Forum:Upcoming: Move From Wikia

(The archive of the old version of this page before the end of the vote can be found at Lego Bionicle:Move From Wikia.)

Recently, The administrators of both BIONICLEpedia and the administrators of Custom BIONICLE Wiki have decided that we want to move off the Wikia platform.

For more information, please click here (credit to Toa Auserv for writing it from a balanced point of view).

Both BP and CB wikis will be moved to a paid hosting platform.

The meeting decided that if the community votes yes, then we will move. The community decided to vote yes as well, so we will be moving.

More info on other things passed during the meeting can be read here.

The timeline will go like this: ~New Host~ ~Wikia~
 * Community voting begins
 * Meeting
 * Community voting for CBW ends
 * Community Voting for BP ends
 * Contact Wikia
 * Lock DB
 * Export DB
 * Export Images
 * Lock DB & Disable registration
 * Import DB
 * Import Images
 * Implement fixes
 * Test
 * Unlock DB & Enable registration
 * Turn this site into a wiki about set info, and link to both BS01 and the new B-pedia for storyline information.
 * Complete!

Note that you will have to re-register seeing as Wikia will not hand over the user database, but your username will be protected until you register it (You have to register it with the same password as your Wikia password, to make sure you're the real you).

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. Panaka lego  (BP Ad min) and the Bioniclepedia administration.

-Are we going get the pages?--Torongo 03:23, 4 February 2009 (UTC)

-Um, excactly when will this move occur? In days? In weeks? In months? --Toatapio Nuva 17:56, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Will anyone ever answer these questions? Hello? --Toatapio Nuva 04:55, 7 February 2009 (UTC)
 * It's in the process of occurring now, actually. See the timeline further up on this page? ToaAuserv ? ...BPAdmin 04:57, 7 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes, but the list has been like that for a very long time... I'm just wondering when the DB finally gets locked. --Toatapio Nuva 06:13, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

A comment from Wikia
I've just heard that some are thinking of moving away from Wikia. I didn't get a chance to talk to you about it before you voted, but I hope I can catch up a bit now.

From what I've read the main concerns are ads, spotlights and lack of access to the wiki controls.

We do have to be careful about what controls are made publicly accessible. Admins can already make a lot of changes to the wiki already but our main goal is to make sure that the wiki and the users are safe. Logging in to Wikia hides your IP address and gives you more control over who can see that information. For most home users, an IP doesn't give that much away (usually a general location, and the name of the company that provides your Internet service). But for some users, however, it can reveal more... for example the name of your school, college or workplace. Checkuser exposes this information, so giving it out to non-staff concerns us. Regardless, you can always contact Wikia staff any time you need assistance with a dilemma that requires the use of checkuser.

Regarding ads -- these are sent to us from various ad networks. We have settings on each that reject any problem ads (explicit, noisy and so on) but bad ones still get through. We are working on improving the filtering, and you can mail us using the Special:Contact form to report any problem ads. With enough information, we can identify the provider and stop the ad from being served.

We do filter our internal ads (the spotlights), which is why you didn't see the "Kenny" spotlight on this wiki. We should have considered the audience a bit more when we put these particular wrestling spotlights on a wiki about toys. Thanks for your feedback! We've removed the wrestling spotlights from all toy wikis.

If there are other concerns, I'd love to have the chance to discuss them with you. I hope you will stay with us here at Wikia. -- sannse (talk) 21:45, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Glad to hear that the spotlights have been filtered. Unfortunately, our decision has already been made and it would be up to Panakalego to ultimately reject the move. And he's been a strong supporter of it, so I doubt that would happen. However, the plan is to have someone from another Bionicle wiki to take over this version of Bioniclepedia and change it from focusing on the Bionicle story to focus entirely on the Bionicle toys. So essentially we will be staying here, but changing the wiki's focus and exporting the old wiki to a new domain. And I know several of our members plan to stay here and continue editing the Wikia Bionicle wiki (which will probably be renamed to Bionicle Sector 02, knowing the guy who's taking over it). ToaAuserv ? ...BPAdmin 22:15, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
 * What Auserv said, I feel the Bioniclepedia can do a bit better on it's own. But again, this wiki will be one about the actual products, with reviews, set information, piece information, etc. And there's a possibility of merging with the Bionicle reviews wikia wiki, if I get a definate response from the admin over there. This domain won't be abandoned, but the content will be moved to a new server, and this wiki will be changed to reflect the products more than the storyline. The community voted leave, I thank wikia for hosting us just the same. Panaka  lego  (BP Ad min) 23:29, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
 * That was a close vote. And I am happy to see that almost half the voters wanted to stay. As I'm sure you know, far more people read and edit than participate in community discussions. As this is their wiki too, I want to look out for those people and assure them that whatever you who want to move chose to do, this wiki will remain for them.  Is there an opportunity for another vote now that we've resolved the spotlight issue and shown you the method to point out bad ads? I think it's also worth talking further about the admin controls you are seeking beyond Checkuser. As stated above, this is legally a very difficult feature for us to open up to users.  But perhaps there are others?


 * If there is a need for a BS02 wiki, then why not create that new wiki on Wikia. Although I would suggest there is room here for the definitive wiki covering products, storylines, reviews and more.


 * Obviously, it's up to you whether you move. But if you are unhappy with the service we are providing, we'd appreciate a chance to improve things for you. If you do leave, we'll provide full database dumps and help out where we can.  Once you move, this wiki will continue with content and topic intact.  That's part of our commitment to the whole community, including readers. So how should we move forward? -- sannse (talk) 19:28, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
 * I do know that the inability to add skins was one thing. - Daiku { Whine Here } { Look what I did! } 19:44, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Hi, You can have custom skins on Wikia. See Wiki 24] for an example.  (Or maybe UKTransport Wiki? If you like pink.... ;) -- sannse (talk) 18:44, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

The "need" for BS02 (which is like the extension from BS01) isn't in great demand, but the point of having two Storyline wikis without any set wiki is probably harming both sites. I figure a compromise of having the two large Wikis and a seperate set wiki ran by both sides could be a good compromise.

Plus, the idea is then there would be more room for other things here, like reviews and possibly more. The reason this site does not have set information in great detail is because the storyline does hold more content than sets do, and most people doing research on them would prefer looking up the story, not the set.

I'm not entirely sure why they decided to leave, but I did offer to help convert this to something both sides could be proud of working on. Plus, the only reason I chose not to link to other wikis is because I could not physically contain any false information and content shown, as I could on my own wiki. With the proposed plan, both sides could run this one, which would then allow both sides to link to it freely, as well as this site linking to both as a "For more information" side. And as for the name, "BS02" was just a codename for it, I'll talk with Panakalego about the name as soon as we're sure this site can be converted safely. I'm giving them a full week on the new server to see if it can handle them. If not, it'd be a waste of time, and they'd be thankful I didn't change this one at all. -- BS01Swert 21:32, 5 February 2009 (UTC)


 * There's no reason why that content can't be included here along with the current content. Although I'm happy to make a new wiki for it if you prefer.  But either way, there is no need to remove content from this wiki.  As I said above, there are a lot more people using this wiki than the few that voted, and we want to look after them too.  Whatever happens, there will still Bionicle and Custom Bionicle wikis at wikia. -- sannse (talk) 18:44, 6 February 2009 (UTC)
 * What do you mean when you say that? The whole community had the opportunity to vote, and of those who did, the majority voted to have the information moved to an independent server. You seem to have the idea that making a set wiki here is one of the reasons for moving to an independent server. Actually, it came about after the fact - we were trying to decide what would happen to the bionicle.wikia.com namespace, and some of us came up with the idea of making it a set wiki, an as-yet-unrealized entity in the Bionicle Wiki community. And while I disagree with the reasons for moving and think you staff members have been much more helpful and open than I was led to believe, I also believe we have to respect the open vote. I hope PL changes his mind after what you said, since the decision for a revote is ultimately in his hands and I think the situation is different. - Daiku { Whine Here } { Look what I did! } 19:58, 6 February 2009 (UTC)
 * The domain has already been bought, the plan was to get the domain after the vote, voting is over, and the domain is now getting ready to recieve the DB. I really don't see too big a difference now anyway, except that wikia has expressed their views, spotlight has been fixed, and ads shouldn't be a "problem". Still, I honestly think we as a community will just simply work better as our own wiki. Panaka  lego  (BP Ad min) 06:27, 7 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Based on this conversation and others, it's clear that there is some uncertainty regarding the move. Regardless of whether you set up an alternative wiki or not, this one will still be here with all of its current content, and those who want to can stay and edit here.  The current site notice suggests that this wiki is moving and will be converted to a different topic, which is not the case.  I think that the site notice should be more clear about the real situation.  Can someone change that?  Or I can take care of it for you if you prefer. --sannse (talk) 19:54, 9 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Just one thing forgotten in all the commotion. I changed it, although if anybody else can think of a better wording for it, they can feel free to change it. - Daiku { Whine Here } { Look what I did! } 19:57, 9 February 2009 (UTC)
 * We can't move the blogs, correct? The MarioGalaxy2433g5  { talk /contribs/Logs} 22:23, 9 February 2009 (UTC)
 * We can, actually. The comments won't work anymore, though. We would have the User blog namespace and then on the talk page for it (User blog comments would be the name of the namespace, probably) would be the comments. I'm not sure if we could get the whole thing with "User", "User talk", "User blog" tabs on the top, but it can be done eventually, I'm sure. ToaAuserv ? ...BPAdmin 22:43, 9 February 2009 (UTC)
 * I am absolutely sure we can not. Unless you are a hacker or something. The MarioGalaxy2433g5  { talk /contribs/Logs} 00:06, 10 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Why are you absolutely sure? - Daiku { Whine Here } { Look what I did! } 00:18, 10 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Not a hacker, MG, it's called editing the MediaWiki pages. I doubt you'd even need an extension to change the number of tabs or create a namespace. ToaAuserv ? ...BPAdmin 00:33, 10 February 2009 (UTC)
 * If you are talking about the brown bar up top on userpages with a useravatar, I am right. If that, no. The MarioGalaxy2433g5  { talk /contribs/Logs} 00:40, 10 February 2009 (UTC)
 * With a lot of work, I'm sure I can do it. Its not a matter of if your a hacker, its a matter of if you know what you're doing. Currently, Wikia's extensions are too tied up to use off of Wikia, but with hard work, I could eventually fix this. http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/custombionicle/images//6/6b/TheOracle_Sig.png 00:47, 10 February 2009 (UTC)
 * I believe MarioGalaxy is mistaken  ~ L  i  h 

Why couldn't one of us adopt this wiki? Ignika, Toa   of Death  11:15, 10 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Not too sure about what the problem really is here. It's not like Wikia viewers would automatically lose the capability of learning about BIONICLE info. It would just be that this wiki gets transformed so that it focuses on a different aspect of BIONICLE, with links towards the new Bpedia and our BS01. Wikia viewers can always still go through those links to those wikis, thus learning info there. Bioran ☺(Talk )
 * Also, the users who have edited here wouldn't be losing their work, their work would just be moved to a new server. I don't see any problem with that, except that wikia itself would lose us, but I figured that since they've got all these other wikis, they could just, well, suck it up. Panaka  lego  (BP Ad min) 19:40, 10 February 2009 (UTC)


 * I changed the site notice to make it more accurate. I think it reflects the situation better now.
 * On the question of adoption, I would think this wiki wouldn't need adopting. Several people have said that they want to stay here, so the remaining community would be able to choose new admins. -- sannse (talk) 20:06, 10 February 2009 (UTC)