User blog comment:Dopp/Communicate Easily with Message Wall/@comment-1788742-20110927215541

I admit I saw this coming since the blog pointing out talk page problems, and I'm sorry, but I am strongly against this for multiple reasons. Not only does it make Wikia look still more like some type of social networking site, it continues, like Chat and many other superfluous new features that have been added since then, to undermine the core purpose of what Wikia is really about. Even before the removal of the Monaco skin, the staff has been pushing more and more updates that seem to detract from the purpose of the wiki, and this...just seems ridiculous.

Honestly, I'm beginning to think that Wikia is aiming to become a website like Facebook or MySpace. If I wanted to use Facebook or MySpace, I'd use Facebook or MySpace. I use this site because it's a wiki, not for these reasons. I can understand, of course, why some users would want updates like this, and I fully approve of Wikia Labs and the New Editor. But this is not only completely unnecessary, it seems like yet another attempt to make Wikia something that it isn't.

Wikia is a wiki— a collaborative database for one or more topics. Wikia is not a social networking site. But all of these new updates seem more and more geared toward turning it into one. I can see how some wikis would want this, but can't it be optional? I mean, I know some things, such as the new editor or the skin, can't be, but surely this can? And if it can't, why bother? It doesn't seem like there's any reason for this at all.

Yes, talk pages aren't exactly a perfect system of communication. But we already have blogs and the option of a Chat. Thus, I see no reason to replace talk pages, which are not at all a problem for anyone, so it seems.

If Wikia wants to become a social networking site, then it should try to do so immediately. Because it seems to me like all of these new updates are geared more and more toward users who prefer the "social" aspect of Wikia. I certainly enjoy the social aspect of Wikia. But Wikia is a wiki first, a social site second, which I think is something that is getting forgotten. Now, given the history Wikia Staff has with listening to feedback, I'm not so naive as to believe this will change your mind, but I feel that I should express my opinion on this. Does anyone here agree with me? And could someone please explain to me why this has to happen? It seems completely unnecessary and unneeded.