Edit by Shauny: This went way off topic but into an interesting subject, so I’ve split it out into its own thread!
I think it’s just @shauny himself so…
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I imagine that the moderators/High Council have a little more say in this than the rest of us. Perhaps I dream of the day when TARDIS Guide moves away from autocracy…
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I think shauny just gave people with higher trust levels more votes because they’ve been here more and/or longer.
We just voted on wether to remove 
as a reaction and what to add.
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I think he also mentioned an assistant of sorts who helped him with the website redesign. I just wanted to leave room for the possibility that people other than shauny were involved in the decision process.
And you are right, our organizational structure has been moving towards more group decisions, but it is more hierarchical than some websites such as Wikipedia, which is too large to have a sole owner and proprietor.
(A short open letter to @shauny : I hope I haven’t been too mean to you recently, asking about new features. I understand that you have a day job, and that it is difficult to work on this project in your spare time. I admire the work you have done, and I hope that once I finish my degree I can also do a good job like you in pursuing my goals and working for the benefit of other people. When I encounter a difficult problem in my COMPSCI classes, I think to myself, “at least I’m not shauny, his programming problems are much more difficult.” I hope that I can remain a positive member of the community, and I would like to thank you for your time and money that you spend on the website.)
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Yes, right, somehow I forgot that. They’re not on the forum so I keep forgetting that. (Like I forget there’re a lot of TG users don’t spend all their spare time on this forum 
)
I love that we vote on how new features are made, instead of delta bullying shauny into making things which seems to be so in the early, early days. (Going through old posts are fun) But at the end of the day, it’s shauny’s hobby site.
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We also have the Related Stories section, which sort of works as a Prerequisites section, at least until we (hopefully) get a proper Prerequisites section in the future.
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That was someone he hired just for the redesign. He’s done everything else himself and maintains the technical side of things by himself. And when it comes to adding new features, he reaches out to the community for suggestions.
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I remember there’s someone helping him with the graphics and stuff. He mentioned it somewhere, definitely before redecorating. I always kinda assume that it’s more like a business collaboration rather than building a hobby site together tho…
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Happy to clear this up 
Yes definitely, there are a couple of threads about this, it’s pretty much the next feature on my list to add, straight after I finish the “year in review” and improved stats (which I promised to add next).
Actually the moderators don’t really get any more say in anything. They get a few more votes in the Roadmap but that’s not really much.
The moderators are mostly involved in decisions about this forum.
It’s actually the Patrons who I involve the most - you can’t see this but when I work on a new feature I post it to them first in their secret forum category, and I share screenshots and things first and ask them questions about it, then I recently have been giving them access to a test version of the website and let them play with it and suggest changes until we think it’s ready, then it goes live for everyone else.
This is a perk that the Patrons get because they are contributing financially to help keep the site running.
I understand that not everyone can afford to pay (even though it’s as cheap as I can make it), and so I also listen to feedback and comments from everyone, they just get priority because without them, the site wouldn’t be able to be as fully featured!
Whilst yes I have the ultimate power, it’s a little unfair to call it this when I:
- Have a team of staff who help make decisions about the forum and day-to-day running
- Involve the whole community in making decisions about the site (not just here, but on the Discord and by email I get suggestions daily)
- Give the Patrons access to the site as I build it and take their feedback
- Have a team of Spreadsheet editors who are giving me stories to add to the site (most of which I’ve never even heard of!)
It’s a team effort. But yes, as the person responsible for building the entire thing, I do get final say not ready to turn it into Wikipedia…
A good friend of mine and ex-colleague who I worked with on website design for 11 years was commissioned (I paid him) to design the new site. We made decisions together but again I shared these first with the Patrons and asked for feedback, then shared with everyone before launch.
There are other people helping me too because I am not a graphic designer! @uss-genderprise has been commissioned to create some badge images, the main image of Ncuti on the homepage and on socials.
@YoungCodger very kindly took it upon himself to send me images for all the Sets. His dedication has been amazing, I get sent new images every week and it is almost completely finished now! Recently I felt bad and I told him to please send me an invoice for his work, which he did but it was very reasonable.
I’m always keen to hire members of this lovely community to help. I don’t have infinite funds though so I appreciate volunteers where possible!
TARDIS Guide is nowhere near as big as Wikipedia! If it gets that big then sure I’ll open it up more!
Not at all! I enjoy all feedback and requests. I’m doing the best I can
That’s right, with the designer (he’s lurking here because he likes to see feedback) it’s just a business collaboration because he’s not actually a huge Doctor Who fan so he’s not participating in the discussions but he’s a very good designer! So it’s not a hobby for him, it was a job.
It’s definitely a hobby for me though.
This started as just a curiousity on my laptop a few years ago during COVID, I started watching Classic Who and I had a bunch of Big Finish and some books and I was keeping track of what I’d done on a spreadsheet and thought “hang on, I can build websites, I’ll make a website to log this”.
I honestly never thought it would get this big, we have over 2000 members now.
I’m already seriously thinking about succession plans for when I die 
it’s mad.
Enjoy the site!!
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And sometimes our contribution on the staff side is to suggest putting things up for a vote by the community… 
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I’ve always loved you, father.
.
.
.
I just want to say that I’ve not enjoyed being a Doctor Who fan as much as since joining TARDIS Guide for a very long time - probably not since the Wilderness Years.
And that’s mainly due to @shauny.
This site and community is probably the best thing in fandom and I hope more people discover us and embrace our positivity.
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No offence but I’m hoping to outlive you, seeing as I’m younger
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Seconding this, I haven’t maintained such a prolonged hyperfixation where I’ve consistently watched/read/listened to doctor who stories this long like I have with this site.
Normally I do a deep dive back into the expanded universe every now and then for a few weeks/months before diving headfirst into my next obsession, but this website and the community its formed have kept me steadily on the Doctor who train for over a year now, and I’ve loved every minute of it
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*grandfather
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Trying desperately hard not to burst out laughing whilst my class work in silence!
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I’m sorry I implied you were an autocrat. I meant it as tongue in cheek, but evidently it did not come off that way. I hope that I can avoid misunderstandings in the new year. (Not likely to happen, unfortunately🙁)
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It’s totally fine, don’t worry about it, it’s all just good fun 
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