Wikia Opens Up Social Networking Platform; Editor Still Butt Ugly

Marshall Kirkpatrick at ReadWriteWeb has the lead on a story coming out of Wikia HQ about their decision to open source the social networking platform they have been using on their own properties. ArmchairGM, their sports offering and Halopedia for Halo gaming fans are two examples of the software in use.

The idea of integration between a social network and the very popular Mediawiki software is very strong. Marshall explains what's available in this open source release, 'The source code released offers Wikia's features for profile creation, avatar upload, friending (and "foeing" - the making of enemies in a network!), and a Facebook-"Wall" style messaging system for individual and group friend messaging called the Board. These features are now available for Mediawiki-based sites anywhere on the web, including for commercial use.'

It's unfortunate however that the editor within the social networking section is still so gosh darn ugly. Here is a snippit of what the code looks like:

====Play-in (March 13th, 2007):====

'''Niagara over Florida A&M 85-83'''

The 22-11 Niagara Purple Eagles took the final spot in the 2007 NCAA March Madness tournament with a 2-point win over the Florida A&M Rattlers, despite being down by 5 at the half. A&M goes home, while the Purple Eagles move onto a first round matchup against number 1 Kansas. This is where the fun begins.

[[Image:73616024.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Charron Fisher led Niagara to the Tourney with a win over Florida A&M, but wasn't able to lead the Purple Eagles to a big upset win against Kansas, as the Eagles lost by 33.]]

While there are some WYSIWYG buttons, the editor is still lacking (as it is in Mediawiki as well). Companies like Wetpaint (and maybe the new Google Sites) allow for a much friendlier experience.

In the end, this move could help to extend Wikis into the space currently owned by Ning, KickApps and Magnify as together "Wiki + Digg + Social Network" is a very strong combination.