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Are wikis dying or something?

CM30

CM30

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Probably a weird thing to ask, but... every gaming wiki I've seen seems to have become less active in the last couple of years or so. It's less noticeable on Bulbapedia, but on Mario Wiki an Zelda Wiki, it seems like there's less enthusiasm than there was beforehand, and content for new games seems to be added very slowly now.

I've also noticed it on TV Tropes, at least to some degree. You used to get a ton of updates whenever a popular film or game or TV show came out, now you get a whole lot less. It's especially noticeable on recap pages; the ones for the early series of the new Doctor Who were made extremely quickly, yet the ones for series 8 and 9 seem to be updated at a glacial pace.

But yeah, are wikis dying off in general?
 
I hope not. I don't edit them, but I do go to them for information.
 
I think it just depends on the popularity of the game, and how intense the community is. I've never had a problem finding information I needed when playing a game. I don't participate in their creation at all though.
 
It definitely is slowing down. I guess people find it easier to just go to other webs or social networks for it. I feel like the attention span online is going down. people want things straight to the point so now static content, specially long one is being neglected. It also can be that the wikis and Tv Tropes don't really seem to be updated in functionality. Nowadays many people browse with their phones so if your skin and menus are not simple and intuitive that also take a toll in the retention of your visitors.
 
It's not the wiki itself that's dying out, it's the enthusiasm for the content being displayed. A wiki can be made for absolutely anything. Given that the subject the wiki is covering is currently popular, there's going to be more posts regarding the matter. If popularity for that subject starts to decrease, you'll see an equal decrease in activity on the wiki page. It's fair to say that wikis are on the downward slope, seeing as most of them are becoming more and more inactive. Though, if someone were to make a new wiki on something that people all over the world are raving about, it's likely to see a lot more attention.

So, in a way, wikis are dying out. Though they can be revived any time a positive shift happens in the popularity of the subject matter.
 
Night☆ said:
It's not the wiki itself that's dying out, it's the enthusiasm for the content being displayed. A wiki can be made for absolutely anything. Given that the subject the wiki is covering is currently popular, there's going to be more posts regarding the matter. If popularity for that subject starts to decrease, you'll see an equal decrease in activity on the wiki page. It's fair to say that wikis are on the downward slope, seeing as most of them are becoming more and more inactive. Though, if someone were to make a new wiki on something that people all over the world are raving about, it's likely to see a lot more attention.

So, in a way, wikis are dying out. Though they can be revived any time a positive shift happens in the popularity of the subject matter.
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So basically once Twilight Princess HD and Zelda Wii U come out, the Zelda Wiki will be booming again.
 
Dark Young Link said:
So basically once Twilight Princess HD and Zelda Wii U come out, the Zelda Wiki will be booming again.
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It all depends on how well the games go over but yes, more than likely. It's also easier to add new content when new games come out.
 
That would make sense, though it still doesn't add up as much for Mario Wiki. That was faster in the Gamecube and early Wii era (where Mario was less popular), but less so in later eras (when Mario games got more popular again).

I remember having to work on more Luigi's Mansion 2 articles than ever imaginable... and that game ended up a blockbuster success with about 5 million units sold, much more than the original. Yet contributions about it were limited.
 
CM30 said:
That would make sense, though it still doesn't add up as much for Mario Wiki. That was faster in the Gamecube and early Wii era (where Mario was less popular), but less so in later eras (when Mario games got more popular again).

I remember having to work on more Luigi's Mansion 2 articles than ever imaginable... and that game ended up a blockbuster success with about 5 million units sold, much more than the original. Yet contributions about it were limited.
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I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong and wiki's are really dying out. I guess people can't be bothered to update a wiki anymore. Maybe they'll make a big comeback in fifty years. Honestly, I've never really cared for wiki's much. Aside from the occasional fact I want to check or code I want to look up, I don't use them. There were a lot of wiki trolls back in the day and I just didn't care for something that gave them that much free reign.
 
I think the problem is division and saturation. Years ago everything was Wikipedia. Nowadays it is easy to start your own wiki so you find like 5 competent Wiki websites on the same subject with more or less the same kind of articles. If all that people were working together in one wiki, then that Mario or Zelda Wiki would get all those views combined and a lot more content.

As it is, it just feel futile an effort if you're starting you own and there are established ones and if you're in one of the establishes and most times they will be gone when the website gets taken down or their wiki server decides they are now going to be a paid one. For me it just doesn't make sense starting a wiki on something there is one already settled. I'd rather help one already set.
 
As far as things go for wiki pages, there is one page that has less edits that I'm constantly trying to make sure it gets updated, and that's Wikipedia. I've been working on the release date remaining/current for the ''List of Nintendo 3DS games'' and ''List of Wii U software'' and any other video game pages that need MAJOR release dates (along with their sources) badly. Because with a lot of the admins there, they really don't have time or just are too busy. So I'm constantly updating them the best I can.
 
Kaynil said:
I think the problem is division and saturation. Years ago everything was Wikipedia. Nowadays it is easy to start your own wiki so you find like 5 competent Wiki websites on the same subject with more or less the same kind of articles. If all that people were working together in one wiki, then that Mario or Zelda Wiki would get all those views combined and a lot more content.

As it is, it just feel futile an effort if you're starting you own and there are established ones and if you're in one of the establishes and most times they will be gone when the website gets taken down or their wiki server decides they are now going to be a paid one. For me it just doesn't make sense starting a wiki on something there is one already settled. I'd rather help one already set.
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Years ago, I'd see a lot of webmasters launch their own wikis, directories, forums and proxy websites. However, this trend eventually died down. Wikipedia runs this industry though and anyone that tries to compete against them is well, crazy. They just have too much content, google rankings, backlinks and are very established. So, generally people always come across their content before any other sites. Do people generally help each other out with projects in this industry through or nah?
 
Consuming content is always easier than creating it, especially if you're working for free. I have been running some wiki's before (and am setting up one right now!), so I know how much effort maintaining one actually takes, and it's easily like a second job, so there's just not enough hours in the day. Even when splitting the workload is simply huge.

It also depends on how viable a wiki is in the first place, and if it will offer any benefit to the player anyway. A wiki about, say general information about the Grand Theft Auto series is pretty useless, when the stuff that matters (secrets, collectibles and the likes) can easily be found in GameFaqs or similar site.
 
GraceB said:
Consuming content is always easier than creating it, especially if you're working for free. I have been running some wiki's before (and am setting up one right now!), so I know how much effort maintaining one actually takes, and it's easily like a second job, so there's just not enough hours in the day. Even when splitting the workload is simply huge.

It also depends on how viable a wiki is in the first place, and if it will offer any benefit to the player anyway. A wiki about, say general information about the Grand Theft Auto series is pretty useless, when the stuff that matters (secrets, collectibles and the likes) can easily be found in GameFaqs or similar site.
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I honestly don't think I could handle running a wiki. They really require too much writing.
 
Definitely not. As long as people need information for a game, especially crafting type games, wikis will be alive and strong. People need information. Look at wikipedia, it's just for general information and is one of the biggest sites in the world.
 
Honestly, I don't think so.

People still use them and that includes me as well.

They are informative and they serve a unique purpose.

So, I don't think they are dying.
 
I think Wiki are still popular.

But, more people are choosing to post content on social networks like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc, and their own personal website, so people may spend less time posting on Wiki sites as much as the past.

There are also more Wiki sites now, so people can post on many wiki sites per day, so wiki users may not spend as much time on one wiki site like the past.
 
Wiki remain great for documentation, but the current generation doesn't seem to be willing to do so any more.
Newer generation internet users only cares about chat and SNS, and older generation commonly either moves away due to having a more busy time in the real world, or stick with older technologies, or just go along with the newer generation.

I'm personally the older generation that mixes all 3 of these; I use chats and SNS very often, I do have a busy time in the real world, and I still like to use older technologies.
If I'm not browsing or chatting, I'm in the command line.
 
I think Wiki not paying money to most wiki writers is one reason for Wiki being less popular.

Most people are poor, so they need to make money to pay for food, and utility bills like electricity and gas, but most Wiki don't pay writers for writing on Wiki like some websites where a percentage of the sites earnings is shared with writers. Unfortunately, many offline jobs don't pay money enough money for food, rent, and utilities, so people may need to use the internet at home to make a few extra dollars for food and electricity. Plus, there are more people who choose to use the internet to earn more money from selling stuff on eBay or creating content on YouTube, iTunes, and Google Play, so they can afford a nicer things like clothes which they can't afford if they don't work online because their offline job is a low paying job or they are unemployed offline.

There are some websites like Hubpages which pay people some money for posting content, but you need to earn $50 before you get paid on Hubpages. It is also possible to earn money from socail networks like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube if you have a lot of followers, and your post becomes popular.
 
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