Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-20644-20141110180435/@comment-20644-20141110224807

DarthKitty wrote:

The problem is, there are a lot of casual editors who don't understand the difference between Wikipedia, a wiki, &lt;Name> Wiki, Wikia, and (less importantly) MediaWiki. Adding another term, especially one that a) is very similar to an existing one, and b) doesn't translate properly, will only add to the confusion and encourage the idea that editing a wiki is "too hard" for averageJolene34725.

The only two that I would really say are relevant, in my opinion, are  Wiki and Wikia. Wikipedia isn't a factor, considering we are not Wikipedia, and MediaWiki is simply software that generally only admins and power users have any real awareness of.

So I don't think there's much of a confusion issue, since it's really just two words. Would we like it if communities had Wikia in their name? Of course, but we don't require it and don't see much of a brand confusion issue.

DEmersonJMFM wrote: Part of this was already in my original post. Not everyone is going to know what a "wikia" is or know the different between the term and Wikia. You tell someone who has no idea that they should go visit your wikia there is surely to be confusion. I would say it's safe to say the people that are likely to look up information often will know what a wiki is. If you told them to go to Wikia's website to visit your wiki they would likely have a better idea what you meant. Personally if I heard wikia my first thoughts would only be about a company. Why would you tell me to visit the company itself for infomation when I'm interested in a wiki?

Most of this was addressed in my answer to DarthKitty, so I'll reply to just the point about not understanding what it means to go to a wikia. Most people I've talked to about Wikia are able to make the connection between the name Wikia and wikis, so I don't think that's going to be an issue. If I said "Check out my Twitter," there's a tacit understanding that I'm not suggesting that I own Twitter the company.

DarthKitty wrote: On the flipside, I totally understand why you guys want to make the change: Wikia is the most popular wiki farm right now, and you want to keep things that way. By using the word "wikia" everywhere, you're hoping to make your brand synonymous with "wiki", so that people will come to you instead of one of your competitors. It's a smart business move, one which you'll deny because transparent marketing is bad marketing. I don't think transparent marketing is bad marketing at all. Quite the opposite, in fact.

This is a brand decision. We are the Social Universe For Fans, By Fans, and obviously we want all fans to see Wikia as the home of superfans. It also helps better define Wikia and Wikia communities to fans, to readers, and also to potential industry partners. For example, we have a program called Fan Studio where Wikia fans can be connected with brands from the entertainment and video gaming industries, amongst others. Generic wiki hosts don't have those kinds of relationships. Wikia and Wikia communities do.

And like I said in my original post, Wikia communities are unique. They are, to put it bluntly, simply better than what you can find on any old wiki farm, which is a testament to the hard work and passions of Wikia users. This recognizes their unique place as fan-driven communities, as opposed to being just yet another wiki&mdash;which is especially important as more websites and companies incorporate wikis into their model.

Hedgeg wrote: Let's try otherwise: replace the name of the company, so a similar word "wiki" to something else. For example, another company Google (Bing/Rolls Royce whatever).

As you now will prove the innocence proposed renaming?

Sorry, but I'm not sure I understand. Can you clarify?

Horseshoe Crab wrote: I thought "wikia" was a fancy name for a collection of wikis. At least, that's what I seem to remember from the original video that explained what Wikia was.

In the past, Wikia only referred to the company. That changed about a year ago, when we decided to say "wikia" instead "wiki."