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List of fan wikis

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A fan wiki is a wiki[a] that is created by fans, primarily to document an object of popular culture. Fan wikis cover television shows, film franchises, video games, comic books, sports, and other topics.[1] They are a part of fandoms, which are subcultures dedicated to a common popular culture interest. The digital humanities scholar Jason Mittell stated in 2013 that fan wikis were "[o]ne of the most popular and widespread uses of wikis".[2]

Fan wikis usually operate according to internal policies. Editors reach decisions through discussion and consensus decision-making. Some wikis are more hierarchical, while others operate more collectively. They usually appoint a small group of editors to serve as system operators (sysops) or administrators, who have additional powers to enforce rules.[3] Many fan wikis have rules that require editors to provide citations to reliable sources to verify their claims.

Fan wikis were first published in the early 2000s. Many fan wikis formed out of Wikipedia over disputes among editors about the level of detail that should be provided in articles.[4] These included fans of the television show Battlestar Galactica[5] and the Star Wars franchise, who founded Wookieepedia after facing complaints about the "overabundance of minutiae related to Star Wars appearing on Wikipedia".[4]

In 2004, the Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales and the former Wikipedia board chair Angela Beesley founded Fandom under the name WikiCities, a for-profit wiki hosting service that hosted regional wikis for cities. In 2006, the company attracted venture capital funding and changed its name to Wikia.[6] Wikia then began to assimilate independent fan wikis, such as Memory Alpha (a Star Trek fan wiki) and Wowpedia (a World of Warcraft fan wiki).[7] In the late 2010s—after Fandom and Gamepedia were acquired and consolidated by the private equity firm TPG Inc.—several wikis began to leave the service, including the RuneScape, Zelda, and Minecraft wikis. Those wiki communities cited Fandom's advertising methods, issues with security and outdated software, and corporate control as reasons for migrating.[8]

The following list summarizes fan wikis with articles on Wikipedia.

Fan wikis

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Fan wikis
Wiki Date launched Status[i] Founder(s) Most recent wiki hosting service Subject Notes Ref(s).
Heroes Wiki October 2006 Defunct (2020) Fan community Independent Heroes (American science fiction television series) [9]
Lostpedia 2005 Live Kevin Croy Fandom Lost (American drama television series) [10]
Memory Alpha 2003 Live Dan Carlson and Harry Doddema Fandom Star Trek (American science fiction franchise) [11]
Nukapedia (a.k.a. Fallout Wiki) 2005 Live Paweł Dembowski Fandom Fallout (American video game franchise) Moved to Fandom in 2007; forked to The Vault by Dembowski in 2011 after he joined Curse LLC as an employee [12]
Supernatural Wiki 2006 Live Fan community Independent Supernatural (American horror television series) [13]
The Vault 2011 Archived Paweł Dembowski Fandom Fallout (American video game franchise) Forked from Nukapedia in 2011 after Dembowski joined Curse LLC as an employee; hosted by Curse LLC to early 2019, when Curse's Gamepedia wiki hosting service was acquired by Fandom; archived by Fandom [14]
Wookieepedia March 2005 Live Chad Barbry and Steven Greenwood Fandom Star Wars (American science fiction franchise) [15]
Warcraft Wiki October 2023 Live Fan community Wiki.gg World of Warcraft (American massively multiplayer online role-playing game) Forked from Wowpedia (hosted by Fandom) in October 2023 following community vote [16]
Wowpedia October 2010 Live Fan community Fandom World of Warcraft (American massively multiplayer online role-playing game) Forked from WoWWiki (then hosted by Fandom) in October 2010 following community vote; hosted by Curse LLC from founding to early 2019, when Curse's Gamepedia wiki hosting service was acquired by Fandom; forked to Warcraft Wiki following community vote in October 2023 [17]
WoWWiki 2004 Archived Fan community Fandom World of Warcraft (American massively multiplayer online role-playing game) Forked to Wowpedia in October 2010 following community vote; archived by Fandom in May 2020 [18]
  1. ^ Current as of August 2024.

Notes

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  1. ^ A wiki is a form of hypertext publication on the internet which is collaboratively edited and managed by its audience directly through a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages that can either be edited by the public or limited to use within an organization for maintaining its internal knowledge base.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b Jones 2021; Mittell 2013, p. 38.
  2. ^ Mittell 2013, p. 38.
  3. ^ Mittell 2013, pp. 39–40.
  4. ^ a b Jones 2021.
  5. ^ Jones 2021; Toton 2008.
  6. ^ Hinman 2006; Tossell 2007, p. R.20.
  7. ^ Stanton 2023; Tossell 2007, p. R.20.
  8. ^ Bailey 2022; Jackson 2018; Stanton 2023.
  9. ^ Heroes Wiki 2020.
  10. ^ Mittell 2009, ¶ 2.1.
  11. ^ Carlson 2016; Martinelli 2017.
  12. ^ Oshry 2012.
  13. ^ Kaplan 2010, ¶ 1.1.
  14. ^ D'Anastasio 2018; Oshry 2012.
  15. ^ McLean 2007; Steyer 2015, p. 131; Whitbrook 2021.
  16. ^ DiscordianKitty 2023.
  17. ^ D'Anastasio 2018; DiscordianKitty 2023; Hunter 2014, p. 19 n. 1.
  18. ^ Hunter 2011, pp. 41, 44; Hunter 2014, p. 19 n. 1; Laime 2020.

Sources

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Book chapters and reference work sections

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  • Jones, Henry (2021). "Wikis". In Baker, Mona; Blaagaard, Bolette B.; Jones, Henry; Pérez-González, Luis (eds.). The Routledge Encyclopedia of Citizen Media. Critical Perspectives in Citizen Media (ebook ed.). London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-315-61981-1.
  • Mittell, Jason (2013). "Wikis and Participatory Fandom". In Delwiche, Aaron; Henderson, Jennifer Jacobs (eds.). The Participatory Cultures Handbook (ebook ed.). New York: Routledge. pp. 35–42. ISBN 978-0-203-11792-7.

Journal articles

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News and magazines

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Websites

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