A wiki is simply an editable website. Wikipedia is the largest example. Did you know you could create your own? Don't worry about the level of technical knowledge needed since there's a solution for everyone, even those who don't yet know what a wiki is let alone how to install one.
Wikia offers completely free hosting for community-based wikis and if they don't already have a wiki on the topic you're passionate about, you can easily suggest they make one!
Get a free wiki from Wikia
Wikia offers free MediaWiki hosting for your community to build a free content wiki-based website. Wikia was founded by Angela Beesley and Jimmy Wales (the founder of Wikipedia) in 2004 and the staff of Wikia have almost 40 years of Wikipedia experience between them! Wikia offers an environment like Wikipedia but allows you to go far beyond the bounds of an encyclopedia. Editing at Wikia is like creating the rest of the library (and the magazine rack!).Wikia has over 2000 wikis and if you can't find what you want there, you can start a brand new wiki - you could even be the founder of it!
If you have a use for a wiki, and you want that wiki to be easily maintainable, part of a large community, and hosted for free, then request one now.
By creating a wiki on Wikia, you will instantly be part of a large wiki community. Many users edit across more than one Wikia, bringing editing expertise to newly created Wikia. The Central Wikia provides a place for the communities to come together and deal with problems on individual wikis.
Hosting your wiki on Wikia saves you the hassle of installing and maintaining your own wiki engine. The wiki can be created in minutes, and you don't even need to think about the technical issues involved, such as installation and back ups, or buying servers and domain names. Wikia are hosted across a network of a growing number of servers in a professional colocation facility ensuring your site is always available.
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Starting a wiki - essential links
- Start a new wiki at Wikia
- Tips on starting your own wiki at Wikia.
- Hosted wikis
- A list of wiki hosts from Wikibooks, as well as information on starting your wiki.
- Techniques for building, managing and promoting collaborative communities
- A Tale of Two Wikis: Techniques for building, managing and promoting collaborative communities. The text of Laurence 'GreenReaper' Parry's excellent talk at Wikimania 2006. Tips on starting and building your wiki community.
- Wiki Choice Tree
- A guide to picking the best wiki software from the C2 wiki.
- List of wiki software
- If you want to install your own software, see Wikipedia's list for all the options.
- WikiMatrix
- A wizard to help you choose the best wiki software or hosting solution, plus information on the features each one offers.
- MediaWiki.org
- The popular wiki software that runs Wikipedia. Information on installation if you prefer to host your own wiki.
How to start your wiki in five simple steps
- Decide which wiki software you prefer. MediaWiki is a popular choice since it runs Wikipedia and most people have some understanding of how to use it.
- Decide if you want to host and install the wiki yourself. If you do, you'll need to get a server with the appropriate software (you'll need MySQL and PHP if you want to run MediaWiki).
- Decide whether your wiki will be public or private. If you wanted a public hosted wiki, try Wikia.
- If you decided to host the wiki yourself, go and download the software. Wikipedia has links to the different types of wiki software available.
- If you choose a hosted option, find a wiki host that offers wikis using your preferred wiki software. The list at Wikibooks might help.
