Wowpedia

Wowpedia is a Warcraft wiki, officially forked from WoWWiki as of 20 October 2010. It is not hosted by or in any way affiliated with Wikia, the company which hosts WoWWiki.

Origins

WoWWiki originally started as an independent site, but moved to Wikia in 2007. Due to irreconcilable differences with Wikia, members of the WoWWiki community resolved in October 2010 that they would leave Wikia. Their preference at the time was to remove WoWWiki itself from the Wikia network, taking the domain and WoWWiki name with them, but this proved impossible, as Wikia policy is to not remove wikis from use when they leave. Instead, a fork was set up, and Curse offered to host it.

Wowpedia's initial database contained a complete copy of articles from WoWWiki as of 18 October 2010. Editing on both sites since that time and edits made in the future will further differentiate these sites from one another.

Differences

There are a number of differences between WoWWiki and Wowpedia, some imperceptible to the lay user. The most obvious are that, on Wowpedia, the sidebar is in its original place and it is not fixed width. Also, there will be no ads on Wowpedia for the first two months, and after that it will have a single, non-obtrusive banner ad at the top of every page.

Many of the new 'social' features introduced by Wikia do not exist, such as Facebook Connect and avatars. Additionally, watchlists will remain private, which is contrary to Wikia's implementation of public followed lists.

Reception

The decision to move among WoWWiki's administrators was practically unanimous, minus Kirkburn (who is a Wikia staff member). The site's most active users transferred to Wowpedia within a week of Wowpedia opening. Other members of WoWWiki may either stay behind to continue on this site or contribute to both. Wikia currently has no plans to close WoWWiki and has been installing administrators to replace those who left, as well as starting giveaways in order to generate enthusiasm for its site.

During the transition phase, there was a controversy over WoWWiki administrators leaving messages to people informing them about the new site. This issue has yet to be resolved. Additionally, there have been rumors that Curse is behind the site's move due to that company's rather checkered history, but these rumors are unfounded (see forum thread).

Reclaiming your user name

Wowpedia contains a tool to 'reclaim' your user name. All that needs to be done is to click on the 'Register' button and tell it your user name. The site will then generate a code; you can enter this code in an edit summary on your WoWWiki user page to confirm your identity. No edits made prior to 18 Octoboer 2010 are lost, as the entire history up to that point (including your user page and any subpages) is intact.

When updating WoWWiki with things like character, guild, and server information, it is advisable to update the corresponding page on Wowpedia as well to ensure that your information is seen by the intended audience.

External links

• Wowpedia
• Curse