Stop using Fandom

The Hollow Knight wiki community is another in a long line of wiki communities choosing to leave Fandom behind. But why is that? What is it about Fandom that is pushing so many communities away recently? To answer that question, I talk for 22 minutes and 18 seconds.

Check out the new Hollow Knight wiki here:

Download the Indie Wiki Buddy extension:

Read more about why the HK wiki community decided to leave Fandom:

If you want to learn more about the various alternative to Fandom, this discussion thread by the Minecraft wiki is a very interesting read:

Check out my Discord server, mossbag & friends!

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Wishlist my upcoming game, Titan Shell, on Steam!

Link to script/list of songs:

Translate this video into another language using Amara:

Video Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:36 Fandom
02:25 Fandom's unwanted ads and features
05:32 Fandom community restrictions
07:37 The Grimace Incident
09:24 Leaving Fandom is difficult
13:42 If not Fandom, then where?
15:18 Miraheze
16:00 Self-hosting
17:13 Wiki Alliances
19:17 Weird Gloop
19:58 Conclusion

[mossbag]

Update! As of 11/8/2023 Fandom has changed their policy regarding forking. You can no longer link to the new wiki site from the main page for two weeks like I described in the video. Once you fork, all admins are removed and no links to the new site are allowed anywhere but the forking discussion page. Seems Fandom has started to respond to the recent exodus from their website. Let's see if they make any changes to their platform that actually make it better.

[lordsmorgasbord]

browsing fandom without an adblocker is like trying to drive down an interstate with your windshield covered in dead bugs and rotted leaves

[ShayyTV]

I'm a developer for the Terraria Calamity Mod, and I can tell you first hand: Fandom is TERRIBLE. Please, do not use them. Ever. Even the process of switching from them to our own site (and for base Terraria too!) has been a complete mess, with them straight up refusing to take down pages that spread misinformation.

Nowadays, the community has protested it so much by repeatedly vandalizing it day to day that they've just been forced to stop trying to fix it and allow the community to use it as a shitpost palace.

Don't use Fandom.

[Hallowfont]

The most annoying thing fandom does for me is randomly reload the page and reset position to the top. Drives me nuts.

[jaceybella]

Man, I knew we were going down the wrong path when bulbapedia stopped being the top result on Pokémon Google searches

[whirl]

Fandom: "Wikis belong to the community!"
Also Fandom: Removes the work of the community because a fast food chain paid them

[sonicwave]

As one of the admins on the Minecraft Wiki, I am so glad that we took the initiative and moved when we did. Today Fandom changed their "policy" to disallow basically any type of global announcement on the wiki itself, only allowing a notice on the main page that's entirely up to their terms.

[Parasyte]

The pushback to fandom is so nice. I hated using fandom. Especially on mobile. It would jump and sputter trying to load ads and making everything almost unreadable.

[peterjane]

I forget how bad fandom is until i use it on my phone and get bombarded with ads which really slows things down by a lot. It's so intrusive especially the pop up ads and autoplay videos. I usually use my computer to look stuff up (I have adblocker) and never see the chaos until i have to search something with my phone when i'm away from my computer. Great video!!!

[daydreamteam]

I absolutely burst out laughing at the "now, I've been pretty mean to fandom in this video..." part at the end, it's absolute genius.

[icetide]

Fandom is like a parent trying to monetize their child's talents and then not understanding why the child hates them so much

[plaguekidd]

I like how the HK fandom abandoned the old wiki just like how the pale king abandoned his 70, 000 dead children

[SpineApple]

Relatively recently the Battle Cats wiki was moved from Fandom to Miraheze and it's such a good change. Battle cats is a strategy mobile game and most of it's community is found on the wiki along with a bunch more important information that just isn't available ingame for players to access, so switching to a format where the information is much more readable and the wiki is easier to navigate is such a breath of fresh air. That being said the only problem is that not everybody has moved over to the new wiki, so I still find myself checking the fandom wiki if I want to find a strategy someone commented about on an old level that isn't there in the new wiki because of it's freshness.

[bevanh.]

I've got mad respect for all these wiki creators, who put so much effort into archiving all this game knowledge. Keep fighting the good fight.

[howdyhamster]

I remember when Fandom took over a lyrics wiki and immediately shut it down for its content not being "advertiser-friendly". A ton of fan translations of foreign songs completely lost. Wayback machine doesn't have them.

[zeemgeem]

the ai generated answers is geniunely the funniest, most out of touch thing i have ever witnessed. they're really putting mandated misinformation on a WIKI SITE 💀

[ZYCLONE-SMALLLL]

One time i got an ad on fandom that covered the ENTIRE SCREEN! I couldnt click ANYTHING but the ad.

[Snickerway]

Fun fact: The Zelda wiki originally left Wikia years ago. It was self-hosted for a few years before moving to a smaller wiki hoster, which was later bought out by Fandom. The recent Zelda Wiki move is its second after being reabsorbed the first time.

[TimeBucks]

The AI generated answers is genuinely the funniest

[pread]

guy who made 80% of the spelunky 2 wiki here (with the massive help of the rest of the community), thank you so much for making this video and spreading awareness of the wiki rabbit hole. it's so nice seeing a channel with as many eyes as yours gets talking about this stuff. ive for the most part retired from the spelunky wiki, but i very much hope the spelunky wiki makes the move soon.