FAQ
Wikia - creating communities
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[edit] What are Wikia?
Wikia are wiki communities creating free content with the MediaWiki software. These are hosted for free by Wikia, Inc., the company which runs the project. Anyone is free to start a new Wikia in accordance with the Wikia creation policy and terms of use.
See About Wikia, Why use Wikia?
[edit] What is Wikia, Inc.?
Wikia, Inc. is a company that was founded by Jimmy Wales in 2004. It manages the Wikia project, and other wikis, including Memory Alpha.
[edit] What is a wiki?
Wiki is a type of software that allows users to edit web pages. See WhatIsWiki for further details. For other definitions, see the glossary. You can also see the entry in Wikipedia:Wiki for an encyclopedic answer.
[edit] How can I edit?
Just click the edit link on any page. Read the Wikia Introduction for details, or try the Tutorial
[edit] Do I need to give my email address to register?
No. We would like to keep the site as open as possible to begin with. However, you are encouraged to provide your email address in case you forget your password. Founders of wikis are encouraged to enter an email address so they can be contacted by users of the wiki they founded.
[edit] How much time does it take to create a new Wikia site after registering?
If the request is supported on the requests wiki, it should happen quite quickly.
[edit] What software does Wikia run on?
All Wikia use MediaWiki, the wiki engine which also runs Wikipedia. The MediaWiki software is available under the GPL.
[edit] How do I search Wikia?
You can search Wikia wikis using the search box which appears in the side bar. See MetaWikipedia:Help:Searching.
[edit] Who owns the copyright on Wikia?
Copyright stays with the original author, but if you upload your content here, then you agree to licence that under the terms of the GFDL. This means other people can reuse and change your work as long as they meet the terms of that licence.
[edit] What are namespaces?
Namespaces are used to distinguish between different types of content. Information about users goes in the "user namespace". This means the page title starts with "User:". For example, User:Jasonr is a page about Jason in the User namespace.
See Help:Namespace.
[edit] How complete is Wikia?
Different wikis will have different levels of completeness. None of the wikis are "finished" since they are all open to further editing.
[edit] What is an administrator?
An administrator (also known as an admin or a sysop) on the wiki is simply a trusted user who has the ability to delete or protect pages on the wiki. For a full list of things admins can do, see Wikipedia's page on Administrators. For a list of admins on this wiki, see Special:Listadmins.
[edit] Can I use HTML on wiki pages?
Yes, but it is easier to use wikitext. See Help:Tutorial#Editing and Help:HTML.
[edit] Do I need to enable cookies to use Wikia?
You will if you want to edit while logged in. You can choose to edit as an unregistered user, but this means fewer options are available to you (such as moving pages).
See Registration and logging in.
[edit] Someone deleted the content I added. What can I do?
If your edit was vandalism, it may have been reverted. See Help:Revert. If you believe the reversion was a mistake, you can discuss this on the talk page of the article concerned.
[edit] Can I use Wikia content on my site?
Yes, as long as you abide by terms of the GFDL.
[edit] Who checks the edits?
Any user can check edits. Logged in users can use the Recent changes patrol feature to mark checked edits. Any user can revert bad edits, though administrators can do this more easily than other users.
[edit] How can I use interwiki links?
Links to sites on the Interwiki map can be used by typing the interwiki link word followed by the page title. For example, to link to the Meatball wiki, you can type Meatball:OptimalSearching.
For wikis in multiple languages, you can link to other language versions by placing the language code after the interwiki link text. For example, Wikipedia:Fr:Accueil will link to the French Wikipedia's main page via a redirect from http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/fr:Accueil
See Interwiki links in the tutorial.
[edit] Can I have a private wiki here?
No; Wikia only provides public wikis. See the Wikia creation policy.
[edit] Can I choose a different license?
You can choose to multi-license your own edits, but they must always be released under the GFDL. See Multi-licensing.
[edit] Can I have a non-wikia domain name?
You can redirect another domain to Wikia, but the main URL for all Wikia will be wikia.com. If you already have a large wiki on another domain, please contact Wikia for alternative solutions.
[edit] Can I have a temporary wiki?
Yes. As long as your content does not violate our terms of use, you can create a temporary wiki on our scratchpad at scratchpad.wikia.com .
[edit] Do I have to create a new account on every Wikia?
No, user accounts are joined across all Wikia, and also Memory Alpha, so you only need to create one account.
[edit] Can I use different languages on the wiki?
Yes. See languages.
[edit] Can I move my existing wiki to Wikia?
Yes, as long as the content is available under the GFDL or a compatible license.
[edit] Can I download the wiki I create here on Wikia?
All Wikia wikis have database downloads available. See database download.
[edit] Can I copy text from other websites to the wiki?
Not unless they are available under the GFDL. See Wikia copyrights. Copying text from elsewhere without attribution is likely to lead to your content being deleted.
[edit] Can I protect pages on the wiki?
Only under certain circumstances. See protection. It is a common mistake to protect pages unnecessarily.
[edit] Can I prevent editing from unregistered users?
No. Everyone can edit, including those who choose not to log in.
[edit] Where can I report bugs?
The best place to do this is in Inside Wikia forums.
[edit] Where can I get more help?
You can ask questions at Forum:Index or contact us with questions.
