Wookieepedia

Wiki
Name:	Wookieepedia
Owner/Maintainer:
Dates:	2005 - Present
Topic:	Star Wars
URL:	https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Wookieepedia is a wiki featuring canon information on the Star Wars universe.

It features articles on both Canon and Legends subjects, as well as out-of-universe articles on cast and crew and Star Wars publications and productions. Legends refers to formerly canonical events from the expanded universe source material. These events were declared non-canonical in 2014, to allow for the sequel trilogy.

Wookieepedia has grown to be one of the biggest unofficial Star Wars resources on the internet, with over 167,000 articles created and maintained by its community. It is currently the sixth-largest English language Wikia community in the world.

Controversies

Policy on Deadnaming Trans Creatives

Wookieepedia previously had a naming policy that the articles for any real-life creatives, such as actors and authors, were to be titled according to the credited name seen in their Star Wars work(s), whether that be an abbreviation/stage name or pseudonym. The policy was not inclusive of transgender individuals whose chosen name was not their credited name. Several attempts by editors to correct article titles were reverted by site administrators who cited the naming policy.

In March 2021, an amendment to this policy was proposed by Toqgers, an editor of the wiki. Toqgers' proposed amendment stated: “If a real-world person is transgender and has changed their name since working on Star Wars, their article may be titled by their chosen name and the credited name turned into a redirect.” There was widespread discussion related to this amendment on Wookieepedia, in fannish spaces such as Reddit and Twitter, and in online media outlets such as Gizmodo and Comic Book Resources. The amendment received a supermajority of votes in support. Opposition to the proposal was led by one of the top-level administrators, Toprawa and Ralltir (aka Toprawa). Toprawa repeatedly deadnamed trans artist Robin Pronovost in his opposition statement, and prevented subsequent attempts to remove their deadname from the wiki despite their repeated requests. Wookieepedia's policy of "administrative authority" empowers administrators to block users for any reason, and the blocks cannot be reversed without a majority vote by the administrators; thus, Toprawa threatened Pronovost and other editors with blocks for "vandalism" if they removed deadnames. Several hours before the vote would have closed, Fandom, the company which hosts the wiki, intervened. Fandom stated that updates to their Terms of Use in 2020 superseded Wookieepedia's naming policy and Trans creatives cannot be deadnamed in article titles as per Fandom's Terms of Use. Fandom's statement on the proposal included: "Since this supersedes local policies, this vote should be closed and policies should be updated to reflect the Terms of Use. The policy proposal here fits with our Terms of Use. Returning to the previous status quo (deferring to credits despite someone stating what their chosen name is) does not."

After Fandom's statement, Toprawa refused to allow the removal of deadnames from the body of articles. Other site administrators and editors privately contacted each other and Fandom with ongoing concerns regarding Toprawa and another administrator, Darth Culator. The pair were subsequently globally banned from Fandom and removed as site administrators, with Fandom issuing a statement about the culture of bullying and intimidation promoted by the banned former administrators.

Links

• Wookieepedia page on Wookieepedia
• Happy Anniversary, Wookiepeedia - Time to Start Over by Mike Cooper
• Wookieepedia Made Me A Better Fan by Brandon Rhea
• Why the Wookieepedia article on breasts is a big deal by Dunc
• "I Rebel": How Wookieepedia Became a Human Rights Battleground (via Wayback Machine) by Patty and Agent Porg on Project Stardust