Wikis are designed to be communal, thus it is no surprise that certain timelines on this wiki have spawned their own communities. These communities are made up of editors dedicated to updating and promoting the timeline they oversee. Often they institute guidelines/rules or use their very own unique terminology. Some of these communities soon come to influence the operations of the entire wiki.
Recognized communities[]
1983: Doomsday[]
- See also: History of 1983: Doomsday Timeline
1983: Doomsday was originally created on December 4, 2006 by the anonymous user 70.150.208.34. Exactly who this user was is unknown, though some editors have claimed to have been that editor, including Owen1983 and Gblack61. Despite its mysterious beginnings, the timeline attracted another user who began signing his additions as TheNightsphere before eventually taking the name Xi'Reney. In 2008, Xi'Reney adopted the timeline and began to create new articles. His work soon attracted other editors, including many who had experience in community alternate histories from the Ill Bethisad project.
As the timeline grew, so did the community of editors who worked on it. The community soon referred to itself as the WCRB, or the World Census and Reclamation Bureau. The WCRB was in-universe organization where the current contributors held positions as "directors" of a series of worldwide offices. As the community continued to grow, however, it became necessary to devise a series of guidelines to govern the contributors of 1983: Doomsday. In December 2008, Xi'Reney drafted the first version of the Editorial Guidelines. These guidelines governed the actions of all contributors to the timeline, but they were rarely enforced.
By June 2009, the timeline had reached a turning point. It was as popular as ever and in fact was attracting a large number of new users. New articles were being created at a faster pace, but older editors felt that these new additions more often than not either contradicted older articles or were just to implausible. Meanwhile, Xi'Renney's activity had decreased and with the caretaker spending less time working on the timelines there was talk of appointing new leaders to take over his job. In this atmosphere, Benkarnell stepped in and amended the Editorial Guidelines to include a "proposal process." Borrowed from Ill Bethisad, all new articles would be marked with a proposal template and would not be considered canon until a consensus was reached by the community. If consensus was reached the article would be "graduated" (a term coined by Mitro) into canon. 1983: Doomsday became the first timeline on the entire wiki to use a proposal process.
Another Ill Bethisad veteran, Louisiannan, took it one step further and introduced the concepts of QSS and QAA. Meant to protect earlier articles, the two concepts told editors that canonical facts internal to a timeline are to be respected as unalterable, even if the editor who created them has left the project, while assumed information about unclaimed territories with no direct importance to anyone's work are protected as well. The concepts, along with the altered Editorial Guidelines became the law of the timeline and were strictly enforced.
Following the revamp of the Editorial Guidelinesy, the editors of 1983: Doomsday had something to celebrate on August 9, 2009. On that day 1983: Doomsday was finally recognized as a featured alternate history. The timeline spent the entire month of September 2009 featured on the main page.
Today, 1983: Doomsday is the largest and most active timeline on the wiki. 1983: Doomsday articles tend to be in the top five most edited articles of the day. Furthermore, 1983: Doomsday editors have incredible influence on the wiki as a whole. As of September 15, 2010, every member of the TSPTF has created an article in the 1983: Doomsday universe.
Advancement[]
Central World[]
Rise of Roses[]
Choose Your Own Alternate History![]
Great White South[]
Map Games[]
Map Games are one of the most popular and controversial communities on this wiki. The first Map Game was created by Baconton on February 25, 2010. Similar to the game played on AH.com, players would post a map for a turn, a turn representing a year of real historical time, and mark changes to political territories on the map.
From the beginning the idea of map games ran into opponents, with some editors feeling that the games should not be allowed on this wiki. Nevertheless, the Map Game was allowed to stay and became a huge hit, attracting many young, new users. The Map Game soon eclipsed even the 1983: Doomsday timeline, becoming the most edited page on the wiki, beating out Talk:1983: Doomsday. Due to the success of Map Game, new map games were created including "The New Map Game", "The Newer Map Game", "The New & Improved map game" and "The Map Game (Improved)".
Despite the popularity, not everyone on the wiki appreciated the expansion of the map games. Complaints over the map games included the map games cluttering the wiki with uncategorized pictures, to the map game players (called gamers) being "immature" and the timelines created during the games being poor alternate history. There was even serious discussion among the TSPTF to break off the map games into a seperate wiki. Baron of the Lieutenancy Benkarnell, however, defended the map games and felt that telling one of the largest communities on the wiki to leave would be a diservice to the wiki as a whole. He created the Future of the Map Games topic in The Nexus on May 6, 2010, asking that the map gamers to organize themselves and their game for the sake of the wiki.
Benkarnell's request inspired one user to organize the map games. Oerwinde took up the task of archiving the map games and creating the Map Games portal page, which listed the default rules of all map games. For his good work, he was promoted to the TSPTF as a Lieutenant on May 10, 2010. Though he was tasked to enforce all the rules of the wiki, he was given the duty to moderate the map games and enforce the rules of the game. Though he would later be promoted to the Brass on June 30, 2010, Oerwinde would continue to moderate and enforce the rules of the map games.
The map games continued to grow and prosper, with new map game scenarios being created based on historical events or alternate history PODs. Despite its success, the map gamers had there black spot. That black spot was Calthrina950, who often referred to herself as Catherine. Obsessed with the map games, Cathernine made a nuisance of herself throughout the games. She often ignored the rules and added implausible content. She would leave messages on people's talk pages and would leave nasty messages shortly thereafter if they did not immediately respond. She was warned various times to clean up her act and when she did receive short blocks for insulting other users, she responded by sending abusive emails to her blockers. She became the first person to receive a 1000 year ban on July 4, 2010.
The map games community experienced a short period of downtine in the late summer 2010. Gamers used ideas from the games to create their own timelines, while others stopped playing because they felt the games were becoming to implausible. By the fall of 2010, however, involvement in the community increased and the map games continue to remain in the top 5 most edited articles on the wiki.