At Some Point in the Future, I'm Abandoning Fandom and TVTropes

[Grey Star]

It started out with really, really freaking annoying advertisements on TV Tropes where it would redirect my iPhone Safari browser to a scam site. I figured because it was iOS it was more vulnerable due to more complicated nature of pop ups on it. And getting redirected in the middle of a trope page, on mobile viewing no less, is a pain to deal with, but I figured it was just a downside to iOS. And then Fandom started to do the exact, same, thing. And I'm like, okay, I can handle this.

And now it's happening on their desktop sites as well. I just had two articles on the FANDOM based Warframe wiki redirect me to some perverted bikini store. In the middle of a freaking article. I can't. I can't deal with this anymore. I'm sick of these stupid redirection ads giving me this crap, and I'll honestly rather ask the forums than bother with it.

 

[ShineCero]

You don't have uBlock or adBlock? :thinking:

 

[LoopyPanda]

I avoid using Fandom/wikia on mobile. It happens less often with adblock, but this may become cumbersome if they know you have it enabled and ask you to disable it on their domain if you want to see any content.

 

[Grey Star]

You don't have uBlock or adBlock? :thinking:

Part of the reason Wikia has such terrible, terrible ads is because of how much ad block users cause a lack of revenue, leading to more aggressive ads. But also no.

 

[LoopyPanda]

Also, I visited the FANDOM wiki for a couple of manga series, and I remember why I hate it so much. It's completely user-run but there is no such thing as quality control or actually bothering to update the pages as needed... tfw the CWCki is better run than this and it's literally an encyclopedia site for Chris-chan. If it isn't empty plot tabs, it's inaccurately kept information or arguing in the comments about the wording of specific things. lmao

TVtropes also has this problem with their trope summaries for series, except they do not stick to objectivity, and recklessly insert fanon with no proof/citations for actual fans to refute properly.

If only we had viable alternatives besides enforcing each community have some degree of quality...

I've been browsing fextralife wikis for game-related things, but this also has some degree of shit-tier user management. Thankfully people are better about updating things as corrections are pointed out.

 

[ShineCero]

Also, I visited the FANDOM wiki for a couple of manga series, and I remember why I hate it so much. It's completely user-run but there is no such thing as quality control or actually bothering to update the pages as needed... tfw the CWCki is better run than this and it's literally an encyclopedia site for Chris-chan. If it isn't empty plot tabs, it's inaccurately kept information or arguing in the comments about the wording of specific things. lmao

TVtropes also has this problem with their trope summaries for series, except they do not stick to objectivity, and recklessly insert fanon with no proof/citations for actual fans to refute properly.

If only we had viable alternatives besides enforcing each community have some degree of quality...

I've been browsing fextralife wikis for game-related things, but this also has some degree of shit-tier user management. Thankfully people are better about updating things as corrections are pointed out.

After sending a few months on TVtropes, I can agree that the management system either had gone into shit or moderators had become too lack in quality control. Too many times, I run into a page where it either filled with “head-canon” nonsense that has no basis to be included. The purpose of TVtropes is to identify the clichés and tropes but now it became a breeding ground for misinformation, inaccurate statements and falsified information.

It is one of the reasons why I am looking forward to eventual release of Kanzenshuu’s Dragon Ball Wikipedia—no longer have fans to rely on “old” Dragon Ball Wikia and get flat out false information.

What makes it worse, as you put out the lack of updates on certain pages, is the visualization is severely lacking. Too many Wikipedias have an awful interface, too many shit to click through and none of them makes a pleasant experience. Powers listing Wikipedia is just many examples of poor interface and management leads too. 

The best system is simply not allowing any mooks become editors, enforce quality and quantity control. In other words, no longer allowing people to add anything—it becomes be flat out stated in the source material—not through interpretation of fans.

I don’t even recall seeing a good Wikipedia at the moment.

 

[LoopyPanda]

The worst about TV tropes is the fact there is no References section like Wikia-- so you have to take a lot of pages for a certain series with quite a grain of salt if you see something you didn't know about or think would be actually true.

FANDOM/Wikia's problem is that it's completely user-run, so any old schmuck can edit the pages. Some people can restrict editing to Users, Staff, or contributors, but some are so loosely run that even a stranger may make edits. If the people who made the wikia don't keep a close enough eye on it, people can easily deface it and the article won't be reverted until someone notices. For example, someone edited into Waldo's trivia section that he was behind 9/11 and was in hiding-- it was edited out last week.

Others, are barebones, and have basically no content, or have very minimal content until someone edits it in themself-- this typically happens with newish series like Smokin' Parade that have a very small userbase or has new chapters that are not translated until much later. While it's easy to fill the wiki up with loads of content, the process and thought alone is a laborious task that most people don't want to bother with unless they have nothing better to do. 


The only well-edited wiki I know of is the Christian Weston Chandler wiki (CWCki). A wiki documenting the antics of a middle-aged shut-in who is known for creating Sonichu. That and the Lolcow Wiki. both of which are repositories for collecting information about internet oddities. :katghost:

The SCP foundation has wiki in the name, but isn't hosted on a wiki domain, so I wonder if a user-based fiction encyclopedia about natural anomalies counts...

 

[Grey Star]

So I talked to an admin on the Warframe wiki. Warframe is a game so inept in teaching players or the ingame tutorials suck or mechanics are so hidden the wiki is considered the life blood of the game's survival in terms of players learning how to actually play. And as it turns out FANDOM is well aware of this, and is actively exploiting it. They have horrible ads that trying to click them away has a 50/50 chance of opening up a new tab on your browser. They have videos that autoplay, with ads latched on, and will continue to cycle unless turned off. They even have a FANDOM Staff member on the wiki who will correct every instance of a fictional noun being spelled correctly to a really bad mispronunciation for some reason, everyday. And lastly they plan on suing anyone using the information the Wiki has on their own wiki. Meanwhile FANDOM News continues to pump out pro-LGBT and Feminist stories every day like they're an actually legit source of information or something despite all the abuses the company is putting on the Warframe wiki.

 

[LoopyPanda]

FANDOM News is basically the Geek Chic equivalent of Huffington Post, so I don't pay much attention to it.

Fextralife is hit or miss, as it seems that depending on the game, the information is either incomplete, inaccurate, or without reference. Much of the Bloodborne or Nier Automata fextralifes are riddled with poor information or article structure (or just shit grammar structure), but I don't think anyone can edit them-- so each time you look up how to find a certain item or farm for them, I usually have to check with the often-anonymous comment section since they will tell you what to actually do (on the bright side, the comments have an upvote system). Sometimes the staff of these pages are so lazy they just copy and paste from the comments into the article page without grammar checking or anything. It infuriates me to know end how lazy they can be.

 

[ShineCero]

The worst about TV tropes is the fact there is no References section like Wikia-- so you have to take a lot of pages for a certain series with quite a grain of salt if you see something you didn't know about or think would be actually true.

FANDOM/Wikia's problem is that it's completely user-run, so any old schmuck can edit the pages. Some people can restrict editing to Users, Staff, or contributors, but some are so loosely run that even a stranger may make edits. If the people who made the wikia don't keep a close enough eye on it, people can easily deface it and the article won't be reverted until someone notices. For example, someone edited into Waldo's trivia section that he was behind 9/11 and was in hiding-- it was edited out last week.

Others, are barebones, and have basically no content, or have very minimal content until someone edits it in themself-- this typically happens with newish series like Smokin' Parade that have a very small userbase or has new chapters that are not translated until much later. While it's easy to fill the wiki up with loads of content, the process and thought alone is a laborious task that most people don't want to bother with unless they have nothing better to do. 


The only well-edited wiki I know of is the Christian Weston Chandler wiki (CWCki). A wiki documenting the antics of a middle-aged shut-in who is known for creating Sonichu. That and the Lolcow Wiki. both of which are repositories for collecting information about internet oddities. :katghost:

The SCP foundation has wiki in the name, but isn't hosted on a wiki domain, so I wonder if a user-based fiction encyclopedia about natural anomalies counts...

Yep!

I think it's easy to tell that the community that build these wikias either have no interest of accurately record something in their database; or they got caught up in the wikia storm and want a piece of that action, but oops, it actually required,*gasp*, work!

Kanzenshuu is currently working on the Wiki, essentially a better version of the awful Dragon Ball wikia; they're taking their time with it, and only giving to a small pool of members, that they trust, that knows the Japanese language, and all things Dragon Ball. That's the kind of dedication a wiki should have; not some half-bake attempt.

I also think that some people have their own interpretations clouding their thinking as well. Instead of stating what happened in show; they add their own thoughts, which showcase their bias.