User blog comment:SavageOpress1138/On my Fear of the Name "Fandom"/@comment-3474542-20160929192903

This name change does a significant disservice to serious wikis.

When I think of Fandom, I don't think of a knowledge base or a website that provides collaborative modification of its content and structure directly from the web browser.

I think of creepers or those cliques around the popular kids in school. I think of those unhealthy people who end up on the evening news because they've been arrested for committing a crime related to their fanatical obsessions e.g. - the Slender Man incident on Creepypasta Wiki (not that Wiki's fault, but still...), the Harry Potter enthusiast who stabbed someone for saving a seat at a Marvel panel, the case of Tsutomu Miyazaki "The Otaku Murderer", or any number of incidents involving celebrity stalkers. People see fandom as more of a weakness, an affliction. Even if it doesn't interfere with life - you spend way too much time on some game/show/book/movie/comic/whatever.

Now, I don't know about you, but most of the people I've talked to weren't very comfortable interacting outside of their own personal clique. They certainly don't want to be involved with some creeper that's going to cause them to end up in court (or worse).

I realize that it's far easier to run polls and make up stories than it is to curate a knowledge-base for any specific topic. However, not all wikis are about fanfic or advertising for an upcoming media release (game/tv season/movie/whatever).

Since most wikis are desperate for content creators and editors, it's not a good idea to alienate them from each other with a pejorative name. Wikia needs to pick something that will appeal to the masses, not scare them away.

"But if Wikia would like the site to be seen as symbolizing something derogatory in whole, that's on them."

- ZeroTigress

Edit: spelling and grammar