User blog:Bagwis/2021 Q3 Report

''This blog is a part of a report series. Should you be interested, you may check out the previous related published report here. Have fun reading the archives!''

Here's a quick disclaimer: the discussion below is not exhaustive and comprehensive -- and may be updated from time to time whenever it is convenient and necessary.

Everyone, welcome to the third quarterly report of the year 2021! Similar to previous ones, the purpose of this blog is to reveal insights and details that we rarely disclose on the #❖bulletin-board❖ due to information overload, which may not be conducive for Discord in terms of documentation. I am highly assured that people who visit Wiki/Fandom more often than other social media have a higher literacy rate and read important announcements such as this carefully. Not trying to pressure you as a reader, but it would be much appreciated to spend time going through this. Consequently, this time around is when we celebrate our 4th server anniversary (officially around August 10), to which we patterned our server year. Thus, please expect this blog to be a little bit longer and special.

Presumably, most of the active people remaining on the server are remnants of those who joined the community due to boredom. The implication is that we are currently experiencing a boost in activity which may not last long given that we're closing a complete vaccination in most economically capable countries. Societal systems shall return to normalcy little by little. It's inevitable. As of writing this, the reference data shows that 28.2% of the world population has received at least one dose vaccine, and 14.5% are fully vaccinated. With this rate, suppose that we've already faced the worst and that we produce and inoculate the cure at a constant rate, we will reach herd immunity (expected to be 70% of full vaccination) within 3-4 years. While this optimistic outlook is good for humanity, this will affect the server in the long run unless we plan something and make early interventions.

And therefore, it's essential to discuss the present situation side by side on what we observed from the past to properly plan out how to resolve future issues with the right tools and ideas. Unlike the first two blogs, where we only briefly describe the current statistics, we shall be discussing what we learned from the history of each sector and what kind of roadmap we shall be setting that leads to interdependence and growth. By interdependence, we are trying to make things work like a well-oiled machine. We can all agree that this community has influenced you to some degree, and we will not stay if we never fell in love with exciting aspects within the server. Some will even admit that it has a special place in their hearts. Thus, to protect the home we are dwelling in, we must apply improvements in each sector on a macro and micro scale. Perhaps, we should be using the model in most stable organizations such as business companies. The commonly used model is the PDCA cycle – plan, do, check, and act. What are these?

Some of you may not be familiar with this term or might have seen this term once in your corporate life. The cycle starts with a plan to identify the core issues, ascertain goals, and look for the best-known solutions. In the macro-scale planning, we set the goals and problems during the seasonal reports. Micro-scale planning refers to each existing group within the community. Translators may have a server catered for their group, but we have a single collaborating channel inside the server—the same thing with wiki moderators, Reddit moderators, camp generals, and even events hosts, where exclusive discussions occur. For the "do" phase, we shall execute the initially planned process. The macro scale is the aggregate of all micro-processes from each sector. In this process, we test our initial assumptions while looking out which ones yield the best results. In the context of events, the do phase refers to the event's debut commencement. In the context of the wiki, the "do" phase relates to mass content write-ups from several editors or the actualization of the planned MediaWiki and template codes by the administrators. The execution of these may not be perfect, but the most important is that those in the hosting (staff) and participating (member) side enjoyed the process and felt they belonged in the community. It applies to all sectors, not only for events and wiki editing.

Similarly, the check phase is the most overlooked part of the cycle in our current system. As of the time being, no person other than me does the reviews and audits for actions that happened within the server aside from serious concerns such as member bans and server suggestions, which are often with the moderators' help. This process must monitor the system with quantifiable data and identify specific key issues for each sector to properly eliminate them. Although I have no problem micromanaging the whole process so far, I know I have limits since I can't keep track of every sector all at once. On top of that, my body keeps reminding me lately that I have a weak immune system. The only solution is to identify critical responsible persons making the task well distributed and delegated as soon and reasonably as possible. No need to put forward structured training since experiencing the role is the best teacher. Kindly expect reports regarding changes in community structures on the following blog.

We can't also forget the last process, which is to act. Here, we only pick the optimal and best practices for each sector for the following operations. It is similar to the "do" phase except, we are using the new idea as part of the server's long-term culture. It does not mean that we are not accepting innovative and creative suggestions which may dent the organized paradigm. Some failed due to bad timing and unmet resources, but all well-thought ideas should have space somewhere in the community. This process asserts that we test all suggestions and decisions; once we verify that they yield positive impact (where the cost is worth it for two ways), we must implement it consistently. Otherwise, should the cost and rewards are imbalanced, they needed to be revised; then, we shall revisit these once ready. If each staff is aware of this cycle, this is a giant leap in the server contributions and their professional career once they decided to let go and move on. We have now discussed the principle of the roadmap. Let's start examining how to apply these to each sector. But before that, let me express my words of appreciation.

On behalf of the administration team, I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who contributed to the community. Words are not enough to articulate our appreciation, and we understand we never will be able to. In all kinds, forms, and sizes, any participation and contribution count. Please believe us when we say that all contributions impact our community in ways we wouldn't imagine were needed. Although, as staff, we may get lost on how to drive the community towards its betterment, or we may be frustrated at our inability to deal with problems with extreme tact and magnanimity, there was not a single day that passed that we forgot the importance of individual server members and their contributions. Everyone has helped advance the community to where it is standing right now, and I truly am humbled by all of you.

Recall that last time on the moderation team sector, the report said we plan to have an actual discussion through voice channels (VC) to strengthen the team's interaction. However, as time went by, the moderator's common free times became inconspicuous, although the group dynamics undeniably became more stable, unlike last year. However, what's prevalent in this sector is that there's still a quick response to server changes. Most of these changes are done internally and are limited to the beautification of server appearance in general. Each mod this season exhibited a various degree of availability and engagement. While I'm not expecting them to be there 24/7, a balanced number of dedicated hours is all we asked from them. Eto and Ayakei exhibited an overall exceptional response time, with both of them engaging in camp-related affairs such as the intercamp and elections. No advice can be said to them aside from keeping up what they're currently doing. Eto also doubles as events middleman and sometimes serves as a detective, which filters alternative accounts (alts). Jacob had a softer in-real schedule in the latter months of the season, offsetting the times when he couldn't be online. Vikki, Botman, and Camero manifested consistent commitment in their respective niches. However, among these three, Vikki improved the most in terms of experience by being assertive during brainstorming and trying to oversee the assigned camp reliably. Something that we admins highly appreciate, especially when we need ideas. Paul is missing in action the whole season — I hope he's fine. For this sector in general, there are three short-term and long-term goals we would like to establish:

Discord Moderators have had a long history of glory and excellence but at the same time faced with lots of controversies over these periods. During the entire four years of server existence, we faced allegations from groups of people (camps even), often are half-truths depending on whoever told the story. Such includes controversies regarding promotional points, unjustifiable demotion of a server staff, the exclusivity of camps, implied degeneracy in choosing the banner, conflict of interest in waifu bots, and long-time members not having the immunity to bans regardless of how vital they were in reviving the server activity. The discussions between both parties could be peaceful if only both were willing to listen to one another with open minds and calm hearts. The most notable ones lead to numerous riots, bans, and attacks. Most blacklisted ones are the type who are toxic and intentionally break the rules since their purpose is to push their agenda for their self-gain and not for the community. On the flip side, we may have handled past cases poorly, which otherwise could have led to a healthier outcome. For that, I humbly apologize on behalf of the staff. Keep in mind that we as a staff are still learning. The community is evolving in its ways, and we understand that it's our responsibility to adapt based on your voice as long as it's reasonable.

In retrospect, the moderators may seem to work independently and showcase a different level of conduct when issuing, escalating, and judging a warning. Many actives may not admit it, but the consensus they affirm in the server is not to mess with the wrong mods. However, this should not discourage people from engaging with specific staff, provided that they only do the expected responsibility. Leniency can only go so far. Also, they exist to help you keep up with the community and not "gatekeep" you from experiencing the joy in the server. Should you have problems with any of the Discord Moderators, feel free to send a direct message to me (Player X#0001) or Lats (Lats#7559) via Discord. You'll be assured that whenever there's a report against these moderators, the community administrators are doing their separate investigations, research, and audit, aiming to gain an objective and broader view of the concerns to hold whoever is responsible accountable.

Similarly, the group that wears the most esteemed hat next to moderators — the camp generals — has been subjected to much scrutiny since the development of camps on December 31, 2017. I'll discuss an in-depth historical perspective of camp generals on a separate blog (link shall be added in the future), but for this report, it's only fair that we shall focus on the previous batch (9th) and current batch (10th).

For the previous batch (9th) officially composed of Ishan (of Hiyori Camp), PercyJackson (of Honami Camp), Lightrex (of Ichika Camp), EmperorAry (of Kei Camp), Tuna (of Suzune Camp), and Hiiro (of Harem Camp), they were generally good at maintaining, if not improving, the camp activity. As stated in the last blog, while most of them have inherited camps with good standing, we can't deny that their management in terms of events is better this time around, provided that most of the used up maximum of 3 S-EXP rewardable events. Few camps even managed to peak during this term due to increased screentime of heroine(s) in the light novels, thus increasing the probability of related conversations in the text channels. We also can't forget this batch's intercamp event, one of the ambitious events ever conducted within the server. Thanks to the involved hosts for well-prepared resources, such as visuals for the cards and system of prompts. Several opportunities arose, such as various mini-events and more engaged participants, focusing more on individual competitions. On the other hand, it had challenges regarding relative easiness in management and hosting, which we can prepare to avoid in future events.

On the current batch of camp generals (10th), the server has only elected six seats. The batch is composed of Honzuki (of Arisu Camp), Ishan (of Hiyori Camp), Disfigure (of Honami Camp), Lightrex (of Ichika Camp), Nick (of Kei Camp), and Tuna (of Suzune Camp). Most of them are second-time candidates except for camps with a large headcount, possibly affected by the change in camp election mechanics. The new mechanics require Kei Camp to increase both the server and camp residency of the candidates to 6 months. Also, for all camps except Kei's, the election poll should reach the required minimum number of individual electorates (voters in the election), calculated as the minimum between 20 and 50% of active chatters, which varies from camp to camp. The moderation team releases the number of active chatters in each camp during the season midterm and end-term. Yesterday, all camp generals received a statistical evaluation identifying their strengths and weaknesses. It depends on whether they disclose this audit form to their camp members or not, but we directly post the evaluation for camps without generals to make it fair for all camps. Non-disclosure would have its merit but personally, asking for help from camp members keeps the ideation afloat. The concerning thing about the current roster of the camps is the Airi Camp which is on the verge of lockdown. It needs all the help to revive it. If its camp members make no significant improvements this season, it will face the same consequences as the other closed camps. For full disclosure, here is the updated statistics of camp members as of August 1, 2021:

Usually, we receive feedback from the camp members to enable S-EXP gain in the camps. However, the recent poll related to this resulted in a pass from the first reading entirely by the staff (56% in favor of enabling S-EXP gain) and fail from the second reading voted by the server members (60% in favor of keeping it disabled). The disunited voice is plausibly due to a notice that modifying the current paradigm would mean more stringent moderation in the camps. The server chose the status quo over the high risk and high reward scenario. Therefore, the camps will remain to be S-EXP gain disabled until it is brought up again by one of the staff in 2 years. Few requested camps to be opened as well via feedback deck, but we would like to remind everyone that we prioritize the number of possible camp members (which is directly related to activeness) rather than the mere plot significance of the heroine as the main criteria for opening camps in the server. You can read more on this via camp guidelines channel.

Regarding camp events, we are expecting all generals to use up all the budget. They may impose a system of camp currency so that they may have a better grasp in fairly prorating the rewards across the camp. Based on the calendar set at the camp guidelines channel, the current batch will have their term-end around the third week of September 2021. They must hold the intercamp event during the first or second week of September. It's too early to say something about the current set of generals, but I trust them to act on their responsibility well. They have been in the community for a long time and have exhibited certain levels of leadership in their respective sectors. Similar to Discord Moderators, we also have short-term and long-term goals.

The local translators in the server made consistent progress compared to last season. Graze and his team, composed of Hina, PuffyPyjamas, and other unnamed members who aren't part of the server, are still finishing up Light Novel 2nd Year Volume 4 translation. We expect them to translate the Light Novel 2nd Year Volume 4.5 as well, but the trial version is assumed to be translated by Botman and reviewed by PuddingTC. Alice/Cinnamon released five translations of short stories, each locked with passwords solvable by exciting riddles. During the release of the latest volume, several local translators such as Trollcity, BladeEntity, Alisa, Ivaannom, and D3nj4l released portions of translated spoilers and scenes. You may refer to the white room channel for the list of links to their complete fan translations and spoiler highlights channel for the list of quick spoilers. Here are the quicklinks of their websites, social media platform, and donation pages if you're interested.

Here we can't ignore the long-term contribution by the archives team, who compile the translations from various sources into a single website such as You-Zitsu Online Website handled by Haruzukiyo and EPUB and PDF conversions by Christmas Cavalier. Without their contribution, reading through the series will not be as convenient.

So for the translation and archiving team, the only goal is to keep up the current progress. The server may never realize how rare it is for a community to have several local translators keep up with the latest updates and have them share the spoilers for free. For any individual interested in joining the ranks, we highly request to provide actual translated material. We will have Lats, Alice, and Graze manually verify the translations to ensure that it's not even an attempted paraphrase (edited) of machine translation. To reemphasize our staff position regarding fan translations: While we support and host them in the community, we primarily urge people to support Seven Seas' Translations for official EN translations as the copyright holder. We also hold strong opposition against machine translations (MTL). Other groups blatantly spread and promote this among people that cause misinformation and plot distortion. Also, we will never have any positive acknowledgment of any attempt to pirate the series in line with Discord's Term of Service.

Events are essential in the server as much as the hosts are. There's quite an improvement in the number of commenced matters by events host in the current season and possibly even for the following one for this sector. They revived the Minecraft Server headed by Ariadust (opening an exclusive channel that bridges game and text channel chat) and overhauled the Blitz Exam, which replaced the Zodiac Exams. The current roster of Blitz hosts is composed of Regulus, EmperorAry, Boo, Shissou, and Mr.Devil. Pyguel oversees the pointing system to be rewarded every season. Overall, they have conducted 32 games comparable to the number of hosted matches in the early installment of the event. Also, this season is where most of the Jackbox Games headed by Tuna occurred. Pyguel also regularly hosts Gartic Phone, a similar type of engaging weekly event comparable to Skribbl. Loha hosted two anime group watch this season. Waifu Gauntlet by Jacob also ended this season with Mai Sakurajima winning thrice in a row and Kaguya Shinomiya as the second placer, much of the host's disappointment.

Revival of chess club happened when Boo returned to the server after a while, regularizing the chess tourneys in several forms and prompting some of its members to suggest adding a versatile chess bot, Aqua. On the other hand, X conducted a surprise mini-event that parodied the annual "best of" categories as a dedication to server members; while throwing the final poll after winning the edgiest category invented in humankind. Vikki also hosted a short drawing collaboration relay event, while Jacob moved on from his disappointment by focusing his attention on Pokemon Showdown, Arts Competition, and SaltyBets. Quite an interesting way of projecting the waifu gauntlet trauma! Kagaya is the new event host. He dropped Discord Nitros left and right and gave away games during his debut in which most of the active (pleb) members dearly participated. Shissou also conducted his second Tetris tournament, and this time, he is barred from the game to ensure not to win first place the second time. Pyguel tested the waters by surveying the server with his Community Tier List event. We also acknowledge the regular "Question of the Day" by Tuna and the monthly "Best Message of the Month" by X. Please expect a good round of events for the following season, which is green-lit by a week-long celebration of the 4th server's anniversary.

Valuing the number of contributions from this sector this season confirmed that the community's core stimulus is the event hosts. There are several recommended improvements here and there, but they are negligible compared to the experience and enjoyment gained by the server members. I've never met any creative person more than this group of people. As a community admin, it makes me proud that we have these talented people who dedicate themselves so much time and energy to the community. We are so lucky to have them and will always be grateful for choosing to be part of the staff. The only goal for this sector is to have proper documentation for all rewarded events. Discerning what went well, what went wrong, what to improve, and what to foresee (SWOT analysis) will make things more structured and easy to pass on another member willing to be part of the event's host.

Emerging beyond expectations is how we can describe the wiki sector. It indeed had the most remarkable improvement in the prior season, but also, this sector has the most stunted growth in the current season in terms of edits. Much of the known reason is due to the transition to the new FandomDesktop recoding. There also have been two new additions to the roster of wiki moderators, PercyJackson (EN) and Disfigure (EN), as we have observed how their duo edits helped increase the database's SEO and page views. They will be joining the roster together with Candle (EN) and Freak (EN). We expect to have an adequate resource at rollback of edits during vandals or attacks that occasionally happen to unprotected pages with this team.

Recounting the page views per day indicates a decline whenever there are no updates in the release, which is reasonable provided people who are not closely tied to the server only remember the series whenever there's a notification stating new spoiler content. The boost happens after the scanned LN illustrations are uploaded. Based on the data analytics, the wiki garners around a total of 1,016,217 page views in the last 30 days with Yagami (409), Amasawa (314) and Nanase (151) as the top 3 most searched terms internally, and Kiyotaka Ayanokōji (86,332), Characters(category page) (46,955), Kiyotaka Ayanokōji/Relationships (37,881), Kei Karuizawa (37,353), and Light Novel 2nd Year Volume 4.5 (24,288) as the most top viewed pages. The ranking of geolocation of the visitors is similar to our server demographic. We expect people to search keywords related to characters with high screentime in the current plot from hereon, such as the six freshmen who debuted in Year 2 of the series. However, keep in mind that visitors might feel entitled to ask for plot details on pages tagged as low-priority. Thus, a maximum tolerance from the wiki moderator side is required.

Another thing to notice in this sector is the improved number of new volunteer editors such as Flame (EN), Assassink67 (EN), and Frono (EN); and consistent works of interlingual translations and moderator updates from Marc (ES), Jechunorm (ES), Boo (FR), Eve (ID), LunaSakuya (VI), and Mikachi1101 (VI). We can't also ignore the contributions by Kingdevo215 (EN), Alisa (EN), and Skeng-chan (EN). We are expecting to maintain the same roster for the next year.

Nevertheless, the future goal for the wiki is to adapt quickly to the new FandomDesktop theme. Design is the highest priority and then the portability of templates. The design concept should be as original yet straightforward as possible so that sister wikis can import the codes with ease. We also need to have deeper reviews at high-traffic pages and ensure to optimize the information written to make it easier to translate for sister wikis. One proposition is to keep the paragraphs in the plot as concise and relevant to the characters as possible. We are also open to suggestions in the designs as long as these are reasonable and necessary. Some features may affect the performance of the wiki in terms of latency which negatively impacts the user experience. Keep in mind to always have a balance between design and function.

Needless to say, another group of people we need to examine a bit are the Reddit Moderators and Reddit users. While it seems this is the most uneventful sector, among all platforms our community is affiliated with, Reddit Community has the most incredible reception. There are almost 50,000 users who have joined the sub as of writing this. So far, according to the current head moderator, Candle, the activity across the subreddit never changed, so there might be no change in moderation at the time being. However, when it comes to shove that Candle won't handle the community due to in real-life situations, that's when he'll start to promote the person he always had his eyes on, which we can expect in future blog updates. After all, delegating the work to other people to better manage self-care and prior commitments is a good move.

In terms of the recommended members by Discord Moderators, Reddit Moderators, and Camp Generals, it seems there is a consistent probability since most of the moderators don't exercise their right to give free points to someone. Either the server members these times aren't worth it, or they are just too picky with nominations, is something I've been wondering for a while. However, whatever the reason is, it shows a considerable distrust of moderators over its server members.

[List of people who claimed the hidden treasure in order: PercyJackson, Regulus, bens, Freak1234, and Boo]

Enough of the commercial break; let's discuss the final and most crucial sector — the server members. Here's the metric provided by Discord that will help us evaluate things on a better scale.

Reasonable observations include a better average one-week retention and a non-monotonic increase for both visitors and communicators. However, we expect a lower rate of statistics after opening the gates for several affiliations. Members from these partnered servers may experience a different level of security provided that they can only talk in the text channels freely only when they have verified the email and mobile number in their account. We don't have an alternative method in verifying people yet since this methodology has saved the server from alt raiders and spam attacks for nearly a year. Some may see this as an overreaction or paranoia but being on the prevention is hundredfold better than cure.

Several people also contributed to the server by nitro boosting. The statistics showed that the number of boosters tripled after EpicGames gave free nitro for those who haven't had any nitro within the last six months. It makes me think that some people want to support the server in any way they can but can't show it regularly due to economic and financial circumstances. However, we would like to let everyone know that money is the least prioritized factor in this community. True, we use it as a reward for some events, but for me, dedicating time to impact the server positively is highly appreciated. Here's the list of our long-time non-Discord Moderator boosters.

Again, this blog has become unnecessary long but if there's anything I want you to get from this blog is that we recognize everyone who helped us to get so far. In this community, you are valued regardless of the degree of your contribution. It's up to you how you'll leave a digital footprint. Whichever sector it is, make the best out of it. Seize the moment — cherish the community while it is still here.

Refer to announcements on the bulletin board for details on how many promotions points eligible users got this season. Keep in mind, though, that we hide the points garnered by Discord Moderators. This report may not show some significant statistics, but here's the link to the server's basic statistics that are open to the public.

Yup~! That is all for the quarterly report. Please look forward to our progress of the following season.