“You used to write by just stating facts. You'd say what's going on without much emotion. Now in the new one you're like, THE DESERT OF TATOOINE WILL F*** YOU UP.”

—SIN

“You are a sad, strange little man, and you have my pity.”

—Solus^[src]

Welcome to my user page, fellow Fanoneer! I’m Brandon, and I’m the bureaucrat here on Star Wars Fanon. Never mind the title, it’s just a word. My job is to help you in your wiki activities whenever you need it, so if you need any help feel free to let me know. I also work for Wikia, the host of this wiki, so if you need any general Wikia help feel free to let me know as well.

Star Wars Fanon is my main wiki of activity. I’m a fan fiction writer currently working on my upcoming novel, Star Wars: Episode I - The Chosen One, part of the Alternative Star Wars Saga. I’m also the Head Administrator and co-owner of TheStarWarsRP.Com, a role-playing website founded by Steven Alldis in early 2005.

Contents 1 Administrative philosophy 2 Relevant links 3 ASWS blog feed 4 Where you can find me

Administrative philosophyEdit

Now that you know a little bit about me, I suppose I should talk a bit about my philosophy as a bureaucrat and administrator on Star Wars Fanon so you know me on more of an administrative level. As I said earlier on this page, I’m here to help you. I don’t block people all that often, because I prefer to give leeway as long as I can until it seems like someone is outright ignoring what I’m trying to help them with.

I believe that the best way for a user to learn about our wiki’s rules isn’t just by reading policies, but also by actively editing on the wiki and by listening to what I hope is constructive and friendly feedback being left on their user talk pages by admins and other users alike. Making some initial mistakes isn’t something I want you to be banned over, it’s something I want you to learn from and improve upon.

Why do I see it that way? There are two reasons. First, most people on Star Wars Fanon are not overly familiar with wiki editing, assuming they’re familiar with it at all. When you combine that inexperience with the fact that a lot of rules can feel overwhelming to people, then that’s quite a bit of intimidation that someone could be feeling. I don’t want to fire warnings and bans at people right away, because that will only turn people away from the wiki.

Secondly, most people on Star Wars Fanon are fairly new writers from what I've observed, and many of those who aren’t new are still inexperienced with wiki editing and/or haven’t really been in an environment like Star Wars Fanon where you will receive critical feedback. Articles that have poor grammar or spelling generally aren’t there because of negligence or because the author ignored rules, but because of inexperience. Through my own experience, the only way a writer can grow from critical feedback is if it also comes along with encouragement and positive reinforcement. Quick warnings and bans up front really don’t help.

Remember, Star Wars Fanon is weird. One of the strangest things about its success over the past six years is that, from an initial conceptual standpoint, it shouldn't have succeeded. A place for fanon and fan fiction where articles have to be formatted like canon entries on Wookieepedia, and where things like the metric system or American spelling are enforced? That doesn't seem like a concept that could survive and thrive, but, with a lot of trial and error, it did. Because of that, it's important as an administrator for me to put myself into the shoes of a new user and remember that Star Wars Fanon is weird.

That said, the assumption of good faith can only go so far. If after a certain length of time, such as a few weeks, there still aren’t improvements, and the author of an article isn’t responding to the feedback being given to them, then there has to be an assumption that the feedback is being ignored. That’s when I believe blocks should be given out.

Note that this doesn’t include spam, vandalism, trolling, or any other obvious bad faith activity on the wiki, which should and will earn you an immediate block from Star Wars Fanon.

As one final note, I will say that, above all else, the most important part of my philosophy as a bureaucrat and administrator is that those titles are nothing more than fancy editing tools in order to help with site maintenance and the occasional rule enforcement. They do not mean I am better than you, and they do not mean I will try to use them to make you do something just because I think it’s right. I will not lord my administrative privileges over you; the community gave me these administrative rights, and the community can take them away. Everyone on this wiki can and should have a mind of their own, regardless of whether someone like me thinks a certain way.

Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia and Wikia, spoke about administrator rights and said “This should be no big deal.” He’s right.

Relevant linksEdit

• My talk page
• My articles
• My contributions
• My workspace
• My FAs and GAs
• Star Wars: Episode I - The Chosen One
• The Chosen One original draft

ASWS blog feedEdit

Where you can find meEdit

“Sometimes I get the feeling that you kill people with your presence.”

—Solus^[src]

There are plenty of other wikis and sites that I'm on too. Some of these are:

• ...on the Star Wars Fanon IRC channel (nick: Brandon_Rhea)
• ...on Community Central
• ...on the Alternative Saga wiki
• ...on Star Wars Fanpedia
• ...on Wookieepedia
• ...on TheStarWarsRP.Com
• ...on Facebook

I'm sure I've forgotten some, but be sure to check out those sites!