User blog comment:Craiglpalmer/Wikia is now Fandom powered by Wikia/@comment-8479011-20160927124123

I've been using Wikia for a long time now, and am an admin on several different Wiki's, and used to be an admin on many others. Because of this, I am very knowledgeable about the site as a whole, and I honestly disagree with this name change.

I am basically a "Wiki Traveler", going on different Wiki's about anime or other things that I know a fair bit of information about. If I come across a Wiki that I feel needs attention, I try my best to help, even if what I do is small. I am a bit of a finicky editor, I will admit. I mostly stick to mostly inactive Wiki's (There is one exception), because I am more of an independent editor. I prefer to edit things on my own, and I find dead Wiki's mostly more relaxing to contribute to.

Being an editor on many different Wiki's, I don't think the word "Fandom" works.

Wikia is a place for information. Granted, it is also to bring community's together to make new friends and collaborate and such, but I have noticed that most visitors on Wikia don't come to interact with the users on a specific Wiki community. No, they get on, find the information that they were searching for, and then leave.

I have had personal experiences with this, with the Corpse Party Wiki being a huge example. The Wiki gets a minimum of 100,000 views a week, but only around 3-7 of those people will interact with anyone there. I have seen the Corpse Party Wiki linked from tons of other sites, including Youtube and Deviantart for INFORMATION, but not for any other purposes.

Granted, I did make a blog about advertising the Corpse Party Wiki, but it did not improve the activity in the slightest. The views increased, but nothing else. I am not blaming Wikia or any of its users for this, I am just bringing up a point.

But it's not just that Wiki. I have looked at the other Wiki's that I frequent on, and while they may not get as many views, the amount of views is still extraordinarily higher than the amount of activity.

I understand that the name "Wikia" may make people think of "Wikipedia", but I honestly don't see that as that much of a bad thing. Both sites give information about certain subjects, and both are frequently used for the purpose of information.

I know Wikia is also more community based, but this is what the chat and the new Discussions features are for.

I honestly knew that this day would come, as me and most others have noticed that the main page links to Fandom. It seemed like Fandom was slowly taking over Wikia, with its Fandom articles showing up on almost every page, that most of the time weren't even related to the topic of the Wiki itself, and more recently with the huge grey Fandom box at the bottom that always just feels so random and out of place.

However, even though I knew that this was Wikia's fate, I hoped that it wouldn't come to this somehow.

I know Wikia works hard, but the Staff have a tendency to fix things that aren't broken. They announce changes out of the blue, people criticize it, but then Staff never listens. It's a pattern that just never ends.

I already had problems with the new Discussions feature, but I mostly kept quiet about the whole thing, as I knew that my voice wouldn't be heard. However, I can not remain quiet any longer, even if my opinions may be ignored.

I know that the Staff claims that they have gotten positive feedback, but can the Staff prove that these positive comments were made by FREQUENT viewers AND editors? Were these comments made by not only occasional viewers, but by frequent editors too? And how about users who are admins on different Wiki's? I would like to know who exactly the Staff got this positive feedback from. If this feedback is mostly from viewers who do not have the proper experience like admins do, then it is highly unfair to think that these select few comments should be enough to support this rather large change.

And even if the feedback you got was indeed from frequent editors, it appears to me that most of the comments on this blog are negative. I've checked many of the users contributions to other Wiki's, and most (not all), seem to be at the very least, fairly knowledgeable about the site.

Are the Staff aware that this may confuse many users? I know that the links are staying the same (For now), but even so, I think there may still be some confusion for new users.

I also think that the name may prove to be inconvenient. I feel as if old contributors to this site, like myself, will still be calling it "Wikia", even after the name change. Newer users however, may call it "Fandom" instead. I know this may be a minor problem, but I feel as if it may become a bit confusing over time to hear two different names on the same website.

But it's not only inconvenient in that sense. As many people have pointed out, the word "Fandom" has gotten a bit of a bad rep. Most people think of a community full of chaos, full of immature people who do nothing but whine and complain. I don't see how this will help Wikia's already fading reputation.

I understand that "Fandom" has gotten more activity than Wikia did at the start, but there is a reason for that.

I think many of the viewers on the Fandom community come there from the large amounts of advertisements that Wikia displays on every Wiki.

These advertisements being on popular Wiki's like Star Wars, Game of Thrones, and so on, would naturally increase the amount of views/activity it gets.

If it wasn't for the large amounts of advertisements being shoved in our faces, I don't think it would have gotten nearly as much attention.

These kinds of changes have consequences, and I feel as if the Staff don't listen to their users enough. Sure, they reply to some comments, but many are pushed aside or ignored. It seems that, most of the time, if not always, no matter how many negative comments there are on a newly planned feature, it changes nothing.

I have noticed a few Wikia users leaving because of this, and I honestly think changes need to be made. I am aware that the Staff can't please everybody, but they should listen to the majority of their users opinions instead of their potential greed for money. And it seems to me that the majority are against this.

Money is important, but so are your users. Please keep this in mind.