2024-06-16
stop using fandom

     fandom is a wiki website (allegedly)

if you are unfortunate enough to browse a fandom wiki
without an ad blocker, you will experience what i like
to call "attention assault"

upon opening a fandom page (for me, it was the hollow
knight wiki), you will note the very subtle aroma of a
1/3 page banner ad, placed ever so daintily at the top of
the page.

my ad was for furniture - ah yes, just what i wanted.
a multi-thousand-dollar furniture purchase to go with my
video game bug lore.

i have been experiencing fandom for 1 second

  i already want it to end

...

as i scroll down, i'm assaulted by an auto-playing video
ad for dog food. i do not have a dog.

actually, i should say adS.

in the top-left corner of the video sits a little "1/2",
indicating the presence of a second ad.

and came it did. it's the dog food ad again.

this content is in the middle of the hollow knight fandom
wiki. when i scroll down, the video shrinks into the
bottom-right corner of my screen and stalks me.

after the ads finish playing, a 60 minute video called
"honest trailers" begins playing. this must be the
content i was so anxiously awaiting.

"honest trailers" is not hollow knight related - it's two
guys vaping & reviewing the new mario movie trailer.
they're arguing about whether chris pratt is a good FIT
to voice act MARIO

after about 5 seconds (no, i'm not kidding), another ad
break occurs.

it's the dog food ad AGAIN

...

scrolling further, i reach the end of the wiki page,
and there are two banner ads waiting, as if to bid me
farewell after my arduous journey through this shit-ass
website.

- one 1/3 page footer ad for Ubisoft+
- one 1/4 page sidebar ad for sunscreen

i don't need sunscreen: i already want to die.

        .
      \ | /
    '-.;;;.-'
   -==;;;;;==-
    .-';;;'-.
      / | \
        '     [0]


          some fandom history

in 2004, jimmy wales (the wikipedia guy) founded
fandom (it used to be called wikicities / wikia)

from the very beginning, fandom was about profit:
  2004: jimmy founds wikicities
  2006: wikicities renamed to wikia
  2006: random venture capital firms invest $4M
  2006: amazon.com invests $10M
  2012: venture firms + amazon invest $11M
  2014: venture firms invest $15M
  2016: wikia renamed to fandom
  2018: enormous private equity firm acquires fandom

  grand total: $40M

and what, dear readers, do venture capitalists want when
they invest $40M into something?

returns. at all costs.

let the enshittification begin.

> but wait, what does fandom actually _do_?

what valuable service does fandom provide to the world?

fandom generates enough money to retain a staff of 300+,
and rent several offices, including a very beautiful
building in downtown san francisco.

as far as i can tell, this is fandom's business model:
  1. users write wiki content on fandom
  2. fandom displays your content on a wiki page
  3. pelt fandom visitors with ads
  4. $$$$$$$$ YUM YUM YUM, MONEY!! $$$$$$$$$


many fandom communities noticed fandom degrading.

at first, it was the ads. huge, annoying, irrelevant ads
embedded directly in the content.

obtrusive ads obviously sucks, but hey, adblockers are a
thing, so we could just recommend that our users use a
goo...

!!THE MCDONALD'S GRIMACE SHAKE PROMOTION CONTROVERSY!!

in 2023, mcdonald's paid fandom an unknown[1] amount of
money to temporarily replace the mcdonald's wiki main
page + grimace article into advertisements promoting the
GRIMACE SHAKE.

i can't make this shit up.

fandom set the precedent that companies could pay them
to make user content go *poof*

what could go wrong?


           ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢱⣆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
           ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⣿⣷⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀
           ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣿⣿⣷⣧⠀⠀⠀
           ⠀⠀⠀⠀⡀⢠⣿⡟⣿⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀
           ⠀⠀⠀⠀⣳⣼⣿⡏⢸⣿⣿⣿⢀⠀
           ⠀⠀⠀⣰⣿⣿⡿⠁⢸⣿⣿⡟⣼⡆
           ⢰⢀⣾⣿⣿⠟⠀⠀⣾⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿
           ⢸⣿⣿⣿⡏⠀⠀⠀⠃⠸⣿⣿⣿⡿
           ⢳⣿⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢹⣿⡿⡁
           ⠀⠹⣿⣿⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢠⣿⡞⠁
           ⠀⠀⠈⠛⢿⣄⠀⠀⠀⣠⠞⠋⠀⠀
           ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
          fandom shall burn

wikis aren't quite like other websites.

  - wiki software is largely open source
  - wiki content authors are often technical
  - users don't care where wikis are hosted

three simple ingredients. one predictable outcome.

              mass exodus.

the runescape[2] and minecraft[3] communities acted
first, migrating their treasured wikis to their own
domains.

many other wikis followed.
  hollow knight (yay bugz!)
  terraria
  animal crossing
  stardew valley
  EVE Online
  Factorio
  dota2
  ...
  AND MANY, MANY MORE[4]

over 300 wikis have migrated away from fandom, and i can
only hope that this trajectory accelerates. nothing makes
me happier than passionate communities showing everyone
that a better world is possible.


if you want to help,

  1. download Indie Wiki Buddy

     indie wiki buddy tells you when a fandom page has an
     alternative community-led wiki. it's a great plugin
     that will help you support and discover independent
     wikis.

  2. if you must use fandom, turn on your ad blocker
  3. if you own a wiki on fandom, move it off!

my offer: if you are a fandom wiki owner & you would
          like to move your wiki content elsewhere, i
          will offer you my expertise at $0/hour. i know
	  lots about servers, software, and maintenance.
	  just email me - let's get you out of fandom's
	  ecosystem.

                  stay weird
                stay independent
              fuck venture capital
           long live the human internet


                   LUV,
                     JES


[0]: sun ascii by jgs
[1]: fandom is a private company & doesn't have to
     disclose such petty details as "how much money did
     mcdonalds give us to tear out user content and
     replace it with marketing"
[2]: https://runescape.wiki
[3]: https://minecraft.wiki
[4]: https://getindie.wiki/listings
[5]: https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/12/24070287/fandom-wiki-generative-ai-features-quick-answers