User blog comment:Brandon Rhea/Wiki domains will be changing from wikia.com to fandom.com in early 2019/@comment-38892-20180817195943/@comment-961279-20180818150404

Each of these examples are a non-issue, more of a peripheral or background detail. Most web browsers allow you to search from the address bar. The first time you search for something, you'll get the list of results. You look through it, find what you want and go there.

I just did that for Uncyclopedia, typing in "uncyclopedia wiki". Because I've only been there a few times, the auto-complete suggestions displays phrases instead of websites. The more I go there, the sooner the auto-complete suggestions will change from phrases to website URLs. For example, I no longer have to type "Phineas and Ferb Wiki". I've been there so many times that as soon as I type the letter P, it auto-completes to the wiki's URL. I verify it's the right one and hit enter. If I type "com", it auto-completes to Community Central's URL.

As to the point about the intent of a wiki being based on a website address, the wiki's main page will clarify what it's intent is. That is the first page someone is likely to go to as a result of searching for a wiki. For example, if the search was for "HIV wiki", the main page would say something like, "Welcome to the HIV Wiki, your guide to information on the cause, available treatments and resources for support and living with HIV." If the wiki's intent was to say "having HIV is a really cool thing", then the main page would say that, but I wouldn't consider that to be a fan wiki. It would be more of a snark or trolling wiki.

The content of the wiki will matter more than the URL. The main part of the URL that people will notice will still be there. If the URL was going to completely change from unencyclopedia.wikia.com to something like wiki250472.fandom.com, then that would break the connection/association a person relies on, but even that's temporary. Servers would redirect from the old URL into the new one, and search engines would display details about what's at that URL. This would be handled automatically in the background, to where the initial objection becomes moot.