User blog comment:Kirkburn/Photo gallery launch/@comment-20644-20100326154631

@Kirkburn - we strongly discourage the galleries because we don't just want images excessively linked to on articles, something people do quite often. They see an image, say "gee this looks nice," and just throw it up there anywhere, whether it's in a gallery or just stacked on top of each other in one three sentence section. Instead, we use images to compliment the text, including aesthetically, and any additional images that don't fit can be put into a category. We then have a template, Imagecat, that can be put towards the bottom of an article (where a gallery would be anyway) and provide a very obvious link to a category that acts as a gallery.

It's very discouraging to see Wikia continue to force wikis to use features that do not fit with certain wikis, thereby creating more work than needed for administrators and other active editors. Sometimes, it appears to wikis like ours (from editors on SWF and other editors on other wikis I've talked to here and there) to be the shunning of how more-established wikis work in favor of setting up new wikis with a new generation of editors. Don't get me wrong, though: making things easier for new wikis and a new generation of editors is great! On the other hand, though, you should also be helping to accommodate these more established wikis if and when necessary, not disrespecting the way they work by giving them no other choice but to use these features.