User blog:Loney 97/What The Young Man Said In The Face Of Progress

"I don't know what this speech is supposed to be about right now, I just needed to start talking. I've been feeling down-in-the-pit-of-my-stomach sick for the past few days and I guess I thought saying something could get that to stop."

"With so many good intentions warring against each other I've been trying to do my thing and just observe for a while and then hop in after a few days to peaceably give my take on the matter but I haven't been so successful with that, too emotional and hot-headed I guess. Like a lot of the people here.  And yes, maybe we ARE all just too stupid to realize that we've been living under some little opressive regime in a far corner of the Internet and this whole thing is about FREE THE PEOPLE but somehow I have a little more faith in us then that.  We have the power to believe that we're as unique as we think we are, that we're more than another wiki feeding our three anonymous readers with arguably useless information, and we are.  We're barely even a wiki.  How many people here come here with the purpose of editing articles for users?  I'm sure a lot less than on any "normal" wiki.  We're might be one of the larger places on Wikia sure, but how can we compare ourselves to them when nearly everyone's goal here has nothing to do with what a wiki is for. I mean look at us, we only have three patrollers."

"The truth that most of us who have been opposed to recent happenings know but don't want to say for fear of looking like we're giving in is that no, this place is not going to go up in flames if we turn ourselves into "just another wiki." A few more people will leave, a few already have, but it'll still work.  Obi and Meiko'll run the place through the 'New Wikier's Home Digest For Modern Living and Wiki Caretaking' and squeeze off a bit of unneeded policy there and clump everybody together here and the wiki will hardly be worse the wear for it.  It's not like they want to wreck it, they do feel that this is the best thing for the wiki."

"But acknowledging that doesn't put me on their side. I know I'll forever remain true to my old fashioned ideas of 'admins being like older siblings and role-models for other users' and I'll be glad I was a part of that even for just a couple months.  And now I'll probably still hang around and play the new admin role of 'janitor with a toolchest' at least until I find something better to do with my life."

"The point I want to make but can't really find the correct words for is that while all these new ideas and stuff won't burn the place to ground, I feel like we're throwing away something that could have been great in favour of being 'just another part of the crowd'. And I don't like that.  Just because all this has been 'proven and tested' on basically every other wiki out there doesn't mean it's the only way, or the best way for this place.  I thought we had something good going.  Something unique, that was our own."

"And I know that they'll tear this blog post to the ground or paste their own posters on top of it. Obi'll make a grand speech and point out all the flaws and everyone will rally round him because he knows the right words to use, he's amazing like that, the most convincing fellow I've ever known.  And I don't even really care because all I ask is that if the words don't make sense, just read the spirit behind it.  That's the important thing."