User blog comment:Dopp/Technical Update: August 30, 2011/@comment-3146413-20110902024547/@comment-3388044-20110902031338

Kirkburn answered this elsewhere. Essentially he said that, because Wikia runs a highly customized version of the mediawiki software, it does not automatically update just because there’s a new version, unless it is necessary for security reasons. It's a lot of work to customize all over again. This is not to say that they don’t upgrade; just that they do so when technologically necessary, not just because there’s a new version. Moreover, the upgrades to the mediawiki software are sometimes a result of WikiMedia-specific requirements that do not always apply to Wikia.