<p>Hey there! My name is Mandy, and I'm a Community Manager for the TV/Movies vertical at Fandom. I know it may sound confusing, but our vertical will be supporting your community in the coming months. We don’t want to have any unsupported community with the UCP migrations around the corner, which is why I’m contacting you. In the next months we will evaluate if you need a Wiki Manager, but in the meantime, I will be your point of contact if you have any problem. Don’t worry, the UCP migration won’t happen for this community yet, but we are going to start with the forum migration. </p><p>As you may be aware, we are retiring Special:Forum and migrating all Forum content over to Discussions before migrating your wiki to the Unified Community Platform. </p><p>Discussions has recently received a wave of interface improvements to make the feature more comfortable for Forums users, thanks to awesome input from Forums communities and admins. And we are still working on new enhancements. </p><p>When your wiki has Forums content migrated, the transfer process will render the Forum into a read-only state. If Discussions hasn’t already been enabled on your wiki, the process will enable it as Forums goes read-only, so you can continue to communicate while the transfer is ongoing. </p><p>While Discussions does not support wikitext, we’re using a special converter so that your old Forums posts will look basically the same with the same formatting and templates after they have been migrated, with a few very rare exceptions. Note that editing old Forums posts and comments with wikitext on Discussions will break the formatting. </p><p>Additionally, Discussions requires participants to have Fandom accounts. You will not be able to contribute anonymously. Check this archived thread for some frequently asked questions, but otherwise please let us know any questions or comments you may have about this. </p>

<p>So, recently I was in the mood to check this place after I hadn't payed it a visit for a while and it definitely disappointed me. Furthemore, it seems like this particular topic is generally being avoided and that's really bugging me out. </p><p>This wiki is absolutely dead. The thread in the bottom of the wiki activity is 17 days old. It's really sad to see a place that I've hanged out for a long time completely devastated. Maybe it's just me but I really think it is not. MERP has surely been suffering for a while but it didn't die...Well, until now of course. Was it the countless arguments? The growth of the members which made them lose their love for RPing or the lack of new faces? Either way it has been done, most members have abandoned this place and now it's a mere miniature of what it initially was. I think of the fun times I had here and it seems to me that it's so far behind, like it never happened as I'm seeing this crippled reality. Alright, I may be portraying this a bit too melodramatic but still, I want everyone who reads this to answer the following question: Am I wrong? Didn't you have some great times here? Did you not make yourself happy only by thinking about the great fights that you had in the RPs?  </p><p>The truth is though that when something lacks development it is destined to die, it's just a matter of time. And even though there were many tries to make improvements in this particular wiki nothing too extravagant or important succeeded. And even if it did, it would bring controversy and arguments with it. And now I want to be brutally honest. It all starts from the top, if the upper management isn't willing or can't make changes for certain reasons then the changes will not occur. The leader must be the one to pull the strings and must step up no matter what. This is how wikias work and this is how they were made to work. Of course I'm not talking about some kind of dictatorship where the people have no say. I'm talking about the leader being able to guide the members in the right direction to choose what will be better for the platform. No matter how hard they try, the "normal" members cannot change a wikia, it's simply because they lack the power and the tools to do so. They don't have enough permissions. And when the ones with the power and tools needed to make changes decide not to do anything, then nothing will happen; simple as that. To finish off, even if some of the peeps in charge are willing to make reforms it won't be enough without the full support of the one in charge and the other staff. Because when it's decided by the people that a change will be made it shouldn't be the people who pull it off. Rather, the staff. </p><p>Also, I do not know what happened to the discord or even if this wiki has a discord anymore but if it does, someone please hit me up with a link.  </p><p>I really want to hear the feedback of everyone who's still here and of course want to see things from the others' prespective. Lastly, I don't want some sort of flame war to start, let's have a civil discussion for once. (Although I doubt it since the content I included ain't 'flameable'.) </p>

<p>We all seem to have some rather conflicting lore in some areas due to lots of old lore being suddenly thrown back up due to more activity, good ol' land conflicts, and finally new factions trying to join the mix and so on. </p><p>So far I (along side) Pat, Indom, and Chaz have worked on filler lore for harad and I have myself also worked on some lore for Rhun and Far Harad now some of these could be worked in with our current boundaries while others cannot. Then we have the issue of little used factions, dead factions, and factions that are a bit 'aged'. </p><p>to Fix these I would suggest another version of Wiki lore so we can have both now what goes to what is really up for grabs depends on what you people want. I'm just throwing the idea out into the crowd. </p>

I will be going camping untill next week so I will have no acsess to the internet

<p>Now, I understand that real life takes it's toll and that various things can swiftly become annoying when things are going somewhat pear shaped "IRL" but I think muting someone for "irritating you" by defending their own lore on a LORE DISCUSSION channel. I attempted to apologise to Eureka for any slight on my part. At the time I did not aware that I was being blocked so I was in a relatively forgiving position. Now however I am... slightly vexed.... </p>

<p>For all those participating, you may submit up to three characters </p><p>Three shall be the number of the choosing and the number of the choosing shall be three. Four shalt thou not choose. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the number of the counting, be reached, then choose no more </p><p>The polls will generally be the same as with the user polls but some will be added/removed </p>

<p>(I know I said I was officially giving up on being serious but this is getting out of hand somewhat) </p><p>everyone, stop being the emperor </p> <figure class="article-thumb tleft show-info-icon" style="width: 264px"> <figcaption> <p class="caption">Yes...</p> </figcaption></figure><p>
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</p><p>so Tyb may have done a bit of a  </p> <figure class="article-thumb tleft show-info-icon" style="width: 180px"> <figcaption> </figcaption></figure><p>
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</p><p>but either accept it or ignore it. he's not on the forums and you'll only find any irritating messages if you go looking for him. </p><p>Secondly looking at his contribs Tyb didn't exactly get a warmhearted welcome back :P </p>

<p>Now, I know a number of you have been upset you haven't been involved. This has nothing to do with how much you're on the wiki, or how much I like you. It's simply a matter of my own levels of creativity. </p><p>The humor of the stories comes with each user's unique personality. Indo's grumpiness, Imrahil's general wimpiness, Berry and Shadow's close-knit brotherhood, Morgoth's noir-ness. It's funny because I <i>overplay </i>everyone, I make <i>caricatures. </i>And if I don't include someone in my stories, it's simply because I'm just not creative enough to find a really funny aspect of their personality and overplay it. </p><p>For instance if I had featured Morgoth a month or two ago, he would have just been normal. It would have been amazingly boring. But because I waited, we had the hilarious incident with Morgoth becoming a detective, and it gave me some solid material to make a story about. </p><p>In other words, you should actually be <i>thankful </i>that you aren't involved in my stories, becuase that means you're so amazingly normal, I can't find a way to make you seem weird :P </p><p>And I'm open to suggestion as well. If you think there's a way I could make a funny character out of you (or anyone else for that matter), you have only to bring it up. </p><p>Thanks for reading, </p><p>Imrahil </p>

<p>I've been spending some time every now and then to track him down, but I need your guy's help. If any of you can find a thread in which James posted as anonymous (whether he didn't log in or if it's on the mod wiki before he made an account). So far I've found his first post to be on a suggestion for Jan 27 2015. If we can find him as a wiki user, we can track his IP, and hell, maybe send a letter or something. As many of you know, it would be from Australia. To any of you who have the time and determination, I say good luck. </p>

<p>I mean, I've been stalking every old thread and everyone's old contributions and I've noticed that a reply was posted every 2 minutes or so. Compared to that, now it feels like the place is empty...Do you guys even check the wiki activity? </p>

<p>With the blessing of Auraestus, I present to you the new official Wiki chat, Discord. It's far better then our Wiki Chat, and allows for far more options. For those of you who aren't on the Discord, this has been already for a while the unnoficial main-chat, and I welcome you to join it. It's much better then the wiki chat and the forums, as it allows for better and faster communication and live-time RPs, which we will be hosting on there. This doesn't mean the wiki will shut down, it will remain here, but the Discord is a much more efficient way to communicate and Roleplay, as well as to have conversation and off-topic chats. So, give it a try.  </p><p>https://discordapp.com/channels/277659609395625984/277659609395625984 </p>

<p>Here are some choices: </p><p>1. Longsword </p><p>2. Dagger </p><p>3. Spear </p><p>4. War Axe </p><p>5. Battleaxe </p><p>6. Mace </p><p>7. Warhammer </p><p>8. Pike </p><p>9. Scythe </p><p>10. Lance </p><p>11. Flail </p><p>12. Claymore </p><p>13. Katana </p><p>14. Scimitar </p><p>15. Battlestaff </p><p>16. Glaive </p><p>17. Metal Fists/knuckles </p><p>18. Warpick (Yes, these are real things) </p><p>19. Halberd </p><p>20. Shortbow </p><p>21. Longbow </p><p>22. Chakram </p><p>23. Throwing Star </p><p>24. Crossbow </p>

<p>The Greenbelters, for absence of a better word, suck. They don't have anything interesting or likable about them, and I think most sci-fi RPers will agree with me. At this point, I think most people on this wiki dislike me in some form or another, and the wiki has been stagnant for months. Where do we go from here? What should I do? </p>

<p>I will take random paragraphs (without links) from Wikipedia pages, then put them in Google translate, switch the language several times, and translate it back to English. Here is what I got from a sentence about grasshoppers: </p><p>
</p><p><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'HelveticaNeue',Helvetica,'NimbusSansL',Arial,'LiberationSans',sans-serif;font-size:16px;-webkit-tap-highlight-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);">"The grasshoppers have had a long relationship with humans. Swarms of locusts have had dramatic effects that have changed the course of history, and even in smaller numbers grasshoppers can be serious pests. They are eaten in countries such as Mexico and Indonesia. They feature in art, symbolism and literature."</span> </p><p>
</p><p><span style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:Roboto-Regular,HelveticaNeue,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:24px;-webkit-tap-highlight-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);">"Locust long-term relationship. Pests'ūhini pools of information, spread big distraction. Mexico, Indonesia, Ua'ai Elegia Street. Orphans and newspapers Ua'oe."</span> </p><p>
</p><p><span style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:Roboto-Regular,HelveticaNeue,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:24px;-webkit-tap-highlight-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);">Lol.</span> </p>

<p>What's your favorite fictional character across all series? Besides Lord of the Rings... </p><p>My personal favorites are Hoban Washbourne (Firefly), and Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (Star Trek). </p>

<p>Now, like pretty much everyone knows, this wikia is going through a major reform to make it a better and more enjoyable place to be at and participate in the variety of RPs and discussions it has to offer. So, the reason I am making this post is to make some suggestions about the reform which is and will be made. </p> <nav id="toc" class="toc" data-loaded="false"><div id="toctitle"><h2>Contents</h2><span class="toctoggle">[show]</span></div>

</nav><h2><span class="mw-headline" id="The_Home_Page">The Home Page</span></h2> <p>Currently, our home page has one slider which leads to the sci-fi factions and the middle earth factions of this wikia, a welcome, some important links, a section which has the title 'Well known RPs' which is entirely empty and must be either deleted or revamped and some other stuff. (Yep, I said it, what are you gonna do now huh? [I'm sad]) I have one suggestion, I think it would be really pretty and great and all if we made a kinda rp way to welcome the new users. By that I mean 'Welcome to Gondor, the great lands of men, traveller! You can take a look at the library to find more about the legends living in Middle Earth and their grand adventures.' (And there should be a photo maybe from a gallery which would link in the characters page [which would be made] or something.) Then there should be something talking about places and such and later something talking about some great stories and adventures linking in some RPs or canons (I'll talk later about that). This is just a start of an idea by the way which I had when I was taking a bath. (True story) I feel like a roleplaying way to introduce new members would be really appealing to them. </p> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Pages">Pages</span></h2> <p>All pages should have an infobox and some categories for the sake of Eru. I also think it'd be a good idea for every page to have a quote to be bootiful. For people who don't know how to make it, it's like this {{Quote|The quote|The one who says it}} Now, i think we should also start editing our pages (Especially me lol) and make them actually have some information. The begginer's guide should be edited to give more information to newcomers, I'm talking about basic information like how you can make an RP, what is RPing post-by-post and other simple stuff I new one would ask. Ah, the FAQ isn't accessible. </p> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Forums">Forums</span></h2> <p>Forum clean up...the dead RPs should go to the old roleplays board. </p> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Canons">Canons</span></h2> <p>This had been suggested a long time ago by one guy named Patrick.vtap (Do you know him? I do not...) but actually never got accepted or regected so I'm bringing this again. Canons are 'official' storylines of the wikia which always are the same and apply. They never change whatsoever throughout the various RPs except if the GM says so. Canons will come from RPs but they also can be stories written by one or more people which will always be official. This is for lore development of the world, the factions and the characters. </p> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="The_End">The End</span></h2> <p>I could keep on going saying things but I won't as I'd like to see how this will be developed through the posts which will follow. These are my ideas and if you like them feel free to kudos! I really don't know if this should be approved by the 3/4 as it is really up to discussion, everything can change. Like I said before these are just some ideas. </p>

<p>I propose to make official the following: </p><p>In the event that a Roleplay is running strongly, and ceases due to the inactivity of the Game Master, any active participant in that RP may, call for a commandeering. The time required to pass prior to this is: </p><p>1) 2 days from the last post of the Game Master if he/she is active </p><p>2) 3 days if the Game Master has been inactive from the wiki as a whole </p><p>3) 5 days if the Game Master has requested an extension </p><p>4) 1 month if the GM has formally halted an RP for the purposes of planning, vacation, or busy schedule </p><p>Once an RP thread has been commandeered, the respective Game Master may choose to hand over control to any individual on the wiki. If the Game Master does not hand over control, there must be a vote by the active participants of said RP to determine if the RP should continue. This vote lasts 48 hours (the vote will be cut short of a majority is already achieved) and is a simple 51/49 majority. In the case that the Game Master objects to his/her RP being commandeered, he/she may call for an increase to a 3/4 majority vote. </p><p>Once a majority has been reached in favor of keeping the RP running, the Game Master has one final chance to appoint a new GM, if not, another vote shall ensue to determine to new GM. Only participants of said RP may qualify for election. </p><p>In any case, the former GM may request to take back control. Should the GM have been absent the entire time of the commandeering process, his/her request must be fulfilled immediately. In other cases, the new GM may hand over control. If not, then a simple 51/49 majority vote over who shall take or remain in control shall ensue. </p>

<p>I would personally like to live in Texas. But given that it's so far away from my family (I live in Columbus right now), I'd probably move to North Carolina instead. Scotland would be a close third, but again, that's a long ways away.  </p>

<p>Okay, folks! I've been advised that we should begin work formulating that advertising blog post. Now here's what I think it should include: </p><p>-examples of our coolest Rps, like The Road Trip RP and Warlords </p><p>-a brief explenation of what post-by-post roleplaying is </p><p>Okay, anyone have any ideas? Also, are there any vulenteers to actually write the post? I can do it, but if there's a better writer then me (like, pretty much anyone), they can take the helm. Keep in mind, however, that it will be subject to the scrutiny of the rest of the wiki before it gets posted. </p>