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Comment by pers0n | Hacker News Reader

Another thing is people often just go to Wikipedia, Wikipedia replaced the need for many fan sites. I had things copied from my sites and put on Wikipedia and tired to get a link back or a source mentioned and it was removed each time. So I lost motivation to even update fan sites, since whatever I type is going to get pasted onto Wikipedia with no link back.

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And wikia. That replaced much of the need for fictional fan sites. I visit memory alpha weekly.

Unfortunately, Wikia looks like it's in the process of becoming a cautionary tale, with its recent move to start injecting its own video content into certain high-traffic wikis and a general decline in customizability and independence.

Wikia seems to be gradually being replaced by self hosted wikis, at least where larger fandoms are concerned. The Nintendo Independent Wiki Alliance (Mario Wiki, Zelda Wiki, Bulbapedia, etc) are one example, the Square Enix Wiki Alliance are another, and I'm sure the likes of the Simpsons Wiki have moved away from the service as well.

Zelda Wiki is hosted on Gamepedia. It's like Wikia but specifically for Video Games and less obstrusive.

Well it used to be self hosted. Not sure I like the move much, feels like they're betraying the organisation they're supposedly part of.

Even when Wikipedia does link to the original source, that has minimal benefit to the original source. Very few Wikipedia readers follow the links through to the source, so Wikipedia essentially replaces the original.

I have no doubt mobygames is banking on links from Wikipedia, they are like the only commercial site that seems to be allowed to have links on Wikipedia en masse. A link from Wikipedia is very good for seo and they have tons.

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