Wookieepedia:FAQ

What is Wookieepedia?

 * Wookieepedia is a free content, freely editable online encyclopedia about everything Star Wars, including the Star Wars universe, fandom and behind-the-scenes details.

Who owns Wookieepedia?

 * Wookieepedia is hosted by Wikia, a free wiki hosting service operated by Wikia, Inc., a for-profit organization founded by Jimmy Wales and Angela Beesley. Wikia receives all profit from the Google AdSense advertisements on Wookieepedia. Wikia is responsible for technical issues with the site; it also sometimes provides legal advice and is our legal Designated Agent.


 * However, the Wookieepedia content, licensed under the GFDL, is not "owned" by anyone in the traditional sense.

When and why was Wookieepedia created?

 * Wookieepedia was started by Chad Barbry and Steven Greenwood in March 2005 as a project that would provide a more complete coverage of Star Wars than Wikipedia was allowed to by its notability policies. For example, almost every character on Wookieepedia has a separate article, while on Wikipedia, minor characters are grouped into long "List of minor characters" articles. A smaller wiki is also easier to manage, customize and verify (when it comes to factual accuracy and canonicity).


 * Our first articles were forked from the English Wikipedia, although most articles have since been completely rewritten to the point that almost no Wikipedia material remains as of now, and the material that does remain mostly constitutes imported policies and guidelines.

Who is responsible for the Wookieepedia content?

 * You are! In fact, you can edit this very FAQ! However, note that since Wookieepedia is an unofficial, community-driven project, edited by hundreds of people unfamiliar with each other, we cannot possibly guarantee any degree of accuracy and validity, although we do strive for both accuracy and verifiability &mdash; this means that everyone should be able to verify the facts mentioned in every article. This is why all in-universe articles have lists of appearances and sources, and why all real-world articles are referenced.


 * You can find who contributed to a particular article by looking at its edit history.

What keeps Wookieepedia from being destroyed?

 * Every Wookieepedia article contains an edit history (accessible from the "history" tab by default), which records all edits to the article since it was created. In case someone makes a bad edit (intentionally or not) by vandalizing the article or inserting fanon, anyone can revert (restore) the article to an earlier, better revision.

How can I contact the project?

 * The Senate Hall is the general place to ask questions about Wookieepedia or give feedback, although if it by its very nature only concerns the administrators, try the administrators' noticeboard instead. You can also try the Wookieepedia IRC chat channel; for instructions on joining it, see IRC.

Is Wookieepedia copyrighted?

 * Yes, all contributions are copyrighted by people who made them. This means that if you edit an article, you hold copyright for the edits you made, but not for edits made by other people contributing to the same article.


 * The GNU Free Documentation License, which we use, leverages the legal institute of copyright to ensure that everyone will have the right to freely access, modify and redistribute licensed content, no matter what. Therefore, do not contribute if you do not want your edits to be in turn mercilessly edited by others.

Can I use Wookieepedia content on my site/elsewhere?

 * Yes! However, this only applies to the text, licensed under the GFDL, and a select few free images. Most of our images are copyrighted by Lucasfilm Ltd. and used under the fair use clause for identification purposes, and using them for other purposes or in countries where fair use conditions do not apply may be illegal.


 * If you use Wookieepedia articles elsewhere, all you are legally required to do (by the license) is to add a copyright notice saying that the article is copyrighted and licensed under the GFDL, and a link to the original Wookieepedia article. You can freely modify and redistribute the material, provided that you license your modifications under the GFDL as well. You cannot license it on other conditions or put it in the public domain, not can you claim copyright for content you did not write yourself (everyone only holds copyright to the contributions they themselves made).

Can I use Wookieepedia content on another wiki?

 * Yes, if the said wiki is itself licensed under the GFDL. This includes all of Wikia (with the exception of Memory Alpha and Uncyclopedia, which are sister projects licensed under Creative Commons licenses) and most Wikimedia Foundation projects, including Wikipedia. In this case, the aforementioned copyright notice goes to the talk page of the said article; the restrictions still apply.

Can I use content from other sites on Wookieepedia?

 * No. By default, every work is copyrighted and the author holds exclusive rights to it, unless they explicitly release all or some of them. You can insert GFDL or public domain text into articles verbatim, but not anything else. We care about copyright violations so much that we have a special page dedicated to reporting and removing such violations, replacing them with original, non-violating content.

What wiki software does Wookieepedia use?

 * Wookieepedia (and the rest of Wikia) uses MediaWiki, the same software as Wikipedia and other Wikimedia Foundation projects. Wikia also uses some third-party extensions, which are available to all hosted wikis. The exact details can be found at Special:Version.

Where should I report technical issues?

 * If they are indeed technical (like the site being down, or weird error messages) and not something within the users control (like templates), you can report them to the Wikia support channel on IRC, #wikia (as opposed to #wookieepedia, our channel). For instructions, see IRC.