Wikia is now rebranding itself from plain old "Wikia" to "Fandom powered by Wikia". The clunky new name comes after Wikia supposedly is changing its business practice from being a wiki-farm hosting wikis that house boatloads of information to being a fansite where fans of all ages get together and, well, be fans.
An overwhelming number of users have spoken out against this, particularly among the older and more experienced group; those who have been with Wikia for years now. People have long since expressed disapproval of or even resisted Wikia's recent corporate transition to "fandom", creating so-called features intended to boost community unity and shepherd in new users, such as the infamous Discussions extension. What has happened, through user experience, is the creation of a greater rift within the community, with editors focused on actually developing the wiki sticking to the traditional talk pages and forums, and users that are only interested in talking about the topic the wiki is on filling up Discussion threads.
This has angered many long-time users, with a sizable and growing number of them threatening to leave or having already left Wikia. A number of users have commented about how Wikia is no longer the "community" website that they were five, six, maybe even seven years ago, where changes were optional and open to community feedback. Instead, Wikia has been likened to a "dictatorship", a quasi-democracy that seemingly gives the illusion of community input when in reality Wikia Staff have not been observed to honour criticism. Feedback on how to fix the Community Page and New Image Galleries have largely gone ignored. Users are becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of attention given to feedback that oppose a change and frequently accuse Wikia of being a "greedy corporate capitalist" for ignoring users and inundating pages with advertisements and other distracting content that makes it increasingly difficult for wikis to retain readers.
I am personally opposed to this change, but this blog post isn't about that. This blog post is specifically for The Last Stand Wiki, what this "Fandom" change means for us, and how we are going to react to it.
- What has changed?
On The Last Stand Wiki, nothing has changed on the things we can control. We cannot change the site layout, such as modifying the Wikia logo or the navigation bar, without violating the Terms of Use, so any changes Wikia makes on their end is sadly out of our grasp. What hasn't changed, however, is the fact that The Last Stand Wiki will and will forever be a wiki focused on providing information about The Last Stand series. Our mission is information, not a subreddit. While we do offer features and discussion boards for the community to use, our primary goal is still to be a freely editable website about the game series.
- Will this become a fanon wiki?
The short, simple, and sweet answer is NO.
For a slightly longer and more descriptive answer, the bottom line is still no, although we still offer our users some opportunities to post about things they've done in-game. First off, the comments located beneath each article will still be around, and it is the wiki's oldest and most widely used form of communication. Your user page will always be available for you to use as you please; this will not change. For short and simple stuff, the fan made message wall, which has existed long before this brouhaha, is also available. Finally, if you're a bit more sophisticated, the Off Topic forum is open to you.
- What about the name?
We will still be called The Last Stand Wiki; if you wish, you can still go for the longer name The Last Stand Wiki on Wikia. However, please don't call us The Last Stand Fandom because let's get real here: that sounds really, really, really stupid.
- What will happen to the game series?
Absolutely nothing. The Last Stand Wiki is run entirely by volunteers and is not affiliated with Con Artist Games. We have no employees and no revenue, and we will always remain that way.
- Will there still be a community on the wiki?
Absolutely! A wiki needs a community in order to function! While our main goal is still to provide information we're happy to chat and offer a platform for you to connect with other players of the game. We still recommend the offical forums, though, and we are aware that most people who wish to talk abot the series generally use the official forums rather than the wiki. This will not change, even with the "Fandom" brand being foisted onto us, as our goal is still to provide and maintain a useful database of information about the series that you can access for free.
- What if I still have questions about this?
First, see the official Wikia blog post about this change, located at Community Central, and if you have any other questions, you can either ask there or ask at our local on-wiki Help desk. If you want to contact me, the author of this blog post, directly instead, my message wall is always open.