How many of you frequent Wiki sites? It can be the basic one in Wikipedia, or you might like one of the Wiki sites dedicated to your favorite shows, movies, or video game series. Fans often run these wikis with a desire to keep things up to date while also informing those about the content itself. Over time, these have become a godsend for those who have questions about characters, series, moments, abilities, etc. That goes especially for the “Vs. Community”. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t any controversy in these places. For example, Zelda Wiki has gone independent because they didn’t like what their corporate owners were doing with them.
The Zelda Wiki over at Fandom is the one we’re talking about. They have left the company and noted many reasons why in a tweet. As of now, they’re rebranded as the Zeldapedia Wiki. They also promise to maintain their integrity and quality for the fans/users. But why did they split off as they did? The answer is that Fandom has been doing all it can over the last long while to buy up Wiki sites and other online properties and then post many ads on them. If you’ve ever been to one of the sites they run, you’ll know exactly what we’re talking about.
Multiple Wikis recently have done a similar thing and went independent or to a less-intrusive company to run them. Many have noted that Fandom is more obsessed with ad revenue and “clickbait content” than having a well-run Wiki on which users can look up stuff. That was enough for the team behind the Zelda page to back out:
“Following Fandom’s recent buyouts and questionable staffing decisions, we feel we have no choice but to do our part to keep the internet free from corporate consolidation,” Zelda Wiki’s editors said.
But they didn’t stop there. Further on in their statement, they noted that they ask all other Wiki pages that happen to be under the Fandom name to separate and go independent. Even suggesting they all unite under certain alliances to help keep the Wiki pages outside of “corporate monopolization and control.”
While this may sound a bit overdramatic, it’s not hard to see that multiple sites are turning away from quality content to focus solely on revenue. Unfortunately, that process has led to many sites getting layoffs and others having more and more questionable content for viewers.
If you’re curious, the original Wiki page for The Legend of Zelda is still available on Fandom, should you want to use that. But the new page has all that content and people running it that clearly have the fans in mind. So keep that in your thoughts when looking for a Wiki on the franchise.
Source: Twitter
