View source for WoWWiki:About

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<br/><div style="color:#dddddd; text-align: center;">[[File:WoWWiki_logo_movie-style-Jun2016.png|300px|Main Page|link=Main Page]]</div>

'''WoWWiki''' is a [[wiki]] dedicated to cataloging [[Blizzard Entertainment|Blizzard Entertainment's]] [[Warcraft universe]] (with a focus, though not priority, on ''[[World of Warcraft]]''); covering the entire Warcraft series of [[:Category:Games|games]], [[RPG]] reference books, strategy guides, novels, comics (manga and otherwise), and other [[source]]s.

[[File:Logo-horiz-260px.png|thumb|Old logo based on Warcraft game logo fonts|link=]]

== About WoWWiki ==
[[File:Wikiicon-gnome-at-work.png|right|A WoWWikian, yesterday.]]

The wiki is a flexible, user-editable web-based database of information made up entirely of user contributions, and uses [[WoWWiki:MediaWiki|MediaWiki]] software. All the text in the wiki is released under the [[WoWWiki:Copyrights|Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported]] license and to be able to edit the articles, visitors must register with the website.

So why a Warcraft wiki? As you are going through looking for information, if you see something that is incorrect, you can correct it. If you see any information that is missing, you can add it. This way, the information here should be as up to date as possible, instead of having to wait for a small group of people to update the information as the world changes. The more people that use WoWWiki, the more up-to-date the information will be!

* '''WoWWiki is not a copy of Wikipedia''' — we do many things differently.
* The WoW community often uses slang terms, which is in part reflected here. In addition, you may occasionally find information here on some articles that is decidedly not [[NPOV]].
* Wiki is not a religion here, it is a way of editing.
* We strive to be as "[[lore]]-neutral" as possible. We ''do not'' decide what is "official" and what is not — that is [[Blizzard Entertainment|Blizzard's]] job. We record the known information and try to present all sides of any valid controversy. Check [[WoWWiki:Lore policy|our lore policy]] for further details.
* We do not always flag spoilers — if new information has come out it ''will'' be added to the wiki.
* We aim to produce easily navigated, high quality articles.

== History and background ==
[[File:WoWWiki icon Orc.jpg|thumb|The original site logo.]]

WoWWiki.com was launched on November 24th [[2004]] by [[User:Rustak|Rustak]], in conjunction with [[User:AlexanderYoshi|AlexanderYoshi]], as a source of information pertaining to ''World of Warcraft'' and the interface modification suite [[Cosmos]].<ref>{{ref web |url=http://www.wowwiki.com/index.php?title=Main_Page&oldid=2 |title=First edit of the Main Page |accessdate=2007-07-25}}</ref> The WoWWiki name actually pre-dates Wikia which didn't get its name until 2006.<ref>{{wplink|icon=|Wikia#History|History section of the Wikia article}}</ref> WoWWiki actually also slightly pre-dates the famous Star Wars wiki (Wookieepedia) by a few months,<ref>Started in March 2005 according to [[w:c:starwars:Wookieepedia|Wookieepedia]] at the [[w:c:starwars|Star Wars wiki]]</ref> although Wookieepedia was involved with Wikia much earlier and was considered by some to be a spinout of Wikipedia.

Since the launch, the wiki has expanded massively to cover the entirety of the Warcraft universe, including the RTS [[:Category:Games|games]], [[:Category:Books|novels]], [[:Category:Graphic novels|graphic novels]] (manga/manhwa), the [[RPG]] reference books, the [[TCG]], the and other written [[source]]s, along with the WoW expansion packs, ''[[World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade]]'', ''[[World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King]]'', ''[[World of Warcraft: Cataclysm]]'', ''[[World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria]]'', and ''[[World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor]]''. WoWWiki also includes information about upcoming expansions, such as ''[[World of Warcraft: Legion]]''.

It is also a primary and popular source for ''World of Warcraft'' [[Interface Customization|interface customization]] and [[:Category:Hosted AddOns|AddOn]] information (such as [[Cosmos]]) as Blizzard Entertainment themselves do not release documentation on the programming interface,<ref>''Bad/old link'' {{ref web |url=http://www.blizzard.com/support/wow/?id=aww01671p |title=Blizzard's programming interface policy |accessdate=2007-07-25}}</ref> They do however release documentation on the programming interface to access some data from their websites.<ref name="devBattleNet">[[Battle.net API]]</ref>

On May 2nd 2007, it [[WoWWiki talk:Village pump/Archive14#WoWWiki moving to Wikia!|was announced]] that WoWWiki would be moving to [[wikia:Wikia|Wikia]], joining major wikis such as [[w:c:enmemoryalpha|Memory Alpha]], [[w:c:starwars|Wookieepedia]] and [[w:c:uncyclopedia|Uncyclopedia]]. This move occurred [[WoWWiki talk:Village pump/Archive14#Move to Wikia servers Wednesday (5/16) Tuesday (5/15)|two weeks later]].

[[Wowpedia]] was [[Wikipedia:Fork (operating system)|forked]] off of WoWWiki on October 20th 2010, after the majority of the administrators and many of the members in the community chose to leave Wikia. Wikia decided to leave WoWWiki open despite the losses, although it had a very low rate of activity for a period of months after the split.

WoWWiki currently runs on [[wikipedia:MediaWiki|MediaWiki]] {{CURRENTVERSION}}.

See [[Special:Version]] for further details and a list of our installed extensions.

== Mobile community app ==
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{| style="margin:auto;" width="80%"
|- valign="middle"
|align="center"|[[File:WoWWiki-movie-style-app-title-circa2016.png|left|300px|link=Fandom_Community_for:_World_of_Warcraft]]
|align="center"|[[File:WikiaFanAppWoW-175x175.png|right|link=Fandom_Community_for:_World_of_Warcraft]]
|}
{{clr}}

== WoWWiki communities ==
[[File:Villagepump.png|right|Muahahahahaha!]]
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=== Official WoWWiki IRC channel ===
{{main|WoWWiki:IRC}}
For all-talk WoWWiki, come and idle on the official IRC channel, set up solely for your WoW + wiki needs! Many admins frequent the channel and you are cordially invited to chat, discuss wiki issues, notify us of important developments, and just generally make yourself at home! Once you have an IRC client, join us on: '''[irc://chat.freenode.net/wowwiki chat.freenode.net, irc: #wowwiki]''' or '''[http://irc.wikia.com/?channels=wowwiki http: #wowwiki]'''.
-->
=== Facebook ===
You can find a {{wwicon|facebook}} [http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_222250401132679 WoWWiki friends] group on Facebook.

You can also 'like' WoWWiki at it's page on Facebook at {{wwicon|facebook}} [http://www.facebook.com/WoWWikian WoWWiki].

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=== Steam ===
You can find a group called {{wwicon|steam}} [http://steamcommunity.com/groups/wowwiki WoWWiki — the Warcraft wiki] on The Steam Community!
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=== Twitter ===
You can {{wwicon|twitter}} [https://twitter.com/wowwiki follow WoWWiki on Twitter]!

You can also see the last 25 tweets here: [[WoWWiki:Twitter feed]].

== Trivia ==
[[File:WoWWiki-W-only-Jun2016-movie-style-128x128.png‎‎|right|New movie-style, minimalist stamp]]
[[File:WoWWiki icon stamp.png|right|The Stamp of DOOM!]]

* The name is a [[wikipedia:portmanteau|portmanteau]] of the acronym WoW (for ''World of Warcraft'') and wiki.
* Highly rated on StumbleUpon.<ref>{{ref web |url=http://www.stumbleupon.com/content/1sA32g |title=WoWWiki on StumbleUpon |accessdate=06-Feb-2014}}</ref>
* Noted source for tips and tricks.<ref>{{ref web |url=http://www.ign.com/faqs/2009/world-of-warcraft-faqguide-1000270 |title=World of Warcraft - FAQ/guide |accessdate=6-Feb-2014}}</ref>

=== WoWWiki in the media ===
* WoWWiki is frequently cited as a source on the popular WoW blog, [[WoW Insider]].<ref>{{ref web |url=http://wow.joystiq.com/search/?q=wowwiki |title="WoWWiki" search on WoW Insider|accessdate=2011-06-16}}</ref>
* We have been cited by [[wikipedia:Jimmy Wales|Jimmy Wales]] as an example of a successful wiki.<ref>{{ref web |url=http://www.cio.com/article/121711 |title=CIO.com interview with Jimmy Wales - "Five Things Wikipedia's Founder Has Learned About Online Collaboration" |accessdate=2007-07-25}}</ref>
* We were noted in a Kotaku Gaming.Wikia article on 28th June 2007.<ref>{{ref web |url=http://kotaku.com/gaming/feature/games-get-wikia-with-it-273397.php |title=Kotaku - "Games Get Wikia With It" |accessdate=2007-07-25}}</ref>
* We have been mentioned in several gaming publications, including [http://www.pcgamer.co.uk/ PC Gamer UK].
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* We are linked on the [http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/community/fansites.html Fan Sites section] of the official [http://www.worldofwarcraft.com World of Warcraft Community Site].
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* WoWWiki's [[User:Kirkburn|Kirkburn]] was able to speak at SXSW on the topic of wikis as well as WoWWiki.<ref>[http://www.massively.com/2008/03/08/sxsw08-how-gamers-are-adopting-the-wiki-way/ SXSW 08 - How gamers are adopting the wiki way]</ref>
* Gaming web journalists look to the website for collected community feedback, info and rumors:
** [http://www.gamingsteve.com/archives/pc/index.php?p=2 GamingSteve]
** [http://wowvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Columns.Detail&id=135 IGN WoWVault]
** [http://www.insidemacgames.com/news/index.php?date=2006-01-04 Inside Mac Games]

=== Statistics ===
{{Infobox website
 | name = WoWWiki
 | logo = WoWWiki_wordmark_movie-style-Jun2016.png
 | url = http://www.wowwiki.com
 | type = Wiki
 | registration = Free
 | created = November 2004
 | maintainer = {{wwicon|fandom}} [[w:c:fandom|Fandom]] / {{wwicon|wikia}} [[wikia:|Wikia]]
 | alexa = 94<ref name="checked">As of 3-Nov-2016. WoWWiki cannot be distinguished from Wikia anymore.</ref>
 | quantcast = N/A<ref name="checked" />
}}

* WoWWiki has:
** '''{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}}''' content pages.
** '''{{NUMBEROFFILES}}''' images.

You can check out the latest [[Special:Statistics|statistics]] here on WoWWiki and (approximate) popularity statistics on Alexa [http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?url=www.wowwiki.com here].

== Ownership and administration ==
[[File:Wikia_Video_Games_logo.png|right|200px|Wikia Video Games|link=w:c:www:Video_Games]]
[[File:Wikia.png|right|150px|Wikia|link=w:]]

WoWWiki is run by [[Wikipedia:Wikia|Fandom]].
<!--Contact [[User:Penchina|Gil Penchina]] ([mailto:gil@wikia.com gil at wikia.com]) about advertising or marketing opportunities as well as wiki operations.-->

For issues directly related to wiki content, contact one of the [[WoWWiki:Administrators|administrators]]:
{{:WoWWiki:Administrators}}

== See also ==
[[File:Wikiicon-paperdump.png|right|Aaah, so many articles!]]
* [[WoWWiki:Community portal|Community portal]]
* [[WoWWiki:FAQ|WoWWiki FAQ]]
* [[:Category:WoWWiki|Category:WoWWiki]]
* The [[WoWWiki:Policies|policies]] and [[WoWWiki:Guidelines|guidelines]]
* [[Wikis]] for forks and other language versions of WoWWiki

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{elink|site=Internet-Map.net|link=http://internet-map.net/#8-169.8111572265625-115.930908203125|desc=WoWWiki compared to other big Warcraft sites like [[Battle.net]], [[Wowhead]], [[MMO Champion]], etc.}}

[[Category:WoWWiki| ]]
[[Category:Fan sites| ]]
[[ru:WoWWiki:О проекте]]