Wookieepedia:April Fools' Day 2012/Wookieepedia merging with SWfanon

As a user on Wookieepedia, I have witnessed many phases on the wiki. There have been user and visitor spikes during major releases, such as a TCW season's first episode or TOR's release. However, except for these occasional spikes, the editor count has been declining since its peak around 2008. The number of pages viewed per visitor has also been on the decline, indicating that people spend less time on the site than they used to. This could, until very recently, be seen on Quantcast; however, Wikia has decided that visitor counts etc. are business secrets.

In discussing this with the rest of the administration, we came to the conclusion that something needed to be done. Users who sign up need to stay involved and passers-by need to get involved. We need to make Wookieepedia a place where anyone can feel like they make a difference. After several long conversations between my fellow administrators, followed by some collaboration with Lucasfilm VIPs and Wikia Staff, we've decided to make some major changes in how the site is run.

Firstly, we need to make everyone feel like they are welcome, and we will therefore start allowing any fan activity to have a page on the site. Notability of fan projects will no longer be Wookieepedia policy. We've discussed this with the administrators of the SWfans wiki, and they've agreed with the merge.

Secondly, we have also decided to allow fanon on the site. This has been discussed with SWfanon's administrators, and we will be moving their content to Wookieepedia shortly. How exactly the content will be added to the site has not yet been decided; essentially we have two options: (a) Creating pages named "Fanon: " or just incorporating the fanon into existing articles, maybe with "fanon start" and "fanon end" tags (like the minor spoiler tags). We have transferred some articles from SWfanon to Wookieepedia to see how it would look like, as well as featuring fanon on the Main page together with an FA. In accordance with the merge, we will be unblocking all users that are currently blocked for the addition of fanon into articles.

The decision to merge is final and is not up for discussion. However, we are more than glad to listen to your ideas how to exactly incorporate fanon with the rest of the content on the site. We are going to discuss this for a couple of days before the content is going to be merged.

Regards,

1358 (Talk)  00:08, April 1, 2012 (UTC) on the behalf of the administration

A message from Dave Filoni
Dear fans,

A few months ago, we made the transition from the StarWars.com Databank to the new Encyclopedia, and included links to your Wookieepedia, without explaining our reasoning. Leland and I feel the time has come to explain our decision, and share some exciting new developments for the future of the Star Wars canon.

First, we acknowledge that Wookieepedia has done a far better job of chronicling the facts and history of Star Wars than the official site ever did. We should have given up on that a long time ago, and we have finally deferred to the masters in that regard. But in addition to that, I've been looking at the interesting changes I've made to this great universe and thought, "why should I have all the fun?"

So in conjunction with the administration of Wookieepedia, Star Wars Fanon, and Star Wars Fan Wiki, we are creating a process by which you, the fans, will integrate your own creations into the Star Wars canon. Leland will explain this in greater detail, but in a nutshell, Wookieepedia will replace the Holocron as the official chronicle of continuity, and your creations will be taken into account in all new material published by our licensing partners.

I, for one, find this extremely exciting, as my own creations prior to joining Lucasfilm, when I went by the online handle of SuperShadow, will finally get the recognition they always deserved.

So have fun, and know now that your creative efforts will have greater meaning. We regret that we will be unable to compensate any of you directly, but Wikia will receive a percentage of future Lucasfilm publishing revenues, and I'm certain they will be able to work out an amicable arrangement with the userbase.

Dave Filoni

Discussion

 * I, for one, am very happy about this. God knows we as a community can do better in creating canon than that old fuddy-duddy George.<- Omicron (Leave a message at the BEEP! ) 00:20, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Clearly, we need to denote the fan-created content somehow, but I think our existing system of tags is sufficient. Thoughts? -- Darth Culator  (Talk) 00:20, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Why bother separating them? Surely we can accommodate Luke Skywalker training 6,000 Mary Sue fanon characters within the span of one year, can't we? Gal-icon.jpg  OLIOSTER  (talk) 00:24, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * For indicating what hasn't appeared in print, and for working out licensing issues when things do go to print. -- Darth Culator  (Talk) 00:27, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * I see your point and that point is money money money! Gal-icon.jpg  OLIOSTER  (talk) 00:30, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * At some point, we would have needed to act. Now with this official declaration, we can go ahead with this idea. --  Riffsyphon  1024 00:23, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * I'm happy to help in making this easier for you guys in whatever way I can. Given that I'm also a Star Wars Fanon administrator, I can help to ease the transition. - Brandon Rhea (talk)  00:25, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * GREAT! I'm glad a Wikia Staff member is willing to help. We all need to be thankful to Dave Filoni. We need to remember that he is the one who made all this possible. If not for his fanon contributions, we would never have a chance to see our fanon published!&mdash; Cal Jedi Infinite Empire.svg (Personal Comm Channel) 00:48, April 1, 2012 (UTC)


 * Hey, everyone! I'm so happy you all are so excited about this idea. If anyone has any questions, feel free to drop my a message! And remember YOUR fanon will rule Star Wars!DaveFiloni 00:56, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Your fanon is not welcomed.  JangFett  (Talk) 01:08, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * I don't welcome it either. I find it hard to believe that all these years struggling for a more canon content based-wikia, the board now decides to mix up all this with the Fanon whithout any indication whatsoever of what is Fanon and what is Canon. Good Job! And how long before all the children start editing previously featured articles in which so many people worked for, only to see it destroyed by the inception of fanon ideas. Winterz 01:29, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Try to look at this from our perspective. We have to make a business decision that's in the best interest of our wiki's survival. As this forum notes above, the lack of editor activity has come to a crawl over the past four years, and we simply don't have the resources to survive at this current rate. It's our best hope that this merge helps jump-start a new editing base for both wikis that will sustain us for many more years to come. The simple fact of the matter is, article content is just not as important as staying alive, in one form or another. Toprawa and Ralltiir 01:37, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * I understand your reasons and I believe that if this really has to happen, then decent indications of what is canon or fanon should be placed in order to separate and make it more a clean article, respecting previously Wookiepedia's editors hardened work. But either way, remember one thing. What made Wookiepedia so unique was the fact that it was always strongly based on Canonic content, and incorporating Fanon just like that, makes it a hell of a troubling transformation for some people. Basically you've killed all the older Wookiepedia stood for just so it would gain a bit more activity. PS Apparently Cad Bane is now Boba Fett and there are no other articles on them.Winterz 01:42, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * I definitely empathize with your concerns and wish this didn't have to happen. In all honesty, the only way I can imagine this NOT happening is for people to start chipping in with donations that would allow us the economic flexibility to branch off and operate independently. Paid administrators = the full-canon Wookieepedia you've come to know and love. If you can find it within your heart to give $5, $10, or even $20, please contact via e-mail address with your digits. He can take care of all contributions. Many thanks to all in advance! Toprawa and Ralltiir 01:53, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * How come Wookieepedia users were allowed to vote on decisions regarding the wiki using the CT or by other means for other issues, but now suddenly we have the biggest (and most controversial) event in the wiki's history and the users have no say whatsoever in it. Also, why does Wookiepeedia need donations if it's part of Wikia which makes money through ads?--Masterbmw 02:04, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Wookieepedia isn't making money. Wikipedia is. We users get no money.&mdash; Cal Jedi Infinite Empire.svg (Personal Comm Channel) 02:06, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Since the decision so greatly impacted both communities, we thought it would be unfair to hold a vote that didn't allow input from the Fanon Wiki editors as well. So we held a forum of both Wookieepedia and SW Fanon admins, during which the decision was ultimately approved. And as for money, Wikia keeps all ad revenue. Wookieepedia administrators don't see a dime, sadly. Toprawa and Ralltiir 02:08, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * What do you mean, sadly? Don't you understand the concept of a wiki?--Masterbmw 02:25, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Toprawa only speaks one language, baby, and that's money. It ain't keen if it don't got the green. Ya dig? Toprawa and Ralltiir 02:29, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * hope you know that doing this will kill the website in the lonterm not save it, when u let the assholes join in the editing and merge in random fan crap without them separating it from approved content u'll lose all the star wars fans and casual passerbys who dont want to log on to see "darth vader was a giant dick" as the primary article for said character, here ho[ing its another years april fools joke or we can kiss wookieepedia good bye in 2-3 weeks--CecilQel-Droma 07:56, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * If Wookieepedia is replacing the Holocron, why was the decision not to move all of Wookieepedia off of Wikia and put in on a Lucasfilm website that can be edited?--Masterbmw 01:02, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Remember, when nominating QOTDs from fanon, mark all the misspellings with [sic] Enochf 01:06, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * As an active member of both wikis, I approve of this decision. Atarumaster88  Jedi_Order.svg ( Talk page ) 01:30, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Chuck Norris approves. Plagueis327 02:07, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Chuck Norris is now allowed. Better make the article before someone else does. Gal-icon.jpg  OLIOSTER  (talk) 02:08, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Chuck Norris, Schmuck Norris. We have better. We have Kyle Katarn! Enochf 02:11, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * In fact, we should probably just REDIRECT Chuck Norris to Kyle Katarn, to avoid confusion. Enochf 02:13, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * An excellent idea! DONE AND DONE! Gal-icon.jpg  OLIOSTER  (talk) 02:17, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Why don't we create a new Namespace called "Fanon:"? I've read somewhere that Wikia can give us two namespaces, and we could use one for that purpose. Thales César  (discussão) 02:24, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * I think a better plan would be to work Chewbacca's mother into every article we can. Menkooroo 02:29, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * I personally hope this is an April fools joke. But if it is for real I would suggest we have duel articles. One Cannon, another fannon. No offence but if this is for real I will probably stop coming to this site. But I still think that there should be duel articles if this is for real.Sith1 2:38, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * I'm praying you're right, I almost feel like crying this pisses me off so much. Where are we supposed to get legit Star Wars info now?
 * We have plenty of duel articles... Duel on Mustafar, Duel on Rhen Var, Duel on Socorro... the list goes on, man. Menkooroo 02:40, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * I meant duel as in double, or two. One cannon article, one fannon article.Sith1 2:44, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * OK, let's not get into a dual over it Enochf 02:51, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * I agree with Sith1. I know we have plenty of duel articles, but it will be more organized. Thales César  (discussão) 02:45, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Only one cannon article? We have plenty of those. AV-7 Antivehicle Cannon, Crab cannon, Flash cannon, Ion cannon... why limit ourselves to just one? Menkooroo 02:46, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Did you hit your head or something?--Masterbmw 02:49, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * I think we should use a new namespace named "Fanon". Thales César  (discussão) 02:50, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * PLONK! Ouch. Menkooroo 02:51, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Just a note: Cannon go boom!!! --  Riffsyphon  1024 08:01, April 1, 2012 (UTC)

Um, looking at recent edits-clearly this isn't working. Kyle Katarn the Chosen One, Kansas City Police, Superman...I'd revert these edits, but if fanon is to become as important as canon, I don't want to be called a vandal myself. Heck, I'm just a casual viewer of this site, but something is definately happening, and I don't feel qualified to stop it. But either way, surely there's even a limit to what kind of fanon is allowed.--Hawki 03:12, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Woa! I thought it was an April fools joke! By the Force, you can't be serious!  Thales César  (discussão) 03:15, April 1, 2012 (UTC)

Yeah, last year I got tripped up by the announcement about Lucasfilms shutting down Wookieepedia. Sneaky, sneaky devils.- 99.60.152.35 04:20, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * I swear its a April Fools Joke. If its not I leaving this Wiki and going to stop watch the show. Nciszdabest April 1, 2012.
 * I've seen April Fool's done before-as I recall, it was a case of denying all EU material on the site (e.g. "did you know that Mara Jade never existed?" for instance) or swapping WoW material with Guild Wars material. This however, seems to be something else. I don't know why these edits are being made, but under the new policy, there doesn't seem any recourse to stop them.--Hawki 03:51, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Yes, definitely an April fool's joke. Unless Wookiepedia decided to break their tradition this year and just happened to announce the fanon-canon thing today of all days. Still, they seemed to have managed to fool a fair amount of people.--75.152.169.121 15:35, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Hahahahahaahahaha I was seriously concerned until I saw the date! This is easily the best April Fool's joke this site has ever done. My mind is blown!!! 98.252.34.34 03:53, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Yesss!!! My dream comes true!! (this is an exception of me being AWOL) Anakin Skyobiliviator ( talk ) 04:11, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Hmm...find it interesting that all of the admins seem to be voicing their support, when they'd reject it the most presumably. And that their comments are all within a few minutes of each other. Meh. Could have done without being "honoured" as Wookiepedian of the month, but I guess the egg is on my face either way. Either this is an April Fool's joke and I fell for it, or it isn't, and I get a place of infamy in the April roster. Oh well. I'll find out by tomorrow I guess.--Hawki 05:12, April 1, 2012 (UTC)


 * If it's not an April Fools joke, Wookieepedia will stop being the best SW encyclopedia on the world. Seriously, who the hell thought this was going to be a good change? I repeat, I hope it's only a horrible joke they are making us. Because if this is true, everything will be bad not only for Wookieepedia, but also for other wikis that are based on this wiki.Skenar Jedi_Order.svg ( Talk ) 06:05, April 1, 2012 (UTC)


 * Well, it's about time. I remember when this idea was tossed back and forth a few years ago, back before even the Clone Wars, and I fully supported it then. I fully support it now. I hope this means we can unban a few of the troublemakers from the past, like Jebulax and Filoni's SuperShadow. A ton of their ideas were awesome. 06:41, April 1, 2012 (UTC)


 * I think this is a great idea! If they become canon, that would be awesome! --User:Darkjedi55 (Comlink) 07:35, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Finally. I can start posting chapters from my ongoing Ewoks Musical fanfic. ToRsO bOy 07:45, April 1, 2012 (UTC)

I agree that Fanon should definitely be separated, at least by moving to it's own page. people come to wookiepedia for facts, not fiction (as far as canon can be fact) and mixing the two up would compromise this. my suggestion would be pages that instead of starwars.wikia.com/wiki go starwars.wikia.com/fanon, or something similar, if possible. 81.131.84.48 08:19, April 1, 2012 (UTC)


 * Why not? It's a great idea and we have no longer to leave things out which are logical, but not canonically stated.  Clone Commander Lee  Talk 08:30, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Seconded, I was sick of reverting fanon additions before, this change makes things so much easier in that regard. Fully support this move.  nayayen ★talk  10:08, April 1, 2012 (UTC)

This scared me half to death. It took me a good 15 min to get that this was an April Fools day thing. Well. Fucking. Played.

Hmm....don't really know if I like this....I'm hoping this April Fools with all my heart....because I do NOT think fanon belongs on Wookieepedia at all...it would completely ruin it....THIS HAD BETTER BE APRIL FOOLS, PEOPLE!!!!! --Lamp774 10:44, April 1, 2012 (UTC)Lamp774


 * I'm just a casual viewer (like a fellow Wookiepedian few lines above), BUT... IF this some kind of April Fools joke, than I really fell for it :D Good job, Admins! If it's NOT, on the other hand, than a new seperate namespace for fanon would be the best solution. NO WAY can we have canon AND fanon in one article. That'll destoy everything Wookiepedia represents... Also, does the merge mean that Lucasfilm will use any content that I load up here in their future projects? 11:47, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * LOL! -- Zeist Antilles  flimsiplast 12:12, April 1, 2012 (UTC)

This is an April fools joke, just like last year..... 204.237.102.194 12:31, April 1, 2012 (UTC)


 * Is this thing true? If yes, I finish editing or even viewing Wookieepedia! How can this be? You guys were all against fanon, if it is allowed, the whole sit will be full of mistakes, lies, conjectures and other crap! You just can't do that! I hope it's an April fools joke like someone said above, otherwise I am out of here! :(--XXLVenom998 12:43, April 1, 2012 (UTC)

This, if it is real, will drop your viewers to ZERO. --96.233.21.7 13:24, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Holy Cow!! I just noticed this! I AM USER OF THE MONTH?! I hardly edit anything on here, most often watch... Now I'm SURE that this is all a JOKE!! You guys are great! Thanks!!! Darth Slivarion


 * Nope. I don't like this. I'm not opposed to the concept, mind you&mdash;I've been dying to get my story of Chewbaacca, the unknown clone of Chewbacca, out to the world. But I don't think it's wise to just allow every Joe Schmo to write whatever he wants on the site. I think it might be a good idea for us to introduce an editor vetting process. Like, we could introduce an "approved revisions" policy, whereby each fanon addition to the site would only be made public after being viewed by a certain class of users (like admins, or people with a certain number of mainspace edits), who then could approve or reject the changes. Sure, we could just revert unwanted fanon changes as vandalism, but per the terms of the Filoni policy outlined above, that would mean that canon (since fanon is now canon) would be changing constantly as well. If we instituted approved revisions, though, we could stem the tide of bad fanon and only allow good fanon to get through (like the aforementioned Chewbaacca). In short, I don't want to see the fanon floodgates opened to anyone. Let's keep this professional, and let's keep Star Wars cool. ~ Savage BOB sig.png 14:39, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * There's actually already an extension for that; we would just need Wikia Staff to turn it on. &mdash;MJ&mdash; Comlink Sunday, April 1, 2012, 16:16 UTC


 * Personally I don't mind seeing fannon being added as long as there is some kind of quality control and content tags to make sure the readers know that the content is not cannon. Plus, we also need to make sure that we're not denigrating fannon because it's fan created.  Maybe we could institute a sort of fannon threshold for inclusion. (On a side note: I'm getting a kick out of reading all the users who are getting their panties in a wad because their strict world won't be a strict world from now on.  Especially those threatening to quit Wookipedia if this goes through.  Very hilarious.  If you hate fannon so much, you shouldn't be editing any Star Wars wiki in the first place due to your hilariously closed minds.)   Brothejr 15:57, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Please see my proposal above to institute flagged revisions (linked to by Master Jonathan). This would be a great way to only allow quality fanon to enter the wiki. ~ Savage BOB sig.png 16:56, April 1, 2012 (UTC)

Regarding blocked users
Wookieepedia Administrators are currently working with Wikia Staff to deploy an automated process to simultaneously unblock every user previously blocked solely for posting excessive fanfiction or fanart. This process should be ready to activate in approximately 24 to 48 hours. Please do not attempt to circumvent any existing blocks in the meantime, as this may interrupt the unblock process or cause existing blocks to be extended. Thank you for your patience during this transition. 1358 (Talk)  15:42, April 1, 2012 (UTC)

IT'S JUST A JOKE
Come on people, it's obvious it's going to be a bad joke, because if it's not, Wookieepedia administrators would be really stupid to accept this merge. So we just have to wait until April Fools is over, and then try to fix every stupid change it has been done here.Skenar ( Talk )  16:46, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Considering Wookieepedia administrators initiated the merge... yeah, it's not a joke. 1358  (Talk)  16:49, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * They initiated it because they wanted to make a really big joke. Okey, it's funny, they finally did their objective: we are all worried about this merge. The thing is: when the day ends, and with it April Fools, who will restore everything as it was before the big joke?Skenar Jedi_Order.svg ( Talk ) 17:01, April 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * Not sure what we would need to restore. Sure, there are some things that need tweaking and need to be solved such as redirect and so forth, but in general, most of the added content will stay. Once we decide how to store the content (see the initial announcement), we will probably have to move around stuff, but that can be done by a bot. 1358  (Talk)  17:04, April 1, 2012 (UTC)