[Wikia-l] Wikia new style

[Laurence Parry]

Let me explain the situation from our point of view: Wikia provides a 
hosting service to its users - us, the wiki editors. You provide this 
service at no monetary charge, in exchange for our contributions (both 
editorial and promotional) and the ad space. We would otherwise have to pay 
for this service.

We have, to this point, been satisfied with this service. Unfortunately, 
Wikia is apparently not making money on the service, or it no longer fits 
the company's business plans. It is therefore making changes to better align 
the services it provides with its needs.

The new service Wikia has chosen to provide is simply not acceptable on a 
quality level to a significant proportion of your current customers. We 
would rather pay someone else money for hosting than use the service offered 
by Wikia at no charge.

If Wikia does not resolve this situation to our satisfaction, then we will 
leave, taking our content, our communities' inward links, our established 
service marks, and our fellow editors with us. If you are thinking we would 
not take that risk, or that we would not be successful, think again. We are 
more than capable of organizing hosting, and most of us maintain sufficient 
personal control that if we choose to move, it will not be a fork - it will 
be a clean break.

Of course, you will be able to keep your copies of the content (in most 
cases), but it will quickly depreciate without maintenance and the goodwill 
that came with it. Wikia cannot afford to recruit people to replace us - you 
of all should know the rarity of viable community leaders, even among a body 
of established wiki editors. Even if Wikia does find people willing to 
revive an abandoned wiki, they would be unlikely to garner support from our 
source communities - and all the time, we would be developing our own sites 
further, making Wikia merely an outdated mirror.

The fact that the service would no longer be free of charge is not a 
significant barrier. Personally, I make a reasonable wage at my day job. 
Choosing to be hosted by Wikia was a cost/benefit decision, and the money 
required was only a part of that.

There are other sources of funding, too. WikiFur has raised over a thousand 
dollars over the last two years without even trying:
http://furry.wikia.com/wiki/WikiFur:Ledger
Would that be sufficient? Probably not; but we have not yet begun to ask. 
Our readers appreciate the service we (the editors) provide - perhaps more 
than Wikia - and I'm willing to bet they would pay for recognition as the 
service's benefactor. The larger the site, the more likely it is that this 
will be the case.

So. Your service is not as sticky as you imagine. You cannot do without us, 
nor can you force us to remain, nor do you appear to be willing to keep us 
under current conditions. What can be done?

The only solution that I see is for Wikia to start charging its communities 
a reasonable amount for use of its facilities, replacing the need for any 
ads, skin controls, or similar creative restrictions. If Wikia can provide a 
useful service at what we deem to be an acceptable cost, it would be logical 
to pay for it. I envisage something akin to a bandwidth-linked meter - if 
the account runs out of credit, the wiki switches to the ad-packed, 
skin-locked mode for unregistered users.

It may be that Wikia's cost structures are too high, and that the price that 
Wikia can afford will be more than we are willing to pay. This would be 
unfortunate, but perhaps you will attract those who appreciate the 
proprietary features which you have developed, or the personal assistance 
you offer. All we really need is reliable hosting, which is pretty much a 
commodity these days.

Wikia might also be exercising a higher level of control to further its 
corporate goals, looking beyond mere profit from services rendered towards 
(say) greater acquisition value. If so, we may have little to discuss. We 
are our own communities - not Wikia's - and we have our own needs. If you do 
not intend to provide a service that meets them, we must seek it elsewhere.

-- 
Laurence "GreenReaper" Parry
http://greenreaper.co.uk/ - http://wikifur.com/
"Eternity lies ahead of us, and behind. Have you drunk your fill?"