Fandom’s Second Annual Transparency Report Is Here
We’re excited to share Fandom’s second annual Transparency Report, covering our Trust & Safety actions for the 2024 calendar year. This report includes data you don’t typically see - from the number of JavaScript submissions we reject to the number of wikis we close. It also covers moderation for user-generated content not just on Fandom wikis and Discussions, but across Fandom Brands, including GameFAQs, GameSpot, Giant Bomb, and Comic Vine.
A transparency report is a way for companies to share important information about the actions they take to keep their platforms safe. The details vary depending on the company, but these reports often include things like how much content was removed (or in our case, wikis), which policies were enforced…
Announcing Fandom's First Transparency Report
The internet is full of wonderful things that brings people together in ever-changing and positive ways - but it can also be a dangerous place. How do we reconcile these two things? By working to increase the good in the internet, and reduce the bad.
That might sound obvious, but for Fandom that means trying to moderate thousands of communities over several sites, without getting in the way of your freedom to create and build.
One part of this is our Trust and Safety Team. There are four of us. Me, Jenny, Dylan and our fearless leader Tim. We work alongside other staff in keeping Fandom a safe and healthy place to be. We are helped by other members of our Community team, along with other key problem solvers such as the Fandom Support Team (i…
National Bullying Prevention Month
This month is National Bullying Prevention Month and we wanted to acknowledge that with some thoughts on bullying and what to do about it. We will focus on cyberbullying, as we are all online, although in-person bullying is also important and is sometimes combined with cyberbullying
Cyberbullying involves using digital technology to repeatedly attack someone. For example, the bully might send offensive DMs to you or about you. Or they might send floods of nasty text messages, or write offensive discussion posts about you. Even wikis have the potential to be used for bullying - for example by making an offensive new wiki about you, or posting embarrassing pictures. The key element is the intention to hurt you.
Not all unpleasant interactions …
Update to the community guidelines
Have you ever actually read a site's Terms of Use? After all, it's a document you "sign" when you make an account on Fandom or most other sites you join. But they are long, and dry, and frankly more than most people want to read.
But it's good to know what you are signing. After all, you might be signing to give the company your first born child. Or to agree the contract will be void if there's a zombie apocalypse (yes those are real examples). One company even offered $1000 to the person who read enough of the document to find the offer! It took four months before anyone did!
So while we definitely recommend that you read the ToU, we have also written a simpler version of the user conduct section to help everyone understand what's required …
The Advisor Experiment
Hi everyone,
This is a semi-staff-post. It's not in the staff blog category and won't be advertised anywhere. The idea is just to give a central space to talk about the advisor experiment we are working on at the moment - both for those taking part in the experiment, and those interested in it.
This project is based on a similar project on Wikipedia. The idea is to give new editors a specific person to contact about any problems or questions they have on a wiki. The "apprentices" will be able to choose their advisor, and then can expect to have that person available to them for help and advice.
Advisors are volunteers from the wiki in question, and/or users with global experience who can give guidance on any wiki. They will commit to being av…