User blog comment:Craiglpalmer/Introducing Fandom/@comment-1820055-20160125232808/@comment-20644-20160126023623

I'm afraid we don't offer exceptions to global branding changes. What we will do, though, is&mdash;as always&mdash;study how changes impact communities and the site as a whole. So if we were seeing negative effects on a community like yours, then that's something to take into consideration as we continue working on the global navigation.

That being said, we don't think associating with the word Fandom will be a problem. I think you may be underestimating how much readers are already aware that communities on Wikia are fan-made. The fact that they're written by fan experts is precisely why they are trusted as sources of information, because readers are increasingly aware of the fact that the real experts aren't journalists or professional writers. Experts are the people actually playing the games, watching the movies and TV shows, reading the books, listening to the music, and so on.

Fan authority is and always has been the strength of Wikia communities.