Forum:Optimal Wikia Size

What's the optimal Wikia Size?
Ok, I suspect that there is no one size that is right for all Wikia, but that said, I also believe that Wikia that are not active enough tend to die out and that ones that are "too big" need to work out ways to be more comprehensible and can get very intimidating.

So, what do you think? Size can be measured in a variety of ways including or some combination or ratio of these simpler measures.
 * activity
 * number of articles
 * number of active contributors
 * number of visitors
 * percentage of overall community

--CocoaZen 17:09, 26 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Can you give an example of what you mean by "too big"? I can only think of a couple on Wikia that would qualify as big, but I don't find them intimidating or incomprehensible. I haven't seen one yet that I would call "too big". Can you explain what you mean? -- Danny (talk ) 23:58, 26 July 2006 (UTC)


 * It's quite possible that there is no such thing as "too big" for a Wikia. But, there is definitely a size at which multiple mechanisms (like portals or extensive categories, templates etc.) are created to handle the size and organizational issues.  See the Wikipedia for some examples.  It has also had to come up with different strategies to handle vandalism and monitor changes.  I think it's done so successfully, but I am also aware of people who will not participate as contributors because they see it as too complex a process (not the actual editing), but the overhead (guidelines, style, etc.).  Wikipedia is clearly "successfull", but it has had to change in response to growth.   If you look on the Wikipedia list of people who have "left", you can see that some of them gave the large size and loss of community feeling as a reason.  At this point, none of the Wikia are anywhere near as large as the English Wikipedia, but the same principals could apply.  It's also possible that Wikia are more community oriented, so keeping a feeling of community is more important?
 * My question was also about a minimum. For instance, I suggest that any Wikia without at least 2 edits a week will become inactive.  Also, a Wikia needs to get at least 3 active participants and over 250 articles before it becomes truly "self-sustaining" with a community to take care of it and a "flavor" of it's own.  (I can think of counter examples, but I propose this as a starting point for discussion.)
 * --CocoaZen 03:03, 27 July 2006 (UTC)