The 'Shroom:Issue XLV/Director Election

Debates
Debate 1 Debate 2 will take place Monday, January 3rd, 2011, 20:30 EST

Super Mario Bros.
Hello, my fellow wiki members. I would like to officially announce my candidacy for Director of The 'Shroom. You might be wondering what I plan on doing for the paper if I win and such, so I won't keep you waiting much longer.

My Experience

 * Super Mario Wiki
 * Sysop of the wiki
 * Former Patroller of the wiki
 * Global Moderator (Forum Administrator) of the forum
 * Owner of #mwchat, the MarioWiki's official chat room.
 * Co-director of the Pipe Plaza team of The 'Shroom.
 * Co-director of the Music & Artwork team of The 'Shroom.
 * One-time director of the Fake News team of The 'Shroom.
 * I helped direct an issue of The 'Shroom in Stooben's and Tucayo's absence.
 * Poll Committee Chairman
 * Userpedia
 * Steward of the wiki
 * Bureaucrat of the wiki
 * Sysop of the wiki
 * Former Patroller of the wiki
 * Administrator of the forum
 * Former Assistant Administrator of the forum
 * Former Global Moderator of the forum
 * The Disconnected staff member
 * Former Disconnected director
 * Former Disconnected sub-director
 * Operator of #userpedia

My Plans

 * I want to be able to expand our affiliates. Right now, The 'Shroom is only affiliated with 3 other news entities: Stone Watchers, BulbaNews, and The Disconnected. It's wonderful that we got these affiliates (in fact, they are the first affiliates we've ever had). I'm sure we can do better, though. If I am elected, I will try my best to affiliate The 'Shroom with other similar sites and projects.
 * I want to be able to better represent the interests of The 'Shroom in the Awards Ceremony, and also increase our coverage of the Awards Ceremony next year. I want to be able to expand The 'Shroom Awards from 5 to 10; and I also want to have another Special Issue covering the results of the Super Mario Wiki Awards. If elected, I'll do my best to follow through with this.
 * I want to make #mwshroom better than what it currently is. I think we have quite a few users on the chat that read the paper, yet I'd be surprised if most of them have entered the 'Shroom chat more than once. That said, I'll do my best to better advertise the 'Shroom chat room and host events in the chat throughout the year (which would be logged and posted on the forum).
 * Also, I want to make sure that our forum board is constantly in use, rather than just sitting there pointlessly. As mentioned above, I'll post logs of chat events in it. I'll also be sure to host forum-specific events in The 'Shroom board, as well as continuing the trend of posting topics and polls asking users to rate each issue.
 * In the past, we've had big surveys asking users about the quality of each section, about the sub-teams, who they think the best writer is, and much more. However, we've only done this infrequently. I want to see these surveys done at least every 4 months so that we can keep up-to-date on what our writers and readers think of the paper.
 * If I win, I want to make 2 changes to the list of positions in the Core Staff: First off, I'd like to merge the positions of Sub-director and Editor-in-Chief. Also, I'd like to create a new position: Statistics Manager, who would help me organize the surveys, polls, making spreadsheets to enter data that we can reference to, and other duties of that sort.
 * I also intend on continuing our system of requiring users to fill out applications to be able to write a section. I feel that this has helped make The 'Shroom improve on terms of quality since it was first implemented.
 * I want to be able to have several special issues throughout this term. Some occasions that I'd like to do this on are Issue L (May 2011), September 2011 (the month after the Awards Ceremony) and December 2011 (Special Holidays Issue). Perhaps another one for the Poll Chairperson Elections as well (so another special issue in the June-July 2011 range).
 * I will try my best to work with the Core Staff that I'll select in order to create new, unique jobs for the paper.
 * I want to be able to resume the "Section of the Month" process. I was the one who initially requested its cancellation after many months of disorganized nominations and suggestions for the honor. I feel that having a section of the month should be a fun thing, so quite a bit of work would have to go into getting it set up, after which it should run smoothly and be organized.
 * Finally, I want to leave this campaign off on this note: I want this year for The 'Shroom to be the best it has ever had. I'll put in all of the effort I can and will do my best if elected.

Hey guys! Sorry my application came up late, I’ve been searching for inspiration but I think I’ve finally got it :D

Positions

 * I joined the wiki 1.5 years ago (June).
 * I joined Userpedia a while after (August)
 * I was temporarily promoted in October and then promoted permanently (to Patroller) later that month.
 * I was promoted to sysop a month later, in November.
 * About that same time, I was made co-director of the Pipe Plaza section of The ‘Shroom
 * I was made Userpedia’s Steward in February 2010.
 * I was a member of the 2010 Mario Awards Committee.
 * I was demoted to Userpedia Bureaucrat in June this year.
 * I was made a chatroom operator in September or sometime around there.
 * I was promoted to Forum Games and Mafia local moderator around that time as well.
 * Very recently I became a Patroller on the Super Mario Wiki.

User Contact
As SMB pointed out, the staff and users do not talk enough. So if I am elected, I will try out a new template so that users can send in suggestions to the paper year-round in a survey. This will allow people who think of ideas to send them in and have them discussed with the staff.

Special Events
Currently The Shroom has special events only around the holidays. However if I am elected, I plan to organize as many special events as possible for The ‘Shroom throughout the year.

Of course
Of course I will not forget about the Section of the Month ideas. I was one of the greatest supporters (constantly nagging St00ben to do it) but eventually it had to end. However now I hope to revive the process and finally release it to The ‘Shroom.

And finally
I will try to get more activity in the core staff. I will provide new discussions and try to get the core staff more active and thinking properly. With an active core staff, there are sure to be many more great ideas coming.

Election Comments
I have some comments I would like to make on your campaign, but I feel it is best to save them until the debates. We will have two debates, one on the 23rd, and another one on the 6th. Candidates, please say if you aren't able to attend.

SMB: What if you win and someone other than 22 is SD? Would you keep him on the staff somehow? Also, love the idea of Award coverage.
 * @Tucky: Alright. I'm sure I can attend. @Ralphfan: I'll announce who my staff is when I'm ready to. And thanks (for your comment about the Awards coverage). :D 04:16, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Aren't there other people running?

@FF65 I just voted for SMB, but might change it if more people run

@FF65: MG1 is working on his campaign, and Ralphfan is still considering. 14:04, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

Okay Tucayo, what time is the debate today? 17:43, 23 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Sorry, we'll have to postpone it, perhaps to the 27th -- 20:08, 23 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Up, just in time for the debate :)

Er... When is the debate today (3rd january), because perhaps I can not attend if it is later than 19.00 or 20.00... -
 * 20:30 EST -- 14:11, 3 January 2011 (EST)