Forum:Moving the Wiki to Curse Networks

I address this to all users of this Wikia, both SysOp, Registered, and Unregistered.

I know that I have not been around personally much over the recent past, however, my dedication to the fans of this great game remains unwaivered by the passage of time, and I always do all that I can to look out for not only the interests of this wiki, but the users of it, too.

I have come to propose that we move away from Wikia to Curse Networks. Curse are as passionate about games as we are about playing them, and we would make a natural partner for them.

I'm sure many of you have noticed that the skin that Wikia operates, and refuses to deactivate, has led to many Wikis seeking better hosting, Wowpedia being a notable casualty. The new skin is also driven to increase revenue for Wikia, while at the same time decreasing the quality of the content we have to offer.

The road after we've moved won't be as easy as turning on a switch. We stand to lose some things if we move.

What we Lose

 * Shared Login with Wikia. Curse would operate their own Login system independent of Wikia.
 * Monaco would be *gone*. We would instead have a much friendlier skin system that complements our card article pages.
 * Ads. Curse's goal is for every Wiki to be as add-free as possible. We might not *completely* get rid of ads, but they would be far less intrusive than they are now.
 * Avatars, Facebook Connect, MyHome and the like, all of the Wikia social features would be gone.
 * The automated welcome bot would be gone. If there is enough interest, Curse may code one for us.
 * The Rich Text Editor would be gone. CategorySelect (easy-add/remove categories) would be gone too.
 * "Following" articles would likely change to "Watching" as per the standard Wiki terminology for MediaWiki.
 * Shared help - help pages from the Wikia Help wiki - would not be available.
 * It is worth noting that Wikia would retain a copy of all content on their server at the same location.
 * We will inevitably lose some users, but I hope the vast majority of you will join us in this transition.

But we also stand to gain things.

What we would gain

 * Site speed. Far less extensive and latency-prone squid caching means faster page accesses.
 * Stability. No unannounced code changes to MediaWiki code, for example.
 * More direct control over the backend of the site means upgrades and extension additions will go much faster.
 * Account renaming would be far simpler, especially for users who wanted to pick up their old name after the Wiki move.

What we would keep the same

 * Every byte of content stays the same. Images and Articles both included, including edit histories.
 * SemanticMediaWiki would remain, and would continue to power the heart of the site.
 * All relevant extensions will be kept.
 * Any relevant JavaScript and CSS code will be kept.
 * Rules, Policies, and User Rights should all remain the same.
 * I will endeavour to ensure that a stable Mobile skin be available for use.

I will be here to answer any and all questions posed by users, and to help allay any fears that this move will ultimately present.--TwoTailedFox (My Talk Page) 19:36, November 17, 2012 (UTC)