Hello Everyone, I have returned to this wiki. I have been on this wiki for years and I have felt the urge to re-itirate my sentiments from last time.
Greetings Garfield Wiki! Allow me to introduce myself: I have been a fan of the Garfield franchise for as long as I can remember. For over a decade, I’ve been using your Wiki as a point of reference, and it has come a LONG way since I first discovered it in the early 2010s. Back then, most pages were in awful shape, and many topics weren’t even covered at all. That has changed, and the content side of the Wiki is now in a much better place. Over time I have also observed the activity and users of the Wiki, and unfortunately the news there is not as good. You see, even though I have not seen everything that has gone on, one thing has become clear: the Garfield Wiki has a toxic, unwelcoming culture towards new and inexperienced users. This culture is, in my humble opinion, the main reason why the Wiki has stagnated in growth. What’s worse is that this toxicity all stems from the actions of one administrator, TeeJay87.
Before I discuss the actions of TeeJay87, I want to reiterate that I have not written this blog post out of any malice towards him or anyone else on the Wiki. In contrast, I have written this because I want the Garfield Wiki to be a welcoming place, a vibrant community, and a truly great source of information. TeeJay87’s actions make that impossible. I anticipate being called a troll, vandal, or worse, but in reality I am trying to help you. Please remember that.
First, I would like to examine the Garfield Wiki’s official rules, which state that, “The wiki follows these rules, and breaking any, whether it be a user or admin will receive sufficient notice.” In my opinion (and I am sure others would agree) there has been a striking double standard at work here. TeeJay87 has violated the following rules, many in blatant fashion, yet has never received even a warning from the other admins. I will provide a few recent examples, but the users and admins of the Wiki should be familiar enough with TeeJay87 to know that there are many similar instances like these from the past.
1.01.01 - Civility - General courtesy is to be exercised among all users, administrator and user. Any form of discourtesy practised will likely fall under the points of Section 1.02 - Harassment or Section 1.03 - Vandalism.
This is perhaps the most obvious one - TeeJay87 violates the letter and spirit of this rule in almost every interaction. It is clear that he feels superior to the other users on the Wiki, apparently because he perceives most new users to be trolls. For reasons I do not understand, he fails to abide by the central rule of the internet - don’t feel the trolls. Instead, TeeJay87 thinks he must force-feed the trolls to prove some kind of point about his superiority.
1.01.03 - Minor Swear Words - Only the use of minor swear words are allowed to be practised. Examples of minor swear words are "ass", "bastard" and "crap".
While not the most glaring offense, TeeJay87 once blocked a user for “being a cunt” (no other reason given) and has used profanity on other occasions.
1.02.01 - General Harassment - Any obscene behaviour directed to another user that is dehumanising, discriminatory and defaming is seen as harassment and will be followed by an immediate ban. This rule applies to both users and administrators.
Again, the way in which TeeJay87 treats users falls into this category. And yet, no immediate ban.
1.02.01.01 - Dehumanisation - Any form and material made/shown/said to personally demean another human being.
TeeJay87’s fan art, in which he has repeatedly engaged in personal attacks against other Wiki users, is the perfect example of this.
1.02.01.03 - Name-Calling - Name-calling is the use of a verbal abuse toward another individual, minor or major.
Whether it is “drunkard,” “kiddo,” “dumbf**k juice addict,” “simpleton,” his frequent accusation of “hormone imbalance,” or dozens of other examples, TeeJay87 abuses this rule constantly.
1.04.01 - Administrators are not allowed to outright block users unless the latter has outright vandalised. When an administrator wants to block a non-vandal, it must go through all administrators on the website.
1.04.02 - Administrators cannot block users over personal annoyances or vendettas. Administrators need valid reasoning before they can apply such blocks.
Many of the users TeeJay87 has blocked in the past would fall into this category. Even if some blocks were deserved, the length probably was not. There are other rules he may have broken, but the ones listed above are the most obvious.
TeeJay87 has also been warned or disciplined by Fandom Staff on the following occasions:
September 21, 2018: TeeJay87 was warned for posting fanart that attacked other users and was “extremely offensive and inappropriate for FANDOM.”
November 20, 2018: TeeJay87 received a “second, strong warning” for again “creating and posting art that directly attacks (and insults) other members of the community.”
December 18, 2018: TeeJay87 was warned for “insulting and extremely personal” attacks on other users.
May 11, 2021: TeeJay87 received an only warning to “tone things down in general” after blocking a user for sockpuppetry despite there being “no evidence to back [the] claim” of it.
August 11, 2021: TeeJay87 was warned by Staff for protecting nearly every page on the Garfield Wiki, ensuring that only administrators could edit them.
October 9, 2021: TeeJay87’s administrator rights on the Tom & Jerry Wiki were removed by Staff for over-protecting pages.
November 2021: Earlier this month, TeeJay87 received a short global block, apparently for his conduct in this thread.
All this took place with nary a word from this Wiki’s other admins.
Perhaps this conduct would be tolerable if TeeJay87 was drastically improving the Wiki and contributing new content. However, it is obvious that this is not the case. A quick look through his contributions reveals that so far in 2021, apart from vandalism reverts, TeeJay87 has made 7 article edits, the last of which was made on April 17. That’s right, SEVEN edits, which is also the same amount of times he has been reprimanded by Fandom, as shown above. In other words, TeeJay87 is very active when it comes to arguing with users and stirring up drama, but actual editing? Not so much.
The hard truth is that the Garfield Wiki faces many headwinds in the coming years. Not only is Fandom declining in popularity due to the highly questionable decisions of the company itself, but the Garfield fandom, as I’m sure we all know, is not that large or relevant today. However, the next few years present a massive opportunity to change that. With a major new movie and Nickelodeon series on the horizon, new users and fans will be out there, the only question is whether they will be welcome. In fact, my most recent visits to the Wiki were in search of new information about the Alcon movie. In this kind of environment alienating new users is simply not an option if you want to grow.
Finally, I would like to explicitly address the other administrators here. I am not telling you what to do, but it seems obvious TeeJay87 should be, at minimum, demoted until he has proven to have cast off this behavior for good. Most other Wikis would surely have already done so, and perhaps blocked him as well. As administrators, you have a responsibility to the users of the Wiki, and must place the greater good above personal friendships. There is evidence above showing that this has not happened. Other users have blown the whistle, Fandom has taken action, and still the administrators here have done nothing. For the good of the Wiki and its future, make the right choice, even if it is hard, and create a truly welcoming environment for all users.
However, I really want to add more.
After TeeJay87, has re-gained his Administrator position I've realized he has blinded the staff team by thinking his morally flawed perceptions are correct and how further action must be taken... I will be resorting to contacting Fandom Staff to take action with the situation as I have more than enough evidence I also have some things I must say about the staff team.
Kbinthald - TeeJay87's Bias, never edits only comes to back up TeeJay
LS031 - Controversial
Flamey2007 - Controversial
Low Spark of Lyman - Controversial
Cooljoe01 is the only sane member of this Staff Team which is why I want to talk sense into you all.. He is the only one worthy of being an Administrator and you must understand this... Sorry for this last bit not being typed well I was typing this in a rush as for me it is currently about 3 am and I don't have time for a lot of this however my replies to this will be constructive.
