Voted!

I have voted! Although it is not required to publicly state which way I've voted, I will say that I am of the belief that staff should have always been, and should continue to be left up to a vote. Denying this idea will only perpetuate the issue further I feel. My time on WCC is over, but I - and I hope the rest of the community - agree that this is the best way forward for WCC to continue to stay alive. The community's wishes should always remain at the forefront of the site, and this includes a staff team that represents the community's wishes. Thank you <3

I have logged in to vote. While my time here has been short, the friends I've made and the members that remain deserve better than what we have now.

Voted, this petition has my support.

Voted o7

also voted !

I would like to stay fairly neutral in all this, but I do have one concern that I think may be relevant.

What if someone does not want Holly to step down/be removed, but they do agree with the process for voting in new staff members? I’m not saying this is my belief, but I think that there should potentially be a degree of separation between the two issues, since someone might be conflicted. I understand that there is the “other” option in the poll, but that might remove the anonymity from someone’s response. Thank you for your time!!

i’ve said this on disc, but i mean this with my entire chest if you bully holly out of admin ship i’m leaving wcc. this is honestly embarrassing behavior.

Maple wrote:

I would like to stay fairly neutral in all this, but I do have one concern that I think may be relevant.

What if someone does not want Holly to step down/be removed, but they do agree with the process for voting in new staff members? I’m not saying this is my belief, but I think that there should potentially be a degree of separation between the two issues, since someone might be conflicted. I understand that there is the “other” option in the poll, but that might remove the anonymity from someone’s response. Thank you for your time!!

Hey Maple! This is actually an exact scenario I imagined when I added the third voting option "Other - Please Comment". It is absolutely an alternate option that could be considered! I strongly believe WCC should vote for staff in the future regardless of whether or not Holly steps down or not.

If we are going to have change - which, let's be honest, changes are coming in one form or another - we need to be able to speak up and voice our thoughts and opinions without fear of backlash or retaliation. Those who signed the petition chose not to remain anonymous because they believe in what they were signing for. If someone has an alternative idea to what is being presented here, I would hope that they wouldn't feel afraid to speak up and voice their thoughts. We can't know or consider other options if they aren't presented to begin with. And we can't present new options while remaining anonymous.

Miupow wrote:

i’ve said this on disc, but i mean this with my entire chest if you bully holly out of admin ship i’m leaving wcc. this is honestly embarrassing behavior.

I'm sorry you feel that way. I agree that there's been a lot of embarrassing and disappointing behavior on WCC lately. We actually believe that a democratic petition is a much more mature avenue of action. But if you have an alternative course of action you'd like people to be aware of, please feel free to speak your mind.

With all due respect, I believe that essentially equates to saying that if you are not comfortable attaching your name to your opinion, then your opinion doesn’t matter. And in a situation where people have already been bullied or talked down to, I frankly don’t blame anyone for not wanting to sign their name on anything they say. Anonymously or not, I think everyone’s opinion should still hold value, and forcing someone to attach their name to something if they hold a particular opinion is not fair.

Do with this what you will, but that’s my stance.

I voted. I think that we are so busy doing damage control right now that this idea, good or not, is unsustainable. I'm disappointed in how many people are dragging this drama past its expiration date.

How dare you drag Copper into this. Copper decided to leave because she was tired of the drama that you guys keep bringing back to life and I will miss her dearly.

I just woke up so I hope this sounds coherent. I think Holly messed up demoting Ripped by executive decision. I am not necessarily in favor of Holly as admin, but I think now is not the time or place to storm the gates screaming about democracy. The entire community has stepped up in the wake of this disaster and I've seen some of the best communicating I ever have, recently. You who have left have no right to come in and try to drag so many others down with you. We just want to play cats online.

If you left this community, then leave. You no longer have a say in how it is run. I cannot state politely how disappointed I am in a lot of people who I had considered friends.

I've been trying to avoid this situation as much as I can but I had to say something so you all can't discount my vote.

If you're going to leave, leave. If you're going to stay, stay. I'm on this site to roleplay silly cat characters, not for all of this drama.

This is going to come across as a little mean, so please do forgive me and don't take this the wrong way.

Disclaimer: I'm not a current or former member of staff. I'm a player using a throwaway account to avoid the kind of hostility OP is expressing. I don't feel comfortable making my identity known given the backlash from the people pushing for a new regime.

Now, onto the response:

Come on. Come the h*ck on. OP, this is some absolute clownery, and you know it.

From all the information I've been able to gather: Ripped was demoted after repeated complaints, untempered abrasiveness, and consistent poor handling of situations. This isn't a reflection of her as a person, merely the staff aspect of things, and a factual statement on why - from the perspective of a non-staff member who actually keeps up to date on these things - the demotion happened.
Her immediate response to this was the legal equivalent of kicking over the sandcastle with the justification of 'well, I helped build this tower here'.

This isn't a "reformation petition", this is a coup. I daresay someone who truly cares about WCC wouldn't have the first instinct to take advantage of instability in order to push themselves and their friends into positions of power. Someone who truly cares about WCC would see the situation with Ripped's copyright takedown claims and the audacity of the drama going on here, and go "this is a kid's site, let's work together".

With all due respect, if you want to actually fix WCC:
The issue of 'how should staff be selected?' should be resolved after the site isn't burning to the ground. Stop pouring fuel on the flames by attempting a coup d'état.
It's my personal belief that staff should be selected with both consensus from the non-staff community and from the existing staff team, but that's a discussion for another, quieter time. Put the megaphone down and get off your soapbox before you make a fool of yourselves, please.

As for "Holly should resign"- Holly has kept the site duct-taped together in spite of some people actively trying to sabotage it. She's handling legal claims against WCC that could threaten the existence of the site. The people on the staff team right now can be counted on one hand. This is not the time to be a clown.

This isn't working together. It's being an opportunistic vulture circling the site looking for easy prey.

You can do better. I'm embarrassed for the people associated with this, and I'm embarrassed for myself to be associated with them.

The fact that this is being perceived as bulling or attempts at being disruptive rather than productive, is disheartening. It's also disheartening to be told that our opinions don't matter since we left the site in protest of the events leading up to it, and to have it assumed that me or any of my friends have any interest in staff.

Why do you think we left in the first place? Because of this kind of attitude.

You can insult me, and make assumptions about me, spread rumors and whatnot, but those who knew us while we were on the site generally liked us and respected our thoughts and ideas. I've had several members express to me how sad they are about what's happening and this is my final attempt to help them potentially help the site.

As for you WCCAnon... You're breaking the multi account rule by doing what you're doing, but I'm sure the current staff "team" will overlook and dismiss it because it's seen as a layer of "protection." While the undersigned users and myself have been behaving completely civil, who is the one throwing around insults and assumptions? Hmm.

For the record, no one dragged Copper into this. Everyone who is involved has been involved in open discussion about the potential backlash we may be met with simply for speaking up, we've weighed the pros and cons together. I wouldn't speak for Copper if I were you, considering she made the choice to put her name forward.

Also Maple - I hear you, and I am open to listen to any productive alternatives you may be able to provide so people can remain anonymous and also put forward their ideas.