Stop using Fandom

mossbag
31 Oct 202322:17

TLDRThe Hollow Knight wiki has moved to a new site, leaving the old Fandom-hosted wiki behind due to issues with aggressive ads, lack of community control, and the introduction of inaccurate AI-generated content. Many wiki communities have left Fandom for various reasons, including the pursuit of a better user experience and more control over their content. Alternatives like Wiki.gg, Miraheze, and independent hosting are being considered, with some wikis successfully forging their own paths.

Takeaways

  • 🌐 The Hollow Knight wiki has moved to a new website, hollowknight.wiki, leaving its old home at hollowknight.fandom.com.
  • 🚫 The old Fandom wiki will no longer be updated by the team that contributed to its growth and development.
  • 🧩 Fandom, a for-profit company, has been hosting multiple wikis but has faced criticism from various wiki communities for its practices.
  • 💡 The Indie Wiki Buddy extension can help users redirect from Fandom links to the new Hollow Knight wiki.
  • 📈 Fandom's reach in pop culture is extensive, hosting a wide range of wikis from major IPs to niche interests.
  • 🚫 Several wiki communities have left Fandom due to issues like aggressive ads, degraded user experience, and lack of control over content.
  • 🤖 Fandom's introduction of AI-generated 'quick answers' was met with backlash due to inaccuracies and lack of community control.
  • 📋 The Pizza Tower Wiki experienced significant vandalism, leading to its migration to a different wiki farm, Miraheze.
  • 🌐 The Grimace Incident, where Fandom heavily advertised McDonald's Grimace Shake, highlighted concerns over corporate influence on community content.
  • 🔄 The challenge of SEO and the visibility of Fandom wikis make it difficult for forked wikis to gain traction and compete for visibility.
  • 🤝 Independent wiki alliances like NIWA offer support and collaboration for wikis seeking more freedom and community control.

Q & A

  • What is the new location for the Hollow Knight wiki?

    -The Hollow Knight wiki has officially moved to 'hollowknight.wiki'.

  • Why did the Hollow Knight wiki community decide to leave the Fandom platform?

    -The community chose to leave Fandom due to issues such as aggressive ads, degraded reader experience, and the introduction of AI-generated incorrect information on their pages.

  • What is Fandom's history and how does it relate to Wikipedia?

    -Fandom, originally named WikiCities, was founded in 2004 and co-founded by Jimmy Wales, who was also a co-founder of Wikipedia. However, unlike Wikipedia, Fandom is a for-profit company with a different set of standards and business practices.

  • What are some of the negative aspects of Fandom's platform mentioned in the script?

    -Negative aspects include aggressive video ads, auto-playing content, distracting features like quizzes and banner ads, cross-promotion of unrelated wikis, and the insertion of ads and unrelated content into articles.

  • What was the 'Grimace Incident' mentioned in the script?

    -The 'Grimace Incident' refers to an event where McDonald's paid Fandom to alter the Grimace article on the McDonald’s wiki into a large advertisement, replacing independent research with promotional content.

  • How has Fandom's policy on user verification and page protection been criticized?

    -Fandom's policy allows automatic verification after four days, which can lead to issues with vandalism. Additionally, page protection options are limited, and many administration features are restricted, affecting the community's ability to manage their wikis effectively.

  • What are some alternative platforms that wiki communities have migrated to or considered?

    -Alternatives include Wiki.gg, Miraheze, and self-hosting options like what the Jojo Wiki did. There are also independent wiki alliances like NIWA that offer support for independent wikis.

  • What challenges do wiki communities face when migrating away from Fandom?

    -Challenges include dealing with search engine optimization to compete with the Fandom site, the complexity of setting up a self-hosted wiki, and the potential division within communities, especially non-English speaking ones, if only the English wiki decides to fork.

  • How did the RuneScape wiki handle their migration from Fandom?

    -The RuneScape wiki partnered with the game's developer, Jagex, to establish the official wikis and formed their own company, Weird Gloop, LTD. Their successful migration and SEO strategy served as an example for other wiki communities.

  • What is the significance of the open source nature of MediaWiki?

    -The open source nature of MediaWiki allows for communities to freely create and manage wikis, promoting the sharing of information without the constraints of proprietary software or the need for significant financial backing.

  • What is the core difference between Fandom's approach to wikis and that of the community-driven wikis?

    -Fandom is a for-profit entity focused on advertising and monetization, potentially compromising community content, while community-driven wikis prioritize the free sharing of information and user-generated content without ads.

Outlines

00:00

🌐 Hollow Knight Wiki Migration

The Hollow Knight wiki has officially transitioned to a new website, 'hollowknight.wiki', leaving the old Fandom-hosted wiki behind. The community is encouraged to use the new platform for all Hollow Knight-related queries. The departure from Fandom is due to the company's aggressive ads and other issues that detract from the user experience. The wiki community has also been upset with Fandom's introduction of AI-generated content filled with inaccuracies, which they had no control over removing.

05:01

🚫 Fandom's Controversial Practices

Fandom, a for-profit wiki-hosting platform, has faced criticism from various wiki communities due to its aggressive advertising and lack of community input in decision-making. The platform's restrictive policies and the Grimace Incident, where McDonald's advertising heavily influenced the content, have led to a loss of trust. Many wikis, including notable ones like Minecraft and Zelda, have migrated away from Fandom, citing reasons such as intrusive ads and a lack of community control.

10:04

📦 Challenges in Leaving Fandom

Exiting Fandom presents several challenges, including the difficulty of competing with Fandom's search engine optimization and the fact that the old Fandom wikis remain online, potentially confusing users. The Pizza Tower wiki's experience illustrates these issues, as the community forked to a new site but still faces the deterrent of the Fandom site's continued existence and higher search rankings.

15:09

🌟 Alternatives to Fandom for Wiki Hosting

Communities leaving Fandom have various options for new wiki hosts. Wiki.gg offers a game-focused platform with ads only for indie games, while Miraheze is ad-free and community-run. Self-hosting is another option, though it requires more technical expertise and funding. Independent wiki alliances like NIWA offer support and collaboration for self-hosted wikis, providing a network of assistance and shared resources.

20:14

🤔 The Future of Wikis Beyond Fandom

The trend of wikis migrating away from Fandom highlights the tension between community-driven content and corporate interests. Wikis built on open-source MediaWiki software represent a collaborative, information-sharing ethos that contrasts with Fandom's ad-centric model. The success of wikis like RuneScape's partnership with its developer indicates a potential path forward for other communities seeking to establish independent, community-focused platforms.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Hollow Knight wiki

The Hollow Knight wiki is a collaborative platform where fans of the game Hollow Knight gather to contribute and access information about the game. In the video, it is mentioned that this wiki has moved from its old location at hollowknight.fandom.com to a new website called hollowknight.wiki, signifying a shift away from the Fandom hosting platform due to various concerns.

💡Indie Wiki Buddy extension

The Indie Wiki Buddy extension is a browser tool recommended for desktop users to facilitate the redirection of links from the old Fandom-hosted Hollow Knight wiki to the new hollowknight.wiki. This extension helps in ensuring a smooth transition for users who are unaware of the wiki's relocation.

💡Fandom

Fandom, previously known as Wikia, is a for-profit wiki hosting platform that hosts numerous wikis on various topics. It has been criticized in the video for its aggressive advertising practices and lack of community involvement in decision-making, leading to several wiki communities migrating away from it.

💡Wikifarm

A wikifarm is a website that hosts multiple wikis on different topics. Fandom is an example of a wikifarm, which has been successful in hosting a wide range of wikis, from major entertainment franchises to niche interests. However, the term is often used critically, as it implies a commercial exploitation of community-driven content.

💡Aggressive ads

Aggressive ads refer to the intrusive and disruptive advertising practices that have been implemented on Fandom's platform. These ads often pop up and follow users as they scroll, or autoplay videos, negatively impacting the user experience.

💡Community admins

Community admins are volunteer users who manage and moderate wikis, ensuring the quality and accuracy of the content. They play a crucial role in maintaining the wiki's integrity and addressing issues like vandalism.

💡Vandalism

Vandalism on wikis refers to the act of intentionally altering or defacing wiki pages, often with irrelevant or incorrect information. This can be a significant issue for wiki communities, as it undermines the reliability and trustworthiness of the information provided.

💡SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

SEO refers to the process of improving a website's visibility and ranking on search engine results pages. A higher ranking typically leads to more traffic and visibility. In the context of the video, Fandom wikis benefit from SEO because they are often the first result when searching for a community's wiki.

💡Wiki.gg

Wiki.gg is a wiki hosting platform that was established as an alternative to Fandom, with a focus on providing a better user experience by limiting ads to games published by its parent company, Freedom Games, and other indie developers.

💡Miraheze

Miraheze is a wiki hosting platform that operates on user donations and is entirely ad-free. It provides a high degree of freedom for editors, including custom domains and the ability to create private wikis.

💡Self-hosting

Self-hosting refers to the practice of independently managing and maintaining a wiki website, rather than relying on a wiki farm. This gives the community full control over the design, content, and operation of the wiki, but requires technical expertise and financial resources.

💡Independent wiki alliances

Independent wiki alliances are groups of wikis that collaborate and support each other in maintaining high-quality content and operations. These alliances can provide the benefits of a wiki farm, such as shared resources and expertise, while preserving the independence and community-driven nature of the wikis.

Highlights

The Hollow Knight wiki has officially moved to a new website, hollowknight.wiki, leaving behind the previous location at hollowknight.fandom.com.

The old Fandom wiki will no longer be updated by the team that contributed to and built it up.

The Indie Wiki Buddy extension can redirect all Hollow Knight Fandom links to the new wiki for desktop users.

Fandom, a for-profit company, has a different standard than Wikipedia and hosts a wide range of wikis.

Several wiki communities, including Zelda Wiki and Fallout Wiki, have decided to part ways with Fandom.

Aggressive ads and degraded readers' experience are common complaints about Fandom's website.

Fandom's introduction of AI-generated quick answers filled with incorrect information was met with backlash.

McDonald’s paid Fandom to alter the Grimace article on their wiki into a promotional advertisement.

Fandom restricts how a wiki can be styled and limits creative choices among wiki communities.

Vandalism is a concern on Fandom-hosted wikis, with Pizza Tower Wiki being overrun by meme insertions.

Fandom's policy on user verification and page protection is limited and can be bypassed by verified users.

The Grimace Incident, where Fandom replaced independent research with promotional content, sparked ethical concerns.

Many wiki communities have migrated away from Fandom due to its focus on advertisements and lack of community consideration.

Wiki.gg is a wiki farm that hosts over 200 gaming wikis and only runs ads for games published by its partner indie developers.

Miraheze is an ad-free wiki farm run on user donations, offering more freedom to editors.

Independent wikis like Jojo Wiki can self-host, requiring technical knowhow and expenses but offering more freedom.

Independent wiki alliances like NIWA offer support and collaboration for wikis that choose to operate separately from large wiki farms.

The RuneScape wiki's successful migration from Fandom and partnership with the game's developer serves as an example for other wiki communities.

Wikis are community-created and exist to share information freely, in contrast to Fandom's profit-driven model.

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