Template:Wikia.com / Fandom.com: Difference between revisions

'''Wikia''', formerly '''Wikicities''', is now a [[wiki farm|collection]] of over 200,000[http://www.wikia.com/About] [[wiki]]s (a [[:Category:WikiFarm|WikiFarm]]) run by [http://community.wikia.com/wiki/Community_Central:Wikia,_Inc. Wikia, Inc], and founded by [http://community.wikia.com/wiki/User:Jimbo_Wales Jimmy Wales], one of the founders of [[:Category:Wikipedia|Wikipedia]], along with [[Angela Beesley Starling|Angela Beesley]] in October {{tag|FoundedIn2004|2004}}.  Its' tagline is "''Create. Collaborate. Be Original.''"  In 2006, [http://community.wikia.com/wiki/User:Gil Gil Penchina] became the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and hopes to take Wikia to a new level as he did with eBay.  As of late 2011, the current CEO is [http://community.wikia.com/wiki/Forum:Craig_Palmer,_new_CEO_of_Wikia Craig Palmer] .

[[Wikia]] uses a heavily modified creation of the {{tag|MediaWiki}} {{tag|Wiki Engine|wiki engine}}; and is visually different from regular MediaWiki sites in that it has its own {{tag|custom skin}}, and most notably, complete with a range and variety of embeded advertisements.  Wikia offers free hosting for an individual or community to build a free content [[WhatIsWiki|wiki]]-based website.  New wikis can be created instantly at http://create.wikia.com.  Hosting and 24-hour customer support is free, in return for advertising placed on the pages; but users have little say over the advertisements their website displays.  Support on both the technical and community aspects of running a wiki community is provided, at [[Wikia Community Central]] (or one of the [[Template:WikiaCommunityCentral|other]] [[:Category:Wiki Language|language]] Community wikis).

The vast majority of Wikia wikis are released under one primary [[:Category:Wiki License|wiki license]] – the [[:Category:Wiki Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike|Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike]] (CC-BY-SA) license. [http://community.wikia.com/wiki/Community_Central:Licensing]  However, other licenses are available on Wikia; these include the [[:Category:Wiki Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial|Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial]] (CC-BY-NC) and the [[:Category:Wiki Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works|Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works]] (CC-BY-NC-ND) licenses.

Wikia wikis are grouped under differing portals or 'hubs', as shown in the bottom left corner of their page.  These include:

The entire Wikia project is available as a backup file [http://wikistats.wikia.com/w/wi/wikiaglobal/pages_full.xml.gz here] .  Individual Wikia wikis are also backed up, and their file is available on their relevant <tt>Statistics</tt> page. [http://community.wikia.com/wiki/Help:Database_download]

*[http://greenreaper.co.uk/stats/wikia/wikia.php Wikia IRC stats] by [[GreenReaper]].

*[http://www.wikistatistics.net/wikia Wikia Interactive Statistics], from Wikistatistics

*[http://s23.org/wikistats/wikia_html.php List of top 250 Wikias], from WikiStats by S23.org

:''This section needs updating''<!--use the S23.org stats-->

Unlike other wiki farms, Wikia will generally <u>not</u> close a wiki if requested by the wikis' creator.  Wikia prefer to maintain inactive wikis in a dormant state, and actively seek others to 'adopt' said wikis.  This will happen even when former wiki owners copy the entire wiki project and re-host it on another provider or wiki farm.  Wikia wikis are only usually closed in exceptional circumstances, typically if the content or intent of the wiki breaches Wikias' terms of service. [http://community.wikia.com/wiki/Community_Central:Closed_Wikia]

For those having problems logging into Wikia, a solution is to disable scripts from Wikia then clicking on 'Log in' link which will send you to [[wikia:Special:UserLogin|Log in webpage]].

Wikia offers free hosting for a community to build a wiki-based website based on a heavily modified version of {{tag|MediaWiki}}, in return for the display of advertisements.  Some [[wikia:Special:ListUsers|users]] complain that they have little say over the placement or content of advertisements their website displays.

Logged-in users don't have to see the advertisements unless they choose to.  Users may set their preferences to see advertisements on Wikia in order to see how a page looks to logged-out and/or non-Wikia users.  A prominent advertisement is placed at the top right hand side of most pages, but when there is also a picture on the top right hand side of a page the layout for users who see the advertisement can be poor especially on short pages.  Logged-in users may not realize this when they add pictures.

*A banner at at the top of the page.

*A large square ad in the sidebar which may often be a video advertisement.

*On large pages a tall skyscraper ad is placed inside the end of the sidebar.

*On large pages two large (or three slightly smaller) square ads at the end of the page before the footer.

*On various content pages Wikia also sells "Sponsored links", which are a section of links that look like an "External links" page content section, but are placed below the category bar.

*Wikia places a floating social bar at the bottom of the screen for anon users.  A square ad may pop out of the left of this bar.

*''Occasionally Wikia may make use of take-over ads which replace the background image.''

*''They rarely show up, but have been more common recently, Wikia has tried placing [[wp:In-text advertising|in-text advertising]] in page content occasionally.''

As of September 2012, Wikia is worth an estimated $13.93 Million USD to the advertisers, with a daily page view of more than 6,358,000; since all three links have nearly the same figures it must be for the whole of Wikia.

Until recently, people who understood how to use preferences could choose which skin they used, but even this choice will now stop.

The default skin for Wikia wikis used to be called 'Monaco', more colorful and customizable than the default [[:Category:MediaWiki|MediaWiki]] Monobook skin that [[:Category:Wikipedia|Wikipedia]] uses.  While individual users could view Wikia sites using the Monobook skin (by choosing it in their preferences), Wikia did not allow it to be chosen as a default skin for all wiki visitors, which was frustrating for some communities.  Wikia says statistics show that Monaco encourages new users by making editing easier.  As Monaco is being phased out, it becomes clear that some users really did like it.

Wikia has introduced a new 'Oasis' skin, which is widely unpopular with users, see [http://community.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:MarioGalaxy2433g5/To_the_people_complaining_about_the_new_look To the people complaining about the new look].  The new skin is now compulsory for all users.  Because of this change, many Wikia users have now left, often taking their wiki with them.

[[ComplaintWiki]] has been set up expressly to look at problems that Wikia users have, and includes comments from communities that have left Wikia hosting, as well as other critics of Wikia and [[:Category:Wikipedia|Wikipedia]].