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

'''Fandom powered by Wikia''', formerly '''Wikicities''', is now a [[wiki farm|collection]] of over 200,000^{[http://www.wikia.com/About]} [[wiki]]s — aka a '{{tag|WikiFarm|Wiki Farm}}' — run by '''[[WikiaSite:community:Community Central:Wikia, Inc.|Wikia, Inc.]]''', and founded by [[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, [[WikiaSite:community:User:Gil|Gil Penchina]] became the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and hopes to take Wikia to a new level as he did with [[:Category:eBay|eBay]].  As of late 2011, the current CEO is [[WikiaSite:community:Forum:Craig Palmer, new CEO of Wikia|Craig Palmer]].

Fandom uses a unique and 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 {{tag|Advertising|advertisements}}.  Wikia offers {{tag|Free MediaWiki wiki farms|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).

Fandom staff and helpers have [[sysop]] powers throughout <u>all</u> Fandom wikis, as well as several types of automated detection and blocking tools to help deal with vandals and [[spam]] on individual wikis.  This can be helpful for [[:Category:Wikis with a strong viewpoint|controversial]] wikis like [[Liberapedia]] that attract vandals.

Users with new 'talk' messages on ''any'' Famdom wiki will get a note about the message on ''any other'' Famdom wiki where they have a tab or window open.  If a user has different usernames for different Famom wikis, then logging into a different account for one can change the account for all.

The vast majority of Fandom wikis are currently released under one primary [[:Category:Wiki License|wiki license]] – the [[:Category:Wiki Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike|Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license]] (CC-BY-SA 3.0), as explained [[WikiaSite:community:Community Central:Licensing|here]].  However, other licenses are available on Wikia; these include the [[:Category:Wiki Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial|Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial]] (CC-BY-NC), as used by [[Memory Alpha]], and the [[:Category:Wiki Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works|Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works]] (CC-BY-NC-ND) licenses.

Historically, when Fandom was founded, it used the {{tag|Wiki GNU Free Documentation License|GNU Free Documentation License}}, just like [[:Category:Wikipedia|Wikipedia]] did.

===Fandom portals===

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

*[http://fandom.wikia.com/movies Fandom Movies]

*[http://fandom.wikia.com/games Fandom Games]

*[http://fandom.wikia.com/tv Fandom TV]

:''This section requires expansion with info on the {{tag|Facebook Connect}} plugin which Fandom is now using.

===Fandom backup===

The entire project is available as a backup file [http://wikistats.wikia.com/w/wi/wikiaglobal/pages_full.xml.gz here]. Individual Fandom wikis may also backed up, and their backup files are available near the bottom of their relevant <tt>Statistics</tt> page, as explained [[WikiaSite:community:Help:Database download|here]]. However, whilst all Wikia wikis have a Statistics page, complete with the 'Database dumps' section containing their backup file links, those Wikia wikis which show 'unknown' for the URLs definately have <u>not</u> been backed up!

===Closure of Fandom wikis===

Unlike other {{tag|WikiFarm|wiki farms}} or website hosts, Fandom will generally <u>not</u> close a wiki if requested by the wikis' creator and/or community of editors. Fandom prefer to maintain [[:Category:Inactive|inactive]] wikis in a [[:Category:Dormant|dormant]] state, and actively seek others to 'adopt' said wikis. This will happen even when former wiki owners copy their entire wiki project and [[:Category:Ex-Wikia|re-host]] it on another provider or [[wiki farm]]. Fandom wikis are only usually [[:Category:Dead|closed]] in exceptional circumstances, typically if the content or intent of the wiki breaches Wikias' [[WikiaSite:community:Community Central:Closed Wikia|terms of service]].

==Problems between Fandom and its users==

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

Fandom offers {{tag|Free MediaWiki wiki farms|free}} hosting for a community to build a wiki-based website based on a unique and heavily modified version of {{tag|MediaWiki}}, in return for the display of {{tag|Advertising|advertisements}}.  Some registered users complain that they have little say over the placement or content of advertisements their wikisite displays.

Fandom ''currently'' uses the following types of ads on pages:

*Fandom 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 Fandom may make use of take-over ads which replace the background image'';

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

As of September 2012, Fandom 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.

The default skin for Fandom wikis used to be called 'Monaco', more colorful and customizable than the default {{tag|MediaWiki}} '{{tag|Monobook}}' skin that [[:Category:Wikipedia|Wikipedia]] uses.  While registered 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 registered users by making editing easier, but many Wikia left nonetheless.

Fandom has introduced a new 'Oasis' skin, which is widely unpopular with registered users, see [[WikiaSite:community: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 [[:Category:Inactive|left]], often [[:Category:Ex-Wikia|taking their wiki]] with them.

Fandom also supports a {{tag|Wikis with a mobile-view site|mobile-view}} specific skin, designed to be used on [[:Category:Smart phones|smartphones]] and tablet computers.  This version is automatically displayed when any Wikia wiki is opened on such devices, although there is the option to also view the conventional desktop version using the [[#Oasis|Oasis]] skin via a link at the bottom of the page.

In December 2014, Fandom introduced yet another skin, causing even more controversy among users.<ref>http://community.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Rupert_Giles/Prototype_for_a_new_article_layout</ref>

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

The [[Anti-Wikia Alliance]] wiki was set up to provide ongoing support and advice for a number of former Fandom wikis who are now hosted either independently or on another wiki farm.