Independent Metal Gear Wiki Proposal

[DoctorDizzy]

The following is copy and pasted from something similar that I have posted to Reddit, Tumblr, and Cohost. I'm really trying to spread the word about this and get as many people on board as possible!


As you're aware, there's a damn good MGS wiki out there. Things are sourced well, the articles are written professionally... Honestly, there's only one pretty obvious flaw -- It's hosted on Fandom, the place where usable user interfaces go to die. For a while now, I've been wanting to create an independent MGS wiki, but it's only taken until recently for me to actually start taking steps towards it.

Those into independent wikis are probably already aware of the Nintendo Independent Wiki Alliance or the Square Enix Independent Wiki Alliance, but I've recently had my attention called to the Gaming Wiki Network. GWN is a group of independently-hosted wikis about games that don't fit into NIWA or SEIWA, and I joined its Discord server as soon as I was made aware of it. I've been dying to get this started, and I thought that asking around there would help me think of what to do.

Recently, I joined the server for the Fandom wiki, in hopes of privately messaging the main admin. Instead, it seemed like the best person to contact was a Fandom representative -- There's a solid chance that we would have to act completely independently from the preexisting wiki.

I cannot stress enough how awful Fandom is, on a user level. Ads are shoved down your throat, and even if you have an adblocker, the autoplaying videos can get more than a little frustrating. The yellow navigational bar is just awful and clashes with the aesthetics of many wikis, they've been making very odd buyout decisions, you're under their corporate control, there's all sorts of irrelevant garbage that they shove down your throat...

I think that, if I can get enough people on board, then we can have a fully fledged and independent Metal Gear Solid wiki. When it comes to usable, high standard wikis, the best is yet to come.


Please let me know if you're interested in helping out in any way! Even spreading the word is good. You can message me here, or shoot me an email if you want to help out. Metal Gear Solid means the world to me, and I can't stand to see that the only wiki is hosted on Fandom.

[Cele]

I don't know anything about MGS but moving away from Fandom is always a great idea. I wanted to do that once but well, the realization is that my fandom isn't alive enough to make that work. Anyways, I'm sure you already know this, don't let Fandom administration know what you're doing.

[Inkerlink]

I'm curious, would there be any problems in trying to migrate the content from Fandom to somewhere else? Or would that be considered plagiarism? If you made an independent wiki, would every article have to be re-written from scratch? 
I'm wholly in support of moving away from Fandom I'm just curious about the specifics of actually migrating or recreating the content.

[sig]

I'm curious, would there be any problems in trying to migrate the content from Fandom to somewhere else?

From the MGS Fandom license page I'm gathering that you're allowed to redistribute any information from the wiki as long as you're allowing the same as well:

The GFDL is a "copyleft" license, meaning the content can be copied, modified, and redistributed so long as the new version grants the same freedoms to others and acknowledges the authors of the Wikia page. Wikia content will, therefore, will remain free forever and can be used by anybody subject to certain restrictions, most of which serve to ensure that freedom.

Now I don't know how protective the community actually is about their work, but their rules seem to allow it at least.

[Inkerlink]

From the MGS Fandom license page I'm gathering that you're allowed to redistribute any information from the wiki as long as you're allowing the same as well:

Now I don't know how protective the community actually is about their work, but there rules seem to allow it at least.

That sounds great then! Attributing the original writers is a lot easier than re-writing thousands of articles.
I know the thread is months old but I hope @DoctorDizzy gets the support they need to make it a reality. I love MGS too and would love an alternate wiki to get information from. I'd volunteer myself if I had the time which I unfortunately don't.  Well, actually that might not be completely true, if the effort were made I'd be able to do some work here or there, but just not devote a significant amount of time to the project.

[sig]

Absolutely, I might not know much about Metal Gear Solid but fully support the movement for independent wiki's and will definitely check out the various wiki alliances!

[Moodle McDoodle]

Another person here who doesn’t know much about MSG but fully supports all attempts to move away from Fandom! I’ve been collecting links to as many independent wikis and informative fansites as I can for a while now, and I’m always delighted to find more to add to my list, even if I have no interest in the material! There’s some really great resources out there, but also a lot of huge gaps only occupied by fandom wikis and its a huge shame. The fact that the only fleshed out Sonic wiki is on fandom breaks my heart every time I need to look something up ;__;

On a semi-related note it’d be awesome to see more independent wikis for media besides video games. It makes sense why there’s more need for it in gaming communities, but it’d be awesome to see fans of other things move away from fandom more as well… but that’s a topic for another thread probably

I wish you the best of luck in getting this going!

[sig]

I’ve been collecting links to as many independent wikis and informative fansites as I can for a while now, and I’m always delighted to find more to add to my list, even if I have no interest in the material!

I've started doing this too! Maybe it warrants a page on the MelonLand wiki?

[DoctorDizzy]

First of all, thank you so so so so SO much, guys!! I'm so sorry for not checking in on this thread lately. Real life is so annoying...

Anyway!

I don't know anything about MGS but moving away from Fandom is always a great idea. I wanted to do that once but well, the realization is that my fandom isn't alive enough to make that work. Anyways, I'm sure you already know this, don't let Fandom administration know what you're doing.

But of course. Fandom will never know about this project!

I know the thread is months old but I hope @DoctorDizzy gets the support they need to make it a reality. I love MGS too and would love an alternate wiki to get information from. I'd volunteer myself if I had the time which I unfortunately don't.  Well, actually that might not be completely true, if the effort were made I'd be able to do some work here or there, but just not devote a significant amount of time to the project.

Thank you so much anyway, Inkerlink! You can always message me through here if you want an invite to the Discord server where we're doing this. If you don't use Discord (It's kind of an annoying platform ), then feel free to tell me what would work for you!

We have finished forking the content over from Fandom, so now we just need to, you know, clean it up. The wiki is metalgear.wiki, by the way!!