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{{TOCright}}A '''wiki farm''' is a website, which may or may not itself also be a [[wiki]] site, that allows for free and / or pay creation ''<u>and</u>'' {{tag|Web hosting|hosting}} of wiki.
A wiki farm is a site where you can create your own wiki. Wiki farms such as miraheze, [[wiki.miraheze.org]] allow you to request a wiki, a wiki creator will review your request and they will decide whether or not they would approve or decline the request. If the request is declined, another administrator may reopen the wiki request or the wiki creator won't create the wiki you requested. If the request is approved, the wiki creator will create the wiki you request. A list of wikis hosted see [[meta.miraheze.org/wiki/Special:WikiDiscover.]]
 
==Wiki farms vs. commercial web hosts==
The structure of a {{tag|WikiFarm|wiki farm}} offers a turnkey solution, which may be convenient for operators of small [[WhatIsWiki|wikis]] with limited intentions to expand.
 
===Advantages===
*Being as the [[:Category:Web|web]] [[:Category:Server|server]] and [[:Category:Wiki Engine|wiki software]] is already configured for you, you avoid the tasks of technical [[:Category:System administration|system administration]].  In some cases, this may enable you to get your initial [[wiki]] online more quickly. It also relieves you of the responsibility of updating the [[:Category:Software|software]] to protect against vulnerabilities.
*These sites tend to group a large number of [[Special:Random|different]] communities on different topics under one roof, which may prove to be of use in drawing traffic to a small project that might otherwise be difficult to obtain.
*Cost often appears nominally to be lower, as the task of obtaining [[:Category:Advertising|advertising]] revenue has already been handled by the wiki farm.
*Wiki-specific technical support tends to be available, although response time may vary considerably between host providers.  This is often preferred to [[:Category:Commercial|commercial]] hosts, whose role is solely to provide [[:Category:Server|server]] space; and not to support specific [[:Category:Database|database]] applications (such as a wiki).
*Some wiki farms provide automatic [[:Category:Wiki Backups|backup]] of individual wiki sites, with said backup 'dumps' available to download, store and use the file elsewhere.
 
===Limitations===
*In most cases, you are <u>not</u> free to switch an existing project from one {{tag|WikiFarm|wiki farm}} to another, or from a wiki farm to a [[:Category:Commercial|commercial]] web host, without great difficulty.
*Your project is not a separate, independent site; but merely (usually) a sub-domain of the wiki farm's main domain.  This is an issue if your once-small project grows large enough to stand on its own merit.
*Depending on the wiki farm, you may or may not be able to choose the [[:Category:Wiki License|license]] terms for your content.  Ability to download content and [[:Category:Database|database]] also varies widely.
*In most cases, the choice of whether to depend on [[:Category:Advertising|advertising]] revenue to fund a site, or to pay your own way is taken away from you.  Where [[:Category:Server|servers]] are funded by advertising, you have little or no control over the source ''or'' content of advertisements; some of which may be inappropriate. This may mean that your gaming community could be sponsored by vendors of tools to cheat at those games, or that your kids-oriented site is exposed to age-inappropriate sales pitches.
*Using a wiki farm can cost <u>you</u> control of <u>your</u> {{tag|WikiIdea|ideas}}, your project, and your intellectual property.  <u>Read the fine print</u>; while the owners of some wiki farms talk as if the project is 'owned by the community', you may find that any domain names, project names, and [[:Category:WikiLogo|logos]] are the property not of the individual project, but automatically become the property of the company that runs the wiki farm.  The license on the content of your wiki is also likely to be one in which the wiki farm either [[:Category:Wiki Site retains copyright|takes control itself]], or licenses your content for [[:Category:Wiki Proprietary license|commercial for-profit distribution]] elsewhere on the internet.  This can lead to problems where websites [[mirror]] incomplete or outdated copies of your content in order to draw traffic away from your project, and to a copy on which outside advertisers keywords, ads, and links have been placed.
*In many cases, your project does not have your own [[user list]] if your wiki is one among many in a wiki farm environment.  This both limits your choice of [[username]] (as many will already be in use elsewhere on the site), and poses an obstacle should you later wish to move your project to some other host.
*Wiki farms typically do <u>not</u> provide the ability to seamlessly mix wikis with non-wiki applications, such as message boards, [[:Category:Portal|portals]], [[:Category:Blog|blogs]], forums, and galleries.  The configuration is typically a predefined one used across all wikis on the farm, which does not afford you the same levels of access to [[:Category:Custom skin|customisation]] as would installing the wiki software of your choice on a regular commercial wiki-capable web-host.
*[[:Category:ScribbleWiki|ScribbleWiki]] went [[:Category:Dead|offline]] without warning in early Autumn 2008, and [[:Category:ElWiki|ElWiki]] went down in 2007.  There is no guarantee that such disasters will not recur again to other wiki farms.
 
===Key questions to ask===
*Who [[Owner|owns]] any domain names?  Can you use your own domain registration (<u>and keep it</u>), without turning over its ownership to the wiki farm?
*Who owns the content?  Under what [[:Category:Wiki License|license]], and does that license allow unrestricted [[:Category:Commercial|commercial]] use of your content by others?
*Who owns the project name, [[:Category:WikiLogo|logo]], and any other identifiers?  Can you be confident that the wiki farm doesn't plan to take them from you and own them themselves?
*What happens if you attempt to move (aka [[fork]]) your project to another site?  Do you have access to [[:Category:Wiki Backups|download]] both your database ''and'' your [[user list]]?  Will the wiki farm continue to operate your old site (as a '[[spoon]]') in direct competition with your wiki on your new provider (as [[:Category:Wikia|Wikia]] have always done)?
*What is the response time, and capacity of the [[:Category:Server|server]] (or servers)?  Wiki (and dynamic content in general) are [[:Category:Database|database]]-intensive, leading wiki farms to often be much slower than the average for most other [[:Category:Internet|internet]] sites.
*What is the quality of technical support?  Are existing wiki farm [[user]]s getting speedy resolution of problems, or waiting months for resolution of minor issues?  As a wiki farm typically does not provide the same [[Sysop|sysadmin]]-level access as an ordinary commercial web-host, you are relying on others to maintain your server for you; how do they rate?
*Where are the [[:Category:Wiki Backups|backups]] of your project-critical data?  Are you free to download a copy as a precaution, and will that copy be up-to-date and [[List of wiki backups|complete]]?
*What [[:Category:Software|software]], [[:Category:Plugin|plugins]], and [[:Category:Extension|extensions]] are available (if any)?  If the setup is a bog-standard cookie-cutter duplicate of every other wiki on the site, is the choice of wiki software one that meets your needs?
*What are the restrictions on [[:Category:Wiki Topic|topics]] or content on each site?  Is the wiki farm willing to operate your wiki as you originally envisioned it, or will they reject your topic outright for any number of arbitrary reasons, varying from your choice of name and license to overlap with other existing projects on the site?
 
==See also==
*[[:Category:WikiFarm]] — list of all known wiki farms indexed here on [[WikiIndex]]
*[[Template:Wiki Farm]] — infobox template for wiki farm articles or categories
*[[Wiki:WikiFarms|Wiki Farms]] — at [[WikiWikiWeb]], aka Wards Wiki, Cunningham & Cunningham, Inc.
*{{Wp|Comparison of wiki farms}} — at the [[English Wikipedia]]
*[[Wikiversity:Wiki farm|Wiki farm]] — at the [[English Wikiversity]]
*[[Wikibooks:Starting and Running a Wiki Website|Starting and Running a Wiki Website]] — at [[Wikibooks (English)|English Wikibooks]] (formerly known as 'Wiki Science: How to start a Wiki')
**[[Wikibooks:Starting and Running a Wiki Website/Hosted Wikis|List of free / paid / limited wiki providers]] — at English Wikibooks
*[http://Pascal.VanHecke.info/2005/10/30/free-hosted-wikis-comparison-of-wiki-farms/ Free hosted wikis: comparison of wiki farms] — by [https://www.Google.com/search?q=%22Pascal+Van+Hecke%22 Pascal Van Hecke], 30 October 2005 (update 9 January 2006)
*[http://OpenDirectoryProject.org/Computers/Software/Groupware/Wiki/Wiki_Farms Directory of Wiki Farms Resources] — at the [[Open Directory Project]] (ODP)
*[http://www.PmWiki.org/wiki/PmWiki/WikiFarms Wiki farms] — an article at [[PmWiki]]
*[[WikiApiary:Farm:Farms|List of MediaWiki farms]] — on [[WikiApiary]]
 
[[Category:WikiFarm| ]]
[[Category:Glossary]]
[[Category:WikiConcept]]

Revision as of 23:22, 20 April 2022

A wiki farm is a site where you can create your own wiki. Wiki farms such as miraheze, wiki.miraheze.org allow you to request a wiki, a wiki creator will review your request and they will decide whether or not they would approve or decline the request. If the request is declined, another administrator may reopen the wiki request or the wiki creator won't create the wiki you requested. If the request is approved, the wiki creator will create the wiki you request. A list of wikis hosted see meta.miraheze.org/wiki/Special:WikiDiscover.

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