Type of site Fan site / Wiki Owner Wikia, Inc. Website starwars.wikia.com | Available in English Revenue Advertising | |
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Created by Chad BarbrySteven Greenwood | ||
Wookieepedia: The Star Wars Wiki is an online encyclopedia for information on the Star Wars fictional universe—including information on all the films, as well as Clone Wars, The Clone Wars and its introductory film, Rebels, the Star Wars expanded universe, and any upcoming Star Wars material. It is a specialized wiki created to be an extensive encyclopedia of the Star Wars universe with some articles reaching up to 60,000 words, and is written almost entirely from an in-universe perspective. The name Wookieepedia is a portmanteau of Wookiee and encyclopedia, a pun on the name of Wikipedia. The logo, too, is a visual pun showing the incomplete second Death Star as opposed to Wikipedia's incomplete "jigsaw logo".
Contents
It is a fan-built version of the Holocron, a database maintained by Lucasfilm to track everything in the Star Wars universe and ensure continuity within it.
History
Wookieepedia was conceived by Steven Greenwood and created at the request of hosting site Wikia by Chad Barbry. Barbry also conceived the name "Wookiepedia", which was later respelled "W-O-O-K-I-E-E-P-E-D-I-A". On March 4, 2005, Wookieepedia was launched at Wikia.
Wookieepedia is the most-visited wiki hosted by Wikia as of April 2005. On November 28, 2005, Wookieepedia was selected as the Sci Fi Channel's "Sci Fi Site of the Week." In January 2006, the site was featured as the Wikia of the Month.
As of January 2016, the English language version of the wiki contains over 125,000 articles, making it the sixth-largest Wikia in terms of article count, ahead of other wikis such as Memory Alpha and WoWWiki. Wikia hosts Star Wars wikis in many other languages, and Wookieepedia also coordinates its efforts with the German language wiki called Jedipedia.net and the Polish language Biblioteka Ossus.
A 2014 April Fools' joke was posted on the site involving alien breasts.
Reception
Fans have criticized the administrators and how the content is circulated. Some have even gone so far as to say it is a rather "alienating" wiki given its appeal being centered on only main Star Wars fans if nothing more. Criticism has also been directed towards the choosing of bureaucrats as well as the growing amount of hostility and immaturity in their forums. In April 2014, Wookieepedia drew some controversy within the Star Wars fan community for posting a satirical in-universe article on breasts as its April Fools feature article. Critics regarded the article as misogynistic and in bad taste. Some fans who haven't cared for Wookiepedia have even defected to going to the Star Wars Uncyclopedia equivalent Darthipedia as well.