Recording by MikiBandy, with a slight notice: to put it lightly, as many have noticed in the opening note, guns were jumped by a great number of the admins. Everything is currently in the process of being cleared up, so no worries there. In the meantime, remember: we have rules against taking sides, holding grudges, and so on, so please: let everyone involved sort this out for themselves and continue as normal.

June 2015 Town Haul Minutes:

Repeat Problems

It seems that every Town Haul we get, we repeatedly have to cover the following topics:

• Reducing negativity and boosting positivity.
• Increasing productivity in the community.
• Increasing trust among the members.

These topics keep repeating and repeating, but this can be attributed to a number of things:

• Too much dependency on the admins or outside forces to resolve the issues instead of you, the members, being the change you wish to see.
• Not enough sustained effort within the group: nobody is taking the initiative, and when they do, nobody keeps it up.
• Taking Walfas way too seriously. When politics and drama seep into your everyday experience in the group, really any group, that's when the problems occur. It is only when you not only go back to treating it a hobby, but really having fun with it, that we solve these problems. (Covered in the next summary.)
• Not enough communication between the parties who can actually do something about the problems. Again, as you all may have noticed, some of the Walfas community's top leaders aren't exactly on the same page, making cooperate efforts to resolve community problems that much more difficult. When everyone is on the same page, efforts to resolve the problems grow qualitatively and quantitatively, i.e. there's more people to do things and they get more work done.

None of these problems will disappear if you simply complain about them: you have to do something. Leaving or running won't help: the problems will still be there in your absence, and they affect your friends that you left behind. It doesn't have to be stressful or dramatic: simply spreading positivity is all you need to get the job done. For more info on how you can help, see the Project Announcements specifically for community efforts.

Once again, spreading positivity

Again, DeityDiz93 has a proven plan for increasing positivity in the group. It worked when it was introduced, but it needs to be sustained to continue to work.

• Focus less on the problem and more on the solution. If you focus on "clearing up drama," you're only going to find more drama. If you focus on the solution, you don't just steer more people away from drama, but you set the example of what good you can do in the community.
• Give people well-deserved attention and feedback. It's how most of the original WSW members met eachother: leaving comments on eachother's stuff. People are begging for feedback and appreciation, so be the one to give it to them. If you're thinking, "But what about me? I want attention!," the best way to get (positive) attention is to honestly give attention. Go out and leave comments on people's stuff: not simply because "you have to," but because you honestly want to let people know what you think of their stuff.
• COMMUNICATE. When people aren't on the same page, even a simple observation can turn into a giant misunderstanding or accusation. If you don't communicate, the more you put words in eachother's mouths and thoughts in eachother's heads where they simply don't exist. The more you get on the same page, the more trust builds. When two people stick to their own meaning on something, trust dies and so does communication, but when two people find a shared meaning between their experiences, communication and trust opens up.
• Find your niche and fill it: Suggested by Ceej39, one of the best ways to keep on keeping on is to find your specialty and fill it. Ceej himself fills the animation niche, while a number of other Walfasers out there have their own specialties, from dark humor to surreal humor to gifs to spell cards to dolls and beyond. Find something that the Walfas community needs or is missing, and then capitalize on it.
  
• Don't just do this for a short while until things resolve: KEEP DOING IT! We did this before to positive results, but once the problem was resolved, most people stopped doing it. It's like the people who lose tons of weight through proper diet and exercise, reach their target weight, and then go binge eating again: once you stop doing what worked, the problems return. Don't just do this until things get better: keep doing it, so they things only improve.
• Ignore the vocal minority. Unfortunately, not everyone is going to support your efforts to spread positivity: they will call you selfish despite the fact you want to help others, paranoid despite the fact you want to help others communicate, or say you take things too seriously despite the fact you want to make the Walfas community fun again. The only thing that can trump the vocal minority is an even-more vocal majority. If everyone in this group is making an effort to spread positivity in the group, the vocal minority will become powerless.

Project Announcements

Note: If you want to post your project or a better description for your project if it's already on the list, notify Spaztique or leave one in the comments (which will then be copy-pasted into the blog).

Community Projects:

• MikiBandy, with the help of Kigurou-Enkou, Noraneko-Sparks, and ChibioChen, are doing a cross-club collab event called Live Events: themed projects akin to contests, only the goal is to see how many people can do them as opposed to who can do the best, as well as ensuring everyone gets feedback for their works. If you want to practice leaving more comments on people's stuff as well as making more content, check this out.
• Spaztique will be restarting his Imaginary Friends project for the public: think of it like a collab for collabs. If you remember any of Spaztique's previous psychology/leadership projects, such as Kasen's Book Club or Unleash the Hermit Within, this is a combination of everything he's done before: part classroom, part project brainstorming, part stand-up comedy set. For more info, read the introduction here, or head to the roster here.
• keinecat will be continuing his yearly Gaming Tournament shortly, plus the voiced Chrono Trigger LP. You can get info for both of these on this page.
  
• BleachBummer still needs lines for his voiced Wadanohara LP (again, all you have to say is "Bun bun!": here's the script), but more importantly, he's making a Madoka RPG project! This project still needs spriters, artists, musicians, sound effects artists, animators, and voice actors.
• ExPorygon has restarted the WSW Minecraft server, now with the Technology and Industrial Pack. Also, he will be starting a project to "reverse riff" fanfics: rather than make fun of how poorly the project was made, Porygon's goal is to point out everything that went right. More info on this to come.
• Luigilewis889, one of our newer members, is going to do a Walfasized version of the Axis of Awesome's Four Chord Song, and will be getting cameos of different community members to sing different parts.
• DeityDiz93 has announced the next contest: Oldworks Contest, the Touhou PC-98 contest. Currently in planning phase, so stay tuned!
  

Individual Projects:

• DarkChaosXX is still continueing his gaming review project.
• Toshirin-Akaza is doing a logic puzzle series. 
• FullHitPoints and popfan95b will have a fully playable Magikana demo coming soon!
• DustedEnderman: Touhou Doom Multiplayer Boss Rush coming! Currently in playtesting.
  
• Tenguichi is still running Theivery Incident RP, a Touhou-based RP open to original characters, as well as dedicated roleplayers for the canon cast. Also still part of Veil of the Void, the comedy-horror RP ran by Ubermangaka and also starring MiniWitch3, TTBNC, and Spaztique. 
• Ceej39 is writing screenplay for DitR Remake with the intention of blowing the original right-the-hell out of the water.
• TwilightSpackle, a new member with ten years of RPG DM experience, will be opening up a new campaign shortly. Get more info on this page. 
• MiniWitch3: Wiccan & Swordsgirl Episode 10 Part 2 should be done within the next 3 days.
• TTBNC: Alia's Revival finished. Read the complete series here. 
• AdeptusVoid is working on a story based on the Yaoi Stu concept we've joked about in the chats. It will be a Rule 63 (gender-flipped version) of Gensokyo, so hold on to your hats.
• Ispod4's Deathly Affection is currently up to Chapter 8. Read it here.
  

Commissions/Services:

• None (at the moment. Post your commissions/services in the comments below).

We'll see you folks in July. In the meantime, remember: be the change you want to see in the community.