Forum:Allow Me To ReIntroduce Myself
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Hello, I’m UniversalFlorida1990. I was a former writer and contributor on the Wikifoundry incarnation of the CLG Wiki (now AVID) from September 2016 until April 2019. After 4 years, I’ve decided to return to the wiki. I’m making this thread to explain why I left, why I’ve decided to return, and my thoughts on the new version of the wiki. This is going to be a long post, because I have a lot to say, but please bear with me. Let’s start with the main reason why I left. I left partially due the increased amount of trolls that infested the site. But the main reason I departed was due to the abusive, unprofessional and corrupt behavior with the CLG Board Of Directors, particularly with Stephen Cezar and Matthew Mayfield. Yes I’m aware of the problems with Shadeed, but I’m l leaving him out of this because most of what I witnessed came from Stephen and Matt and I wasn’t around on the wiki long enough to really witness Shadeed’s behavior after his return in 2017. For those who are new to this wiki, the abusive behavior with the BoD extends all the way back to the Wikifoundry days and is the main reason why I left. I first started noticing this behavior with the BoD about three months after I had joined when Stephen enforced a silent rule at me about adding too many images to articles (particularly the New Line Cinema article), despite their not being any rule about adding too many images to the page. Then within a year of me joining, I noticed the behavior with them started to get worse as they started to get even more hostile with the community, particularly after an incident where a previously banned troll began using multiple sockpuppet accounts (and a VPN to evade being IP blocked) to harrass a newly promoted admin (who shall remain nameless for privacy/safety reasons) to find missing Teletoon logos to the point that the admin ended leaving the wiki and the internet as a whole out of concern for his safety. Anyway, this incident would ultimately lead to increasingly (and unnecessary) strict moderation on the wiki, to the point where I ended up taking a hiatus from the wiki from November of 2017 until February/March of 2018. Finally in 2018, Stephen and Matt really started to show their true colors when they began making changes and removing things without commuity concesus. For instance, Stephen banned Computer Start Up Screens, In Credit Logos and threads about logo plastering in the threads without community concent. Not long afterwards, Stephen demoted several admins without telling them and without a clear reason. And they were also notorious for rejecting/refusing proposals without letting the community speak about them. And as I mentioned, they were also really rude and hostile towards people who didn’t agree with them. As a result of this behavior, they ended up pushing several members of the community away in the process. These things resulted in me taking another extended hiatus from the wiki. Finally in April 2019 after witnessing the Cheesy/Scare Factor fiasco and how it was handled as well as witnessing a few other incidents involving Stephen and Matt, I returned to the wiki to make a thread confronting them about their abusive actions and how it was destroying the wiki. But in the end, because of their inability to hear the truth they banned me from the wiki. And I really think that thread really destroyed my reputation on the wiki. While I do stand by most of the things I said in that thread, I now regret the way I worded things so disrespectfully and the fact that I included the other admins in my rant. Looking back, I was mad at the the directon the site was going and I wrote some things the way I did as sort of my way of saying, “If you’re going to treat others like that, then I’m going to treat you like that and see how you like it.” But, because the way I worded a lot of it really burned a lot of bridges with a lot of people in the logo community and greatly damaged my reputation on the wiki and looking back, while I’m glad I confronted them as it let me get all the anger I had at them out of my system, I now regret that I didn’t confront them in a more civilized mature manner. And as for the other (non-BoD) admins/mods, I realize that you guys were/are just doing your jobs. Though at the same time, it wouldn’t surprise me if Stephen, Matt and Shadeed forced you guys to do things you guys didn’t want to do. And I’m sorry that I didn’t leave the wiki on the best terms and throwing the non-BOD members under the bus like that. Though at the same time, I feel like even if I had kept my rant solely focused on Stephen and Matt and confronted them in a more civil manner, they probably still would’ve given me the boot from the wiki for two reasons: the first being not being enough (if any) evidence against Stephen and Matt at the time and the other reason is they refuse to handle negative criticism directed at them. The point of that thread was NOT intended to attack the community, but was instead was my opportunity to vent my frustration at the direction the wiki was heading in the hands of the BOD, and how they needed to change in order to create a better wiki and a positive community. But needless to say, they refused to change it for reasons which I will get into later. Now with the BOD gone and the wiki under different ownership, I think the wiki changing and the community becoming more positive has finally happened. Now here’s why I’ve decided to return after almost 4 years. Ever since, the wiki moved to Miraheze in 2020, I’ve been wanting to return, even with Stephen and Matthew still in charge. But I was very hesitant to, mainly because and, mostly because of my confrontation thread I posted after the Cheesy/Scare Factor debacle, I knew that there was no way that Stephen and Matthew were going to let me back on after that dibacle. And after witnessing the drama with Wikifoundry owner Travis, I also started to regret making that thread, because for a while, I thought that it wasn’t the abuse of the BOD that was the problem. I started to think it was more of an issue with both Wikifoundry and how godawful that platform was, from the frequent crashes, outdated features and the unprofessional behavior of Travis and the staff members of the site and how bad the site was infested by trolls. And it seemed like the BOD had gotten their act together after the move. But after witnessing the events of September of 2022, I think I was right all along. After discovering DJ Sanders’ video documenting the events of September, I posted a comment on that video, similar to this thread, explaining the same stuff, but I initially expressed doubts that the wiki would never recover from the abuse of the BOD, mainly due to the fact that I hadn’t taken a closer look at the wiki. But after HB1290 replied out to me on that comment thread that the wiki had in fact improved significantly and that a lot of the BOD implemented stuff had been removed, I decided to take a closer look at the new wiki and needless to say, it’s definitely improved and recovered a lot faster that I thought it would. And after checking up on it several times since, it definitely has continued to improve. So here’s my thoughts on the new wiki. First I would like to start with the move to Miraheze. I always knew that someday the wiki would leave Wikifoundry. Mainly because how outdated and broken the site was and how badly the site was run by Travis and the staff. And I think looking back, that’s partially why we dealt with so many troll attacks and ban evasions on the old wiki. Because of how outdated certain features were, the lack of global blocks, limited moderation features and the ability to allow users to cancel their membership from individual wikis definitely made the wiki more vulnerable to troll attacks and ban evasions. Needless to say, while I haven’t used the platform completely, Miraheze is definitely a better platform than Wikifoundry ever was from what I’ve seen so far. Mainly because of better page formatting/layouts and more advanced features. While the situation with trolls hasn’t gone away completely, I think more moderation options and the lack of a “Cancel Membership” feature has more or less given the admin team here more control over trolls. And unlike Wikifoundry, Miraheze is actually run by people who actually care about the platform, and fix things almost right away when a crash happen, unlike Travis. This is what I have to say about Travis, now this is just my own opinions/speculation, so take this with a grain of salt. I think he never cared about Wikifoundry to begin with. From him refusing to fix crashes and glitches right away, his handling of the infamous 2018 blackout, his refusals to listen to criticism and hire more staff to and his refusal to allow the old CLG Wiki to become private because of “loss of ad revenue” leads me to believe that he was more interested in profiting from the platform’s ad revenue than he was in actually caring for the wiki. And I think that he really showed his true colors during and after the move to Miraheze in 2020. From him threatening legal action, him banning the admins to keep them from adding a message that the wiki had moved and him accusing the admins of “hurting the other wikis” as a result of the move are all signs that he probably cared more about profiting off the wikis than actually helping them. I also think that his greed and stubbornness is also partially responsible for the troll attacks on the old CLG site as well. Now to be fair, I do understand that he had a family and was doing other things on the side, and the possibility that he probably needed the ad revenue as an alternative source of money to provide for his family, but it’s still no excuse for his behavior. And he’s REALLY lucky that he managed to avoid getting sued as a result of it. Anyway, that’s all I have to say about Travis. Now here’s what I would like to say about changing the name of the wiki to AVID. On one hand, I have absolutely zero reason to believe that Stephen and Matt have any sort of legal rights over the CLG Wiki name. I doubt that not only neither of them have the funds necessary to get the name trademarked, but I’m not sure either of them understand how copyright/trademark law works. And unless they provide any documentation that they legally own the rights to the name, then I have no reason to believe them. On the other hand, I do think the name change was necessary for a two reasons. The first reason being I think the legacy of the CLG Wiki name has mostly been tainted by not just the abuse of the BOD, but also by the troll attacks and the imfamous Kiwi Farms thread, among other things. And I think that the name change to AVID has certainly allowed for the wiki to distance itself from that tainted legacy. And the second reason being, it allowed the wiki to grow and expand to include logos from non-entertainment companies as well as bringing back Computer/Start Up Boot screens as well as merging the Company Bumpers wiki back on the main wiki. Requests for Comment. I think it’s great to not only have community members here finally have a say in major decisions, but it’s also a great platform for community members post their own proposals for the wiki, which is something that the BOD would’ve never allowed. Granted, while I’m not a fan of every change that has come out of it like the removal of Nicknames, I do take comfort in knowing that these changes are done with community concencus and are not forced like the BOD did. And I do think that RFCs have more or less prevented a repeat of the Cheesy/Scare Factor fiasco from happening again. And last but not least, the departure of the BOD. I think that the BOD (especially Stephen, Matt and Shadeed) should’ve been given the boot from the wiki a lot sooner, especially around 2018 when they really started to show their true colors. But again I think that reason they weren’t given the boot sooner, was again because of lack of evidence against them. And also I think that the other admins and community members were too intimidated by them and/or were scared of retaliation by them. But as the saying goes, better late than never. Here’s my thoughts on the BOD abuse. Again this is only my own thoughts and speculation so please take this with a grain of salt. I think the BOD abuse stems from two things: their inability of letting go of the past and their insistence on doing things their way with no community input. On the former, I think the events of 2015-2017 (DLC, Cokeburst, TAT, the Teletoons troll and the Kiwi Farms thread), really messed things up for them and I think that instead of simply letting it go and move on, they decided to use those events as an excuse to push stricter rules and strict moderation in the wiki when all it did was make things worse, looking back. And for the latter, I think as the wiki (and the logo community as a whole) started to attract a younger crowd, I think that crowd viewed the old wiki as outdated and wanted to change it to make it more updated and accessible to a younger crowd, which led to numerous suggestions and proposals, all of which were immediately shut down and rejected by the BOD without even letting the community talk about them as well as forcing unwanted decisions like the removal of Computer/Start Up Screens and In Credit Logos. I think it was because they didn’t want to change anything on the wiki and they wanted to keep the wiki as it was back in 2007. I also believe that they couldn’t handle the fact that the community was moving towards a younger crowd, especially after dealing with waves of troll attacks and I think they assumed that all logo kids in the community were nothing more than just trolls. I also believe that they implemented stricter rules/moderation in an attempt to keep the younger community away. This is my summary of the BoD era of the wiki: “This is our (BoD’s) wiki, NOT the community’s wiki. In order for you to take part in our wiki, you’re going to do things our way. And if you’re not going to do things our way, then we don’t want you here.” That mentality I feel like not only pushed several people away (including myself) but I feel like it also scared several people off from joining the wiki in the first place, thus preventing the wiki from growing. And going back to the name change for a second, again, please take what I’m about to say with a grain of salt. I believe that Stephen and Matt claimed to own the trademark to the CLG name both as a form of intimidation and as an attempt to sabotage the Miraheze wiki from growing and succeeding without them while their version of the wiki on Fandom grows and succeeds. But I think the reality of the situation is, I think the opposite has happened. While Matt claimed that their wiki will continue to thrive, the reality of it is, neither Stephen or Matt have been active on the Fandom wiki since September/October 2022. And the other admins there are barely active, so I think that that’s definitely a sign that their wiki has already failed while this wiki has proven to continue to get bigger and better without them. I doubt they will ever see this, but if Stephen and Matt (and any other former BOD members) ever come across this thread, this is what I would like to say to them. You might’ve thought you were doing a good job as admins, but the reality is, you failed at your jobs. Rather than let go of of the events of 2015 such as DLC and Cokeburst, you used them as an excuse to push stricter rules and moderation when it wasn’t needed. You formed a BOD to make all decisions instead of allowing community input. You forced decisions that nobody asked for like the removal of Computer/Startup screens and In-Credit Logos. You refused to change anything on the wiki to make it more updated. You were very rude and uninclusive toward younger users. You blocked/demoted/banned and bullied people (including myself) for disagreeing with your decisions as well as confronting you about your behavior. And you failed to take any action against trolls and sockpuppets, particularly the Teletoons troll and as a result of your handling of that troll, two of the wiki’s admins ended up not only leaving the wiki, but they have completely disappeared from the internet both because of targeted harrassment by this troll and your handling of the situation. It was your job and your responsibility to protect those admins. I’d bet if you had been more willing to put in the time and effort to actually protect them from this troll, both admins would probably would’ve stayed with us. But nope, because you failed to protect them, they’ve both disappeared from the internet as a result of you failing to protect them. And as a result of your actions, you ended up hurting this wiki’s legacy and reputation in the process and you’ve lost so much respect from people in this community. And despite you saying your wiki will thrive on, the fact both of you pretty much went AWOL on the Fandom wiki, just goes to show that not only have you given up, but I think it just goes to show that you never cared for the wiki to begin with. You can block people for speaking against you,as well as try to blame the us for the wiki’s problems, but you will NEVER gain any respect back from the community. Needless to say, both of you deserved to get the boot from the wiki. Because we need people in charge who actually care about the wiki and it’s community, NOT people who run the wiki like a dictatorship and treat the community like crap. I think the current admins including HB1290, HibiscusCrown and the other admins are doing a better job at managing the wiki than you ever have. And the wiki has managed to move on and continued to grow without you. So Stephen and Matt, because of your actions I never want to see either of you on this wiki ever again. Goodbye and don’t let the door hit you on the way out. That’s the last you will EVER hear of me speak about the BoD on this wiki and I apologize if that rant came out as too harsh. In closing, while the wiki still has its struggles, I think it has improved significantly over the past several months and I think it will continue to grow and get better as time goes on. And this is what I would like to say to HB1290, HibiscusCrown and the other admins. Thank you both for doing a great job at taking care of this wiki and providing a very open and welcoming community. Needless to say, this community is very fortunate to have people like you in charge. Keep up the good work. And as for myself, even though I have returned permanently, I’m not too sure how active I’m going to be. I think for the most part, I’m going to stick with just to posting in the forums as well as adding minor fixes/additions to the articles. But that said, one thing I noticed was a bunch of the lower quality captures on the MGM, Universal and New Line pages that were ported over from Wiikifoundry were actually my captures and luckily I still have all the captures so, I hope to fix those up at some point. In short, I’m very happy at the direction that the wiki has gone in and needed to say it’s only going to get better from here. Long Live AVID! Peace.✌🏼 |
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Hi. I'm one of the more newer members on AVID. I heard of a Matt guy when DanteWilliams (a now-blocked user) mentioned him being a scumbag. Didn't know what Dante was on about, but now I do, all I can say is: WHAT A JERK!! Seriously, bullying someone just because of their age?! Sheesh. Anyways, welcome back! |
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Welcome back! That was an intriguing read, especially with the BoD and Travis. Yeah, the BoD (outside of Snelfu) were complete [REDACTED]s, and I'm betting Travis couldn't even run a GeoCities site let alone a wiki farm. |
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Welcome back! This was an excellent read and you're definitely not alone with being relieved about the BoD being gone. |
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Welcome back to the site! |
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Welcome Back! It's so nice to see so many old faces coming back. As well as yourself, Sagan and James Fabiano also came back recently after extended absences of their own. |
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I just want to say, thank you guys for the kind welcome backs. Needless to say, it makes me feel more comfortable in rejoining the wiki. Given the way I left back in 2019, I wasn’t entirely sure how my return would be received. But I think my return has been positively received so far. I’m also feel relieved in knowing that I’m not the only one here who’s happy that the BoD is gone. Because I think we can all agree that the BoD was the main problem that kept the wiki from growing and getting bigger and better. Now with them gone, it finally has gotten bigger and better. And I think it will continue to be that way. I’m also happy in knowing that I’m not the only former member from the Wikifoundry days who’s returned. I think that’s definitely a sign that the wiki has improved already. And it makes me hope that other former members may return to the wiki. Anyway, thank you guys so much for the kind welcome back. I really appreciate it. :) |
