Encyclopedia SpongeBobia
Don't have an account?
Register
Advertisement
Register
Encyclopedia SpongeBobia
Encyclopedia SpongeBobia
15,595
pages
in: Archived proposals

ESB:Proposals/Rename the Wiki (Final Round)

< ESB:Proposals
View source

The following discussion is part of a series.

Round 1 • Round 2 • Round 3 • Round 4 • Final Round


Wiki
Proposal Archive
The following proposal has been discussed and is now marked as resolved. The page has been protected and now serves as an archive. Do not edit this page.
Date Resolved: April 5, 2014


Result: Proposal passes. Encyclopedia SpongeBobia will become the new name for the wiki, affective April 25, 2014. 14 support, 1 oppose, 4 neutral.


After 9 months of deliberation, the first four rounds of Rename the Wiki have resulted in overwhelming support for renaming the wiki to "Encyclopedia SpongeBobia." The purpose of Round 5 is to make the final decision. This discussion will last ten (10) days, ending on Saturday, April 5, 2014 at 2:00 AM eastern standard time. The proposal is as follows:

Summary of Round 4

Round 4 began on February 24, 2014 with the top 4 renaming suggestions. Overwhelmingly popular, "Encyclopedia SpongeBobia" became the top pick, with a rating 17 points higher than 2nd place. 24 users have shown their support for the name, while 2 have most recently had a neutral opinion. Here are the results:

  • 1. Encyclopedia SpongeBobia: 14
  • 2. SpongeBase Galaxy: -3
  • 3. SpongeBob Knowledge Base: -4
  • 4. The Spongey Database: -5

The overall summary of the discussion in regards the present name, "The SpongeBob SquarePants Wiki," is that although people do like the name and don't mind it, we are in need of a change. A change is welcome, and is positive at the same time.

Proposal

  • 1. "The SpongeBob SquarePants Wiki" will be renamed to "Encyclopedia SpongeBobia" and become the wiki's official name.
  • 2. "the SpongeBob SquarePants Wiki" can be used as a subtitle, if wanted.
  • 3. While the discussion will end on April 5, 2014, the change will officially take effect on the wiki's 7th anniversary, April 25, 2014.
  • 4. The contest for the logo will end on or before April 24, 2014, to be placed in time for the renaming on the wiki's 7th anniversary.
  • 5. We will KEEP the SAME URL address (http://spongebob.wikia.com)

Also, anticipating that this will pass, given the amount of support "Encyclopedia SpongeBobia" has, I will start a logo contest, so that we can have it ready for the anticipated launch date, April 25, 2014.

Discuss below. — AMK152 05:00, March 25, 2014 (UTC)

Discussion

Support

Oppose

Oppose Oppose - I personally do not want to lose the name we have now. It is a good name. However, instead of just saying that I do not like the name change, I am also going to give evidence to why it should not be named "Encyclopedia SpongeBobia". NOTE: Please read it all.

When most of you hear the name, you think that it is just a clever pun on either "Encyclopedia Britannica" or "Encyclopedia Americana". However, it is not just a name, this name suggests that this is wiki is a valid source for information and that everything (or at least 98% of the things) on this wiki are true. However, (and I cannot believe I am about to insult the wiki, something I have never done, but I will have to) this wiki is nowhere close to the prestige of the two multiple volume book series. (Yes, the plural of series is series) Over the years that I have been an admin on this wiki, I have had to revert numerous stupid, useless, redundant, spelling errors, and/or grammatically/factually inaccurate statements. I am not even sure why we are changing the name in the first place. It seems that everyone is content with the name that it is, to my knowledge, at least since I have been here, no one has complained about the name. In addition, is anyone else concerned about the fact that no one has any idea where the name came from? I want you to ask yourself honestly, without any influence from anyone else, "Do I [you] want the name to change?" - 120d, 20:47 March 25, 2014

  • I didn't interpret the name as something that points to a valid source for information. And we want everything on this wiki to be true. We don't want false information, we don't want vandalism. The wiki's content is much more accurate and grammatically correct than ever before. Vandalism is being handled very well (vandalism was out of control back in 2008-2010). Sure, everyone is content on the name, but over the course of the past nine months, only 2 out of 26 have expressed neutral or opposition. You are so far the only person to oppose this (as you did in Round 2; also you were neutral in round 3). Spongebob456 was in support in rounds 2 and 3, while neutral in round 4. 24 other users showed support for the name. And you are exactly correct. Everyone is "content" on the name, but what goes with content is "out of date," "boring," and "unoriginal." This is another reason why I had this discussion go on for so long, to make absolutely sure we are moving in the right direction. The general vibe is to change the name. Most people seem to be very welcoming of the change. — AMK152 01:31, March 26, 2014 (UTC)
  • You did not really give an answer to the question at the end of my statement. Anyway, I believe that everyone else has taken this as if we are just going to change the name and then we will be done with it. This is why I don't like that we have a logo contest, because it is still early in the discussion and people could oppose the name; I would understand if it was the last day or two that you put the logo contest up but, not this early. Also, I believe we NEED to have it be MY definition of unanimous (EVERYBODY agrees on it, at least have it be that everybody either gives a Support or a Neutral) because it wouldn't be right if we just changed the name and were like the wiki is telling the people who oppose "F___ you, we don't care about your opinion at all, we're just going to change this without caring what you think." This why I do not think any of the decisions are fair, they just take what the "majority" think. (The quotes are there because I am sure most of the wiki community does not vote on the discussions/proposals.) That is probably the biggest flaw in democratic voting, that the majority wins. In addition, I understand that the name means, “This is the way it should be”, but in reality, things are not this way. I think you need to open your eyes and see that, yes, vandalism is under control, but it is still happening at a large amount. 11:21 March 26, 2014 (UTC)
  • I thought my answer to your last question was obvious. Yes, I would like to change the name, it is good for the wiki to have a better name. The current name is outdated, boring, and unoriginal. Outdated and unoriginal are not my words, I got them from others who I agree with. One other thing I should mention, is that it doesn't matter where the idea came from. What matters is that we gave everyone 7 months to come up with names to suggest, and Encyclopedia SpongeBobia came out on top. Now, to answer your questions from your most recent reply. 1) Yes, we are changing the name. IF THIS PASSES. That is the whole point of this discussion. Once the name is changed, what else is there to do in that regards? 2) The wiki's 7th anniversary is April 25, 2014, and in the event that this proposal passes, I want to logo contest to already be underway. I want to make sure we have enough time to develop a logo before launch (April 25, 2014). If this proposal doesn't pass, I will cancel the logo contest. 3) If we used YOUR DEFINITION of unanimous instead of majority, there would be instances in which we don't get everything done. One opposition could hinder anything. Like I said, 24/26 people support "Encyclopedia SpongeBobia." Also, you are the only person who strongly opposes changing the name. Everyone else is either neutral or in full support of changing the name. 4) We are not saying "(censored) You" and we do care about everyone's opinion. We have had this discussion open for 9 months. And if we didn't care about everyone's opinion, why would I still be responding to your messages? 5) What does vandalism have to do with changing the name? 6) There is vandalism, but at the same time, it is better controlled than in years previous. — AMK152 15:04, March 26, 2014 (UTC)
  • 5) If you read the ENTIRE reason not to change the name, you would know that the name has a meaning and has expectations that this WIKI cannot live up to. I also really do not like the name. If the name doesn't bring high expectations, it will bring insults about how it is a parody and that it isn't very good, I am not necessarily saying that they will come from people who have been here a while, but probably the new members. (That is, if we get any new members after this.) I see your point about that we cannot have them all be unanimous voting, but this one should be. This is the most important decision that the WIKI has ever made, and will probably ever make. I also do not like that there is a time limit. I know you want to get this done by the anniversary, but why? An anniversary is nothing more than saying that this wiki has lasted another year. WOOPTY DOO! (That last part is supposed to be sarcastic) You probably don't see it, but I am trying to help this wiki from getting ridiculed or lose members because there really isn't anything wrong with this name, it isn't "outdated" or "unoriginal", if it was outdated, we would have done this years ago, and it isn't unoriginal because the WIKI is the first to come up with the name. Yes, it is just like all of the rest of the WIKIS, but maybe that is a good thing. I don't like that you aren't really seeing it from my point of view, I agree that some of you points are good, but it seems like the only thing that you agree with is that this discussion isn't over yet, which is just a fact. By now I am sure you have noticed that I have put emphasis to the word "WIKI", the reason I have done this is because that is what this is, a wiki. It is on wikia.com, which make the name "SpongeBob SquarePants Wiki" not a bad name. Have you even thought about what might happen (yes, I wrote "might happen" because, unlike you and your "Once the name is changed", I do not know if this will happen or not) if people start leaving or we get hate for having a new name?, it is almost like this change is so familiar, like a show lost viewers after a big event just because it changed a little, hmm, I wonder what I'm talking about. Oh well. (I'm sorry; I had to because it is very true.) I wish more people could read my first post, but I think that people are just giving there opinion and leaving, without reading the other points. (That was completely sincere, by the way) Also, I was sad when I heard that we we're leaving wikia.com to go to SpongeBob Universe and I was glad that it fell through, but I know that it is highly unlikely that this will fall through and I am not entirely sure I can continue to be on this wiki the way things are. I mean if we just change the name after 7 years and allow spoilers, then this is not a good wiki or a good website at all. Soon, we will allow anything to happen, we will change the look of the wiki, we will change the format of the articles, we will be less aggressive to vandalizers, I don't know. In a world full of changes, it was nice to know that this wiki changed the least. - 120d 18:42, March 26, 2014 (UTC)

Okay, this is a lot to respond to, so I will create a separate section and be sure to address every point you made.

  • 1) I don't think the name will bring about high expectations in the sense you are talking about. It will create excitement, as with other stuff we are doing (i.e. the ongoing Project Cleanup), and attract more users. More users means a better chance at having new contributors that can help bring about better changes, deter vandalism, and help the wiki be the best it can be.
  • 2) You are the only person, so far, who completely opposes this change. I agree this is a very important decision for the wiki, so I had this discussion ongoing for nine months. Do you know how long the SpongeBob Universe discussion lasted? 3 days. And look what happened. I have made sure we went about this the right way. I prolonged discussion for nine months.
  • 3) Regarding the time limit: Per the policies that the community agreed upon back in February, Section E shows that discussions are to last 7 days, while Section H allows for discussions to be open longer. I opted to extend this particular discussion for 10 days. The discussion has lasted over nine months anyway, and there was no strong opposition until you made your comment on this page.
  • 4) The anniversary thing is more of a symbolic gesture. We never really celebrated the wiki's anniversary before. But the real point is 9+ months of discussion is long enough. And it just so happens to be nearing the end close to the anniversary of the wiki.
  • 5) Outdated: We have had the current name for almost 7 years (since the beginning). There was never an official name, it just happened. I brought up a discussion back in 2010 to change the name, but that was a time when there was very little community involvement in discussions. See my original 2010 discussion here. Funny how I suggested SpongeBob Universe back then as a name for the wiki.
  • 6) Unoriginal: So many wikis use the format (topic) + (Wiki). In our case, the topic is "SpongeBob SquarePants."
  • 7) I am fully aware this is a wiki. We can very well use "the SpongeBob SquarePants Wiki" as a subtitle. It's part of the proposal.
  • 8) The name change is signifiant and insignificant. It's insignificant because all we are doing is changing wherever it says "the SpongeBob SquarePants Wiki" and changing that to "Encyclopedia SpongeBobia." And the other thing is we are changing the logo. That's it. The significant part comes from having a different name, which will bring more excitement and enthusiasm to the wiki. It's a great name as many people have pointed out, and with nine months of discussion, it came out on top of all other names. The change is welcomed and positive.
  • 9) Why would someone hate something just because there is a new name? You are the only one who has shown this. Current users don't seem to be up in arms. The "Rename the Wiki" discussion has been out in the open for nine months, and no one was up in arms.
  • 10) So by my understanding, you believe that changing the name to Encyclopedia SpongeBobia will have more negative than positive results? If you believe this, you are the first person to say so.
  • 11) We are not "just [changing] the name after 7 years," we are rebranding. I will explain this below, in #13.
  • 12) "You said: "Soon, we will allow anything to happen, we will change the look of the wiki, we will change the format of the articles, we will be less aggressive to vandalizers."
  • 13) We have actually adopted more policies in the recent months, so we won't allow just anything to happen. Only the good things. We are more strict with vandalizers now than ever before. And regards to the change of the look and format of the articles. IT IS ALREADY HAPPENING. The name change, like I said, is part of rebranding. There have been several changes already in place the past couple of years. AW10 has been working on our design and functionality, developing the nice info boxes with the round edges, along with formatting lists and using a tabs system. We as a community have adopted guidelines for several articles types in "Project Cleanup."
  • 14) We are changing, trust me. And it's for the better. The name change is just part of the changes. I look forward to more positive changes in the future. Among the most recent changes was the completion of credits lists for episodes, along with a credits table template for crew members. See the table on the Alan Smart article as an example. This is the kind of changes I am talking about.
  • 15) Why didn't you bring up your concerns earlier? We have been discussing this renaming since November 1, 2012. That's over 16 months. Should be 16 months, above, not 9 months. The name "Encyclopedia SpongeBobia" has been discussed for 9 months, but the overall name change has been under discussion for almost a year and a half. There was plenty of time to bring up these concerns.
  • I hope I have addressed every point and clarified everything. This took me 45 minutes to type up. — AMK152 23:15, March 26, 2014 (UTC)
  • First, you must admit that users are worried. (See the Neutral Section below) Second, the reason I didn't bring it up earlier is that I thought this would fall through and we would just keep the name the way it is. Third, some might describe me as a "grammar Nazi", someone who corrects every little grammatical error, the reason I bring this up is that in the 13th point you wrote "And regards to the change..." the and was at the beginning of a sentence, which is something you are not supposed to do. Fourth, I think I would be content if we put up a poll on the center of front page that had the question "Do you want to change the wiki's name?" and have the choices "yes" and "no". Fifth, I assume that point 12 was explained in point 13, but if it was not, then that makes little sense. - 120d 23:35, March 26, 2014 (UTC)
  • First, the only worries are about the URL (which will stay) and the content. Nothing is being wiped out. Had we moved to SpongeBob Universe, that would have happened. To those who frequent the wiki, the change is very small. Those who are neutral and expressed their concerns need not worry about what they addressed. Second, if you had these concerns in the beginning, you should have said something. You say that you thought the change would not take place. If you paid close attention, it has been leaning that way for some time. Third, grammar is irrelvant to the conversation. I only proofread my response once this time, even though I usually do once before and once after I click publish. Fourth, we don't make decisions based on "polls." Polls are for "What is your favorite episode?" or "Who is your favorite character?" It's not a discussion. People need to be able to fully express their opinions in words, as you are doing now. Fifth, yes, #12 was explained in point #13, but I wanted to separate your quote from my response and I didn't feel like renumbering. But points three and five are irrelvant to the conversation, why do you bring them up? — AMK152 03:59, March 27, 2014 (UTC)
    • First, I am well aware that grammer is irrelevent to the discussion, but you of all people should be using good grammer. Second, I am not saying that the poll will decide whether or not this discussion has relevence, what I am saying is that a poll is a much easier way to get more people to vote on whether or not we should do this. If they say that they want to then the can explain that on this page. Polls are not just for fun, most polls in the real world are used for actual data. You have just assumed for the last 16 months that everyone would be okay with changing the name. Also, you say that I am the only one who is blatently disagreeing with this, but I am the only one who has said anything. As far as either of us know, everyone in this proposal could just be agreeing because the first guy did. I am just the only one who has said something. - 120d 19:53, 3/27/2014

Neutral

  • Neutral Neutral - What if renaming the site wipes out all 7 years' worth of work we have done on this wiki, and we have to start all over again? Muchacha (talk) 12:29, March 26, 2014 (UTC)
  • I am not sure what you mean. Everything else will remain as is. We are not moving. We are just changing the name. — AMK152 03:49, March 27, 2014 (UTC)
  • Neutral Neutral - I am neutral towards the name change. However, I would hope that the url still remains as spongebob.wikia.com JosephHawk (talk) 15:31, March 26, 2014 (UTC)JosehHawk
  • Yes, we will keep the same URL. — AMK152 15:43, March 26, 2014 (UTC)
  • Neutral Neutral - As long as the rename doesn't wipe out the entire wiki altogether, I'm okay with it. Jimmyjam15478
  • Everything will stay in place. It's just the change of name. — AMK152 22:31, March 26, 2014 (UTC)
  • Neutral Neutral - : I like the idea of Encyclopedia SpongeBobia being the wiki's name. I wouldn't be mad if the name stays the same, though. I'm used to just seeing, "SpongeBob SquarePants Wiki". AwesomeAshley6199

Comments

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
Advertisement