Uhm wth wikia?

[Norellicus]

It was closer to half that and it didn't vanish into thin air. What they didn't spend from the fundraiser was given back to contributors through that lottery or raffle that they had. Some people here have mentioned partial refunds or something instead, which would have been awesome, but what they did instead was understandable considering how impractical issuing partial refunds to the volume of people that contributed would be.

I don't really see how it can be labeled as a cash grab. They were not receiving enough donations to pay the bills, so the site was either going down or going to wikia. It was just a matter of time really.

They had already specced three servers+support+bandwidth for a year, which is where the fundraiser goal was set; they didn't meet that goal, but according to gani they could cover two servers at least, so they did.

Then, mysteriously, the entire sum of what had been raised was allegedly gone not a month later. Yet not a peep was made about anything like "Sorry guys, I messed up the estimates and keeping things running cost more than we thought" -- it was just "We ran out of money, it was either go to wikia or shut down"

Where did all that money go?

You're right about the $4k btw, I was still thinking of the original $12k goal. It's still shady as fuck, and if the emails exposed by Taj hold any credibility then there's also the fact that gani asked the wikia rep to give them a boost to fund that raffle. So there's still some bulk quantity of money unaccounted for here.

[LordshadowRagnarok]

I like how BGwiki loads in a near fraction of the time. The data that is there is very quickly accessable whereas otherwiki has many layers of crap to wade through.

And yet, the BG Wiki page on AV doesn't even mention that he has pets.

[jaryk]

It's fine if you weren't around or forgot about the drama, it's even fine if you didn't spend your own money on the donation drive and don't care, but let's not pretend like otherwiki didn't steal 4k from people who play the game. Let's also not pretend that 90% of their information came from people who were posting on here regularly and it was either copy and pasted off this site or contributed to them because there was no other source at the time. Quite frankly BG should own otherwiki because it wouldn't exist if it weren't for the resources here.

[FailureMidgard]

It's fine if you weren't around or forgot about the drama, it's even fine if you didn't spend your own money on the donation drive and don't care, but let's not pretend like otherwiki didn't steal 4k from people who play the game. Let's also not pretend that 90% of their information came from people who were posting on here regularly and it was either copy and pasted off this site or contributed to them because there was no other source at the time. Quite frankly BG should own otherwiki because it wouldn't exist if it weren't for the resources here.

While not debating a thing you said, what relevance does any of that have? There is no usable alternative to otherwiki currently, and it's going to take more than a "hey guys, let's get this done to stick it to those stealing assholes" to convince people to spend the time needed to make BGwiki good.

[Gergall]

I don't feel that I'm supporting otherwiki when I go there to get information from it. I don't click on the ads and I would never donate money to them. I don't put info up there, either.

It's not morally wrong to ask a thief for free information.

[Spider-Dan]

I mean I've about stopped caring at this point and use the wiki regularly because I can't be arsed to patch together a bunch of random information to make a complete picture of what I'm looking for, but you can't seriously tell me that $4,000 vanishing into thin air is "understandable given the circumstances"

There was some shady shit going down when all that happened, and I was rather incensed having put $50 into it myself. I tried to get my bank to revoke the charge but it had already cleared in full :<

The problem is the the VAST OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of people bitching about ffxiclopedia's donation drive's proceeds were also people who had not contributed a f*cking dime to said fund. And this is without getting into the whole issue of screaming bloody murder over the evil actions of ffxiclopedia's staff... which was uncovered by someone else hacking their e-mail accounts. Subsequently, it was no surprise to anyone that the overwhelming hero worship for Taj after this debacle predictably led to Taj hacking multiple other FFXI accounts and bragging about it.

I like how BGwiki loads in a near fraction of the time. The data that is there is very quickly accessable whereas otherwiki has many layers of crap to wade through.

Loading nothing is pretty fast.

[Mojo]

They had already specced three servers+support+bandwidth for a year, which is where the fundraiser goal was set; they didn't meet that goal, but according to gani they could cover two servers at least, so they did.

Then, mysteriously, the entire sum of what had been raised was allegedly gone not a month later. Yet not a peep was made about anything like "Sorry guys, I messed up the estimates and keeping things running cost more than we thought" -- it was just "We ran out of money, it was either go to wikia or shut down"

Where did all that money go?

You're right about the $4k btw, I was still thinking of the original $12k goal. It's still shady as fuck, and if the emails exposed by Taj hold any credibility then there's also the fact that gani asked the wikia rep to give them a boost to fund that raffle. So there's still some bulk quantity of money unaccounted for here.

The money didn't disappear over the span of a month, most of it had been going to server leasing and a good chunk of it went to a giveaway. What they didn't spend was put into their raffle thing. I know that Taj revealed some discrepancies in their accounting, but it came down to discrepancies between how much they spent on some mousepads and t-shirts. A theft accusation is a fairly heavy one and I find it unlikely that Ganiman would go through all of the trouble to create and keep the wiki running just to steal some meager fundraiser leftovers.

It's fine if you weren't around or forgot about the drama, it's even fine if you didn't spend your own money on the donation drive and don't care, but let's not pretend like otherwiki didn't steal 4k from people who play the game. Let's also not pretend that 90% of their information came from people who were posting on here regularly and it was either copy and pasted off this site or contributed to them because there was no other source at the time. Quite frankly BG should own otherwiki because it wouldn't exist if it weren't for the resources here.

Because everyone here agrees that what they post should belong exclusively to BG and BG only, right?

[Ksandra]

I like the idea of bgwiki in that now it does have a use whether you guys know it or not. When ffxiv rolls around bg posters have a bg source to start piling their info in it.

Even if BGWiki "failed" as some say, it is a great starter for the next game, and I feel could easily be the end all-be all info for ff14 just because there's enough people here that love number crunching.


Really though out of the wiki's best source was somepage, I miss them ;_;

[Mojo]

Eorzeapedia, the Final Fantasy XIV (FFXIV, FF14) wiki

[Ksandra]

Eorzeapedia, the Final Fantasy XIV (FFXIV, FF14) wiki

so bg wiki can't have one too?

[rabidmuskrat]

Does Ganiman even have anything to do with the wiki anymore at all? It seems misdirected to be pissed at the wiki if the person that ticked everyone off isn't even involved anymore.

Mad at wikia for purchasing?

[Mojo]

so bg wiki can't have one too?

Do you really think that people are actually going to do anything with BG wiki when FFXIV comes out?

[Ksandra]

Do you really think that people are actually going to do anything with BG wiki when FFXIV comes out?

I don't see why not. As some stated the overall issue with bg wiki was having to repeat information they've already given. Whereas, this would be all new information and a good place for them to put it. some may go with other places, but as you can see there are still those that are bitter about info made on bg being used on the wikia, so I can imagine this this would be a good place for them to go once the game comes out.

[Hanyoko]

And yet, the BG Wiki page on AV doesn't even mention that he has pets.

Loading nothing is pretty fast.

I guess I wasn't specific enough. The pages that are completely done with accurate information load quicker then their wikia counterparts. As for missing information, there are edit buttons.

Good job to those that are still working on adding information.

[Deimos]

Being "the place to go" for FFXIV info could be anybody's game when FFXIV starts up, BG is just as good of a contender as anywhere else. The thing with informational wikis is that a sort of natural monopoly is created, this is the same problem that people have with trying to create a site to compete with eBay, Facebook, etc.

If I create a "better eBay", why would any sellers use it? All the buyers are on eBay. Why would any buyers go there? All the sellers are on eBay.

It's just going to depend which site hits that point of critical mass first, because with a wiki there's definitely a large snowball-effect involved.

[Ksandra]

Being "the place to go" for FFXIV info could be anybody's game when FFXIV starts up, BG is just as good of a contender as anywhere else. The thing with informational wikis is that a sort of natural monopoly is created, this is the same problem that people have with trying to create a site to compete with eBay, Facebook, etc.

If I create a "better eBay", why would any sellers use it? All the buyers are on eBay. Why would any buyers go there? All the sellers are on eBay.

It's just going to depend which site hits that point of critical mass first, because with a wiki there's definitely a large snowball-effect involved.

I agree, my point was mostly based on the fact I think we could get that mass easily because of how active people here can be. They just don't wanna have to redo info for a game most don't even play anymore. Whereas 14 I think (and of course could be wrong on) is going to create a lot of excitement for old hardcore players, and could easily give bgwiki a boost.

This is not to say that I assume we will be #1 for info, just that we have a very good chance to be and shouldn't be written off so easily.

[Mojo]

BG can't claim authorship for any of the information that was ever uploaded to wikia, only the people who posted the information they discovered on BG can. The people who complain about wikia the most seem to be the ones who actually contributed the least in terms of authorship.

[Sho]

If BGwiki would like to be any decent source of info for FFXIV, it should be started NOW rather than right after the game is released. That way most of the basics of XIV will be fleshed out, along with the general wiki formatting, and such.

[Cruzizzle]

I'm annoyed with the new re-direct page when I try to look up an item on FFXIAH. I mean was that necessary? "you are now living wikia please wait an eternity" of course i'm fucking leaving, I clicked the damn link!

[Cutriss]

I guess I wasn't specific enough. The pages that are completely done with accurate information load quicker then their wikia counterparts.

That usually tends to be the case when something isn't being used a lot.