If you're looking for information about any game, there's a very good chance you'll find what you're looking for on a fan wiki. And more often than not, that fan wiki will be hosted by Fandom.
Since fandom has a monopoly on fan wikis, we often have little choice but to go through them – even when the user experience has deteriorated over the years. Overwhelming, intrusive ads that often make it difficult to even scroll the page are what fan communities are often complaining about on fandom wikis — and now, one of the biggest groups out there is doing something about it.
From now on, GTA Wiki will be independent, leaving Fandom behind. This means that all of its pages have been moved to the new site, with operators citing problems with ads and auto-play videos as the reason behind the move. They were concerned about the fandom potentially moving forward with AI, something the team didn't want for its own wiki.
The GTA Wiki staff explains why they moved away from the fandom
“It's no secret that fandom is generally disliked by readers and editors alike,” reads a page on the new wiki about the move. “The appointment of an allegedly pro-AI CEO this February after an internal restructuring at the company made matters worse.”
Many other reasons have been given, such as videos that play on every fandom wiki page, and take up too much screen on mobile. Wiki editors say they have no say in the content of these videos and were not happy about their addition. Furthermore, they say they have run into problems with excessive censorship, especially with the use of slurs, when quoting directly from GTA games for wiki purposes.
Now, this won't topple the dominance of the fandom, but it's a huge loss for the site. With GTA 6 around the corner, any GTA wiki is going to see a huge spike in traffic, as fans search for guides or want to read content about previous games. Now, if enough fans go to this new wiki, the fandom may struggle to capitalize on this launch.
