Neither can be easy. The Sexypedia had withstood different makes an attempt to take away the positioning, together with one by its unique proprietor after they left. Fandom obtained a number of takedown requests, however group members pointed the finger at a YouTube video created by Trig Jegman, a volunteer workers member of a number of different Fandom wikis.
The video, which has obtained about 3,000 views, really useful Sexypedia be deleted for “outright sexual in content material protection.” The video additionally claimed lots of of different databases violated Fandom’s insurance policies. “The choice so as to add Sexypedia [to the list] was not completed out of non-public hatred or deliberate focusing on,” Jegman says.
The reviews led to an inner dialogue for Fandom, which should have determined Sexypedia was too inherently sexual to be allowed. As soon as the choice was made, the positioning was taken down with no session or warning given to the positioning’s workers, who had thought they have been in compliance.
“Our wiki contained no express content material and was strictly PG-13,” says Lee, who had owned and maintained Sexypedia since 2021. (Lee declined to present their final identify, citing privateness issues.) “[Fandom’s] cause does not make sense, until they simply noticed the phrase ‘intercourse’ within the title.”
Not like the Wikimedia Basis, which hosts Wikipedia, Fandom is a for-profit firm, owned since 2018 by enterprise capitalist Jonathan Miller’s Built-in Media Firm. Lately, plenty of fan wikis have elected to create new databases unaffiliated with Fandom quite than cope with the corporate’s shifting practices and insurance policies. Final 12 months, customers and workers of the big Minecraft Wiki voted to go away Fandom, saying the corporate had been “prioritizing its personal pursuits and engagement over these of wiki communities.” (Fandom declined to supply touch upon the report for this story.)
The Sexypedia crew didn’t have these issues. “We ran high-quality with no problem for years, even having Fandom workers assist us with issues,” says Lee. Nonetheless, on October 30, when mods requested why the wiki had disappeared, Fandom responded to their help request by saying it violated the corporate’s Phrases of Use and Group Creation insurance policies, successfully denying their attraction to reopen the positioning. As per coverage, although, Fandom permitted the workers to archive the wiki’s information, so it may very well be restored elsewhere.
The day Fandom denied their attraction, Lee formally requested area from Miraheze, a non-profit internet hosting service, as a brand new dwelling. The group lent their full help to the choice, and for the following two weeks the Discord was a hive of exercise, making ready the legions of thin white males earlier than the brand new web site was authorised on November 11. It’s at the moment beneath building, but it surely seems as if the one-of-a-kind catalog of fan love has been saved.
To inaugurate the brand new web site, the group even held a vote on which character would get the consideration of the primary web page on the positioning. The As soon as-ler gained handily, persevering with a practice that even those that proceed it don’t fully perceive. It’ll be just a little simpler, although, now that the Sexypedia is again on-line.
