Wikia - creating communities

Do you have a story to tell about Wikia?

Has your wiki changed your life?

Has your wiki helped you meet other people interested in the same topic?

Has your wiki helped you find information you wouldn't have found elsewhere?

Do you find editing your wiki fun?

Have you learnt something?

Have you been able to teach other people something?

Has the wiki made life easier for you?

How do you use the wiki?

Why do you use Wikia?

What is the best thing about having a Wikia wiki?

Whatever your story, add a new section to this page and share it. We'd like to be able to point the press here, so all edits to this page should be released into the public domain to make your stories maximally reusable.

See also How has Wikimedia Changed your Life?.

[edit] Quake!

The best example that I can give of what one can do with with a Wikia is the story of my involvement with the aftermath of the Earthquake that hit South Asia, Pakistan in particular, in October, 2005. I could reproduce already-published material if anyone wants, but you can also read it directly at:

• http://www.siliconeer.com/past_issues/2005/november2005.html#Anchor--COV-7447
• http://ifaqeer.blogspot.com/2006/10/flashback-1082005-earthquake-in.html

and the "History" and "Media Mention" sections of this page:

• http://pakistan.wikia.com/wiki/Talk:Earthquake_10-05

--IFaqeer 17:44, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Spanking Art

This is the story of the Spanking Art wiki, perhaps one of Wikia's most unusual wikis.

I had been an enthusiastic Wikipedia editor for about two years when I learned about Wikicities (which was later renamed to Wikia) - a site that enabled anyone to create their own wiki, for free.

The best thing was that Wikicities used the same software as Wikipedia, which, if you ask me, is the best wiki software around, well-proven and with a familiar look and feel. Now a wiki is very different from a traditional website; so if you want to publish content there are pros and cons to consider. Creating content is much easier - as an editor you don't need any software other than your browser. You don't need to deal with HTML, JavaScript, PHP, CSS, and the like. You can type contents using easy-to-learn markup and everything is very intuitive. Fixing a typo is a matter of seconds, and each page's revision history is automatically preserved. What more can you ask for? On the other hand, wiki pages are editable for everyone, so you have to deal with social issues such as different points of view, spam and vandalism. But the success of Wikipedia proved that it can work.

A vision grew in my mind. I have many hobbies, but perhaps the most interesting (and oddest) of them is researching the subject of spanking in art - covering all art forms such as visual arts, literature, movies, and so on, throughout the globe, in history and present. The heap of material - genres, artists, authors, etc. - would be perfect to organize in a wiki, following the model of Wikipedia. And if I could get like-minded people to contribute, we could put our distributed knowledge together in one place, creating an encyclopedic work that would become a true revolution for the worldwide community of spanking art enthusiasts.

I inquired with Angela Beesley and Jimmy Wales if a sexuality-related topic such as mine was permitted on their wiki hosting service. They gave their okay and on May 8, 2005 the Spanking Art wiki was launched.

Since that day I have been working on this project like a dog. But the efforts paid. The Spanking Art wiki attracted a small but productive community of authors, each an expert in his area, who have collaboratively written more than one thousand articles (as of February 2007) - all well-organized and interlinked. Today, Spanking Art is an open content reference of high quality and one of Wikia's most visited wikis. We have the highest ratio of visitors to editors of all wikis - so we are a small community that writes for a big audience.

I am mighty proud of this wiki. It has enabled and motivated us to create content that is nowhere else to be found. If anything, our wiki is proof that the open content approach can succeed even with an unconventional subject matter. I would like to thank Wikia for their great service and support.

--Spankart 15:55, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Doom Wiki  (frequency: unique.  No. appearing: 1)

Since becoming a wiki contributor, I have learned more about English composition than in 3 years of assembling grant proposals, more about C than in 3 years of graduate school.  I have found something which is rare and irreplaceable among gamers, and which I hope will be common to all who become seriously involved: the feeling that I do not play alone, but as a member of a united species.  The sheer scope of the project goes far beyond the limited and idiosyncratic data-gathering of a simple walkthrough, preserving a kind of history which is in imminent danger of disappearing, and Wikia's hosting philosophy represents aggressive vigilance against the entropy which assails all internet collaborations.  I love, love, love this project as I have loved few things involving a computer, anywhere, ever.

5198 edits and counting.    Ryan W 11:01, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] ArmchairGM Changed My Life and I Couldnt Be Happier

I would like to take a moment of time to thank ArmchairGM, and its users for changing my life forever... A little over a year ago, I was a little voice ranting and raving about the wide world of sports from my broken down soapbox I called a blog and a website. Rant and rant I did, but little if anyone ever heard me... And then out of nowhere I was sent an email asking me to join an online sporting community. A real community of sports fans who loved to rant and rant and talk as if there were the kings of the world just like I do. It was heaven. Read the whole story here.

BigPPup

[edit] Disillusionment: Wikia's Banishment of the "Spanking Art Wiki"

Every active Wikia member can probably recall the seminal event that propelled him or her out of the ranks of "lurkdom" into the limelight--an understanding that one's contributions were wanted, and perhaps even needed, to nourish a community. Lurkers comprise the nursery of latent ideas that will feed the community of the future, so the conversion of a lurker is normally a tiny celebration of a community's prosperity. I'd been a longtime Wikia lurker and appreciator until just days ago, but the reason for my de-lurking was hardly celebratory.

Indeed, the seminal event that propelled me to finally speak up on Wikia was the death of a wiki hosted here that was dear to me. On January 27, 2008, after three years of enviable growth and success (see the founder's description second-from-top on this page), the "Spanking Art Wiki" was shut down suddenly by Wikia's corporate management with the personal imprimatur of CEO Gil Penchina (read his post here). "Spanking Art" was one of the largest and most active communities on Wikia (and I am proud to say that I helped drive its statistics), but the executives were not enjoying any revenue from it. Evidently the content, while comporting with the Terms of Use, was not to the taste of advertisers. According to jaded managerial calculus the entire wiki had to go. It had to be hidden without notice. Purged. Vernicht. What is perhaps most deplorable is that in the wake of this decision, Penchina saw fit to trumpet support for free speech, caparisoning himself with the vestments of a faith he plainly does not practice: "We support your right to free speech and wish you well." Though a lurker for years, I found it impossible to endure this callow posturing in silence.

The Spanking Art wiki will undoubtedly establish new hosting and the diaspora of that Wikia group eventually find their way home. After all, though Wikia has chosen for now to cast its lot with the retrogrades on free speech, there are many providers who have faced these trials and stood loyal to principle. But why can't Wikia also be a bastion for free speech? (Indeed, why shouldn't it be the leader in free speech?) Certainly Wikia's founders understand that free speech is an inextricable companion to free culture; and in my opinion all of us who benefit from the site's content, including the lurkers, must join in the call for new leadership if Wikia is to endure as a free culture monument. There you have my Wikia story--the story of a lurker and silent appreciator for years, de-lurked by disillusionment with Wikia's management, but not without hope for Wikia's future.

-Chip Wilson Qpwoeiritu 07:00, 3 February 2008 (UTC)