Introduction []
(Madman Tonight is filmed in front of a live studio audience)
Madman97: Me and Emperor Jarjarkine have interviewed users high and low on this blog and I think it's a great opportunity to get to know your fellow users, share stories and create new ones. We've also met some with great tastes in music. Don't you agree, Dave?
Dave: Oh absolutely. One of them really liked Salt N' Pepper.
Madman97: But as much as this show makes me want to shoop--
Dave (and Audience): Ba-doop Ba-doop Ba-doop!
Madman97: Yo' packed and yo' stacked, 'specially in the back! Brother wanna' thank ya' motha' for a butt like 'dat! Ahem, sorry, what are we doing here?
Dave: You're right. Wutang would be better.
Madman97: Not that! We barely break NBC's top ten! We need to boost our views, get someone in here that will really make the show! But who? Who could we interview here that is possibly more important than our admins and crats? Hmm, Dave, arrange a meeting with either Manimarco or my ex girlfriend. At least one of those will get the viewers in here to see a soul-sucking monster.
Dave (holding earpiece): Hang on a second, I think we have someone better waiting outside.
Madman97: Well, who?!
Dave: An editor from Central, part of the VSTF...And he speaks french.
Madman97: Ooh, la, la! Send him in! We'll interview him right away!
Dave: Tonight on...
MADMAN TO--
Madman97: My line!
The Interview []
(Applause as a man steps onto the stage and sits down.)
Madman97(looking at Dave): You're an @$$hole, Dave. Hello sir! And who might you be?
Dave: This is Jr Mime.
Madman97: I ASKED HIM, DAVE! Jr Mime. I see. Well, this is an unexpected surprise. Since you are not from this wikia I would like to take the time to welcome you--
(Applause)
On Wikia []
Madman97:--And I thank you for agreeing to do this. It's nice to broaden our range to the biggest conglomerate of communities within the Wikia. For this community I often ask how they came to be a user on the website and I shall ask the same to you. How long have you been a VSTF--What's the purpose of that even?
Jr Mime: I have been a VSTF member for 1 year and 9 months. My purpose is to fight vandalism and spam throughout Wikia, small or big communities. I became a member by helping them. I was very active during that time, mainly stalking the counter-vandalism channel and spamming them with reports.
Madman97: Ha! Sounds about right. Considering this is the first time some users might be hearing of Central--or at least--this might be the first time someone from Central stopped by to lay it down for them and they might be confused as to what exactly Central does.
Jr Mime: I do not understand which function of what you want me to explain...
Madman97: Then I will be more specific. Why was Central created? Is it a hub for all communities, do they help run Wikia, is it just a Moderator for all wikias, that sort of thing.
Jr Mime: The primary function of the Central wiki is a variety of updates, discussions resolving around Wikia, and to get all your help needed on your wiki. It's the central wiki (hence Community Central).
Madman97: I'll take that to mean it is the Central Hub. I was new there myself when I was gathering some data, so thank you for clearing that up for me. When I researching, I came across an event called Community Connect, an event that invited various users from a range of different Wikias to a conference of sorts. That is an interesting idea and I heard it was a success! Were you involved?
Jr Mime: No, I was not involved in any way.
Madman97: That's too bad, since I think you contribute good things to the Wikia by doing what you do, especially since you're volunteering to track down spam. That takes conviction! Is there anything else you do?
Jr Mime: I am a chat moderator at w:Community Central, and I edit the RuneScape Wiki.
Dave: RuneScape, RuneScape...What was the game again?
Madman97: Kids went nuts for it back in the day. Never tried it. But it was like K-mart World of Warcraft, also something I never tried. The community there is cool though, kind of like shrewd businessmen...or is that Team Fortress 2? Eh, I don't play those games. But speaking of community, as a member of VSTF, the community at Central should look up to you in some way. Would you consider that statement to be true? Do you try your best to connect with them and make sure their experience is the best it can possibly be?
Jr Mime: It depends on what circumstances that they look up to me. In most cases where people come to me for help, yes, it's true. I surely try my best to connect with them.
Dave: But there are always some rabble-rousers out there.
Madman97: An excellent point, Dave.
(Madman gives Dave a dog treat while Dave's face slowly contorts in pain as he realized his life is meaningless)
(Applause)
Madman97: Well Jr? Have there been "rabble-rousers?" Or how about something different, such as a staff member that acted poorly?
Jr Mime: There are generally no problems between the VSTFs and the community. If a VSTF member did act poorly, anything can be reverted and fixed.
Madman97: Good, good, but I was hoping if you could tell me more of what happens OUTSIDE just the VSTF. Since I'm going for a more broad picture by interviewing someone from Central, I was hoping you could give me a detailed look at ALL members relationships with those who hold certain rights above the average joe, actual paid stuff or volunteer. Was there ever any instance in which actual paid staff got into scraps with a normal user that you know of?
Jr Mime: I can't really talk about what's not public (helpers and staff things), nor I do know any, sadly. It's true that banned users dislike Staff and it's never "resolved" (banned user stays banned), but that's about it.
Madman97: No juicy stuff going on in Central? Dave, you were supposed to incite a massive flame war!
Dave: Huh? Oh, yeah...About that...
Madman97: Bah! Mediocre! We are chaotic beings, Dave, made to cause trouble across the farthest reaches of space and time. Nothing is outside our influence, Dave. We cause chaos. We are the Chaos that makes life meaningless. We answer to none other than that which gibbers and gnaws at the edges of black infinity, Dave. Even the Crawling Chaos Nyarlathotep bows to our ability. Do not look up to the sky and wonder where God is, Dave. He's right here, and he's very angry with you.
(One audience member cries)
Madman97 (smiles): But anyway, Jr, how important would you say the relationship is between staff and community? Has there ever been instances where this relationship was threatened? How was it resolved?
Jr Mime: It's very important to have a good relationship, as we deal with communities everyday! Yes there were relationship issues, but they were resolved as we end up ignoring said community; they don't need our help anyway if they start bothering VSTFs.
Dave and Madman97: Um...What?
Madman97: Could you go back and say that last part again?
Dave: Yeah...so you straight up ignore an entire community?
Madman97: Er...There must be something we didn't interpret well, Dear Davey. Jr, that last bit struck me as a little weird. When you say ignore the communities that bother you, what does that typically entail. Is the entire community usually a bunch of trolls or was it just a few people that widened the rift? Are they communities from other wikis or on Central?
Jr Mime: As a VSTF, we deal with spam/vandalism. If the wiki is active enough to say "get off our wiki", we will get off generally, since they do not need our help; anyone can deal with vandalism. Generally it's just a bunch of trolls not related to Central.
Dave: Hmm. Ok, I can live with that. Trolls rejecting a vandalism force.
Madman97: Reminds me of a few friends of ours still in high school that think the government wants to start a race war and they want to cause an uprising...THEY KNOW THE TRUTH!
Dave: Wait, wait, wait...Did you know...that Bush did 9/11?
Madman97:...I think we should avoid social commentary, Dave. It's never really been our strong suit. We can drive a man mad with rage but the second a sensitive commenter responds, it's game over! But this is an encouraging response from Jr Mime. The users with special privileges respond to the wishes of the average user. There have been rumors brewing at Central of some rifts growing between users and staff but it is good to see they may not be as bad as they seem, as it is always worrying to hear about that sort of thing. Things at Central tend to trickle down to the other wikias and for those of us who were here through the last two years, we know how damaging rifts between Admins and Users can be and how important it is to keep it under control. We all should already know that, so I think this is a good time to bid our very special guest farewell.
Jr Mime, thank you for agreeing to this. You're probably our most important guest to date (not to say our previous ones weren't well deserving of an interview as well), but it's always good to hear about things from the source of the Wikia conglomerate and from an outsider to the Elder Scrolls Wiki.
(Applause)
And that concludes this episode of Madman Tonight, and we will see you next week!
(Applause)
(Madman Tonight is sponsored by Talos: Y'all fools need it)
Special Announcement []
Madman97 here. Since our last interview with Harold Burned-Mane and my research into the Sandbox wiki, I have to say I really enjoy creating stories for it. If you have been a long time reader of my work, specifically Wabbajack Grinding, you would know the lore surrounding my character for the blog series (mostly involving me being the cousin of Sheogorath and the Lord of the Rant). If you're interested in stories, I have begun a mini-series for the character to explain the Wabbajack Grinder's origins and also act as a fan-fiction regarding the Hero of Kvatch coming to grips with his new role as the Mad God after the events of the Shivering Isles DLC, which can be found here:
1) http://tes-sandbox.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Madman97/A_Sithis-Shaped_Hole_(Part_One)
2) http://tes-sandbox.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Madman97/A_Sithis-Shaped_Hole_(Part_Two)
More content is on the way and if you enjoy some expansive lore, I think you will really enjoy this. Any support is greatly appreciated and I shall see you all next week. Stay Mad and Stay Ranty.