Combine OverWiki
| Wiki size: | 1,400 article pages see stats |
(Page count as of: 2022-12-25)
Combine OverWiki is a wiki dedicated to documenting all aspects of the Half-Life series of video games, as well as its shared universe with the Portal franchise. The wiki also serves as a hub for Half-Life and Portal fans alike.
History
The wiki was founded on February 12, 2006 with the name Half-Life Wiki on Wikicities, now known as Wikia or FANDOM. On May 18, the wiki was renamed to "Combine OverWiki", a move made to help better describe the wiki's contents. On December 14, Klow was appointed as an administrator and enacted new policies to better improve standards, introducing a Manual of Style and improved image management.
In 2009, the wiki saw a considerable increase in traffic. Efforts were made to improve article content, specifically targeting misinformation, head-canon and speculation. New articles with concise behind-the-scenes topics were created while poorly written articles were either cleaned up and/or removed. On February 28, Wikia staff promoted users Klow and MattyDeinhoff to bureaucrat status. In June, user YabbaMyIcing led the first community project to place all previously unused files onto content pages. On July 6, project pages were officially added to help encourage new editors to assist with wiki content. In October, user Bramblepath was appointed to administrator.
On July 11, 2011, the wiki announced the decision to move, or "fork", away from Wikia to a new, independent domain. Klow was responsible for creating a teaser website utilizing the new domain and introducing the new site motto, "Run. Think. Shoot. Edit.", while Bramblepath was responsible for the move itself. Two users, Fijure and Barnz, were appointed as sysops. The fork culminated from the diverging path of Wikia, with staff believing they sought to turn communities into advertising farms, profiting off the work of volunteer editors. The original Wikia wiki was renamed to Half-Life Wiki after completion of the move. The wiki officially reopened on January 2, 2012 at "https://combineoverwiki.net/". On November 12, 2012, the wiki moved hosting services to the website ValveTime, citing the need for superiors speeds and technical expertise.
On October 3, 2014, user Marphy Black was appointed as bureaucrat and as of 2022, remains the most active on the site. On May 26, 2017, the wiki switched hosts and updated to the latest MediaWiki version at the time. In November 2022, the Independent Fallout Wiki reached out to Combine Overwiki to form an affiliation, creating its first non-Valve independent wiki affiliation. In December 2022, the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages joined as an affiliate.
It runs on the MediaWiki wiki engine, and contains no advertising.