wiki
Table of Contents
Wiki
A wiki is a hypertext publication housing a digital knowledge base, which typically facilitates collaborative editing as it allows the public or specific members of an organization to create and modify pages for the audience, though pages can be restricted and users can be blocked.
List of notable wikis
For a list of personal wikis, refer to the personal wiki article.
The internet houses an endless number of wikis, as they are usually easy to make, so most wikis will simply choose to provide a short list of notable or relevant wikis. You can find attempts at a near-comprehensive lists, but WikiStats only covers MediaWiki forks, some of which have shut down, and the Wiki Wiki is held back by the number of editors in addition to Fandom/Wikia's 'spam' filter on forked wikis.
| Wiki name | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Archive Team | EN | A wiki about internet archiving efforts, website-specific archival tools, often accompanied with some humorous IRC channel name. |
| Before I Play | EN | A wiki that has lists of spoiler-free video game tips for new players, though it's locked down and relies on user submissions. |
| Emulation General Wiki | EN | A wiki about video game emulation, related to the “/emugen/” thread on 4chan's /vg/ board. It notably has a list of ROM & ISO sites. |
| Gineipaedia | EN | A wiki about Legend of the Galactic Heroes, a Japanese science-fiction franchise that is long, intricate, and philosophical. |
| Japanese Mahjong Wiki | EN | A wiki about Riichi Mahjong, the Japanese variation of Mahjong. |
| ProleWiki | EN | A communist 'Marxist–Leninist' wiki that has articles on revolutionary theory, a communist perspective, user-written essays, etc. |
| The Cutting Room Floor | EN | A wiki about cut and unused content in video games. There's usually a bit of humor or snark within the lead and throughout the article. |
| EcuRed | ES | Spanish encyclopedic wiki from the socialist Cuban government. They don't get a lot of edits, but it is interesting to see that it exists. |
| Best 100 Game Music Summary Wiki | JA | A wiki about video game music, related to a Shitaraba board that votes on the best game music. Useful for finding Japanese track names. |
| Game Catalog | JA | A wiki that evaluates video games, calling them 'good', 'grows on you', 'mixed', 'ancient', 'unbalanced', 'unpopular', 'shit', 'silly', etc. |
| Niconico Encyclopedia | JA | Niconico's lenient encyclopedic wiki that *could* be informative *when* it wants to be serious. They have an anonymous comment section. |
| Pixiv Encyclopedia | JA | Pixiv's encyclopedic wiki that provides a little context for tags used on the website. It tends to be short and concise. |
| Namu Wiki | KO | The largest Korean-language encyclopedic wiki. It was actually a fork of a wiki about otaku internet subculture, but became an encyclopedia. |
| Cyclopedia (Cyclowiki) | RU | A neutral alternative to Russian Wikipedia with a history that spans back to 2010. Do not confuse it for Ruwiki. |
| Neolurk | RU | It's a Lurkomorye alternative that became its editable successor, but be warned that it's run by terminally online conservatives. |
| Ruwiki | RU | Russian encyclopedic wiki from the capitalist Russian government. It's just a fork of Russian Wikipedia. |
| Ruxpert | RU | A pro-Russian wiki on Russia, to debunk 'Russophobic' misinformation, which does invite a Russian nationalist and Russian Orthodox bias. |
| Urbanculture | RU | It's a small wiki about modern Russian culture and folklore. Some may view it as the lesser, liberal, Lurkomorye alternative. |
| Entsyklopediia Dramatyka | UK | A wiki about Ukrainian internet culture, heavily inspired by Encyclopedia Dramatica, on Kropyvach. Again, Ukrainian nationalist bias. |
| Baidu Baike | ZH | A large Chinese-language encyclopedic wiki, owned by Baidu. I kinda love the articles that show the evolution of a Hanzi. |
| Hmoegirl.cyou (Pornography only) | ZH | A supplement to Moegirl Encyclopedia for 'sensitive subjects' that can't be discussed within the Chinese internet. Yes, even 'that event'. |
| Hmoegirl.com (Pornography and Politics) |
||
| Moegirl Encyclopedia | ZH | Chinese-language wiki about fictional characters and gijinkas, though they also provide some insight on the Chinese internet. |
Criticisms
Trustworthiness
Regardless of its scale or scope, a wiki's merit and trustworthiness isn't something you can easily infer from search results, requiring you to ask around to see the flaws. Typically, the flaws range from administrative interference (e.g. personal biases, headcanons), a lack of quality editors, to the fact that people have better things to do than waste their free time fixing a wiki or engaging in talk page debates.
Criticism of specific wikis
Encyclopedia Dramatica
Encyclopedia Dramatica (ED) was an internet drama wiki that ran from 20041) to 2011,2) initially shuttering after the founder's controversial 'return to form' attempt.3)4) At the time, the wiki was noted for its wealth of internet culture,5)6) but it has since regressed into a stale,7) unfunny shock wiki for edgy shitkids,8) which isn't helped by the fact that Know Your Meme, or even the Soyjak Wiki, has filled their niche.
Ignoring its spam of unsavory images, the wiki masks cyberstalking as trolling and its content encourages self-hatred in social rejects to foster extremist ideologies, as evidenced by their former administrators being a neo-Nazi9) with mixed Jewish heritage,10) and a 2017 school shooter.11) It has also indirectly led to a 2018 misogynist van attack12) and a 2022 anti-LGBT mass shooting.13)14)
Fandom (Wikia)
Fandom, also known as Wikia,15) is wiki hosting service founded in 2004. The overall website is bloated with excessive advertisements, most notable on mobile devices,16) feeding the capitalist for-profit company recently acquired by TPG Capital in 2018.17) It later acquired Curse,18) GameFAQs, GameSpot, Metacritic, and TV Guide,19) while also assisting the U.S. Navy in digital media advertising.20)
Putting the corporation aside, many wikis have attempted to migrate away, but they generally disapprove of dissent, preferring to install puppet regimes,21) tacking on a spam filter,22) and weaponizing the SEO.23) Understandably, this has been a major source of frustration, justifying a need for independent wiki alliances, like the Anti-Wikia Alliance or NIWA, and extensions like Indie Wiki Buddy.
Know Your Meme
Know Your Meme (KYM) is a wiki for memes and viral phenomenon, founded in 2007 and had ended up becoming mainstream in 2011.24)25) The wiki has sullied the definition of a 'meme', which were essentially “secret online in-jokes” back then, but removing the 'secret' and 'in-joke' components have crafted this 'rapid humor' ecosystem that sources their relatively bland humor from Reddit, TikTok, Twitter, etc.
In addition, the wiki relies on a restrictive 'editorship' system for every single page which severely limits the number of people allowed to edit certain articles, some galleries are just stolen softcore pornography,26) political biases tend to shine in certain articles (e.g. GamerGate, Poljak), and some of their articles ironically omit or lack critical information that it was supposedly designed to combat.
Wikipedia
“I am grateful to be here today to testify about the potential for the Wikipedia model of collaboration and information sharing which may be helpful to government operations and homeland security.”
– Jimmy Wales27)
“Wikipedia is forced to tell a “winner's history”, which can only be based on whatever information actually made it to a reliable source. Reliable sources do not always reflect the truth.”
– Shii28)
Wikipedia is a popular and massive wiki that was co-founded by libertarian entrepreneurs in 2001 and has been managed by the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation since 2003. The wiki is rather infamous for their aggressive donation drives, which occurs every other day29) and all of December, though they arguably don't need it30)31)32)33) as they have enough money to last 20 years,34) on top of the benefactors!35)
Despite its neutrality policy, Wikipedia will uncritically parrot false information from 'verifiable' sources, occasionally falls into the trap of argumentum ad populum or confirmation bias, and so forth. It should never be hailed as this 'infallible arbitrator of truth' when it's just 'the news' with extra steps,36) and you really shouldn't develop or get your politics from here.37)38)
Beyond this, it's just general nitpicking and pettiness in the community. I understand that some things aren't notable enough to warrant an article,39) but what is 'not useful for readers', why does it come up in several discussions, and who gets to decide that? You also have these editors who hound pages that are supposedly too long, like it's their job to keep Wikipedia under 32 GB or so. It's just all really silly.
Notes
- The term 'wiki' stems from WikiWikiWeb, the first user-editable wiki, borrowing the Hawaiian word 'wiki' (lit. “fast”, “quick”) after the founder recalled the Wiki Wiki Shuttle.
See also
- Personal wiki - A subset of wikis that are solely maintained by a single person.
External links
- Wiki on Wikipedia
- List of Wikis on Compendium of Personal Ignorance
1)
"Encyclopedia Dramatica:About". Encyclopedia Dramatica.
2)
"What Happened to Encyclopedia Dramatica?" (April 16, 2011). Gawker.
3)
"Encyclopedia Dramatica gone for good" (April 15, 2011). The Inquisitr.
4)
"Notorious NSFW website cleans up its act" (April 18, 2011). Today.
5)
"The Trolls Among Us" (August 3, 2008). The New York Times.
6)
"The Assclown Offensive: How to Enrage the Church of Scientology" (September 21, 2009). Wired.
7)
Much of the content on Encyclopedia Dramatica is perpetually stuck in 2011. Newer articles will usually be about an outdated 5+ year old meme or trend, the latest reactionary nonsense, or some unfunny article written by a shitkid that secretly wants a personal army because they got assblasted over irrelevant garbage that nobody will care about in 7 years.
8)
"Encyclopedia Dramatica’s drama-filled comeback" (July 26, 2011). The Daily Dot.
9)
"New evidence links white supremacist ‘Zoombomber’ to man wanted in Australia" (June 8, 2020). Jewish News Syndicate.
10)
"Neo-Nazi Who Calls for 'Slaughter' of Jewish Children Is of Jewish Descent, His Mom Says" (January 3, 2018). Newsweek.
11)
"New Mexico School Shooter Had Secret Life on Pro-Trump White-Supremacy Sites" (December 15, 2017). The Daily Beast.
12)
"Alek Minassian feels neither regret nor pleasure after Toronto van attack, court hears" (December 1, 2020). National Post.
13)
"LGBTQ club shooting suspect’s troubled past was obscured by a name change, records show" (November 21, 2022). The Washington Post.
14)
"Alleged Club Q Shooter Changed Their Name After Edgelord Harassment Campaign" (November 23, 2022). Vice.
15)
The website was previously known as “WikiCities” from 2004 to 2006 and “Wikia” from 2006 to 2019, but it should be noted that the “Fandom” brand started out as an entertainment news website in 2016.
16)
"Best Practices: Mobile Friendly Main Pages" (February 23, 2015). Wikia.
17)
"Wikia, Inc.'s FANDOM Announces Investment Led by Media Veteran Jon Miller" (February 20, 2018). PR Newswire.
18)
"Fandom and Curse Media are joining forces" (December 12, 2018). Fandom.
19)
"Fandom Acquires Leading Entertainment & Gaming Brands Including GameSpot, TV Guide and Metacritic" (October 3, 2022). Fandom.
20)
"Navy Returns to Twitch, But You Can't Ask About War Crimes in Chat" (March 3, 2021). Vice.
21)
"Retaliation". Anti-Wikia Alliance.
22)
If you attempt to link to a forked wiki on Fandom, you'll get a unique message stating that your edit was blocked for triggering a spam filter in violation of their forking policy. For instance, attempting to link to the Minecraft Wiki will trigger
Block ID #855602, regardless of the wiki that you're using.23)
"How will Wikia cope when the workers all quit the plantation?" (July 30, 2008). The Guardian.
24)
"A day in the office with Know Your Meme—the Web’s “Britannica”" (November 30, 2012). The Daily Dot.
25)
"The story of the internet, as told by Know Your Meme" (March 6, 2018). The Verge.
26)
You don't need to scroll far down the trending tab to see what I'm talking about. I get that there's been tons of horny fads and phenomenon, but some of these have nothing to do with humor.
28)
"Shii's Solution to the Problem of Wikipedia". Everything Shii Knows.
29)
In my experience, the banners usually show up around Wednesday, but I've also seen one on Monday recently. I am suppressing notices with the Defund Wikipedia extension, so I could be missing more.
30)
"Wikipedia doesn't need your money - so why does it keep pestering you?" (December 20, 2012). The Register.
31)
"Wikipedia has a ton of money. So why is it begging you to donate yours?" (December 2, 2015). The Washington Post.
32)
"Wikipedia is asking for donations again — here’s how much cash it already has in the bank" (November 28, 2016). Business Insider.
33)
"Wikipedia is swimming in money—why is it begging people to donate?" (May 31, 2023). The Daily Dot.
34)
"The next time Wikipedia asks for a donation, ignore it" (October 12, 2022). Unherd.
35)
"Benefactors". Wikimedia Foundation.
36)
In a way, Wikipedia is a roundabout way of digesting the news due to its reliance on 'verifiable' sources, typically news outlets, so it's only fair that criticisms of the news apply to Wikipedia as well. In other words, Wikipedia can be a useful resource, but linking it does not inherently enable critical thinking skills by itself and readers aren't going to magically understand 'your perspective' if this is your intent.
37)
A number of political criticisms that I have about Wikipedia is better presented at the Prolewiki article.
38)
"And communism is just as bad as fascism. The body count is higher, actually." (September 22, 2019). Twitter.
39)
There's a really interesting case where you see an entire essay with shortcuts written on why Wikipedia refuses to acknowledge the existence of Battle for Dream Island and the 'Object Show' genre.
wiki.txt · Last modified: 2025-01-21 02:00:54 by namelessrumia