User talk:Brandon Rhea

Season 4 premiere server strain
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61kHpmenkT8 She won't hold! She's breaking up!]

Page load speed has dropped off to practically nothing and we're only two days before the Season 4 premiere. Becoming difficult to even navigate pages, much less make final edits. Anything the tech boys can do to help at Wikia's end?--The Dragon Demands (talk) 00:30, April 5, 2014 (UTC)
 * Hey Dragon Demands. I'm not seeing these issues. Has anyone else you talked to encountered a problem? How long has this been happening for? - Brandon Rhea (talk) 00:58, April 5, 2014 (UTC)
 * Two days or so, got particularly bad today.--The Dragon Demands (talk) 01:18, April 5, 2014 (UTC)
 * Do you know of anyone else who has encountered this? I haven't seen any reports, and I can't reproduce the problem on my end. Is Game of Thrones Wiki the only website acting up for you? - Brandon Rhea (talk) 03:19, April 5, 2014 (UTC)
 * Hunger Games Wiki also seems kind of slow but I haven't seen it on non-Wikia sites just yet...--The Dragon Demands (talk) 03:21, April 5, 2014 (UTC)

Vote of No Confidence in Adam Whitehead (Werthead)
http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Forum:Vote_of_No_Confidence_in_Adam_Whitehead_(Werthead)

I have initiated a Vote of No Confidence in Adam Whitehead (Werthead), intending to remove him as head Administrator of Game of thrones Wiki, as well as strip him of all rank and office (including Administrator status here).

This also entails denying him a place at the NYCC Wikia Game of Thrones Panel. He does not represent us anymore. This began when he went to C2E2 earlier this year.

Are you aware that Adam has made under 40 edits to the wiki since the Season 4 premiere on April 6th this year?

Are you also aware that Adam's counterargument, open counterargument, is that yes, his writing on his private blog officially takes precedence over spending more time on Game of Thrones Wiki. And we should accept this.

He also said that he hasn't contributed as much because the show airs later in England...despite the fact that two out of our other five Administrators also live in the British Isles (one is also in England, the other in Ireland). Nor does this explain why he would disappear for over a month on multiple occasions during the off-season.

Are you aware that Adam has made only five edits to the wiki since the Season 4 finale three months ago?

I have already contacted the other four Administrators (besides myself and Werthead), days before I made this post. All of them were either directly supportive of removing Adam from his position, or at least indifferent. He has no strong support here anymore.

I've also noticed that there came a point in Season 4 when the Wikia Staff started contacting the other Administrators on their Talk pages for various Wiki-Projects, not even bothering to try to contact Adam through his Talk page anymore. While there is the possibility that you were discussing things with him in e-mail...I have also contacted the Wikia Staff once or twice via e-mail, but they did not continue to discuss side projects with me in that fashion. Or, they'd shoot me a message on my Talk page saying "check your e-mail".

Adam shouldn't even have gone to C2E2, we just didn't know if we should complain at the time. He functionally stopped being an active Administrator after Season 2 ended. He has made under 700 edits in the past two years.

Adam Whitehead must lose all Administrator privileges on Game of Thrones Wiki.

In addition, I want him thrown off of the NYCC 2014 panel. He can still attend in the audience as any other private citizen could. If you do revoke his privilege, and he ignores it and attempts to claim VIP status when I go to the same panel this Thursday, I respectfully ask your permission to quietly and politely ask the convention Security staff to forcibly remove him from the panel.--The Dragon Demands (talk) 19:35, October 7, 2014 (UTC)


 * Hi The Dragon Demands. We will not be removing Adam as a panelist. He has our full support as a representative both of Wikia and Game of Thrones Wiki, and he has been very successful at that in past appearances. We are looking forward to seeing him again in New York and continuing to work with him.


 * If the community feels Adam shouldn't be an administrator anymore, then the community can hold a vte on that. There is a clear and established community-based process for admin removal. Wikia Staff does not get involved in that, because it is a local decision.


 * Finally, and most importantly, we consider your comment about asking convention security to "forcibly remove" Adam from the panel to be a threat. We have therefore contacted the convention organizers and are revoking your pass to the event. You will not be in attendance at the panel, and you will not be given a pass to enter the convention from Wikia. - Brandon Rhea (talk) 21:44, October 7, 2014 (UTC)

My exact words, written only a paragraph above here, were "If you do revoke his privilege, and he ignores it and attempts to claim VIP status when I go to the same panel this Thursday, I respectfully ask your permission to quietly and politely ask the convention Security staff to forcibly remove him from the panel.

As in, I was worried that he'd come even if you directly told him not to. If. Conditional. And the part where I said "only if I have your permission to tell Security that".

No, you cannot possibly construe that as "a threat". I am making no physical threats. I am very sorry if this was misconstrued ser, and with the utmost respect to you and Adam as a private citizen, I never intended that as a physical threat (I probably should have phrased that as "have you barred from entering").

Moreover, over on the main forum page, I already made a counter-proposal that I wouldn't oppose Adam being on the panel provided that he also announce his voluntary retirement.

I plead with you to reconsider and reinstate my panel pass. How can that be a threat when I was asking you for permission to do that or not? Also because I do not want it even remotely considered that I would stoop to physical threats.

I also do not know how Adam's past panels were considered "a success"; this is the first any of us heard of that. He gave no report on them. He's been on the wiki so infrequently that I openly question if he was able to really discuss anything in particular about it. I simply wasn't there: what exactly did Adam do that made the panel "a success"? Did he mention Game of Thrones Wiki at all? Describe things about it? Or did he just generally say "wikis need contributions from fans like you!".

--The Dragon Demands (talk) 22:08, October 7, 2014 (UTC)


 * The decision has been made. We do not consider your behavior here appropriate. Additionally, per your last comment in the forum thread, Adam did not twist anyone's words. This was a Wikia decision that Adam was not involved in making. - Brandon Rhea (talk) 22:23, October 7, 2014 (UTC)


 * What was inappropriate? Filing a complaint against Adam? Or that I'm being accused of making a threat? Do you genuinely believe that asking if it was appropriate to ask about con Security was me threatening to physically assault Adam?  I am sorry that I keep insisting on the point ser, but being on the panel or not, I do not want it said that I ever said anything remotely like physically threatening another editor.--The Dragon Demands (talk) 22:31, October 7, 2014 (UTC)

I apologize if I have been terse, in no way do I mean to disrespect your authority. --The Dragon Demands (talk) 00:25, October 8, 2014 (UTC)

I understand and accept that you don't want me to go to NYCC now for fear that I will verbally argue with Adam, and it's too late to change plans. So I'm not going, and I'm not contesting that. But please acknowledge that I never at any point physically "threatened" Adam. Nor did Adam himself ever say he felt I did. That is serious and I never did that. I am sorry if my complaint was misconstrued that way.--The Dragon Demands (talk) 04:18, October 9, 2014 (UTC)
 * I never said anything about "physically" threatening. That's not the only kind of threat. Additionally, per your recent forum comments, I'm not sure why you think Adam is running panels, but he's not. Wikia runs panels. - Brandon Rhea (talk) 12:27, October 9, 2014 (UTC)

Oh. Well thank you, then. I just wanted to make sure we were explicitly clear that I never "physically threatened" anyone.--The Dragon Demands (talk) 16:40, October 9, 2014 (UTC)

Vote conclusion
http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Forum:Vote_of_No_Confidence_in_Adam_Whitehead_(Werthead)#Conclusion

By a unanimous vote of five to zero, with no abstainments, the assembled Administrators of Game of Thrones Wiki have concluded that Adam Whitehead (Werthead) is to be stripped of all rank and office on this wiki, including his status as a basic Administrator.

Please take what measures are needed to remove his Bureaucrat status from this wiki, as well as his Administrator status.

Meanwhile, as per the vote page discussion, User:Gonzalo84, User:QueenBuffy, and myself, need to be elevated to Bureaucrat status. Rather than replace Werthead with one person, we are going to share power as a three-person "Triarchy" (just as other large wikis like Wookiepedia or Memory Alpha have multiple Bureaucrats).

Thank you for your assistance during this process. We look forward to a smooth transition.--The Dragon Demands (talk) 03:53, October 11, 2014 (UTC)


 * This is not something you need to contact Wikia Staff about. Bureaucrats and administrators have the ability to remove their own rights. Adam can do that. Wikia Staff generally only intervenes in something like this if there's a clear community consensus (and there's not – only admins voted here) and, after a community consensus, the admin refuses to step down. Adam has indicated he is willing to abide by the vote. He can therefore remove his own rights.


 * I would also ask that you stop posting in the forum. I’ve found your behavior and tone of speaking to be inappropriate, embarrassing for this community, and unbecoming of an administrator and someone who holds themselves up as a leader. The long-winded analysis of Adam’s panel attendance was particularly odd and legitimately uncomfortable to read. "It's time for the community to put this behind them, and for you to tone it down and conduct yourself in a more level-headed and professional manner. Thank you." - Brandon Rhea (talk) 02:11, October 13, 2014 (UTC)

Everyone shares my outrage at Adam's own inappropriate behavior. If I hadn't made an analysis of Adam's past behavior patterns, I'd have been accused of initiating a vote without sufficient evidence - removing a wiki's Founder and sole Bureaucrat isn't something that happens lightly. I am genuinely unsure of how the "polite" way to do this was, given that Adam simply ignored any complaints short of outright criticizing him like this. But he's said he's stepping down now.

I am sorry that at times my anger over our mistreatment came through in my words. My frustrations over this grew with time as Adam ignored every request we made of him to improve.

But the vote is over now, yes, I won't drag things out further.

"It's time for the community to put this behind them, and for you to tone it down and conduct yourself in a more level-headed and professional manner."

Yes, I should and will.

But what we do need are the Bureaucrat promotions for the three of us, in order to start getting back to work. I've made 25,000 edits building this wiki, I look forward to the next 25,000.

I thank you for your patience during this process, ser. I understand how difficult it was. If I could have dropped out of school when the semester started again in September so I could have spent the time typing up this complaint weeks ago, I would have. Real life got in the way and forced my hand.--The Dragon Demands (talk) 02:17, October 13, 2014 (UTC)