User blog comment:Brandon Rhea/Fandom and Curse Media are joining forces/@comment-26213507-20181213020912

Allow me to clarify a few things about this situation:

Wikia has decided to purchase the main competition in the industry. Does this make sense? Certainly; it's what Disney has been doing for years, to the dismay of everyone able to see the big picture. The "big picture" here is that due to several questionable decisions, such as implementing unfinished discussions as a primary feature on new wikis and rebranding in the dumbest way possible, numerous users left for another site; now, that site no longer exists isolated from the community. The move makes logical sense in a business standpoint.

Although Wikia ("FANDOM") is primarily a business, it likes to mask things as if they were for "the betterment of the community" or what not. Claiming the rebrand was a good idea, for instance, or that the domain change will somehow improve people's perception of the company are both prime examples of this. This is not Wikia Staffs' fault; after all, their main goal as liaisons is to provide information to the community while attempting to paint Wikia the best possible way. Such actions have been made clear by these "copy & paste" responses, which, to the staff's credit, is all they can do...because this move cannot be justified by any logic besides the truth: that competition was causing the userbase to split, so what's the best solution? Take the competition out of the picture. At this point, to avoid looking even worse, Wikia staff might as well just call it as it is, since their current explanation is more see-through than glass.

Now...why is competition important on the Internet? Well, it's simple: opponents make you improve; the drive to be the best comes naturally, for whoever fails the race will also fail in the long run and fold. It is important for companies to match if not be better than others so that they don't get swept away in today's market. Without Gamepedia providing that primary competition, Wikia no longer has to "try" as hard to impress; they can "relax," knowing that the primary threat to their site now lies in their own pocket. Without competition, there is no driving reason to improve besides keeping users interested in the product. If Wikia is smart, quality will not decrease...but this cannot be assured in the slightest.

A simple fact of the matter is that this purchase is only half thought-out in the long run. A great portion of Gamepedia users came to the site because it was not Wikia; with that gone, many will abandon their previous homes for a new rising star, whatever that may be. Was Wikia required to ask them if they desired a merge, or host a vote on the matter? Certainly not; this is business, and it waits for no one...but this was still a rash decision. Like the URL change and rebrand, this action has already caused backlash, and exists as part of the trend I mentioned earlier; this will only get worse.

Back in 2015, my community welcomed discussions; most people did...but after it had been around for a while, many editors began to despise it, which only got worse when it was announced without thought of the negatives that discussions would merge with forums. It was this decision that made main-stream editors begin to distrust Wikia, and other choices since that have not helped, with this proving the ultimate truth: Wikia has little interest in its users; only money. The switch to pander to mobile users—many of them immature teens who still "rebel" against the staff of my wiki, years after we had connected with them—proves that greed has become the forefront.

Long post I know, but a few things needed to be stated: if Wikia does not realize the folly of its last few decisions and attempt to improve on them, then it will truly run itself into the ground. I'm sorry, staff, that you have to try to come up with some explantation for this...but it is clear that there was only one goal in mind. Your efforts are applauded, but they truly are in vain. I will not be leaving Wikia any time soon...but the company continues to become more and more of a disappointment in many peoples' eyes, and Wikia needs to rethink its business strategy if it wants to change that.