User blog:Ajraddatz/On the move

From Brickipedia, the LEGO Wiki
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Note
This is a user blog stating a personal opinion, and not a definitive document on the future of Brickimedia (which is going forward)

Hey guys,

I'm still not sure about this move. Wikia is unfortunately able to dominate the Google results, and I don't see how we could surpass Brickia any time in the foreseeable future; no other site has been able to.

I need to make the choice to renew the hosting or not in eight days. Honestly, I can't see this site being successful. I would like us to just stay at Wikia, and remove Brickimedia entirely. Some day, I dream of Wikia no longer being so dominant, and then we can move off. But today really isn't the best time for that. No other forked site has been able to pass the Wikia one in activity or views, and Brickipedia unfortunately won't be the exception.

All that being said, this is a beautiful site. So much work has gone into it, and if people really want to keep it going, then I will pay for it to continue to exist. But as the person who really pushed to have a move in the first place, I'd really like for people to consider the consequences of it. We won't be getting new users, we won't be passing the old site, and ultimately we'll probably become like a number of other forks who die off after a year or so.

The door is still open at Wikia; the blocks can be removed, the rights can be reinstated, and there are other opportunities available for Brickipedians. Wikia Stars get some cool stuff, and I've also been able to arrange some funding for actual prizes from Wikia.

As I've said many times before, Wikia sucks. They have a bad business model and use us as slave labour to make money. But, I think that they're also the best option out there - for now. So, what are people thinking about this?

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BerrybrickLegendary Brickipedian

125 months ago
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People are...editing? O_o This feels like that scene at the end of It's a Wonderful Life.
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AjraddatzAmateur

125 months ago
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To respond to a bunch of specific comments at once: Thanks for the quick reply guys. In part, that shows the dedication of the community here, and I think we can work with this.

I will renew the servers later tonight. Like I said before, money isn't the issue here for me - after my promotion in a few months (hopefully***), I'll be making more than enough to keep the site going for a year every day that I work. I want to make sure that I'm not fracturing the community. I've stayed (in some way) with Brickipedia for quite a few years now, not because of my love of LEGO, but because you all are some of the most amazing people that I have never actually met. It is honestly an honour and a pleasure to provide this opportunity. If we're sure that our future is here, not on Wikia, then here it will be.

While we're talking about money, don't worry about keeping the lights on - I've got that covered. But, we might want to run some editing contests with actual prizes, to round up some new editors. Perhaps some of the people willing to chip in could do so in that way, buying small sets to ship to the winners? I'll also be switching over to a different type of ads soon, which will hopefully put more money in my pockets, which translates to more money for Brickimedia since I'm not doing this for-profit.

I've got to go to class now, but one final remark... NovaFlare, you're definitely right about these comments. Edit button pls. :P
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FB100ZNovice

125 months ago
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I am glad to hear that you've changed your mind, and it's totally fine that your motivation was valleying a little.

"I've stayed (in some way) with Brickipedia for quite a few years now, not because of my love of LEGO, but because you all are some of the most amazing people that I have never actually met." Amen, brother. All we're missing is Kjhf.
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AjraddatzAmateur

125 months ago
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I do quite miss Kjhf :(
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ToaMeikoHonorable Brickipedian

125 months ago
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I've been pondering contests the past few days-- I'm actually planning on launching one soon after release (a small one though) that I discussed shortly with NovaFlare. I'm also thinking of having some quarterly or bi-monthly contests that involve some actually cool prizes like nice sets and stuff.
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AwesomeknightBricktastic

125 months ago
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/
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AwesomeknightBricktastic

125 months ago
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I just have no reaction. It's terrible.
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FB100ZNovice

125 months ago
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I am willing to fund the renewal myself.
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UltrasonicNXTThinking With Bricks

125 months ago
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Gotta say, I would contribute.
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ToaMeikoHonorable Brickipedian

125 months ago
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I would too.
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AjraddatzAmateur

125 months ago
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Good to know. There isn't any room in the budget for prizes for contests right now, maybe if we ran some you guys could buy some small sets as prizes? That doesn't necessarily need to come from me.
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Agent SpyNovice

125 months ago
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I would be willing to donate for the renewal too.
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XYZBricktastic

125 months ago
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And me.
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FB100ZNovice

125 months ago
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@ajr I can't speak for the other four, but I'm not fishing for any kind of prize here. I just want this project to keep going and not move back into Mom and Dad's cellar.
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ToaMeikoHonorable Brickipedian

125 months ago
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I could buy some sets for contests. Hopefully if I can secure these relations between Brickipedia and the LEGO Group, they'd be able to supply some prizes too.
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NovaFlareMaster Builder

125 months ago
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Is this a joke?
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NovaFlareMaster Builder

125 months ago
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And if not... couldn't this have been made at a more approrpiate time? Making a blog about possibly shutting down the most popular thing on the wiki when it launches looks pretty bad :/
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AjraddatzAmateur

125 months ago
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Not at all. But, in a week I will need to pay for another year of up-time, and I want to make sure that this is what we want and that we have realistic expectations about this.
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NovaFlareMaster Builder

125 months ago
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Fair enough, and I can totally understand why you need to realistically need to re-evaluate if to pay for another year, and I'm (like many others) extremely grateful for what you're doing. However, with people coming in from Brickset, Eurobricks, and other sites Meiko has contacted about the opening (hopefully) coming in to take a look very soon and one of the first things they see is this, well, they're not going to want to look at the site or contribute here if they think it's not going to be here for much longer. I don't suppose there's a chance of putting the blog on hold for a day? Just so the initial wave of people from other sites don't get turned off by this? :S
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NovaFlareMaster Builder

125 months ago
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(...sorry, some of that doesn't make sense, and we still need an "edit comments" button :P)
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ToaMeikoHonorable Brickipedian

125 months ago
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Ideally they won't see it, Nova, but just in case, maybe put an announcement box at the top saying that it's not an actual determined thing, and just a personal opinion?
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Clone gunner commander jediThinking With Bricks

125 months ago
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Well, now with Sannse's unreasonable and quite frankly unfair removal of rights on "Brickia," I must say that I shall not be returning there any time soon (Not that I was ever planning to, seeing how great in=comparison this site is). "Temporarily clearing admin list", I wonder what Sannse is up to...
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XYZBricktastic

125 months ago
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Well, I haven't edited mainspace pages on Brickia at all since before the first Brickimedia launched. When the second 'media launches shortly, the first thing I'll do is start creating pages like crazy just like I did before, so you can consider me one of the hard workers we'll have on board to push this site "up the hill". Like Meiko and Berry I'm confident that we can get this going and soar past Wikia through sheer drive and manpower. It's been too long since I was active, so my fingers are itching to type stuff. :P
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BerrybrickLegendary Brickipedian

125 months ago
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Yay :D

(You can start whenever you want, too. The launch date doesn't seem to mean much. :P)
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BrickfilmNutBuilding Bigger

125 months ago
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Meiko gave me permission to copy his chat comments onto here. :P

"Wowwiki gets its traffic from people looking for the same quests WOW has had for years, which is why Wikia is more successful. They were successful on Wikia from the start, so that isnt changed"

Fallout Wiki is still getting traffic for info about Fallout 2 and 3, like it has been for years, which is why the Wikia one is more successful."
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ToaMeikoHonorable Brickipedian

125 months ago
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And: "People will come to Brickipedia for 2014 and 2015 stuff-- if we have that at a higher quality and before Brickia, we will be more successful"
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ToaMeikoHonorable Brickipedian

125 months ago
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I understand your point, but the thing is, we have our good editors. Right now, Brickia doesn't. With search rankings, history does show that Wikia passes forks on Google and other sites, but those sites aren't always up to date. What visitors will be looking for is good information about current and future sets/topics. Currently, Brickia and Brickimedia's articles are equal, as we all have the same quality of 2014 articles. However, in a year, if we stay devoted and our best editors keep up their work on current articles, our 2015 articles will likely be better than Brickia's, which is what the visitors would be looking for at that time. Progressively, if we stay up to date with the information people want in the same high quality that Brickipedia strives for, we'll get better and better search rankings. I don't think we should worry about that. We need to finish what we started. Over the past few months, more and more people have become supportive and optimistic for Brickimedia, not less. That's what we need for us starting off at Brickimedia--not search rankings--but dedication and support. We have both right now, so let's not second-guess our move and have all our dedication towards Brickimedia go to waste. I can see it working out fine if we keep up as we've been going for a year or so, slowly but surely.
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BerrybrickLegendary Brickipedian

125 months ago
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I agree with this largely (even if it does not necessarily reflect my own thought process) but that first "if" is a pretty big one. Nobody is editing now. What was great about Brickia was that as soon as news hit, you would find that an enthusiastic newcomer had come along and created the page(s). It wouldn't be formatted correctly, of course, and full of misspellings, but that is much easier to fix than singlehandedly creating dozens of pages by yourself.

Yes, it can happen, but that "if" needs to be addressed first. :/
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BrickfilmNutBuilding Bigger

125 months ago
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@Berry: I personally think that if we tell our users that they'd be more help editing than trolling wikia, we could begin to remedy that.
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LFY1547Thinking With Bricks

125 months ago
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Agreeing with Meiko.
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ToaMeikoHonorable Brickipedian

125 months ago
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Well, it will take hard work from us. Like I said, we can't lose that dedication. Even without newcomers for a little while here at Brickimedia, we'll have to be the ones keeping things up to date. Eventually, if we do work hard enough to keep Brickimedia up to date, we will start seeing newcomers.
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BerrybrickLegendary Brickipedian

125 months ago
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@BFN: I don't think I have been very subtle in my hints of "It would be really helpful if someone could upload those Toy Fair images while I'm away" or "Ugh, nobody is creating pages." And then there are others who have been more blunt, and still, nothing.

@Meiko: Yes, and when we get rolling it won't be so bad at all, but right now it's uphill. I'm not saying abandon ship at all, I'm just saying we need to make sure that we will have the workforce through until 2015, at least to get grounded.
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Anonymous user #1

125 months ago
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...Agreed on this.
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Anonymous user #1

125 months ago
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...Agreed on this.
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Anonymous user #1

125 months ago
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...Agreed on this.
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Anonymous user #1

125 months ago
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...Agreed on this.
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Anonymous user #1

125 months ago
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...Agreed on this.
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Anonymous user #1

125 months ago
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...Agreed on this.
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Anonymous user #1

125 months ago
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...Agreed on this.
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Anonymous user #1

125 months ago
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...Agreed on this.
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Anonymous user #1

125 months ago
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...Agreed on this.
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Anonymous user #1

125 months ago
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...Agreed on this.
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Anonymous user #1

125 months ago
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...Agreed on this.
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BrickfilmNutBuilding Bigger

125 months ago
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Well, er, for starters, this discussion could have come sooner. Say, before all of the prelims on Brickia, before editors stopped monitoring WikiActivity because the import was all over. Before we set up a bunch of stuff here. So... yeah.

Before I give my final "vote", there are a few questions I have. Firstly, could all the work that was just put into Brickimedia by the sysadmins be saved in some way for when we do restart Brickimedia? Secondly, when can you see a fork/move working again? I can't see any major change happening to wikia soon.

Until I have the answers to those questions, though, I think we should stay here. I don't really want to go back to wikia, and I can't easily imagine us getting much support for a "third time's the charm" attempt at 'media in the future. Honestly, if we do stay here, I think our first action should be not caring about Brickia/Wikia anymore. Efforts to try and make wikia seem less appealing than 'media have been largely fruitless, as Wikia's aggression has been surprising (oh, another reason I don't want to go back...). Instead, we should really be putting such time/effort into making Brickimedia more unique/notable.
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AjraddatzAmateur

125 months ago
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I can't see it any time in the future, no. But things change, sometimes sooner than you think. This is a conversation that I've been trying to have with everyone involved since the first attempt at Brickimedia stopped with the wiping of the servers. Now it's coming up because the server needs renewing.
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UltrasonicNXTThinking With Bricks

125 months ago
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I completely take your point. Some of me has hoped we might be able to be the first, as we do have a very dedicated community, but then again, the RC at wikia doesn't lie. Personally, for me, it's here or nothing though, I won't be going back.
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AjraddatzAmateur

125 months ago
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I know that you in particular have very little reason to go back to Wikia; you are very technically competent, and there is no way to exercise that on Wikia. One possible solution is their Volunteer Developers group, but even that isn't ideal. Like I said, I am more than willing to shell out the bit of cash needed to keep this site going, if people want to use it.
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UltrasonicNXTThinking With Bricks

125 months ago
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Well, either way, I have to personally say thank you to you Ajr. I have learnt a ridiculous amount already, and none of this would have been possible without you, so a very big thank you from me, whatever happens.
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ToaMeikoHonorable Brickipedian

125 months ago
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Per NXT's message thanking Ajr. I've learned more in developing here than I would have learned anywhere else, and it's provided me more opportunities in the LEGO community than I had before. Without having been a sysadmin here, I wouldn't be a part of Brickipedia's community, would have never contributed like I have, and wouldn't have earned adminship here.

Also, I won't be going back to Wikia regardless, or at least not to Wikia's Brickipedia. If I were ever unblocked at Wikia and if Brickimedia weren't around, I still wouldn't use Brickia. I have a horrible reputation with Wikia Staff at this point, and I can't go another time letting Brickia have me lose editing ability globally.
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BerrybrickLegendary Brickipedian

125 months ago
Score 5++

I'm not going back. Honestly, I was disgusted with not just how they banned users like Clone (I can't remember who else) who deleted their own blog, but then unblocking him because there was no competition for him to go to was even worse in my eyes. I just don't care for politics like that, especially if the blocked users did something legitimately wrong. I went back before because I had too, but if they are coming into play here, count me out.

Those are just my ethics though. There is more to it than that, so I'll have more to say later.
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Anonymous user #1

125 months ago
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...You have a point, and honestly, I have to agree. :-|
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Stormjay RiderAmateur

125 months ago
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I think as long as Wikia back downs and reinstates everything to the way it was before the move, and lets us handle everything that's local to us, then I would be fine with going back.
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NightshadeAmateur

125 months ago
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Nah, my vote still lies here. I think that eventually, not sure how long, we could pass Wikia. The users who are staying will not be able to keep the place running like the editors here have. I'm fine going back to wikia, although I'd rather be here. I'm pretty much screwed anyways, I got myself a global block. :D
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BrickfilmNutBuilding Bigger

125 months ago
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The idea is that such a block could perhaps be repealed, but per Berry on that, really.
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ToaMeikoHonorable Brickipedian

125 months ago
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Also, with our past blocks, that hurts our reputation on Wikia, thus if we ran into a smaller offense to the TOU, we'd face harsher punishment for being a "repeat offender" as Wikia sees it.