User talk:Toughpigs

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Domains
Everything else currently brewing aside, I and the other admins of the Creatures Wiki, and others are still waiting for a reasonable explanation as to why Wikia has claimed creatureswiki.com and calls this a "routine" thing that doesn't merit discussion with the community. This domain name has value to us and we want to talk to someone about why Wikia thinks this is an OK thing to do. As GR says, this seems roughly equivalent to you starting a site on some hosting company and finding out later that they bought the most relevant domain for your site, claiming that it was to "prevent it from being bought by squatters," and then saying that you don't actually own the site. Can you please talk to us honestly about this or find someone else who is willing to? *This* is the thing I am angriest about. The ad changes are seriously annoying to us, but the acquisition of relevant domains like this one just seems really underhanded and smacks of extortion. ElasticMuffin 19:38, 10 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Unless you don't get talk page notices for some odd reason or have been too busy (in which case I offer a full apology), I am having a very hard time believing you have not seen this message yet given the several messages you've written elsewhere in the intervening time. By all means contact me in the IRC channel or on any of my Wikia talkpages if you change your mind. ElasticMuffin 22:59, 10 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Sorry -- I'm actually writing a lengthy response to your question, and I'm getting distracted by pings in other places. I'll post my response in a couple minutes, and you'll see why it's been taking me so long. -- Danny (talk ) 23:02, 10 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Okay, here we go. This question isn't actually something that I have personal experience with -- I didn't know about it until you guys brought it up this weekend. But I can tell you what I think is going on.


 * I think there's a fundamental misunderstanding that's led to this concern. Apparently, your view is that there are two separate entities -- "Creatures Wiki" and "Wikia" -- which have different interests and may in fact be opposed to each other. Our operating assumption is that Creatures Wiki is a part of the larger Wikia community; every wiki is. We've been doing more lately to try to encourage people to see every wiki as linked aspects of a larger project -- spotlights, hubs, sites like Gaming.wikia. The more interconnection there is, the better it is for the entire community.


 * Now, I understand that this attitude has been evolving over time. When Creatures Wiki was founded in 2004, Wikicities was more of a loose aggregation of unrelated sites. There were so few topics at the time that there wasn't much cross-over between the communities. As the number of wikis has grown in the last couple of years, the connections between wikis have become more complex and interesting. There are a lot of people who contribute to multiple wikis -- often with one "home wiki", and several secondary wikis.


 * If Wikicities wikis were like independent city-states, then the modern Wikia is more like a nation of connected cities and towns. In human history, that kind of increase in organizational complexity fuels innovation and positive growth. When there are more connections between cities, then there's better communication, and increased trade. A good idea can start in one town and spread to others.


 * So my point is that Wikia considers the people of Creatures Wiki to have shared interests and a common identity with the people from Bionicle Wiki and Narutopedia and Vintage Dress Patterns. If we don't -- if we see every wiki as its own island, separate and inviolable -- then we're denying everyone the opportunity to grow into a larger and more complex meta-collaboration. We have a shared user database, so you can log in on one wiki and stay logged in wherever you go. We have spotlights and hubs to help people navigate from one wiki to another. If you're still seeing Creatures Wiki as an independent city-state, then you're missing out on a lot.


 * So let's get to the main issue -- the domain names. What happened was that we started seeing occasional people buying domain names and competing with Wikia wikis -- stuff like Wookieepedia.org, which is amusing but kind of annoying if people go there and think that that's the real Wookieepedia. Even more annoying, somebody bought Muppetwiki.com and turned it into a link farm.


 * It's fairly inexpensive to buy domain names, so Wikia took the step of buying up some domain names, to make sure that we didn't see any more Muppetwiki.coms. I don't know why they don't redirect -- it probably just didn't occur to somebody. This wasn't a big project or anything; just something that someone thought would be helpful.


 * So the question is: Will Wikia give these domains "back" to the community? There are a couple odd things about that question. One is that Wikia didn't take anything that anybody owned. Anybody can buy a domain name -- the people who made Muppetwiki.com did. I assume that you didn't buy Creatureswiki.com years ago because you figured that Creatures Wiki was part of Wikia, and you didn't need to spend the money on a domain name.


 * The other thing that's weird is the question: Which community? You're implying that there is a specific set of individuals with a legal and moral right to own the domain name. Who are those individuals?


 * Sgeo, the founder of Creatures Wiki and presumably the person who invented the name, hasn't been active on the wiki since the end of 2006, with a couple more edits in 2007. There are ten people listed as sysops and bureaucrats, some of whom haven't edited since 2005. Of the top 50 contributors to Creatures Wiki, four have made edits in the last month. So who's the rightful owner of that domain name? The original founder? The top ten all-time contributors? The four contributors who are currently active? If somebody new comes along today and makes some edits, do they get a share?


 * So that's the best response that I can come up with. If you want to get into more details about how to buy a domain name from Wikia, then I'll hook you up with someone who can give you more information. Feel free to e-mail me at toughpigs at gmail.com, and I'll connect you. -- Danny (talk ) 23:16, 10 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Also, you may want to look at the Ownership policy, which says, "The wikis are owned by the communities. No one user owns any wiki on Wikia. Founders are those who requested a wiki be created, but ownership of that wiki resides with the community as a whole, not only with the founder." That's been a Wikia policy since January 2005, and I assume that people are aware of it. -- Danny (talk ) 23:44, 10 June 2008 (UTC)


 * That is not really applicable when Wikia grabs domains that are relevant and valuable to a Wiki. But anyway, thanks, and check your e-mail.  :)  ElasticMuffin 00:07, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

Whoa
Special:Editcount/Toughpigs. Do you edit in your sleep? -- 02:56, 10 June 2008 (UTC)


 * I'm engaged in a cut-throat competition for the All-Time Most Edits on Wikia. I'm the only contestant. :) -- Danny (talk ) 04:56, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
 * And I thought I had a lot. :) -- 00:12, 11 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Yeah, you're still a rookie. Keep working on it, youngster. :) -- Danny (talk ) 00:58, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

Name Change
Danny,

May I ask a name change for Mario RPG Wiki to Mario RPGs Wiki? Mario RPG Wiki sounds as if the wiki is only about the game Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, when it actually is about the Mario RPG series.

Thank you,

Username:

Hello
Hey Danny!

I just visited the Polish Lemony Snicket Wiki and it was totaly abandoned. I would like to adopt the wiki and then rename it to "W Lemony Snicket Wiki" (already translated into Polish). It would also be great if you could help me talk [http://www.wikia.com/wiki/c:fr.snicket:User:Docteur_Orwell. Docteur Orwell] at the French "A Wiki of Unfortunate Events" into changing the name of her wiki to the new Lemony Snicket Wiki name translated to French (Le Wiki Lemony Snicket). I told her on her talk page that I would wait for a response from her before I changed the name, so I just want you to help me convince her. If you need to, use Google Translate.

Thanks,

Music Community
I was wondering if i could discuss with you some things to do with the music community, the music wiki and other wiki things, but it seems a bit too long to deal with all at once on a talkpage. Do you use skype? Anarchyuk(talk) 17:40, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Archive

 * User talk:Toughpigs/Archive