This post turned out a bit long, so I've divided it into parts. While you don't have to read it all, I would prefer it if you read the whole thing to be properly informed of what is happening on the wikia.
Introduction[]
Greetings, Zoo Tycoon wikia! I'm quite new to the Zoo Tycoon community, but I believe I can handle the responsibility I've taken on, as I've adopted this wiki that I will probably be mostly single-handedly running due to the fact most administrators and such are inactive. I made a request to take control of the wikia which went ignored on January 30th, found here. I will be updating the wikia with templates, new categories, new pages and expansion on article stubs (which there are a lot of.) If anyone would be so kind to assist me, that would be greatly appreciated.
I'd like to give a big thanks to DeadMonkey8984, who has been periodically making many articles on the wikia and uploading pictures, which has been immensely helpful.
To get more in-depth, most peole call me Rooty, although a bit more formality may be necessary if I don't know you well yet. I became interested in the Zoo Tycoon series quite recently - about a month ago, shortly whereafter I found this wikia. It appeared mostly abandoned and/or inhabitated by Wikia Contributors stretched thinly between periods of time. Seeing it was in such a bad shape, I decided to help edit, and soon discovered Wikia adoptions. For several weeks after, I worked on categorizing pages and adding categories. Unfortunately, I was unable to do many particularly massive edits, as there was so much to do organization-wise. After lots of work, I requested to adopt this wikia, and the inquiry was accepted. If anyone has questions or comments about the wikia, they should probably be taken to my talk page, since I am the only currently active person of power.
Maintenance[]
As of now, I am doing heavy maintenance on the site. You may have noticed that the background has changed, and we now have a favicon (that little icon next to the URL in the URL bar or on the page tab.) It is the logo for the Zoo Tycoon 2: Complete Collection. There's also a new graphic wordmark, or that icon in the corner that leads back to the homepage when clicked upon. It doesn't look great, but is probably temporary.
I'm slightly worried that the colors of the wikia look a bit too feminine now, so feedback on that would be appreciated, as well as ideas for a new color scheme if this one isn't well-received. You may vote on the Wikia colors here. Several polls are in this post, but please remember that every vote counts and goes to a good cause. (Edit: changed colors, still, I'm not sure if they look good so...)
I'd also like to gloss over administrators, I'm not sure what to do about them as of current. Plain administrators can be demoted easily, but a vote would need to be taken for any bureaucrats to be demoted, and wikia staff members would need to be contacted. My thoughts have been rather confused as to whether or not they should be demoted, as they have not done anything in quite a while. You may vote on whether or not the inactive staff should be demoted here, albeit the vote will only count if there is no response from the staff after they are contacted, and then additional votes will be taken for the bureaucrats.
Also mentioning here that the last featured article was probably elected a very long time ago. We are probably due for a new one, as well as a new Zoopedian of the Month. You may vote for these both here, or in the comments of this blog post if you so desire. Please do not vote for yourself as Zoopedian of the Month.
On a very different note, many categories need to be placed in other categories to make it easier to navigate the wikia, and there are several pictures requiring categories as well. Many pages and categories likely still need to be deleted, as I have not got to all of the pages on this wikia yet. If you find any in need of deletion (that have an actual reason for being deleted, like not existing or being spam, not because they were created by someone you don't like or other ridiculous reason) please place a delete tag on the page and/or delete the page's content.
Also hitting another note on the opposite end of the piano, I would like to ask if anyone has any suggestions for new templates to add to the wikia and any that should be deleted, as there is much disorganization and additional confusion is quite unnecessary. You may discuss the adding or deleting of new categories here.
In the subject of people managing the wikia, if you'd like to apply to be an administrator, you may post on this blog or in mention it in my user talk. A poll will be cast. If no votes are made, you will remain your current status and a new poll will be made. This process will continue until a vote is made in any favor. If the vote comes up negative, you may reapply after six months and a new poll will be made. To apply, you must have an account and have made several useful contributations to the wikia over a period of one month or over.
Affliations are something this wikia has a few of, luckily, but having more would never hurt, and would spread word of the Zoo Tycoon wikia much more. If anyone has any ideas for an affliation, please suggest it in the comments or leave a message on my talk page. You may discuss new affilations here.
Another feature this wikia lacks is video modules, a feature that allows for the showing of videos related to the wikia on the right side of the site. I'd like to know everyone's opinion on this, and I'm not sure if I like it too much myself, although it's something I could get used to. You may vote for or against the video modules here.
Achievements are also something I was considering, but I'm unsure. These might add a sort of rewarding feeling to the wikia, but this is another thing that has to be voted on. You may vote for or against them here.
Eke, I thought of an event earlier which would involve assigning someone to a category (the amount of pages pre-determined) and sending them to research the topics within that category to improve the articles. By the end of this event, the person who had improved the articles the most in the category assigned to them would get a reward of sorts (perhaps an achievement or earning Zoopedian of the Month status, or a page dedicated to their accomplishement.) A similar event could be held for affilated wikias, where the person who added the most content or improved a particular category on that wikia would get a reward. You may vote for or against this event here.
I'm aware there really doesn't seem to be any alliance that would fit this wikia, but if anyone has any suggestions and reasons why it would fit into a particular alliance, that would be appreciated. It would bring in more members as well. You may discuss alliances here.
The rules probably need updating, so if anyone has any suggestions for a new rule I'd love to hear it. You may discuss new rules here.
When I came here, I found that the main site seemed to have been deleted, so I was wondering if it would be best to just leave things that way or make a new main site. You may vote for the making or not-making of a new main site here.
Once I believe the wikia is in good enough condition, it will be sent to be advertised, bringing in several new members. A poll will be sent out before the advertisement is made however, so an accurate decision can be reached.
Likewise to the subject of attracting people to the site, I will be attempting to contact all inactive members to bring them back on-site and help with the editing.
A chatbox for the wikia would possibly nice as well. I'm taking a vote on this as well, but if it doesn't get responded to, I will be attempting to figure out a way to get one, as my own vote is for the chatbox. You may vote or not-for for the chatbox here.
Lastly, if anyone has any other ideas, I would love to hear them, so suggest away. You may suggest ideas here.
Other[]
Also, a shoutout to Cryptile33, who has been the most social on this wikia, as well as making several contributations. He also made a Zoo Tycoon-related wikia, the the Zoo Tycoon Fanon/Fanfiction wikia! I recommend you check it out, especially if you have any ideas for fake expansion packs or items or just about anything rattling around in your head.
Until next time,
~ RootFloatCream (talk) 13:17, February 17, 2013 (UTC).