Forum:The future of this wiki

Let's not delay this issue any longer. So, I guess these are our options: If I missed anything, feel free to add to that.
 * 1) Stay with Wikia, and endure the new skin.
 * 2) Move to another wiki farm, e.g. ShoutWiki.
 * 3) Become independent and fund the wiki ourselves.

Now, here's my honest opinion - the way I see it, the Internet is moving on, and Wikia's simply moving with it. Places such as Facebook, YouTube, IGN, and many more are taking on flashier displays, just like Wikia. So, I guess what I'm saying is, we can't stick with the same old layout forever, as much as we'd like to. Even if we moved to ShoutWiki or wherever, they'd eventually go the same way as Wikia and everyone else. I know it's a bit grim, but the Internet's ever changing, and we might just have to accept that and change with it.

...But that's just my opinion. What about the rest of you? THB  → Talk ← 15:09, October 24, 2010 (UTC)

Well I agree with your first option...Stay and endure the new skin...besides what's the big deal...just a new skin...Omegamon 15:16, October 24, 2010 (UTC)

We at sonic Fanon are moving right now, and I suggest you do the same. We were able to find a free domain where evereything stays exactly the same. I'm not sure if they'd move you guys, but if you're interested, just ask me and I'll assk him. --You're mixing your truths with your theories 15:25, October 24, 2010 (UTC)


 * However it might be a bit. He's currently moving seven different Sonic wiki's, but if you asked he might move you. --You're mixing your truths with your theories 15:34, October 24, 2010 (UTC)
 * The problem is that in many way, the "new skin" interferes with the actual purpose of our site, to purvey information. There's plenty of nifty little add-ons that could be done to enhance the content, but wikia isn't taking that route.
 * Now, I can't see us doing self-funding. Honestly, we're not going to be getting enough from advertisements, and I think you, THB, are the only real code guru we have right now. I think we need to stick with some kind of wiki farm. The best ones I've seen are wikii and shoutwiki, and I Think we're small enough that we could do well on either of them; shoutwiki is monobook-based, I think, while wikii allows more control. I'm not very clear on the setup there, though. We could easily move to one of those, or we could talk to wikimon about joining with their provider, and maybe helping donate to them or something. I have no loyalty to wikia, though.(ಠ_ೃ)﻿ Bully!  20:21, October 24, 2010 (UTC)
 * It's irritating, but I think we might be able to stay with wikia. No loyalty, but...


 * Would it be possible to move the Infoboxes to the left side instead of the right? Lanate (talk) 20:38, October 24, 2010 (UTC)
 * The margins of the infobox table class mean it's actually designed to go on the right side of the article. We'd have to make minor changes to the MediaWiki:Common.css page if we wanted to move them to the left (or it might be MediaWiki:Wikia.css now... I think they changed that too). THB  → Talk ← 16:02, October 25, 2010 (UTC)
 * Can we at least change that awful polka dot background that the Wikia staff have left us with? I'm sure I'm not the only one who's irritated by it. THB  → Talk ← 08:44, October 26, 2010 (UTC)

The general opinion here seems to be swaying more towards staying, though I think we should get as many opinions as possible on this. What if I put up a notice on the main page with a link to this discussion? Would that be okay? THB  → Talk ← 11:26, October 26, 2010 (UTC)
 * For the sake of getting more opinions... I say we should stay. So what the new layout is crappy, we'll just have to deal with it for now. Perhaps there is an alternative to just running away from the problem, perhaps talking to the wikia developers about the crappy changes they made would effect positive change. -- Tokyo Five-O, Bookem Takato 13:01, October 26, 2010 (UTC)
 * Personally, I strongly dislike the new skin, since it makes it way more difficult to use the pages, but on this wiki it doesn't actually break anything, like it does on the other wikis I edit at. If you guys want to move, I'd be fully willing to help with that, but if you don't want to....meh, I guess I'll have to deal with it somehow, and we'll modify the css to somehow mitigate the worst of the problems.
 * Jedi, people have been trying to talk to the wikia developers for ages over this. They have their fingers in their ears.(ಠ_ೃ)﻿ Bully!  13:41, October 26, 2010 (UTC)

Well, it's been a week now and no one's said a thing. I'm sensing that no one really wants to move... I guess we'll be staying then. If that's the case, then we need to sort a few things out. Now, I admit, I got a bit carried away a few weeks ago and I've already come up with a short list of things that need doing, along with my own suggestions. Here it is: Feel free to make your own suggestions, though ultimately, these tasks can only be carried out by admins. Of course, there are lots of other things to be taken care of across the wiki. I'm not going to mention them all myself, though the episode articles are kind of my area, so I'm planning to make adjustments to the episode article layout to compensate for narrower article space - the current layout comes out pretty badly as you may have noticed. My suggestion for a new layout can be seen here. I'll be changing a lot of articles, so I want to make sure the other main editors are okay with the new layout. I'd really like to get the admins opinions on the above points as well. THB  → Talk ← 18:14, November 1, 2010 (UTC)
 * Navigation bar - now located at MediaWiki:Wiki-navigation (not to be confused with MediaWiki:Monaco-sidebar), the new style allows 4 main headings, each with 7 subheadings. Obviously, our current navbar does not fit those specifications, so I've tried compressing our current navbar into the new style here. Inevitably, we'll have to make a few small changes around the wiki to compensate.
 * Custom theme - simplified into a "Theme Designer" page, and much more limited. As you can probably see, the Wikia staff have already customized it themselves, though I'm sure we can do much better. I'd suggest looking at the now-outdated MediaWiki:Monaco.css, and taking ideas from there.
 * Main logo - Accessible via the theme designer (see above), the new logo needs to be a horizontal one of 250x65 pixels. I thought we could use this (I can take away the digicode if nobody likes it).
 * Sorry, I've been busy with this same discussion on the Kingdom Hearts wiki, which will be moving.
 * Honestly, from what I know of hosting prices, I could stand to support the wiki even without ads, though of course they would help (I'm thinking Digimon Battle, crunchyroll, etc.). I do not have the skill to set up the software, though, so we'd need someone to handle that. However, if you guys have any desire to move, I can totally facilitate that, and I flat out do not like Oasis - when Monaco is taken down, I'm going back to monobook while on wikia.(ಠ_ೃ)﻿ Bully!  18:24, November 1, 2010 (UTC)
 * Well, I don't really have anything else to say, so I'm pulling out of this discussion. In the end, it doesn't really bother me whether we move or not, but we shouldn't make any rash decisions. Just consider me to be neutral on the matter. THB  → Talk ← 18:55, November 2, 2010 (UTC)
 * I'm gonna agree with THB, no need to rush into anything. If things get to the point of hair being ripped out daily, then it might be a good time to move. Fortunately things are sitting at the, "I'm really annoyed with the people in charge" level. If/When things escalate, then we should VERY seriously consider the option of moving. Either way, I will support the administrative decision be it move or stay.-- Tokyo Five-O, Bookem Takato 19:56, November 2, 2010 (UTC)