The 'Shroom:Issue LIV/Director's Notes

Director's Notes

Hello everybody, welcome to Special Issue LIV! I have quite a lot to cover this month (some good, some bad), so buckle your seatbelts and come on the ride.

Unfortunately, I must start by announcing that has resigned from his position as Sub-director. When I was running for Director back in December 2010, I chose Twentytwofiftyseven because I felt he was the best person for the job. Prior to being Sub-director, he served as Editor-in-Chief for a year, and was also a dedicated Super Mario Wiki staff member. He has always demonstrated great personality traits and outstanding leadership skills, so I did not even have to second guess choosing him to be Sub-director. Choosing a Sub-director, you must realize, is a very big statement to the community and a big decision: the Sub-director is the individual that will take the Director's place in case anything happens to the Director during the term. Needless to say, the Sub-director is an individual that both the community and the Director have to invest a lot of trust in to: Twentytwofiftyseven has that trust, and with that trust, an immense amount of respect from me and the community. And I know for a fact that I was not mistaken for selecting him as Sub-director. For the eight months that he has served in the position, he has never let The 'Shroom down and has consistently done his best. And for that, he deserves a big "thank you" from the community and the readers of The 'Shroom. Starting with me: thank you Twentytwofiftyseven, for everything you have done! Without you, The 'Shroom would not have been as good as it has throughout the past eight months.

And an update about the individual that will succede Twentytwofiftyseven will come next month, although by that time, they will have already taken the position and will have fulfilled the duties needing to be fulfilled for next month's issue. So rest assured that everything will go smoothly and that The 'Shroom will still move forward and be just as successful as it has been.

The 'Shroom Spotlight did get more sign ups when I made an announcement about it last month, but it needs more people involved and more attention overall. So please, if you feel the urge to contribute to a 'Shroom project that needs help, go contact and ask him more about signing up and how to get involved!

This month's issue is the Special Issue. To explain why: two months ago, the Super Mario Wiki celebrated its sixth anniversary with perhaps the most anticipated event in the community held annually since 2007: the Super Mario Wiki Awards. The 'Shroom, in September 2009, celebrated the fourth anniversary by holding a Special Issue centered around the Awards and the anniversary. There was no Special Issue celebrating the Awards in 2010, but the idea was revived this year: so here we have it. In this issue, we have interviews with several individuals that did well in events held on Awards Day, a special compilation of commentaries from the Awards Committee members, and the second Feedback Survey.

The Feedback Survey is back: and we need you to go and fill it out! Compared to the last survey, this one should be significantly less time-consuming as the size of the new survey has been cut down considerably. The Core Staff is hoping that this will help to increase the amount of people that respond (the amount of responses we had last time was pitiful). So please, take some time to fill out the form in order to voice your opinion on what should be done to improve The 'Shroom!

The Awards Committee was able to speak out about the entire process that goes into the Awards Ceremonies held annually in their own Special Section this month. What they felt throughout the meetings, the ceremonies, the games and the tournament: all of it is on record. So, in order to gain insight on everything, please go check out the section and what the members of the Committee said.

There are also interviews with those who did well in several events throughout the Awards Ceremonies. In addition to the first two that are up on the Front Page as of the posting of these notes, there will be several more that will be posted up throughout the next few days. So keep an eye out for those, and be sure to read each one.

Last month, there was a chat party announced that would have taken place one hour prior to the release of this issue. I would like to apologize for this not taking place: there were several unforeseen problems that popped up in the planning, so the Core Staff ended up deciding to cancel the event. We cannot host an event if it will end up being extremely problematic in the end, so it was something we had to do.

Anyway, thank you for reading! Be sure to come back on October 15th, 2011, and (speaking on behalf of everybody on the Core Staff) we hope you enjoyed this Special Issue!