User blog comment:Susanolivia/Fixed Width, Sidebar, and the Removal of Monaco/@comment-429401-20101001120642

A few comments expanding on my reply to a post lost down the page.

Wikia attracted me (and a lot of others i believe) as it offered a site that leverage the power of wikipedias collaborative editing to create linked articles on a subject, with the ability to add photos and other images in support of the text and the ability for people to discuss the content (discussion/talk pages).

There are loads of forums to have debates on or post random stuff on a loosely related subject area, But they are poorly structured for collating data into a meaningful article, with out heavy editing by a moderator.

Photos sites are just a random collection of photos and few people even bother labelling them with meaning full captions.

Niche (personal) web sites are getting lost in the deluge of junk/spam ad sites on the web and people seldom update them and the lack of others input to expand them, restricts the audience they reach to a few readers who search out material on a subject & bring it to the 'wider world's' attention by posting a link in a bolg or forum.

Wikia was a (not perfect) but good fusion of the other sites with a defined sector in the WWW matket place, but as they try like some retailer to be a one stop shop like a hypermarket, they stock every thing and pile it high but cannot offer the knowledge and service of a specialist retailer, and they have so much stuff it confuses the shopper so after a bit you get fed up, as every time you vist they have moved the store round and when you get home you find you missed some of the items you went in for, but you may have bought several items you did not really need. After abit you start shopping at local / nich shops again as the Big one all have the same items, big adds saying we are cheaper by a few cents than our competitor this week with our promotion, then next week thay have the same items on promotion. They stop stocking some of the brands you like so you then have to go to another shop to get them etc.In the UK supermarkets are selling Insurance and banking, But would you go to a bank for a pint of mike or aloaf of bread ? No.

Stick to doing a product group or service well not be a Jack of all (and master of non). offer a defined service not try ro copy others.