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

|name            = Wikia, Inc.

|founder          = [[Jimbo Wales]]<br><small>(President)</small><br>[[Angela Starling]]<br><small>(ex-VP)</small>

{{for|sub-categories of Wikia wikis by official language portals|category:De.Wikia|category:Es.Wikia|category:Fr.Wikia|category:Pl.Wikia}}

See also the <code>{{template|wikia boilerplate}}</code> [[:Category:Templates|template]].

'''Wikia''', now branded as '''FANDOM powered by Wikia''', and formerly known as '''Wikicities''', is a [[wiki farm|collection]] of over 400,000<ref name=About>[http://www.Wikia.com/about About | Fandom], ''www.Wikia.com'', Wikia, Inc., accessed 26 May 2018.</ref> [[wiki]]s — known as a '{{tag|WikiFarm|wiki farm}}' — run by '''[[WikiaSite:community:Community Central:Wikia, Inc.|Wikia, Inc.]]'''  It was founded by [[Jimmy Wales]] (who had previously founded [[:Category:Wikipedia|Wikipedia]]) and [[Angela Beesley Starling|Angela Starling]] in October {{tag|FoundedIn2004|2004}}.  Its original tagline was ''"Create. Collaborate. Be Original."''  In 2006, [[WikiaSite:community:User:Gil|Gil Penchina]] became the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and hoped to take Wikia to a new level as he did with [[:Category:eBay|eBay]].  In late 2011, a new CEO [[WikiaSite:community:Forum:Craig Palmer, new CEO of Wikia|Craig Palmer]] was appointed.  In late 2016, the entire Wikia site was rebranded 'Fandom',<ref>[http://community.Wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Craiglpalmer/Wikia_is_now_Fandom_powered_by_Wikia User blog:Craiglpalmer / Wikia is now Fandom powered by Wikia], ''community.Wikia.com'', Wikia, Inc., accessed 26 May 2018.</ref> and also launched the non-profit [https://Wikia.org/ Wikia.org].

[[Wikia|Wikia.com]] uses a unique and heavily modified creation of the {{tag|MediaWiki}} {{tag|Wiki Engine|wiki engine}}; it is visually different from regular MediaWiki sites in that it has its own {{tag|custom skin}}, and most notably, is embedded with a range and variety of graphic and dynamic {{tag|Advertising|advertisements}}.  The fundamental business model of Wikia is the offering of {{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 of wiki, and 24&nbsp;hour customer support is free, in return for advertising placed on the pages; but [[editor]]s and 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:Wikia Community Central|other]] [[:Category:Wiki Language|language]] Community wikis).

The vast majority of Wikia 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 Wikia was founded, it used the {{tag|Wiki GNU Free Documentation License|GNU Free Documentation License}} (GFDL), just like [[:Category:Wikipedia|Wikipedia]] did.

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

*[http://www.Wikia.com/Entertainment Wikia Entertainment]

*[http://www.Wikia.com/Lifestyle Wikia Lifestyle]

*[http://www.Wikia.com/Video_Games Wikia Video Games]</div>

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 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 definitely have <u>not</u> been backed up!

===Stats===

*[[GreenReaper]] produces some very interesting and geeky [http://greenreaper.co.uk/stats/wikia/wikia.php Wikia IRC stats]

*[[Wikistatistics.net]] produces graphical [http://www.wikistatistics.net/wikia Wikia Interactive Statistics]

The exact date of founding of individual Wikia wikis used to be at <code>/Special:WikiStats</code>.

Unlike other {{tag|WikiFarm|wiki farms}}, Wikia will generally <u>not</u> close a wiki if requested by the wikis' creator and/or community of editors.  Wikia prefer to maintain inactive wikis in a [[:Category:Dormant|dormant]] state, and actively seek others to 'adopt' said wikis.  This will happen even when former wiki owners [[Fork|copy]] their entire wiki project and [[:Category:Ex-Wikia|re-host]] it on another provider or [[wiki farm]].  Wikia 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]].

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

Wikia 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 [[user]]s complain that they have little say over the placement or content of advertisements their wikisite displays.

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

*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;

*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'';

<ref>[http://www.websiteoutlook.com/www.liberapedia.wikia.com][http://www.websiteoutlook.com/www.fiction.wikia.com][http://www.websiteoutlook.com/www.atheism.wikia.com]</ref>

Until recently,^[when?] registered users 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 {{tag|MediaWiki}} '{{tag|Monobook}}' skin that [[:Category:Wikipedia|Wikipedia]] used.  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 left Wikia nonetheless.

Wikia 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 left, often [[:Category:Ex-Wikia|taking their wiki]] with them.

*[[wikinews:Potential Wikia mass exodus|Potential Wikia mass exodus]] at [[English Wikinews]], Friday August 1, 2008