You're Embarrassing Yourself - Tumblr Posts

wake up babe, new reason to ditch FANDOM/Wikia just dropped

Previosuly

corporate monster infested with ads which devoured Gamepedia and other companies (feat me on their shit policies, SEO and migration process)

turning entire articles into ads if paid enough

limited functionality preventing admins to even fight vandalism

merging and removing of LGBT+ wikis (and forced domain change for educational [think serious] wikis to "fandom")

official wiki status has no meaning in controlling shit

very much censorship (same good ol' allergy to adult stuff)

gets paid by US Navy to advertise their events (one, two)

Alternative free wiki hostings (aka wiki farms)

Miraheze - started in 2015, non-commercial - no ads and runs on donations, wide array of MediaWiki features, wide array of allowed types of wikis and content, much autonomy for projects, custom domain and private wiki options

wiki.gg - started in 2022 by former Gamepedia staff, limited to video games, accent on involvement of game devs and thus hosting official wikis, has ads for anons (but only of games having wikis here)

Telepedia - started in 2022, limited to entertainment (although might allow other themes upon review), has ads for anons, replicates Miraheze structure

WikiTide - started in 2023, no ads and runs on donations (but also tied w/ premium version called WikiForge), largely replicates Miraheze but has stricter content policies, custom domain option

Other free options I'm aware of are either too limited in allowed content or are very outdated/unstable in technical department to recommend here (or in case of Neoseeker - I'm completely unfamiliar with it, and can't say anything about it), but you still can check them out, alongside paid hostings, on this MediaWiki page.

If you (or your community) are brave and dedicated enough you can go with self-hosted MediaWiki instance (aka independent hosting), like JoJo Wiki (who started on Wikia and succeed at overtaking the SEO) or NIWA wikis. This option, of course, requires funding and technical knowledge, but it's still very much possible.

How to find existing alternative/independent wikis

try to use "-fandom" filter for search query in Google, or use other search engines like Bing or DuckDuckGo

Indie Wiki Buddy browser extension - it modifies search engine results and performs redirects based on its centralized list of independent wikis; a new indie wiki has to be requested/submitted to get added [ Firefox / Chrome ]

Redirect to wiki.gg browser extension - same as IWB but for wikis moved to wiki.gg (as I understand, works automatically without dedicated listing) [ Firefox / Chrome ]

(simple) Redirector browser extension - in case the wiki is neither on IWB or wiki.gg, and it doesn't filter out search results - only performs redirect on whatever you get; a redirect has to be set manually - see this tutorial [ Firefox / Chrome ]

Fuck FANDOM, support real people, support indie wikis

I've seen a little trend of (mostly) men being shocked and annoyed at how much sensuality was in this newest episode of The Acolyte and I think it's time to re-introduce 'the male gaze' vs 'the female gaze' and how prevalent it is in fiction.

Those same guys don't complain when women are shown topless in bed, the sheet only covering their ass as the full curve of their back is illuminated while the male lead buttons up his pants and smizes forlornly out the window.

They don't bat an eye at 'Slave Leia's' costume or James' Bond's exploits or the gratuitous nudity and sex in Game of Thrones centered on the male gaze. They don't question dehydrated men with bulging veins screaming at their enemies as they flex.

But the moment there's sensuality for the gaze of the fem lead, all of a sudden it's "soapy" it's "fanfic" it's "ridiculous".

Why is that? Why are you so ok with sexuality when it's from the male gaze, but the MOMENT it switches to female, you think it's not to be taken seriously anymore? All of a sudden, it's not 'fit for the public', it's to be relegated to the dark corners of the internet and not spoken of and MOST DEFINITELY shouldn't find it's way onto our screens.

Was Qimir in that episode sexy as fuck? Yeah. Was that what the episode was about? Partially - but it was so much more than that, too. Unlike movies where women are just there to be ogled at by the male audience and have nothing of importance going on with the plot, the Acolyte showed both the man and woman in those scenes as important players in this story with depth and nuance that yes, included sexuality, but was not limited to it.

Men jack off to 'slave Leia' all the time - why is it suddenly disgusting when a man shows up on screen in a sexy way that's NOT dehumanizing to him? Would you have preferred Qimir in a slave costume being held hostage by the Hutts? (feel free to draw fan art of that *cough* what was that? I didn't say anything *cough*) Would that have made it 'not fanfic' to you? Or are only women relegated to those roles? Only women are allowed to skinny dip in the ocean and then talk to the MALE lead all dripping wet and naked. For a man to do that is...well....it's silly!!! It's fanfic!! That's not what we're supposed to see!!