Hello hello hello, lovelies! As the March comes to an end, here's a recap of the things that happened this month.

Trans Day of Visibility Part One (read blog) and Part Two (read blog)

International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDoV) is observed this Sunday on March 31st. It is a day of celebration for trans achievements, contributions, and resilience that also aims to foster an environment of inclusivity, respect, and support by highlighting the importance of recognizing and affirming the gender identity of transgender people. To honor this on Fandom, Kurt -- one of Fandom's newest Community Managers (congrats again!) -- spearheaded a project of bringing together and highlighting trans people on and behind the platform.

In two blog posts, Kurt and other trans people shared their perspectives in hopes of enriching others with a deeper understanding of their lives and experiences. Please read the first and second blog of this wonderful series to learn more about some perhaps familiar user faces as well as some Fandom staff people. If you have any questions or wish to talk about this, do not hesitate to reach out to me, any of the people involved in the series, or check out the LGBTQIA Wiki for more information!

March's Community Culture (read blog - listen to the playlist)

Fandom's second monthly post highlighting diverse people, programming, and entertainment aiming to introduce you to new people, communities, and their topics is here!

Since March was Women's History Month, the blog covers women authors throughout history. It also showcases what has by now become a staple on Fandom's DEI blogs: an inspirational playlist curated by Mandy for the occasion to shine a light on established and emerging women, femme-identifying and non-binary artists making strides in a traditionally male-dominated industry. Definitely be sure to give the songs a listen to support these amazing artists!

Technical Updates: March 8 (read blog) and March 22 (read blog)

As always, bug fixes were released and news about experiments was shared. Check out the two tech update blogs to find out exactly what Fandom has been up to.

Several experiments have been announced from a test with a welcome message (read blog) to the new global navigation (read blog) and more!

Quick Answers update

The latest developments with the Quick Answers feature and its Special:QuickAnswers dashboard are:

• The test of the automatic publishing after the end of the vetting period finished successfully.

• Outreach to 5 communities will be done to collaborate on the release of new QAs.

• The default release schedule will be

  • vetting period of 1 week (release at midnight UTC)

  • 10 character pages

  • 3 to 5 QuickAnswers per page

If you have any concerns or questions about any of this, please do not hesitate to reach out so we can talk about it!

That was it for March! As always, don't hesitate to comment with your thoughts or otherwise reach out to me with questions or concerns, I love to hear from you!

Hello hello hello, my lovely people! Lots has happened in this longer than normal February on Fandom, so let me share an overview:

February's Community Culture (read blog)

Fandom's first ever Community Culture blog -- a monthly post highlighting diverse people, programming, and entertainment aiming to introduce you to new people, communities, and their topics.

Since it's February, which is Black History Month in the United States, BHM and its 2024 theme, Art for Change, is a natural focus for this first Community Culture.

Read the blog for:

• Celebrating Art for Change: wiki user and Fandom staff testimonies about some of the Black artists, musicians, authors, and creatives that most inspire them

• Black History Month playlist: a new Spotify playlist with 180 songs showcasing some incredible Black artists who’ve been instrumental in shaping the music industry into what it is today

• Shows to Watch: you can never have enough binge recommendations

• Wiki BHM celebrations: discover how some Fandom wiki communities honored BHM

• Other noteworthy February celebrations

Technical Updates: February 9 (read blog) and February 23 (read blog)

Go check out the latest news in regards to bug fixes, known issues that are being worked on, and experiments that are and/or will be conducted!

An important one to note is the update to the CodeMirror extension for the 2010 editor (responsible for syntax highlighting). The first update was reverted after community feedback, and we're currently fixing the noted issues. Once we're done, the next upgrade will happen in smaller batches as to have a more controlled release in case unforeseen issues arise.

Reorganizing the VisualEditor (read blog)

A minor design update to the VisualEditor, both the Visual Mode and the Source Mode (aka 2017 editor), was released on February 8th with the goal to make your editing experience more accessible and intuitive. Check out the blog to find out the what, why, and how behind this change.

Some Quick Answers on QuickAnswers (read blog)

We continue to improve on the Quick Answers feature and its Special:QuickAnswers dashboard. A quick recap of some of the latest developments:

• There will be a vetting period for QAs, meaning that mod teams will have a select period the time to edit new Quick Answers before they go live on the wiki.

  • We're working on fine-tuning the vetting period even more by creating a "faucet" system: allowing local moderators to -- for now -- ask staff to deviate from the default release schedule to one that accommodates the needs and capabilities of the community better.

• The QA Dashboard filters have a counter that will auto-update as the QAs get processed to give the moderators a better overview.

In case you have any concerns about this feature, hit me up for a conversation!

As always, if you have any questions or remark about this, please let us know by reacting to this message or otherwise reach me, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Hello, hello, hello, my lovely editors! Earlier today, Fandom released a minor design update to the VisualEditor, both the Visual Mode and the Source Mode (aka 2017 editor), with the goal to make your editing experience more accessible and intuitive!

To not miss out on any information, I encourage you to read this blog and/or the updated help page about it.

If you're pressed for time, don't worry, I got you covered! To summarize, we

• Renamed some of the tools (e.g. "paragraph" is now "normal text")

• Shuffled some icons around (e.g. the back and forward arrow buttons are now located on the far left rather than the middle)

• Hid some less-essential tools from view to make the initial editor view less overwhelming in all its glory (the tools are still accessible in dropdown menus)

• For the 2017 source mode: we removed the options available from the menu icon (those three stacked horizontal bars) -- If you want those back, you can customize your toolbar to access them from there)

• For the 2017 source mode: we used the menu icon to replace the gear icon

Are you more of a visual person? Check out the design mocks detailing the new location of options below:

VisualEditor - Visual Mode

VisualEditor - Source Mode (aka 2017 source mode editor)

As always, if you have any questions or remark about this, please sound off in the comments or otherwise reach me, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Happy editing!

Eyo my lovely community members! During this Thanksgiving Weekend for those who celebrate and otherwise just a lovely Friday signaling the beginning of the weekend for those who don't, I want to leave you with some updates on what happened in November on the Fandom platform and some things that are still to happen!

November 16, 2023: Everything You Need to Know About Reported Notifications

Read the blog for all the details

• Launched: site-wide release, Thursday Nov 16, 2023

• Premise: If thread moderators and admins will receive an on-site notification, they'll be placed in a better position to react quicker. A counter will indicate how many unactioned reports there are. If all reports are handled, the message will disappear. Read the help page for more details

• Data: We saw that 34% more reports were actioned within seven days due to notifications, and there was a 32% decrease in the time it took to take action. Before this feature, about 8% of the reported posts got actioned within 7 days.

• Note: thread mods and admins can enable/disable this feature via their Special:Preferences, tab Notifications, section Web notifications for moderators.

November 20, 2023: Thanks extension is now available to all communities

Read the blog for all the details

• Launched: site-wide release, Monday Nov 20, 2023

• Premise: Allowing editors to easily thank others for specific edits on wiki pages rather than writing an appreciation message, new editors can receive thanks for contributions and be enticed to stay around. Read the help page for more details

• Data-based conclusion: It turned out the feature was mostly being used by experienced editors thanking other experienced editors rather than new users. This led to the feature being an optional tool that can be enable via the Special:AdminDashboard rather than it being a default feature as intended.

• Note: since this is an optional feature, this means that communities are free to adjust the appearance of the heart (or even remove it) through css.

UPCOMING: November 29, 2023: Fandom Stars roundtable on a redesign experiment for the global nav bar

This isn't really a big announcement, but more a call for any Fandom Stars on this wiki to attend or for people who are interested in giving product feedback to sign up to become a Fandom Star or otherwise let me know their feedback to relay in their name.

• When: Wednesday, November 29, 2023 1:00 PM EST!

• Where: Fandom Discord for the Fandom Stars

• What: Roundtable to discuss a redesign experiment on the global nav bar. The goals for the experiment are to increase the nav bar utility as well as declutter and create space to possibly home elements currently residing in the right rail.

• Who will be there: The Product team leads from the User Experience Team

Technical Updates:

• November 3: Read the blog for all the details

• November 17: Read the blog for all the details

Quick Answers: Our Traffic and UGC teams continue to work on editing tools for Quick Answers, which we aim to release before the end of the year. The QA Dashboard is currently being tested by 12 communities.

Experiment updates

To increase transparency on upcoming product features, experiments, and other things regarding the platform, Fandom Staff has recently started using the Fandom Stars Wiki to share blogs on upcoming experiments and releases. While the wiki is viewable to all, only Fandom Stars can comment there directly.

As always, if you have any questions or feedback, do not hesitate to comment here and/or reach out to me directly! Cheers!

There are so many things in life that we all take for granted. Something very simple was brought to my attention by Chris (Spongebob456), a dear friend and teammate of mine. He's afraid of spiders. Something so incredibly common to a lot of people. What do you do when you see a spider? You scream, you run, you throw a shoe at it, you vacuum it, you catch it to put it outside, you call for help, etc. All common reactions. Most of which involve some kind of immediate, quick action. Now one thing I hadn't really considered: what if you are afraid of spiders, just like Chris, but you are also limited in your mobility cause you use a wheelchair, just like Chris?

This is just one of the many, every day examples that Chris touched upon in his wonderfully insightful and emotional blog that he shared in light of Disability Pride Month. Be sure to head over to Community Central and give it a read to learn more about what it means to go through life with a wheelchair.

What is Disability Pride Month?

Celebrated in July each year, Disability Pride started in 1990 to commemorate the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to protect the rights of people with disabilities. Since 2015 - the 25th anniversary of the ADA - Disability Pride Month has been a worldwide celebration of the disabled community.

Why is Disability Pride Month?

Most people will experience being disabled at some point in their lives, whether temporarily or permanently, or someone they know. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 27% of the US population alone has some kind of disability — that's one in four people. In other words, disability pride and improving accessibility should matter to everyone, and yet, people with disabilities have been marginalized and misunderstood for generations. This month is there to draw more awareness to their every day hurdles and push for more accessibility measures to be taken.

What can I do offline?

Read Chris's blog for more insights! He shares some great advice on how to be a better ally, as well as what works to motive him to keep going and try new things in case you too are living with a disability.

What can I do on Fandom?

Disabilities come in all form and shapes, but while spending time online on Fandom, the easiest things to do are making sure your content is accessible. Here are some tips on how to achieve that:

• Offer high-contrast options to those with limited vision.

Every admin can choose colors via Special:ThemeDesigner to create a proper light and dark theme. Creating high-contrast themes can accommodate people with certain vision disabilities by making text easier to read.

• Design templates with accessible colors

The free Accessible Colors website evaluates your color combinations according to WGAC 2.0 guidelines for contrast accessibility so your text and background color combinations are readable to most.

• Provide alternative text (alt text) to your images to create vivid pictures.

Alt text describes what is depicted by the image. It is the text that will be read aloud by screen readers, displayed in place of an image if it fails to load, and is indexed by search engine bots to better understand the content of the page. It is added by placing |alt=<insert image description> within the image's coding on the article. For more information about alt text, check out the WebAIM site.

• Create quality hyperlinks that your audience can easily navigate.

Links primarily get their accessible name from their text content. Avoid filler words like "Here" or "Read more". Instead, put the most meaningful text into the link itself. For example, “click here to read Chris's accessibility story” helps readers understand where the link will take them as opposed to a simple “click here” instruction.

If you're curious how well your wiki is holding up, you can use Intent Based - Accessibility Checker, which is a (limited) free AD and WGAC compliance checker. Just put in the url, and it'll give you a rundown of all things you could still improve on!

Do you have any other accessibility tips or stories to share? Don't hesitate to react, and definitely take a few minutes to read Chris's story on Community Central!

Hello, hello, hello! It's June, so that means HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!

Whether you’re out and proud, not out yet, or still questioning and exploring your identity, Pride is for YOU! You’re welcome here, you’re valued here, and you belong here - never forget that. And if you're an ally, please never let your queer friends forget it either!

Our theme for Pride this year is Looking Back & Moving Forward. We have certainly come a long way on LGBTQIA+ rights, but there is still a long way left to go to truly build an equal and accepting society. Now more than ever is the time to speak up, get involved, and uplift the voices of the LGBTQIA+ community.

While promoting the message of love and acceptance should never be limited to one month a year, this month is dear to me, so I am especially excited to be sharing that message now through the various Fandom programming initiatives throughout this month! Be sure to give this post a follow and DEFINITELY keep an eye on the "Pride" button in the wiki's toolbar (coming/updating soon if you don't see it already), as that will open a menu containing all the links to Fandom's and the wiki's Pride initiatives, so you don't have to miss anything!

Some of our programming

The focus of the initiatives will be on the fierceness of the Drag community, the protest performance art form that has been a cornerstone of queer culture for over a century. Blurring the lines of what people think they know about gender, drag queens have always been on the forefront of change, fighting for our rights, while always promoting love and acceptance above all.

Read Fandom's Pride Blog for all the details

• Pride Playlist

As has become an established feature of Fandom's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives this year, definitely check out this amazing playlist, curated by queer people and consisting solely of LGBTQIA+ artists! Yes, that means some iconic queer anthems are absent, but that also means there's room for new music and artists to be discovered. Let us know your favorite new bop!

• Fabulous Drag Queen Video

Please take a look at this amazing video made at RuPaul's DragCon from a few weeks back. Six of RuPaul's Drag Race's fiercest queens - Alexis Michelle, Angeria Paris VanMicheals, Honey Davenport, Jiggly Caliente, Laganja Estranja, Lala Ri, and Mistress Isabelle Brooks - are looking back to how they started and what they'd say to their younger self now, and moving forward to what they hope the future holds for drag, themselves, and the entire LGBTQIA+ community. And as always, there is a place for everyone, as they also expand on how allies can get involved to make that future a reality.

I had the absolute pleasure to have been present when these artistic goddesses were speaking, so I cannot encourage you enough to watch this video as it was such a heartwarming, supportive, and inspirational experience. There is so much to learn from these icons, so go watch it here!

• Drag Race Bracket Tournament

Racers, start your engines, and may the best drag queen win! Stay tuned for this anticipated tournament on the fabulous Drag Race Wiki, one of the largest LGBTQIA+ communities on our platform to see how far some of the fiercest queens can go!

• Education

Not really a programming point specifically, but it is always included in any DEI initiative we do and one that is important to me, especially now with so much anti-trans and drag rhetoric and even over 500+ anti-LGBTQIA bills surfacing in the United States alone. I sincerely encourage you all to be open to listening to and learning from the stories and experiences of LGBTQIA+ people and educating yourself about the history of LGBTQIA+ culture and community, because the more we all try to understand each other, the easier it becomes to love and accept the qualities that make us all different and unique.

• Get involved -- both online and offline

This community is already showing their support by sporting a Pride logo and toolbar! I still encourage you get involved in any way that you can imagine. Share your efforts with Fandom (by commenting on the blog) and/or me as your Wiki Representative (by commenting on this post, leaving a message on my wall, or reaching out on Discord - Lostris#4280) as the month goes on, so we can all celebrate and share in the love together!

Don't know how? Here are some ideas:

Speak up - when you witness trans- and/or homophobia -- or any other hate for that matter -- let the speaker know it's not okay and show your fellow queer humans that they are not alone. Remember that homophobia isn't just calling someone a slur. It's also subtle. It's hidden in jokes. Small comments. Exclusionary behavior. Here on Fandom that also means that you should never hesitate to report hate when you see it happening. Reach out to an admin, the assigned Wiki Rep, or Fandom Staff by sending in a support ticket. Nothing happens without movement, so staying neutral isn't an option.

Highlight people in your franchise - use blogs or Discussions posts to highlight the LGBTQIA+ characters or creators in your franchises and their contributions. Representation matters! Normalizing love is love matters!

Editing projects - start an editing project to improve articles featuring LGBTQIA+ themes. You don't need to be queer to enjoy and participate in Pride!

Support drag and queer businesses / donate - watch Drag Race online and share love with the communities, show up offline by attending a show of your local drag artist. Support queer media and buy from small queer businesses. Donate to LGBTQIA+ organizations fighting for our rights.

If you're looking for a place to learn (more) about LGBTQIA+ culture and history, or if you know someone struggling with and/or questioning their identity, definitely check out and share the following resources:

• LGBTQIA+ Wiki

• LGBTQIA+ Resources

• LGBTQIA+ Terminology

• Gender Identity Guidelines

If you'd rather just have a talk about it, don't hesitate to reach out! My message wall and Discord DMs (Lostris#4280) are always open!

Hey folks!

I'm Chris, a Wiki Representative filling in while Lostris is away, with the latest updates from Fandom. Can you believe it's May already? Let's dive in!

Asian American Pacific Islander Month

This May, Fandom is celebrating the contributions of Asian-American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) creators in the entertainment industry for Asian American Pacific Islander Month. The theme this month is Breaking the Mold, breaking down stereotypes and showcasing the incredible work of AAPI creators.

There are so many things Fandom has planned for the event, including an AAPI Spotify playlist, highlighting AAPI artists in a diverse range of genres!

What does Breaking the Mold mean to you? Comment below!

Read the Asian American Pacific Islander Month blog

Technical updates

JP recently posted the latest Technical updates, including announcements from Community Connect 2023! There are a lot of exciting things on the way, here's a taster of what's in the blog:

• Community Connect 2023 recap

• GenAI

• Thanks extension

• Fandom Compass

• And more!

Read the May 5 Technical updates blog for more information

Mobile CSS

A highly requested feature is now available for ALL admins - Mobile CSS!

This allows admins to customise more areas on mobile including templates, tables, main pages - and more! As long as updates comply to our Customization Policy, you're good to go!

Want to get started? Admins, head to MediaWiki:FandomMobile.css!

Read the Mobile CSS introduction blog

Star Wars Day!

Last but not least, I posted a blog celebrating Star Wars Day on May 4, highlighting why Star Wars is awesome and what folks can do to celebrate it. As a long time Star Wars fan, I had so much fun writing it and chatting to users as well as highlighting some years old fan art!

We also featured some TERRIFIC Star Wars trading cards in the blog - I'd really appreciate it if you could show them some love!

Check out the Star Wars Day blog and trading cards

That about covers it - if have you questions on anything, please comment below!

Hi everyone! February is Black History Month (BHM), a great time to give extra attention to Black history, learn about it, and recognize and reflect on the important roles Black people have played in history, from the enslaved people first brought over from Africa in the early 17th century to African Americans living in the United States today. Outside the U.S., BHM received official recognition from governments in Canada, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, and the United Kingdom as well (although the European countries observe during March and October).

Fandom kicked off the recognition last week by publishing their BHM planning through the theme of Creation and Cultivation: Culture Shifting Moments in Entertainment. Click here to read the blog in case you haven't already and learn more about Fandom's planned programming. Be sure to listen to the awesome Spotify playlist of Black artists from all sorts of genres ( click here ), and remain on the lookout for the timeline highlighting pivotal moments in entertainment history and how these IPs have shaped Black culture and continue to serve as pillars for Black representation in media!

I wanted to follow up now with you all because recognizing and celebrating a culture and history often starts with raising awareness. So how can each wiki community help? Here are a few quick ideas:

• Wiki design - changing (parts of) your wiki's theming to reflect the Pan-African flag colors (Black, Red, Green, and Yellow), which are the signature colors of BHM. This can help to show visitors that you are celebrating and pique interest. Don't know how to? Let me know, I'd be happy to lend a hand!

• Article improvements and features - while you all work hard all year round to present quality pages, February may be the perfect time to come together as a community and give pages of Black creators and characters some extra love and care to elevate them even more! Feature them on the mainpage or in posts.

• Communicate - Post a blog or Discussions post to get conversations about Black History Month going and spread awareness about why BHM is an annual observance period and what its continued significance iis today ( watch this 3:45min video about its origins ). Take this time to learn something new, see what you can do in your everyday life to help those around you ( challenge your assumptions! ), and highlight the Black creators and characters in the media we all love on the wiki!

There's plenty more to do, so if you have your own idea or want to brainstorm, don't hesitate to leave a comment! Have you already set something up for BHM? Share your project so we may highlight it to a larger audience!

Eyo lovely people! We're only halfway through the month and lots has happened already. Per good custom, I'll try to give you a tl;dr version (it's still a lot, please bear with me), but please do check out the linked blogs and events for all the details!

• Native American Heritage Month (click for blog post)

November is a time to recognize the histories, invaluable contributions, and livelihood of Native American people. Fandom celebrates this year through the theme of Storytellers and Storytelling, exploring the purpose of the former and the impact of the latter. To amplify Native American voices in entertainment, we will be joined by the Native American Media Alliance!

On the agenda:

1. Wednesday November 16 at 9am PT / 12pm ET / 5pm GMT: Roundtable on Discord (link to event)

Join 6 fellows of the 5th Annual Native American Feature Film Writers Lab sponsored by Comcast NBCUniversal, A+E Networks, and Cherokee Nation Film Office for a dive deep into various IPs and talk about what these writers have experienced as storytellers.

2. Wednesday November 16 at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm GMT: Twitch Panel (Tune in at https://www.twitch.tv/fandom )

Native American Media Alliance's very own Ian Skorodin moderates a panel of great storytellers that represent projects on Netflix, ABC, and NBC. Our panelists include actor Cara Jade Myers, filmmaker Doane tulugaq Avery, and writer Shelley Dennis for a conversation on Storytellers and the importance of representation in media.

3. Week of the 28th: Assassins Creed Community Twitch Stream:

Stay tuned to celebrate a beloved gaming character from Assassins Creed in a very unique way and learn more about how we're taking the theme of storytelling and bringing it to life through gameplay and connection. More details are to be announced soon!

4. Wednesday November 30th: Native American Heritage Month Profile on Community Central:

We'll close the month on November 30th with remarks from the Native American Media Alliance as they share their favorite fandoms, perspectives on storytelling, and Native Americans in the media through a profile. Stay tuned for the blog post on Community Central!

• MediaWiki upgrade in 2023 (click for blog post)

In early 2023, Fandom will be upgrading its underlying software from MediaWiki 1.37 to MediaWiki 1.39 to ensure that we are using stable and modern tools for wiki editing.

• Advanced Mobile Contributions is live

Advanced mobile contributions (AMC) is a feature that will give easier access to moderation tools on the history of pages on the mobile experience. The present "undo" function triggers the Source Editor (2010 editor). To turn advanced mode on, go to your settings page on the mobile site and select "Mobile options".

• Admin Plus AMA in Fandom Discord (click for event link)

On Friday November 18 at 12pm PT / 3pm EST / 8pm GMT Senior Community Manager of Safety and program lead, Jenny Uchisawa is hosting an AMA on Admin Plus, the program designed to help admins with technical, content, and community skills and reward them with badges as a token of their achievement. These badges can be used anywhere you want, including on your resume on LinkedIn! Any other questions you may have can be directed to Jenny during this Ask-Me-Anything.

• Two-factor authentication (2FA) is coming to Fandom accounts (click for blog post)

To help increase account security, 2FA will eventually become available as an option for those using an authenticator app to log into your account. This means that even if your password is compromised, your account remains secure as the authenticator app is needed to complete the login.

• Technical updates - November 4, 2022 (click for blog post)

Fandom shares technical updates (such as some of the high-profile bug fixes and known issues) on a bi-weekly basis. The last one was on November four, and the next one will be this Friday on November 18 -- stay alert for this blog on Community Central.

• Welcome to FanCentral Beta! (link to blog post)

FanCentral [Beta] (which you can access by clicking here!) is a new destination to learn about and explore new fandoms. As a logged-in user, you have the ability to follow the fandoms you’re interested in and have wiki articles and discussions posts recommended to you from those communities. As a logged-out user, you’ll get recommend topics and content based on the wikis you’ve visited, as well as topics that are similar to the ones about the wiki you’ve visited.

This early-stage beta functionality, which will grow and change over the coming months based on user feedback, will be for communities that are currently part of the Fandom App.

Alrighty, that was it! Per usual: if you have any questions or remarks about anything, don't hesitate to reach out to me on my wall or on Discord, whichever takes your fancy. Always happy to hear your thoughts. Cheers!

Hiya, lovely people! I'm happy to announce that mobile theming has arrived for wiki communities to opt-in to!

So what is it? This means that the following values set in the Theme Designer will appear both on desktop and mobile:

• Community background color

• Sticky nav background color

• Community header color

• Accent color

• Link color

• Article background color

• Background image (when selected)

• Heading font

How does it work? Admins will receive a message prompt to check out Special:ThemeDesigner and review the wiki's theming for contrast issues. Once there are no contrast issues anymore, they can enable mobile theming for the community. Note that it is as of now no longer possible to make theming changes without fixing these contrast issues.

To facilitate color choices that work on both themes, the theme designer has also been upgraded to include a mobile preview!

So how to enable mobile theming?

• Are you an admin? Head over to Special:ThemeDesigner!

• Not an admin but there are active admins? Reach out to them to ask about it.

• Not an admin and there aren't any? Reach out to the Wiki Representative if one is assigned (you can check via Special:Community, accessible through the explore menu) or Fandom Staff via Special:Support and ask for help.

For more information:

• Read more in the Announcement blog

• Read the updated Help:Theme Designer page

• Read about making accessible web content on Fandom

As always, if you have constructive feedback or maybe you have found a bug with this feature, do not hesitate to respond in the comment section of the announcement blog or let me know in any way you can contact me so it can be reported and fixed! If Discord is more your thing, head over to the #mobile-theming channel and let's talk!

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I did one of these, but a lot has happened again on Fandom. I will try to give you a tl;dr summary of all the blog posts, but per usual, follow the links to Community Central to read all the details!

• Join Fandom to Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month (click for blog post)

This annual U.S. observance, from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, celebrates the histories, cultures, and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Here at Fandom we want to amplify the voices of our community members across the diaspora through the theme of Las Voces. Check out my more elaborate post about it here, but the tl;dr version is that Fandom is celebrating by highlighting Hispanic IPs in an awesome Interactive Map, Hispanic Fandom editors in a series of editor spotlight stories, and there will be a video at the end of the month!

• Discord AMA's

There are two upcoming AMA (Ask Me Anything) on the general Fandom Discord (click here to find out how to join the Discord).

The first one is TODAY, Wednesday September 21, at 1 PM EST (or, depending on your timezone, in 1.5h) with Fandom's UX Research team. Learn more about their role at Fandom and how they create experiences for editors on the platform. Click here to get the event invite that will take place in the #ask-me-anything channel.

The second one is Friday, September 23 from 12 PM EST to 2 PM EST with Becky about Search Engine Optimalization (SEO), or in other words "how can Google find my wiki better?" Click here for the event invite.

• Everything You Need to Know About the Interactive Maps Update (click for blog post)

On September 1, Interactive Maps officially opened to everyone, meaning that every editor can create and edit the Interactive Map on your wiki, which wrapped up the last of the major updates for Maps. This feature has a lot of different use cases, as highlighted in the blog, so if your community doesn't have a Map yet and you have a good idea for how to use that feature here, don't hesitate to try it out!

• Technical Updates: September 9, 2022 (click for blog post)

Every other Friday, we’ll share notable changes on the site on Community Central. This update is meant to keep the community informed of changes from our Creator Tools team that could potentially affect you and to ensure you are aware of what’s happening on the platform.

• Meet Jieyang, Fandom's new Senior Community Manager, Gaming (click for blog post)

As of September 12, Jieyang (pronounced "Jay-Young") joined Fandom's Community Experience team as a Senior Community Manager, Gaming.

• Mobile theming and Discussion AbuseFilter updates

As was announced in this blog about mobile changes and this blog about Discussion moderation tools, I just wanted to let you all know that Fandom is currently beta testing the mobile theming feature and the Discussions AbuseFilter, so stay tuned for more site-wide releases on that front later this year! If you are someone who's interested in helping Fandom learn more about how you're using your phone to edit and can give constructive feedback in a video call about the mobile editor and how to potentially improve your experience, please do reach out to me on Discord (Lostris#4280) as I may have a good opportunity for you then.

Alrighty, that was it for now, people! Per usual: if you have any questions or remarks about anything, don't hesitate to reach out to me on my wall or on Discord. Always happy to hear your thoughts. Cheers!

That's it! It's time to say goodbye to Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul and the Gilliverse. The creators have announced that they have no plans to further expand this universe with a new series. Gilligan is said to be working on a new series with information to be released soon. No additional TV movie has been announced yet, but hey the dream is possible :) It's been 14 years of unforgettable worlds, memorable characters, and breathtaking writing and directing. I can't wait to see what the geniuses who gave us this masterpiece will come up with next, can you?

In the meantime, I wanted to thank everyone who participated in the construction and enrichment of this wiki. Some of them didn't count their hours for the benefit of everyone, so thank you very much! The wiki is of course not closing its doors, there are still a lot of things to finish and refine, so your participation is still welcome :)

Today we will be watching the last of Better Call Saul and very likely the last of the Breaking Bad universe ever. I've been watching since Season 2 of BB and contributing to this wiki since Season 4ish.

I plan to continue collaborating here for many years to come (as long as my schedule allows me to), I just wanted to say that it's been quite a ride, huh?

Hey all! I went on vacation for a few weeks (as you may have noticed by the wonderful Spongebob456 filling in for me to alert you all about Fandom's Pride initiatives), and it seems like Fandom exploded with new updates and general announcements during that time.

This is going to be a long post, so please bear with me 😅 Per usual, for the full extent of the details, I suggest reading the blogs, but I'm going to try and give you the tl;dr summary of them all (in the order they were published ... so most recent blogs are at the bottom):

• Celebrate Pride Month with Fandom (click for blog post)

Although time moves quickly and we're already nearing the end of June, it is still Pride Month and Fandom still has events planned! As such, a small reminder to check out the blog and to attend the two upcoming roundtables:

- Roundtable about LGBTQIA+ Icons and Activists on TODAY, Wednesday June 22 - 9AM PST / 12PM EST / 6PM CET (check your own timezone here) (Discord link). If you have a local icon or a personal hero, please share them with the rest of us so we may all learn and be inspired to do better!

- Roundtable about LGBTQIA+ Fandom Admins on Wednesday June 29 - 9AM PST / 12PM EST / 6PM CET (check your own timezone here) (Discord link)

As a small side project, Fandom is committed to documenting the wikis who have made alterations to their design in some way to showcase their support for the LGBTQIA+ community. Read more about it in this blog. If I missed a wiki Pride initiative, please let me know, cause I LOVE to spread the rainbow and get the message out there that Love Will Keep Us Together!

• Community Connect May 27-31, 2022 announcements (click for blog post)

Fandom's in-person connect event held in LA came to an end, and it was fantastic! Apart from the friendships that were forged, several features and upcoming initiatives were announced. Read the blog here to find an overview of the event and check out the announcements (some will be covered more in depth later in this post)!

• Update to the community guidelines (click for blog post)

"Read and agreed" must be among the biggest lies on the internet. While we definitely recommend that you read and remember Fandom's Terms of Use, a simpler version of the user conduct section was updated to help everyone understand what's required of you. These guidelines don't list all the do's and don't's for Fandom, but they give a good starting point and cover some of the most important things for everyone to know. Read them here.

Apart from this, it's also always good to make sure your wiki’s rules and guidelines are up-to-date, too. If you have doubts on whether or not this is the case, don't hesitate to reach out to me, so we can review it all together!

• Mobile Editing Fixes and Mobile Theme Designer Are Coming! (click for blog post)

Probably one of the most requested user improvements out there now that mobile is more and more common. So what's on the roadmap (without there being a concrete ETA):

Mobile Editing Fixes

- Tackling quality of life issues

- Some improvements including adding a mobile preview and making moderation easier with things like better utility for mobile page history and making it easier to undo/revert changes

Mobile Theme Designer

- Create theme designer functionality for mobile, which includes supporting light and dark themes and an easy-to-use interface that gives customization options to admins.

• Welcome Breanna, Fandom's new Senior Community Manager, Gaming on the Community Experience (click for blog post)

Ooh, this is my personal favorite to bring to your attention, as I am 100% biased here. I had the pleasure of meeting Breanna at Connect, and she quickly earned my respect and stole my heart by being this amazing person who will without a doubt do fantastic things for the platform. While she's a gaming SCM and you all are from a different vertical, Freezie is an icon and definitely someone you'd want to get to know and talk to, so don't hesitate to hop over to Central to her intro blog to say hi!

She will be doing a Discord AMA on Thursday June 23nd at 8AM PST / 11AM EST / 5PM CET (check your own timezone here), so join us and get to know our new Senior Community Manager, Gaming.

• New Discussions Moderation Tools, Including Discussions AbuseFilter, Are Coming This Year (click for blog post)

It's become hard to ask communities for feedback about Discussions (and Message Walls and Comments) without receiving a request for moderation tools and functionality, so I'm ecstatic to say that YES, ABUSE FILTER FOR DISCUSSIONS IS COMING!

Other things being looked at of which the details still need to be worked out are:

- Making it easier for admins and moderators to access moderation tools

- Quickly remove problematic images without having to edit posts manually

- Creating an overall smoother moderation experience for category and tag changes

- Adding support for post/reply edit history

• Introducing Admin Plus! (click for blog post)

The Admin+ program is Fandom's answer to the question "what makes a good admin?" and "how to showcase those skills on your resume in a professional setting?" Still being build so not accessible yet, this free admin certification program is made up of three online courses for eligible admins to take: Technical Foundations, Content Development, and Community Building. After successful completion, a badge will be awarded, which you can showcase on social media, resumes, or wherever you would like. Stay tuned for updates!

• Fandom Stars, Fandom's New(ish) Creator Recognition Program (click for blog post)

Last but not least, Fandom Stars is BACK! Fandom Stars is the ultimate program designed to recognize and amplify Fandom’s most prolific creators, primarily editors, who go the extra mile to help others and create new and fresh content and fan experiences, so they may serve as ambassadors of the Fandom community and are able to experience one-of-a-kind opportunities only found on Fandom (not mandatory to attend if you're uncomfortable with in-person events). Becoming a Fandom Star requires participation though and taking a brief moment to complete a self-nomination form. Read more about it on its own landing page!

There will be a Discord AMA on TODAY, Wednesday June 22nd at 10AM PST / 1PM EST / 7PM CET (check your own timezone here) to learn more about Fandom Stars, so join us to chat about all things Stars!

Okay, I know this was A LOT! Told you several things happened while I was out. I do hope this overview made it a bit easier to keep track of everything, and if not, don't hesitate to reach out! You can do so be replying to this message, reach out to me on my wall, or contact me on Discord (Lostris#4280), whichever floats your boat. Per usual, I would love to hear from you all. Take care!

Hey all. Don't be alarmed, just standing in for Lostris for this post who will be back!

In June, Fandom is celebrating Pride Month! Fandom is excited to celebrate Pride and the accomplishments of creators in the LGBTQIA+ community. Our theme for Pride this year is Love Will Keep Us Together - and it would be great if all if you could join in the celebrations!

We want to raise awareness and celebrate through a variety of events which you can find out more about in this blog.

We are spotlighting content in upcoming events, including roundtables and hosting a tournament bracket on Drag Race Wiki! The Movies/TV roundtable has already happened, but below are some other great upcoming ones! Roundtables are a great opportunity for users to discuss their favourite franchises. They are easy to join, you just need to be in Fandom's Discord server and start chatting!

Roundtable about LGBTQIA+ in Video games

June 15 - 9AM PST / 6PM CET

Discord link

Roundtable about LGBTQIA+ Icons and Activists

June 22 - 9AM PST / 6PM CET

Discord link

Roundtable about LGBTQIA+ Fandom Admins

June 29 - 9AM PST / 6PM CET

Discord link

See you in the Fandom Discord server!

Hey everyone! February certainly was eventful here at Fandom with the celebration of the accomplishments of Black and Afro-American people, the commemoration of which was concluded with an in-depth panel discussion on Black Voices & Content in Genre IP (read more about that here). As your Wiki Representative, I want to make sure you continue to be aware with what lives on Fandom, so buckle up for some more exciting news announcements!

• March is Women's History Month

For this year's Woman's History Month, Fandom tends to do its part to "break the bias" and spotlight creators, franchises, and women behind-the-scenes at Fandom and editors who forge a path that support women's equality. Read all about the exiting things we have lined up for it here!

• Fandom is upgrading to MediaWiki 1.37

With UCP, Fandom upgraded from MediaWiki 1.19 to 1.33, which was a massive jump. However, to prevent that from ever happening again and keeping the community impact as low as possible, Fandom is committed to staying up-to-date, which is why we're starting the update to MediaWiki 1.37 in the course of March. The first batch of test wikis is scheduled to be migrated by the end of the month, with the top 5,000 big wikis to follow in April, and the rest during Spring. Prior to the migration, a banner will appear across the site informing the community of the upcoming change along with a link to a help page explaining what changes to expect. These will be mostly backend changes, but read all about it here!

• Trivia Quizzes to drive engagement

In line with the research that concluded that audiences are more likely to engage with dynamic, interactive content like a quiz than static content, Fandom wants to help wikis capitalize on that by offering engaging quizzes to our readers! At this moment, these will only appear on top communities on selected pages for logged-out users. For now, quizzes can only be created by Fandom staff, Wiki Representatives, and Wiki Specialists, as we want to ensure that the product works to engage people without expecting the community to do the necessary work for us. If you are interested to know if your community has any quizzes and on which pages, don't hesitate to aks me. Likewise, if you find there to be something wrong with a quiz in terms of accuracy, let me know which quiz and on which page, so I can make the necessary adjustments. In general, this is still largely a test to see if they'll engage people as much as we hope they will, so we want to hear from you. After you took a quiz, please share your thoughts with me. I'm especially interested in hearing your idea on future updates we can make to the feature! If you wish to read more about the research and idea behind the quizzes, read all about it here!

This was a lot to take in, so if I lost you somewhere along the lines, don't hesitate to reach out, and I'll be happy to explain and get you back on track. As usual, I love to hear back from you as a reaction on this post or any other means you have to contact me!