Understanding Wikia's Terms of Use
Every website has them. Every software application makes you agree to them before you can get to the good stuff. Even now, they are calling out to you from the footer of this page and every other page on Wikia.
They are the Terms of Use (TOU), and along with our Privacy Policy, Licensing Policy, Community Guidlines, and Wiki Creation Policy, the Terms of Use form the core terms of acceptable behavior that we expect from members of our communities. They apply to both registered users (whether or not they are logged in) and unregistered anonymous users. When creating an account you must agree to our TOU or you won’t be able to finish the process. When people contribute content while logged out, their contributions still have to comply.
Since t…
Digital Protest Against the FISA Improvements Act
Greetings Wikians,
We usually come together to share and celebrate what we know and love about our favorite subjects, but today the topic is a bit more serious. Wikia’s foundational philosophy celebrates openness and transparency, based on the notion that knowledge is something that should be shared through collaboration. Our communities would not be possible without a free and open internet, but we still value the privacy of our users.
An issue that dominated in 2013 was the revelation of the mass surveillance and bulk data collection covertly conducted by the National Security Agency. The disclosures were unprecedented, and the full extent of these surveillance activities is still an open question. At the very least it is a certainty that …
Understanding Attribution on Wikia
Sharing information is the backbone of editing on Wikia. Part of that sharing means that content is often reused and repurposed after the initial contribution. This freedom makes it much easier for all of us to share our knowledge, passion, and creativity.
Giving credit where credit is due one of the cornerstones of polite society. And we all benefit from this generosity, so making sure to properly credit the source of any information that you find useful is the least you can do.
No, really.
It's literally the very least.
Anything less violates the terms of the CC-BY-SA license. When you contribute text to a wikia, you agree to release it under the CC-BY-SA. (Images are slightly different, but we'll get to that in a minute.) While you do retain …
Worth One Thousand: Image Use Best Practices
The old saying "A picture is worth a thousand words" might not be literally true, but adding an image to an article on your wikia is one of the best ways to grab the reader's attention (even if it it doesn't bump the total word count by 1,000). Illustrating text-heavy articles with carefully chosen pictures can add color and detail to an otherwise drab content page. They can also help with your community's search ranking by favorably affecting your SEO .
You can learn the basics of uploading images by reading through our image help page . But aside from the technical aspects of adding pictures, there are several factors that affect when, how, and if you should do so.
The maximum size for an uploaded image is 10 MB, although you should genera…
Understanding Privacy
As the internet has grown, it has made it easier than ever to connect with other people from across the globe. But this ease of connection has made it harder for us to maintain the same level of privacy we do in the offline world. When you meet someone on the street, it’s easy to regulate your conversation with them to make sure you aren’t giving away more information than you’re comfortable with.
It’s a different story online, where you constantly broadcast your IP address, location information, and other types of data before you even start typing. Add to that the ease with which social networks and other websites allow you to share information about yourself, like your real name, your email address, phone number or other vital statistics …