My Opinion on WOTN

Q here. This is going to be long, but its my opinion on the current status of WOTN. And its a blog. Since when do I write anything short, anyway? By the way, this was originally going to be a message for the Kage's and Vice Kage's but I changed it into one all of WOTN can read about.

Wow, guys. I mean, crazy wow. WOTN has gotten a new spirit. Two months ago, if you'd of asked me if we were seeing WOTN's last days, even I, the eternal optimist, would of had to look past my halo and said, probably. But now, late August and I have a completely new perspective. For all the talk that WOTN is headed out, that WOTN 'isn't the same', and that WOTN is 'dead', I can say I have never seen this before.

For people who like to talk about WOTN in the 'Old Days', well, I am guilty of this, too. Heck, I was there when the old days were the NEW DAYs and WOTN was climbing out of its bumpy start. Yep, many of you forget that WOTN had a bumpy start. That Cloud Village had 5 members and even our best predictions looked sour. Of course, we were excited because WOTN was blazing past AnimeAlley, but that's for a whole nother blog and time. But even in the Oldest glorious days, we never saw anything like what WOTN is doing now.

You see, people often forget no one tried in the old days. I mean yes, we did have YuriishiYhun and Moonlightnights, who did amazing stuff. But these guys were celebrated because they were the only ones that did try. Everyone else just got on and posted around and it was easy. Posts were falling everywhere so no one had to work or recruit. You're probably thinking, "Is Q off his rocker? That sounds way better!"

But it wasn't the same for one reason: People now have to try! We have to work to get conversations going, get new users, and come up with ideas. And for the first time not just a few members, but most of the site is pushing towards getting WOTN back on track. Everyone is trying to post more, everyone is trying to help. This is awesome. I mean, I never thought I'd see the day when Meika was busting out ideas and creating great programs. Or Claira was snagging members like crazy. Sure, everyone's helped in the past, but this seems different.

Which is where I come to the Kage's. We need to take advantage of this. I must say, the new spirit for WOTN is inspiring. But we need to start shooting out ideas and leading this new spirit of WOTN somewhere, before it extinguishes itself with nowhere to go. How depressing would it be, that for the first time we get everyone to care and we let this opportunity get past us without using it?

And trust me, I know. It has been a long time since we Kage's even had to make up tons of ideas. Even longer has it been since we had to organize our villages. Heck, I am just as guilty. And I am not saying anyone's doing a bad job. For almost two years the Kage's have pretty much just coasted. We took care of new users a little, we talked and tried something new every once in a while. That was the extent of what we did, though. This trend has been in effect for a long time. Our leadership was stopped. And part of that is my fault, part of that the previous big Kage's fault. I wanted to make the Kage's friendly and accesible to users so I threw out a lot of the respect protocols. And the other Kage's disappeared and never took their villages anywhere. So the new Kage's of course didn't have much to go by.

You guys have done a great job settling into your villages, but now we need to step up our game and start doing Kage duties and really leading our villages. They aren't beyond saving, we can still do this. We got to be more than just heads of state that just sit there and coast. It'd be like cooking a stew, but all the chefs are doing is stirring the pot. Not adding anything to the stew, just stirring water. But the water's boiling, and we got to utilize this! This could be the last good chance we get!

Anyway, hope that didn't seem harsh, Kage's. I just want us to get on our A-Game. And that goes for everyone. A lot of you are still out there naysaying. All of you who think WOTN is dead, get out of the way. Seriously, if you are gonna post depressing stuff about the site, just don't come on. Its not what anyone wants to hear and its not what we need right now. We can do this and we don't need pessimists. And all you of you out there not doing anything; get in here already. The Kage Competition? The last Jounin exam? Come on, we can do better than this.

And I am not saying that to guilt you. Trust me, I could guilt you. But what I want is us to put that stuff away and focus on a new, brighter WOTN with a new bright spirit going for it! We can do this. But if you're standing on the side, get in there already! What are you waiting for? If you wait till WOTN dies, you never did anything. And if you wait till its bustling with activity, we won't remember you. You are probably thinking, "Well, its just a waste of time," but that's wrong. Yes, if you don't help WOTN, it will be a waste of time to you. You would of wasted your time on here. But if you do help, and it still dies, then you'll still feel good about yourself, like you fought for it. And you won't come out saying, "that was a waste of time," believe me.

And I am just as guilty as any body. I have hardly given 100% lately. I've been just as bad as anyone. However, now's the time to act. We have excited people! And if you're not excited, get excited! WOTN can come back! Ask me, or your kage to help out! I know WOTN has lacked on its promises a lot in the past. But we are gonna fix that. This is our chance to quit neglecting our promises and really take WOTN To the next level. But if no one else jumps into the fray, we can't. And for those of you who are going strong, keep it up! You really have no idea how much of an impact you are having on WOTN. If WOTN survives and thrives years down the roa it'll be you guys who made it happen.

Posting more, recruiting, making threads. You all know how to help. And you know you can talk to anyone and they'll move you somewhere you can help. So let's do this! I think this really is our change to take WOTN to a level we've never seen it before. ^_^

*Q*