Neither of the two things would be simple. Sexypedia had resisted other attempts to take down the site, including one by its original owner after they left. Fandom received multiple takedown requests, but community members pointed fingers a youtube video created by Trig Jegman, a volunteer staff member on many other Fandom wikis.
The video, which has received around 3,000 views, recommended that Sexypedia be removed for “coverage of overtly sexual content.” The video also claimed that hundreds of other databases violated Fandom’s policies. “The decision to add Sexypedia (to the list) was not made out of personal hatred or deliberate targeting,” Jegman says.
The reports led to an internal discussion for Fandom, which must have decided that Sexypedia was too inherently sexual to allow. Once the decision was made, the site was taken down without consulting or warning site staff, who believed they were in compliance.
“Our wiki contained no explicit content and was strictly PG-13,” says Lee, who has owned and maintained Sexypedia since 2021. (Lee declined to give his last name, citing privacy concerns.) “(Fandom’s) reason doesn’t make sense, unless you simply saw the word ‘sex’ in the title.”
Unlike the Wikimedia Foundation, which hosts Wikipedia, Fandom is a for-profit company, owned since 2018 by venture capitalist Jonathan Miller’s Integrated Media Company. Recently, several fan wikis have opted to create new databases unaffiliated with Fandom rather than deal with the company’s changing practices and policies. Last year, users and staff of the huge Minecraft Wiki voted to leave Fandomsaying that the company had been “prioritizing its own interests and commitment over those of the wiki communities.” (Fandom declined to provide comment on the record for this story.)
The Sexypedia team had no such concerns. “We ran well and smoothly for years, even when the Fandom staff helped us with things,” Lee says. However, on October 30, when mods asked why the wiki had disappeared, Fandom responded to their support request by saying that it violated the company’s Terms of Use and community building policies, effectively denying their appeal to reopen. the site. However, per policy, Fandom allowed staff to archive wiki data so it could be restored elsewhere.
The day Fandom denied his appeal, Lee officially requested space from Miraheze, a nonprofit hosting service, as his new home. The community lent its full support to the decision, and for the next two weeks Discord was a hive of activity, preparing the legions of skinny white men before the new site It was approved on November 11. It’s currently under construction, but it looks like the unique catalog of fan love has been saved.
To kick off the new site, the community even voted on which character would have the honor of occupying the site’s front page. The Once-ler won handily, continuing a tradition that even those who continue it I don’t understand it at all. However, it will be a little easier now that Sexypedia is back online.