The 'Shroom:Issue LVII/Director Election

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Debates

 * A debate will take place in # mwshroom (which can be accessed either from the applet or through Mibbit) on Tuesday, December 27th, 2011 at 9:00 AM EST (which is Tuesday, December 27th, 2011 at 2:00 PM UTC).

Super Mario Bros.
Hello, fellow Super Mario Wiki community members. I have decided that I will run for a second term for Director of The 'Shroom.

My Qualifications

 * Super Mario Wiki


 * Wiki Sysop/Administrator
 * Former Wiki Patroller
 * Forum Administrator
 * # mwchat Owner
 * Incumbent 'Shroom Director
 * Former Pipe Plaza Director
 * Former Music & Artwork Director
 * One-time Fake News Director
 * Poll Committee Chairperson
 * Mafia Hosts Guild co-founder
 * Userpedia


 * Wiki Steward
 * Wiki Bureaucrat
 * Wiki Sysop
 * Former Wiki Patroller
 * Forum Administrator
 * Former Assistant Forum Administrator
 * Former Global Moderator
 * The Disconnected Sub-director
 * Former Disconnected Director
 * Former Disconnected Reg. Core Staff
 * # userpedia Owner
 * Featured Articles Committee Director

What happened during my first term?

 * Before my term as Director, The 'Shroom had three affiliates. After I took the office of Director, I appointed to the newly-created position of Affiliates Manager (the Core Staff member designated to act as a communication bridge between The 'Shroom and potential and current affiliates), and we managed to increase the amount of affiliates to five.
 * During the 2010 'Shroom Director Election, I promised to attempt to expand the amount of awards in the 'Shroom Awards II from the initially-planned five to ten. After tough negotiating and brainstorming between the Core Staff (with the assistance of ) and the Awards Committee, this was accomplished, and 'Shroom Awards II went excellently.
 * Throughout my term, we have had two Feedback Surveys. A third one is scheduled to run from January through February 2012 (whoever the Director is in February can use the results as a good reference for executing plans throughout the first months of the year).
 * The Editor-in-Chief position was merged into the Sub-director position for several reasons: mainly because stricter quality regulations and the application process gave the writers more of the responsibility of checking grammar, coding, and spelling. The Statistics Manager position was created to have a Core Staff member specifically dedicated to creating polls, surveys, and spreadsheets in order to collect and record reference material. Finally, the Affiliates Manager position (mentioned in the first point in this campaign) was created to have a Core Staff member dedicated to communicating, in a timely manner, between the Core Staff and the affiliates when necessary.
 * The application system was carried over from the previous administration, and has proven effective in increasing our ability to hire the best people for positions in this newspaper (as opposed to the first-come-first serve system used long ago).
 * We were able to have three Special Issues carried out earlier this year: Special Issue L (celebrating the fiftieth issue of The 'Shroom), Special Issue LIV (celebrating the Super Mario Wiki's sixth anniversary and the events that surrounded it), and the Special Holiday Issue (celebrating the Holiday Season and to welcome a good new year for the paper).
 * The Section of the Month process was finally started: Special Issue L was the first issue to feature the project, and it has since been going strongly.

What are my plans for the next year?

 * Next year, we will likely either have one or two Special Issues, which will be planned thoroughly and be designed in a way that will make them stand out from the other issues and be unique.
 * I want The 'Shroom to have more of a presence on social networking sites. Our Twitter and Facebook accounts were not really used as much as they should have been. That said, I will create a new position in the Core Staff dedicated to posting updates on social networking sites so that we can make full use of these accounts.
 * I would like to rewrite the About page so that it is more informative about The 'Shroom's beginnings and covers how it has changed throughout time.
 * The Archives page will be revamped in order to make navigation through previous issues of the paper easier.
 * I will update the and  templates on a more timely manner throughout the next year. If I am reelected, I will update the template on the day that the issue is released, with no exceptions.
 * The Feedback Surveys will be run in the May 2012, September 2012, and January 2013 issues (which follows the schedule set during this term: every four months, we have a survey in which the readers and writers can give their opinions on how The 'Shroom is going at that particular point).
 * I would like to see The 'Shroom add more affiliates this year, as well as finally having a 'Shroom article that links to and gives information about each affiliate. A section in the paper that reports any updates on our affiliated news projects (similar to NIWA News and Anniversary Announcements) is also something I am hoping to have done sometime during the next year.
 * I would also like to do better to keep up with my promise of making # mwshroom and the forum board much more active. Every Special Issue next year will have some sort of party that will occur in conjunction with its release, the Poll Chairperson Election will have several question and answer sessions (if there is only one candidate) or debates (if there are two or more candidates) scheduled to take place, and The 'Shroom Directorial Election of 2012 will (like this election) also have debates scheduled. All of these events will be logged and posted on the forum to encourage activity as well, plus I will ensure that polls about each issue will be posted up every month.
 * I will do my best to ensure that 'Shroom Awards III will, like 'Shroom Awards II this year, have at least ten awards in the ceremony. The ceremony was extremely fun this year, and I want all of those that participate in The 'Shroom to have that same greatness next year.
 * The Core Staff members will meet every month in a 'Shroom Staff meeting in a new staff channel on the chat to discuss, in real-time, the problems of The 'Shroom and important things that need to be pointed out and given attention, as well as some planning for the issue that will be produced the next month.
 * Employment plan: see below.

What would I do to improve the current employment situation of The 'Shroom?

 * I would like to start this section by saying that one of my main focuses for the next year will be jobs. Getting the newspaper some attention is always good, but what counts in the end is having a good amount of writers that will make more high-quality and creative articles for the readers to read.
 * Firstly, if elected again, I will simplify the rules on the Sign Up page. It is always good to be clear, but having a large block of policies and rules can often discourage those that want to help from signing up.
 * Although the application process has been rather successful this year, I will have to admit that in the past, we have fallen behind on reviewing applications and approving or rejecting them. In order to counter that this year, I will put a time limit on every application: applications must be reviewed by the Core Staff within one week after the application has been sent and posted up. If they are not reviewed within the time limit, then the Director of whatever team the application falls under must make an immediate decision as to whether the application is accepted or rejected. If discussion about the application is ongoing and the time limit needs an extension, however, another one week period may be added on for further debate and discussion.
 * Having writers that are completely committed to producing sections every month is never a bad thing to aspire for, but I believe that we have not put enough emphasis on our alternative bi-monthly section plan. In order to achieve the highest writer turnout, we should try to appeal to those who can handle writing a section every month and those who need to take on a more lenient plan. In order to spread awareness of the bi-monthly plan, I will ensure that a question will be added to the application form on the subject of section plans.
 * One problem we had throughout the past year in dealing with so-called "writer droughts" is the fact that we did not have much flexibility in the ways we were able to counter it. Certain teams had more of a demand for writers than the others may have had, and some have more sections than others. For the past two years, we have taken a "one-size-fits-all" approach and limited the amount of sections one could write to two sections per team. This year, the sub-team directors will be able to change the amount of positions a writer is allowed to hold within their own sub-team any time throughout the year, so long as they provide good reasoning and they obtain my permission to make such a change.
 * Once we start filling in the currently existing positions, I will work together with both the Core Staff and the readers to create new positions for writers to sign up for. Creating new positions is important because it allows for the paper to expand into more topics and to spark more interest in the paper, although new section ideas cannot take precedent over filling in our current positions. I will try my best to brainstorm with the Core Staff in order to come up with new and fresh sections, and I will ensure that the Statistics Manager includes a section in the Feedback Surveys for the readers to suggest new sections for us to consider.
 * The Fake News and the Music & Artwork teams both have volunteer-based sections for those who cannot commit to a release schedule at all or just want to do a one-time section. If elected, I will allow users to apply for a one-time submission for any open positions in the Main Team. Volunteer sections will still go through a similar (if not the same) application process that normal sections do and will still be assessed on the same basis as any other application would be.
 * Overall, I feel that my bold employment plan will succeed because it introduces simplicity and timeliness to the application process, offers a variety of submission plans (monthly, bi-monthly, and volunteer-based) that will maximize writer sign up and turnout, and allows each team director some flexibility in dealing with their own unique employment situations.


 * In conclusion, I hope to make the next year an organized, productive, and fun year for all of the writers, readers, and Core Staff members.

Marioguy1
Hello everyone! My name is Marioguy1 and you probably know me, as either the guy from the 2010-2011 election, the guy who used to be in charge of Userpedia, the guy who does the Mafia stuff or the guy who runs the Pipe Plaza. Either way, you probably know me as I am pretty active around the community. To be precise, I am:


 * Sysop here on the Super Mario Wiki
 * Moderator of the Forum Games and Mafia boards on its forums.
 * Operator of its chatroom
 * Pipe Plaza director of The 'Shroom
 * I also write the Fading into Obscurity and Character Reviews sections.
 * Awards Committee member
 * Poll Committee Vice-chairman
 * Former Userpedia Steward
 * Current Bureaucrat
 * Global Moderator of those forums
 * Owner of that chatroom, until I went on vacation and gave it up.
 * Former Disconnected director

I am a very diverse member of the community and have made a standing all over, which is why I think I am ready to take another step and lead The 'Shroom.


 * Past

I have written for The 'Shroom since late 2009 when Tucayo and Super Mario Bros. asked me to become the director of the Pipe Plaza. I have been directing it for two years since. I wrote Featured for a long while in that section, until I resigned in August 2011 due to work overload. Other than that, I've been writing Fading into Obscurity and Character Reviews for over a year. I'd like to think I help out a lot with The 'Shroom.

In the area of The 'Shroom, other than sections, I help out a lot with management. Other than running the Pipe Plaza, I helped with Special Issue L, I co-founded the 'Shroom Spotlight and I was one of the major workers for the success of this recent Special Holiday Issue. I am very engaged in 'Shroom-related activities and can put these talents to use in managing The 'Shroom.


 * Present

I am currently very active, and remain active for much of the year. I will easily be able to put The 'Shroom up on time every month and contribute to discussion whenever it is necessary. Some other qualities of mine:


 * Aforementioned activity - I will be able to constantly run The 'Shroom
 * Long-standing Core Staff Member - I have been a member of the 'Shroom Core Staff for two years now and know how to run The 'Shroom.
 * Knowledge of coding - I have an excellent knowledge of overall wikicoding and can apply this to solving almost any problems The 'Shroom encounters or even to enhance The 'Shroom.


 * Future

The 'Shroom is going very well at the moment, Special Issue L was a complete success and this Special Holiday Issue topped even that, so there are not many problems. But a few I can identify are: following up to the Special Issues, the recent diminution of staff for The 'Shroom and the activity of certain parts of The 'Shroom.


 * The first problem has an obvious solution - we will need to have more Special Issues. I will try to have various Special Issues scattered throughout the year, to be planned at a later date.
 * To be specific, I will have a feedback survey in January to ask the users what kinds of Special Issues they want.
 * I have a few solutions to the second problem. First we need to identify the reason for the diminution of staff - the reason is that our sign-up process extends to one sign-up page and constant pleas from Director's Notes. We need to get the message into the community. There are several ways this could be done, for example, what I did with the Community Report section in the Pipe Plaza. Two people have expressed interest in that section since then and I expect it will have a writer in January. More stuff like this, or easier things like simply bringing the message to users, is not hard to do and can attract writers to the paper.
 * Finally the last problem. In my Directorial Address, I will bring light to the various under-appreciated segments of The 'Shroom. In the end-of-year awards process next year, as we did this year, users can expect that the Golden Toad award will have slightly raised its standards, and the Golden 'Shroom will depend more on how much you help out with things other than the actual sections (for instance, special sections, joining the different activities, even just participating in 'Shroom-hosted events).
 * I may include a new position in the 'Shroom Core Staff dedicated solely to these segments and events - to give The 'Shroom more influence in the community.
 * Finally the matter of my new Core Staff. I like all of the current members of the Core Staff and I think they will probably all stay on the team, but I will probably replace a few positions, as well as possibly create that aforementioned Activity Director (pending title) position.


 * Culmination

I have been a long-standing member of the community and think I am capable of taking on this next step. I am very capable of managing The 'Shroom and have the skills necessary to advance it to the next level and finally, I have many ideas as to how The 'Shroom can solve the very few issues pressing it at the moment.

I foresee an excellent year for The 'Shroom under my leadership and I promise you will not be disappointed.

Election Comments
SMB was this years Director. How long can they be Driector for.
 * A year each election (barring emergency measures).