User blog comment:Sannse/Your First Look at the New Wikia/@comment-8-20100823231050/@comment-1272757-20100824005707

I too must say that if this look is forced upon the Sonic News Network, it is very likely that we too will be leaving. While consistency is important, so is the individual needs and opinions of every wiki and User. It should become clear that this new look is not appreciated, and as such should not be forced upon people. While there are people who like it, there are many more who don't like it. For that reason, this look should be entirely optional, and not even the default.

If Wikia does not allow the wikis and the Users to do their own thing in their own style and at their own pace, Wikia will be foregoing one of it's most well-known and most appreciated principle. In my opinion, Wikia has reached a point where the majority of the Users are satisfied, and does not need to "keep up with the times". Wikia should simply go at its own pace, and only "upgrade" and "improve" what the Users themselves believe should be improved.

If this is forced upon all Wikis with no alternative, Wikia will lose a great amount of its popularity, as well as a large amount of its contributors. What's more, Users on a personal level will be affected. Friendships will be broken apart by Users leaving the wikis, and experience and information that took months or years to gather will be lost.

As a beta tester, I am going to make sure I test this "upgrade" (and I use the term as loosely as possible) and see what it brings, but good or bad, I will not change my stance on this: it should not be mandatory, and should not be default. Wikia will lose far more than it can possibly gain with this project, and should think of that before going any further. If Wikia truly does give a single damn about the Users, it will pay attention to the anger and pain that it is causing the Users who contribute to it and make it what it is. Without the efforts of the Users, the ones that are being pushed away by this forced upon change, would be less than nothing. This would be a very funny way of paying back all of the effort these Users have put into making Wikia what it is.