Neither could 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 employees 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 a whole bunch of different databases violated Fandom’s insurance policies. “The choice so as to add Sexypedia [to the list] was not carried out out of non-public hatred or deliberate concentrating on,” Jegman says.
The stories led to an inner dialogue for Fandom, which will need to 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 employees, who had thought they have been in compliance.
“Our wiki contained no specific 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 considerations.) “[Fandom’s] purpose would not make sense, until they simply noticed the phrase ‘intercourse’ within the title.”
In contrast to 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, a variety of fan wikis have elected to create new databases unaffiliated with Fandom moderately than cope with the corporate’s shifting practices and insurance policies. Final 12 months, customers and employees of the large Minecraft Wiki voted to depart Fandom, saying the corporate had been “prioritizing its personal pursuits and engagement over these of wiki communities.” (Fandom declined to supply touch upon the file for this story.)
The Sexypedia staff didn’t have these considerations. “We ran advantageous with no difficulty for years, even having Fandom employees assist us with issues,” says Lee. Nonetheless, on October 30, when mods requested why the wiki had disappeared, Fandom responded to their assist 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 employees to archive the wiki’s knowledge, so it might be restored elsewhere.
The day Fandom denied their attraction, Lee formally requested area from Miraheze, a nonprofit internet hosting service, as a brand new residence. The group lent their full assist to the choice, and for the following two weeks the Discord was a hive of exercise, getting ready the legions of thin white males earlier than the brand new web site was accredited on November 11. It’s at present beneath building, however it 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 convention 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.
