fandom is the worst wiki hosting site out there. there are so many better options that we could be using but we are still with fandom and that needs to change. if you don’t know why, check this video by mossbag: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcfuA_UAz3I&t=919s
i propose that we use either wiki.gg or miraheze.
wiki.gg doesn’t have intrusive adds nor are they from sketchy origin as all of the adds are from games made by freedom games or by other indie devolopers
miraheze features zero adds and is entierly ran by donations, as well as allows the editors a lot of freedom on things like extensions, skins and custom domains
there’s no reason we should be still using fandom at this point and i’m willing to help making the new wiki if you guys need it
I full-agree with this sentiment, Fandom is awfuln and this community would gain much by putting distance wirh it.
That being said, I imagine the man hours required would be immense, and I am not sure if the will exists for a full port. Additionalty, its possible we lose history with all of the guild and community pages, which might not all be ported.
I would be willing to lend my support for such an endeavor.
As nice as it would be to escape the ad hell that is Fandom, we are nowhere near big enough to swap over to another place, let alone fight against our own work and Google’s SEO to get the new page above Fandom’s.
There is no need to swap, doing so would be more for getting on the bandwagon (something I personally dislike) than for the best of the community. Also it’s not as simple as a copy paste, we’d likely lose on logs, previous states and all that.
Finally, it’s not like we can just press the Delete key after moving and erase the Fandom wiki, in the very same video you sent, that action is denied. (something something, closing this wiki would hurt the community because Fandom’s is the most popular one)
TLDR: It would be neat, but it’s unnecessary. For now anyway.
i still think it’s totally worth it since we would be able to have a better user experience. i don’t care that fandom is the most popular one nor that it gets recommended more than our new wiki, that doesn’t mean we have to keep enduring the terrible it’s terrible practices, specially with better alternatives.
also that part about getting on the bandwagon i don’t agree since ti absolutely benefits the community imensly. so i don’t see why that would be a bad thing.
we can fix the not being able to delete the old wiki by simply linking our new one there and even use extensions that re-direct the user the the new wiki so they always find the correct one
As much as it may sound good on switching host, you have to think about the points said in the video that you provided.
Firstly, by switching to a new platform, exporting the entire wiki not only will take time, it might not get as much interaction than you think. Google will still recommend the fandom wiki over the “new” one. Not to mention, admins and mods in the current fandom wiki will lose access to it as soon as the swap goes through, and could just lead to worse information for the majority.
Another thing you have to consider is does the benefit of having a better interface (no ads, not needing to worry about fandom randomly changing stuff) is worth the hassle. Sure, if everyone uses the new platform, it will be, but I’m sure a majority won’t simply due to google and saved links. Also, if ads were an issue to you, a simple solution would simply be either creating an account, which drastically lower the amount of ads, or have an ad blocker.
PMU staff themselves don’t maintain the wiki besides a very recent exception who even then Is still only a moderator on the wiki, leaving this true for the administrators specifically
I had already watched this video around the time It was posted. Before Its existence I have wanted to migrate to a different host, but as said In the video It’s not a very simple or straightforward thing. You can see Fandom’s “forking” policy here: https://community.fandom.com/wiki/Forking_Policy
The wiki must be left intact and available for any future editors to use.
The Fandom wiki must not be used to promote or advertise the fork wiki.
Departing admins and other rights holders must make a clean break from the wiki.
We have no plans of moving and If we did It would also require cooperation from staff to help redirect the community to It. Even then, I very much wouldn’t want to fork If the original website stays up. At that point, we should just stay on Fandom to not overcomplicate things
Considering how restricted the forking policy Is I’d say there’s plenty reason
So In that regard we wouldn’t lose anything, however I have no Idea how Images or even things like user edits would get ported over If It’s possible to. I haven’t looked too much Into It besides seeing a script on GitHub to pull Images one time
In the comments on the video:
As of 11/8/2023 Fandom has changed their policy regarding forking. You can no longer link to the new wiki site from the main page for two weeks like I described in the video. Once you fork, all admins are removed and no links to the new site are allowed anywhere but the forking discussion page.
And, even If we still could, the link had to be removed eventually. As said In the policy you cannot use the Fandom version to link to the new one
I know the Indie Wiki Buddy extension exists, but I doubt a majority of the playerbase would use It, even If we collaborated with staff to help Inform people. If we moved to Wiki.gg It’d also have to be a completely different extension
Despite them not having Involvement, due to the tight knit nature of the community we would probably need to, especially If we wanted to self host and not use a wiki farm at all
From experience a lot of the community doesn’t realize that the wiki Is player run ( or who those players are ), that they can edit mistakes themselves If they took 5 seconds to create an account, or generally how to read or join the wiki server that’s literally on the sidebar If they need help, something Is wrong, or can’t find something. I really can’t Imagine people will understand what to do If we do something as big as move to a completely different website
I can already see the “wow this wiki Is so outdated” when they are literally not on the right website, because It’s confusing and not everyone may be In the PMU Discord If an announcement Is made about It, so on and so forth. It’s overall a convoluted process that I’d rather avoid unless Fandom straight up dies or the forking policy Is changed for the better, which It wouldn’t be since obviously they want you on their site
To reiterate; If It were a simpler process I would absolutely want staff to host the wiki for us or just not be on Fandom. But It’s more trouble than It’s worth unless an overwhelming majority really wants to move that badly In spite of all my points and the drawbacks
If you find the ads a problem on Fandom ( or In general ) please consider using https://ublockorigin.com/
With a proper adblocker they are hardly a problem. If you have an account, you can also Import this stylesheet: https://dev.fandom.com/wiki/AdBlock
I do want to say because our wiki Is Incredibly niche, we haven’t had to deal with a lot of the Issues described In the video. Only the more mainstream wikies tend to have random garbage shoved Into the article for some reason or be forced Into experimental features
With that said I agree Fandom sucks and I would much prefer the freedom that comes with moving or self hosting If It were as easy as porting all the content somewhere else and asking them to close the wiki
