Wacky Wikis

Am I wrong about this, or is it an abuse of the wiki ethos to make a wiki just for yourself? Surely to goodness you can add to an existing one or something. I don't get it. Do these people not understand what wikis are? This is what a wiki is:

From Wikis: A Help or A Hindrance?

The uses and abuses of an internet resource, by Wendy C-

According to techterms.com, “A wiki is a Web site that allows users to add and update content on the site using their own Web browser. This is made possible by Wiki software that runs on the Web server. Wikis end up being created mainly by a collaborative effort of the site visitors. A great example of a large wiki is the Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia in many languages that anyone can edit. The term 'wiki' comes from the Hawaiian phrase, 'wiki wiki,' which means 'super fast.'”

The exponential growth of a website constantly edited and added to by increasing numbers of contributors would certainly be super fast.

They work by permitting access to everyone to edit the content, write new articles and upload information. Some wikis demand that would-be editors log in first, while others are more relaxed in their approach. On Wikipedia, those who wish to edit an article are urged to log in. Failure to do so results in their IP (internet service provider) address being recorded publicly in the page's edit history. This makes it possible to ban people who abuse the system by trolling.

So why the devil are people making ones about themselves? Anyone can edit them, so yeah, there's the networking potential, but isn't that best applied to a blog or a personal website?

Wikis dedicated to special interest groups and laid out like encyclopedias are very useful for bumpage and information. Biographies, descriptions of websites and their histories, area-specific jargon and other items can be added to by people wishing to promote themselves and their activities in, say, fandom, as I do. I personally added stuff about myself and my websites Archives of Excellence and The Golden Quill Awards to the wikis Fan History Wiki, Fanlore, and Fanfiction Wikia. I linked the whole lot to my Netvibes account, which also has links to online fandom resources. I'm always looking to add more.

The fact that other people share my interest in fanfiction and the sources thereof, to wit, the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling, makes it much more likely that we can work together for our mutual benefit in terms of providing information and promoting each other's activities than if I simply made a WendWriter wiki and expected other people to cram it with articles about how great they think I am, or whatever. That's not what they're for! My blogs on LiveJournal and my fanfiction review boards are for that! Just kiddin'.

The point is, while it's possible to make your own wiki, perhaps it's best to ask whether or not a collaborative site that anyone can edit is the best use of the platform. It's not like you're committing a crime, but permitting a self-glorifying wiki to be buried under others of the same kind is probably the last thing the owners want.