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Wiki farm: Difference between revisions
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Text replacement - "Wiki License" to "Wiki license"
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*In many cases, you are <u>not</u> free to switch an existing project from one {{tag|wiki farm}} to another, or from a wiki farm to a [[:Category:Commercial|commercial]] web host, without great difficulty. | *In many cases, you are <u>not</u> free to switch an existing project from one {{tag|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. | *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 | *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. | *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 <u>some</u> 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 [[:Category:Wiki company|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, advertisements, and links have been placed. | *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 <u>some</u> 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 [[:Category:Wiki company|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, advertisements, and links have been placed. | ||
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===Key questions to ask=== | ===Key questions to ask=== | ||
*Who [[Owner|owns]] any domain names? Can you use your own domain registration (<u>and keep it</u>), without handing over the domain ownership to the wiki farm? | *Who [[Owner|owns]] any domain names? Can you use your own domain registration (<u>and keep it</u>), without handing over the domain ownership to the wiki farm? | ||
*Who owns the content? Under what [[:Category:Wiki | *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 claim ownership for them themselves? | *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 claim ownership for them themselves? | ||
*What happens if you attempt to move (aka [[fork]]) your wiki project to another host? Do you have access to [[:Category:Wiki Backups|download]] both your database ''and'' your [[user list]]? Will that original wiki farm continue to operate your old wiki site (as a '[[spoon]]') in direct competition with your wiki site on your new provider (as [[:Category:Wikia|Wikia]] have always done)? | *What happens if you attempt to move (aka [[fork]]) your wiki project to another host? Do you have access to [[:Category:Wiki Backups|download]] both your database ''and'' your [[user list]]? Will that original wiki farm continue to operate your old wiki site (as a '[[spoon]]') in direct competition with your wiki site on your new provider (as [[:Category:Wikia|Wikia]] have always done)? | ||