Update: Admin Dashboard and Editor
I have some great news for you: Today we’ve removed the fixed light or dark theme on both the Admin Dashboard and the Editor.
It's important and necessary for you as communities to have your own look and feel. You have all worked really hard to define and make your wikis unique. And one good way to do this is through your own local color theming. So as of this morning, you'll see your Admin Dashboard and Editor pull in your wiki's customized colors.
For those of you who are new on the scene, here's some background: earlier this year we rolled out the Wikia Editor and the Admin Dashboard. Both of these features had a universal color theme (Admin Dashboard having both light and dark theming depending on the color of your wiki) which separated …
Follow Technical Updates to Stay In the Know
At Wikia, we make dozens of improvements to the site every week -- fixing bugs, introducing new features, and improving our interface so that it’s easier and more powerful. To help keep you aware of major releases, we write blog posts, update help pages, and sometimes send out sitewide messages. But what about the small, every day fixes? For those, we have Technical Updates.
Every Tuesday, we put together a list of the top changes and known issues that we think you’re most likely to notice or wonder about, and then we publish it on Community Central. We keep the format clean and simple (just the facts) so you can easily find the information you’re looking for each week.
Why do we post our Technical Updates on Tuesdays? Because our weekly code…
New PhotoPop Game Uses Wiki Pics
If you play the game and tweet about it, you can also enter to win a $250 Fandango gift card. The contest runs until December 11, and you can find all the juicy details here.
Stay tuned for the next mobile team update. If all goes well, you'll be receiving a big Wikia Mobile holiday present.
Showcasing Cool Wiki Activities
Simply put, you guys are awesome. You come up with amazing and interesting things all the time. Your wikis are an inspiration to other wikis, other users, and Wikia staff. You should be proud of the amazing things you create, and you should share them with the world!
We're proud of the things you do on wikis, and we often share links with one another from our favorite finds. Today, we've collected a sampling of the cool stuff communities have done below. This isn't all of them, and we're sure we've missed a bunch, so feel free to add your own finds in the comments below!
- Featuring content on the main page helps your community find their way around. Check out the interesting treatment for a Featured Article/Featured Image on Songpedia.
- Sliders…
Share Holiday Greetings with the Wikia Community
Although we're just hitting mid-November, signs of the holidays are already starting to appear around us. Wikia staff members have begun to reflect on what a busy year it's been.
We are continually impressed by the community's ingenuity and creativity, and we really need your help in spreading some holiday cheer! To do so, we'd like you to share a message about any and all exciting developments on your wiki in 2011 by uploading photos to the Holiday Card Wiki.
We will use a collection of these photos as a holiday greeting card hosted on Wikia.com.
It's easy! Simply upload a photo on our Holiday Card Wiki by November 30 if you want your community to be included. The image can be from your user profile, from your community, or anything creative t…
Wiki Wisdom: Reacting to Trolls and Vandalism
Last month we kicked off a series called Wiki Wisdom. It's a series where we share and highlight great user blog posts we read on Wikia. As a community, Wikia collects so much knowledge — our goal is to give shout-outs to well written, informative, and thoughtful blog posts.
In today's post, we're highlighting RRabbit42's help page Dealing with Vandalism and Spam. It was written on the Phineas and Ferb Wiki, but has a boatload of helpful and valuable tips for dealing with trolls or vandals.
At one point or another in our Internet lives, we all come into contact with a troll or a vandal. RRabbit42 offers calm and helpful advice. The post gives a few definitions, explains why people troll and vandalize, and then details how to handle yourself …
Featured Wikian: Team Doofenshmirtz
Welcome to the next installment of our Featured Wikian blog series. Recently, we chatted with Team Doofenshmirtz, a Gleek with a passion for Tardis.
Wikia: Tell us a little bit about yourself
Team Doofenshmirtz: Well, I am totally into television, video games, and manga. I am a HUGE Doctor Who fan. I am an "otaku." My favorite Internet memes are the anti-joke chicken and the close enough guy. My favorite actor is Mike Myers.
Wikia: How did you first discover Wikia?
Team Doofenshmirtz: My dad found the Phineas and Ferb Wiki and showed it to me. It's a awesome wiki! And it was my first.
Wikia: Which wikis do you spend the most time on, and which is your main wiki?
Team Doofenshmirtz: I probably spend most time on the PFFanon, Glee, and Ouran High Schoo…
Share Your Wiki's 2011 Highlights
This year, we’re doing something a little different to celebrate the end of the year and all of the great communities on Wikia. Our goal is to create a yearbook of sorts -- something that provides a snapshot of 2011. Over the next few weeks, we'll be gathering stories and highlights from wikis and users to help us piece together this narrative.
Moving forward, this will be an annual project, and we’re really excited to share it with the Wikia community, and the rest of the world as well. Think of this as a time capsule that captures the big moments in 2011 as seen through Wikian eyes.
We likely won’t be able to include each and every big moment and suggestions you send us, but we do want to hear from all of you! Here's what we're interested …
Spooktastic Halloween Wikis
Halloween is just a few, short days away. Are you doing anything special on your wiki this year, like adding dripping blood (shudder), creeping spiders, or floating bats to your pages? Maybe Michael Myers will be making a special guest appearance?
We want to hear about your community's Halloween plans this year. Post a link in the comments below so we can all marvel at your spooktactular creativity!
In the meantime, check out our list of horror wikis to put you in the Halloween mood. Also, check out these two scary wikis:
- Wiki Hunt
- Saw Films Wiki
Or maybe you’re more into treats than tricks. Check out these crafts and dessert ideas:
- Eyeball Cookies on Desserts Wiki
- Halloween Jar Lanterns on EasyCrafts Wiki
- More ideas on the Halloween Wiki
Coming Soon: Message Wall in Labs
Many of you have asked if Message Wall can be optional. My quick and short answer is that we don’t know yet. But, we are taking an important interim step.
The next stop for Message Wall is Wikia Labs. Putting Message Wall in Labs will give you the chance to try the feature out for a while and see how it works for your community. It also gives you a place to share insights about testing the product with other users and Wikia staff.
During the Labs phase, we’ll be tracking usage and your feedback; we'll also be working on any bugs present. We’ll be asking and answering the following types of questions:
- Are communities that are using Message Wall talking more?
- Are those communities seeing an increase in edits?
- Are communities seeing a growth in ne…