direct it.
• I have sometimes done the work of the Fun Stuff director.
• I am a "kinda-veteran" user, having been here for 2 years.
• I am a patroller of the Super Mario Wiki.
• I am a regular user of chat, so I can be found there to discuss 'Shroom matters.

Votes

1. Paper Pikachu
2. Stooben Rooben
3. Paula
4. Count b

Super Mario Bros.

Qualifications

Hello. I am SMB. Not much to say about me. Well, here are my qualifications:

• Wiki Administrative experience:
  • I am a Patroller of the MarioWiki.
  • I am a Sysop of Animal Crossing Wiki.
  • I am a Sysop of the Jorge Wiki.
  • Sysop of Sports Wiki...

As you can see, I have been trusted on a few affiliate sites with administrative power, so I know wiki syntax and how to edit well, and can manage the wiki-aspect of The 'Shroom well.

• Forum Administrative experience:
  • I am a Global Moderator of the Userpedia forum.
  • I was a Global Moderator of the Link Jorge (Jorge Wiki) forum until it was shut down and revamped. I have not bothered to get my powers back since.
  • I administrate the Sports Wiki forum and my own forum.

As you can see, I have experience on administrating and moderating on other forums, so I know how to moderate The 'Shroom's forum child board if elected as director.

• Chatroom Experience:
  • I am a #mwshroom operator already.
  • I am an operator of #mwikitalk (the on-topic channel).
  • I was once a #userpedia operator, but was demoted due to resignation.
  • I have experience enforcing rules in several user-chatrooms where I was entrusted with power.
  • I know how to manage a chatroom and how to own one.

That said, I have experience in all three places that a director will need experience in.

• Directing experience:
  • I used to direct the Music & Artwork Team.
  • I went on to direct the Pipe Plaza after I proposed it become a part of The 'Shroom.
  • I am currently the Director of The Disconnected (the official Userpedia magazine).

What I Plan On Doing

What I plan to do?

• I want to make The 'Shroom more dynamic.
  • This as in letting users have more say in what goes on, allowing more competitions, discussions, polls, etc.
  • This also includes awarding users for their hard efforts (for those good and hard-working writers). Perhaps giving them a week or two of special operator status on #mwshroom, creating special userboxes of recognition to add to their page, a special mention in the Director's Notes, a special commentary they can write (similar to the Director's Notes), and other goodies.
  • This also extends into allowing competitions (perhaps a logo design competition or a design layout competiton, things like that).
• I will try to manage quality more than on the amount of sections or length of sections. Having quality is key to running a good newspaper.
  • This includes having more wiki-related and Mario-related sections instead of off-topic content. All of that other stuff, such as sections that involve users, can go to another wiki that needs it (like Userpedia).
  • I will require writers to be interviewed before joining our writing staff to control the quality of the paper.
  • I will not lower our standards to fit any user's liking. I understand that we have younger users who don't know a lot about proper usage of grammar, as we also have users that don't speak English as a first language. I will do my best to work with them and help them with their sections if there is a need to do so.
  • I know we all have different styles of writing, and that is perfectly fine. What I mean is that we need writers who have grammatical knowledge and are creative in their section. I do not want boring sections that will drive users to sleep when they are reading, and I don't want "teribible useage off gramer" on every line of text.
• Core Staff policies:
  • If elected as director, I will try to give my sub-director more power so that they can aid me on my quest to improve The 'Shroom. I will not be biased in choosing a sub– I will pick who I feel is correct for the job, not by who gets second in the Director's election or who is my friend. I will choose someone just as dedicated to improving the quality of The 'Shroom as I am.
  • I will increase the standards that are needed to become an Editor-in-Chief. If elected, I might allow one or two to join– one for the main sections and one for the sub-sections. I don't want to tire a user to go through and continously have to check for grammar mistakes and coding problems to the point of them possibly not doing as well of a job as they can.
  • As for the Core Staff of the sub-sections (Fake News, Fun Stuff, Music & Artwork, and Pipe Plaza), I will make sure that they put in as much work as the rest of us. I will be sure to monitor their activity and remove any unfit for the job. I won't be a tyrant about it, I guarentee you this.
  • I will do my best to never have a section missing– I will have the directors of the sub-teams and the Director and Sub-director create grammatically-correct and quality back-up sections in the case that one or more of their writers is fired, quits, or is late.
• Rules
  • I will try to make the rules as fair as they can get. Yet again, I will be open to any suggestions or comments regarding the addition and subtraction of our rules, and will do my best to enforce them. I will not be a pushover, though, and will stick to my guns if I know that a suggestion or comment is detrimental to the quality, upkeep, or handling of The 'Shroom.
• Changes
  • As noted above, I will try to make The 'Shroom more friendly towards users while maintaining a high quality and official presentation. We want to look good and appeal to as many audiences as we can.
  • I will try to change up the appearance of The 'Shroom every month or two. this includes the layout, the background, the templates we send out, the logo, everything. Having tradition is good, but keeping something for too long is a whole other ballpark.
  • I will try to make the chatroom more friendly towards users coming in and having casual conversations without it breaking into havoc. I will have my Core Staff as operators of levels:
    • Director: 200
    • Sub-director: 190
    • Editor(s)-in-Chief: 150
    • Sub-section directors: 120
    • Back-ups/dedicated writers: 100
  • I will also try to have one or two special issues, with parties going on in the chatroom on these releases and a possible ceremony in the forum to celebrate The 'Shroom and cherish its history as well as commemorate our best and most trustworthy writers.

As you can see, I am more than dedicated towards making the 2010-2011 directorship a success and perhaps the best era in The 'Shroom's history. If there are any more questions as to what I will do if elected, please contact me on my user talk page or down in the comments section below.

Votes

1. Reversinator
2. Pie Shroom
3. Duplibumpty
4. Marioguy1

Stooben Rooben

Where do I start?

Why I'm qualified

• I've been a member of The 'Shroom for two years now. I know all the ins and outs of the system, and can easily manage anything that's thrown at me.
• I am a superb and dedicated writer. As such, I will ensure that only the highest quality sections are allowed in the paper; not only to reflect well on the community, but on the wiki.
  • To further that, I will not lower our standards. If someone can not write good enough to be a member of The 'Shroom, then that is their own problem. Not to sound harsh, but I am looking solely for writers that are willing to improve upon the 'Shroom as much as I am.
• Because I have recently retired from Userpedia (and its forums), I will have more time to dedicate to managing The 'Shroom. In other words, you won't need to worry about me switching places with the Sub-Director constantly. I will be able to hold my own just fine.
• I visit #mwshroom (The 'Shroom's official chatroom channel) and the forums on a daily basis, which means I will receive sections shortly after they are sent to me, and I take willing part in the administrative side of The 'Shroom. (There is a board on the forum for the 'Shroom staff only, where many important decisions are made. I will ensure that all voices are heard, and that any approved ideas will be put into place).
• I have had previous directing experience.
  • Furthermore, I am extremely knowledgeable in wiki coding, which will ensure that no errors will be encountered on 'Shroom sub-pages.

What I'll do to improve/change The 'Shroom

• 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. Those of them that happen to be dedicated writers will receive certain appreciative awards for their work. I won't give out an award because someone writes; I'll give out an award because someone writes well and wants The 'Shroom to succeed.
• I plan to introduce interesting features to the paper each month, and each one will be a total surprise. This will make The 'Shroom a little more intriguing, and will introduce a thrill that has been long gone in The 'Shroom.
  • To further that, a section where readers can voice their opinions will be introduced. Everyone's opinions matter to me.
• I will redesign the layout of The 'Shroom, making it not only more aesthetically pleasing, but making it much easier to navigate.
• I will bring more organization to each release of The 'Shroom. The paper will be split into two sections: Wiki News (which will have information from the wiki, such as recent promotions and articles that need help), and Entertainment (which will contain sections like Fun Stuff, Fake News, and the like.)
• I will ensure that only the most responsible members are hired for members of the Core 'Shroom Staff.
• I will make sure that members are interviewed before being officially hired. This will ensure that no poor writers become a part of The 'Shroom.
• Lastly, I will hold events during certain issues of The 'Shroom that will draw more attention to it as a whole, and will make people want to read The 'Shroom. Too long the paper has went without the attention it deserves. It's time to bring that back.

In closing, I will not be a "dictator". I'm not going to seem like an evil person when I direct the paper. I will be friendly, but fair. I'll give advice and help to those who need it as well. I want to bring a better balance to The 'Shroom — which I guarantee I can do. It's time for The 'Shroom to reach a golden era, and that time will arrive in 2010, as long as you elect me as Director.

Votes

1. Tucayo
2. Yoshario
3. Edofenrir
4. X
5. Baby Mario Bloops
6. Vini64
7. Booman
8. MacGyver

Comments

I am sorry my vote is so harsh St00b/Tucky :( But it's just business, it does not challenge you personally; just your campaigns...PLEASE DON'T KILL ME IN MY SLEEP!!!!! Marioguy1 (talk)

Don't be surprised if my vote changes. It's a tough decision. That's why I've removed my vote for the time being. – Ralphfan (talk)

Hey Ralph, who are you voting for? Reversinator (talk)

One vote per user Marioguy1 (talk)

IDK. It'll take a while to choose. – Ralphfan (talk)

As much as I think Super Mario Bros. would be suited for the job, Tucayo, you have experience under your belt and as a staff member I'm happy with how you've directed this year. Paper Pikachu (talk)

Now that's a nomination! Ralphfan: Just because something "aint broke" doesn't mean it can't be improved, Tucayo and St00b have both listed no points in improving the shroom (no offense guys). Tucayo is simply saying he will do what is currently happening and St00b is saying that he has the credentials to do it but doesn't actually say he'll do anything except create a talk page and a table of contents and through the process of elimination, SMB's nom is the only one that stands. Marioguy1 (talk)

SMB greatly details all that he'll do, while Tucayo and Stoob... say some stuff that doesn't neccesarily mean they'll improve the 'Shroom. Reversinator (talk)

Stooby: About the easier to navigate look, I think SMB and you knew I was gonna propose that. WOuld it happen to be the same as The Disconnected new look? Overall, you convinced me. Tucayo (talk)

Actually, I didn't know, lol. I just happened mentioned a lot of the stuff I did in that reform topic on the 'Shroom Staff board on the forum a while ago. But, it wouldn't look like the Disconnected. I have an idea of how it would look, but I'm still working on it. ...That said, if we were to (somehow) get the Tabber extension installed, it could look like the new layout I proposed for The Disconnected. -- Stooben Rooben (talk)

WHAT? I heard the disconnected's name - disconnected has <tabber>, we did that so we wouldn't look like the shroom Marioguy1 (talk)

That's kinda what I mean. Because we don't have the Tabber extension (and because we'll likely never get it) I'm coming up with a new redesign for The 'Shroom. I guess it wasn't very clear. -- Stooben Rooben (talk)

Ok, there are probelms now, BMB removed an anonymus vote, I put it back there, but now it will seem as if it was mine...... Tucayo (talk)

Also, SMB came up with the idea of a debate. It would be public, and take place in #mwshroom (Direct link). users will ask us candidates questions and that. It will be organized and we will have rules. WE just need a time and day. Is Monday 20:30 EDT fine with you? Tucayo (talk)

That time probably won't work for me; I might be able to attend the first half-hour or so, though. Maybe next week,something like (Saturday) the 19th or (Monday the) 21st. – Ralphfan (talk)

SMB: Could you please not include rewards for users that involve things like access to the shroom staff boards or op on another channel? Maybe things like userboxes or a week off work (I have an idea that I will propose to you on chat). I just don't like the idea of non-staff being able to do almost anything they want. Marioguy1 (talk)

Well, I excluded the access to The 'Shroom staff boards, but my opping promise stays. That wouldn't do any harm. Super Mario Bros. (talk)

SMB's idea gives users something good for their efforts in the shroom. Most of the other two's nominations consist of "I will do this to make the newspaper more interesting" but did they ever think of the people writing the newspaper? Those people are working day and night to get their sections in meanwhile they get nothing out of it except a userbox; this is not enough. Let the people who do the work get a reward! Marioguy1 (talk)

Which is exactly what I proposed I will do if elected. Those who work hard should get a more concrete style of appreciation, such as awards. Also, on the subject of getting together for a meeting/debate, I think I'll be available on Wednesday at around 8pm EDT. -- Stooben Rooben (talk)

Yes but SMB's awards are more impressive such as a week of op on chat or something like that. He also has your little awards in his speech. Oh, and if it matters, me and ralph will be there for wednesday. Now we just need SMB and Tucky...Marioguy1 (talk)

Giving a user power in chat because of making a good section is not a good idea. Would you give a user Sysop powers just because they made 100 edits? Besides, I'm already working on an example of just a few of my plans for awards. - Stooben Rooben (talk)

Ug... so hard!General bob-omb (talk)

How is it a bad idea? It will reward users for their efforts making them feel that their jobs are not just work and no play. Marioguy1 (talk)

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