Since this came up with one of my mutuals - I think it's important that we learn to recognise websites that are legitimate outside of the like 5 few megacorporations everyone knows about.
I really want this to be extremely clear:
Wikis hosted on Fandom are not more legitimate than other Wikis. The reason Fandom Wikis show up first in a Google search is that they have good Search Engine Optimisation. Fandom is a for-profit company. It was formerly known as Wikicities, then Wikia, and was simply acquired by different CEOs over the years.
Saying "I don't trust a Wiki if it's not on Fandom" is the equivalent of choosing McDonald's over your local fast food joint. Yes, unrelated individuals are making your burgers, but this is choosing a brand over workers like you.
"But sometimes you really can't trust the local fast food joint." Sure! And there are probably factors that help you identify when or why, such as cleanliness, word of mouth, etc. It's the same for Wikis.
Here are some ways to identify if a Wiki, no matter where it's hosted, is high quality/legit:
Quality of language. Was this proofread? Does it make sense? (A couple typos are normal, but anyone would be unsure if they're constant.)
Sources/references. Does it tell you where this information comes from? High quality Wikis will have those little numbers like[1][2] that you can click and/or hover to learn where the information comes from. If the Wiki creator is newer but serious about their work, it could be the case that they don't know about those yet but mention "at [event], [name] said" or something like this - you should be an attentive reader and notice those helpful notes and be able to cross-check the information yourself then.
As a shortcut - Indie Wiki Buddy. The extremely useful Indie Wiki Buddy browser extension, that redirects you to your community's actual Wiki, screens Wikis before adding them. (Their criteria are linked on the page I hyperlinked just above.)
The more Wikis you read, the easier it'll be for you to tell right away. Some Fandom Wikis are high quality, others are not. Wikis should have sources: if a trustworthy editor isn't adding sources for their information, they're unfortunately shooting themselves in the foot. I can comfortably say this as someone who was also a beginner editor at some point. I had some contributions to fix when I learned, lol.
If there's no source, this is just some stranger online telling you something. It's up to you whether you believe them or not.
In fanbases, the following Wiki farms are likely to come up:
Miraheze (a popular option that is non-profit, free, and ad-free)
Wiki.gg (a popular for-profit option for gaming, with less ads and a better reputation than Fandom)
Less likely to be relevant, WikiTide (Miraheze's short-lived younger sibling)
However, they're not the only Wiki farms to exist. On top of that, many Wikis are self-hosted. What this means is that individuals, volunteers have invested their own money to host their Wikis! (Sometimes, the Wikis will be hosted by another farm like Miraheze, but will have bought custom URLs, so you won't see "miraheze" in the URL.)
This is when you'll have to rely on the identifiers I listed above, as well as word of mouth (including affiliations, alliances between Wikis).
This isn't actually a lot of work. It's equivalent to a quick "hmm does this seem right?" check that you should apply to anything you read online, especially nowadays when so much content is AI-generated.
When an alternative to Fandom exists, reading the Fandom Wiki instead is a loss for you: reasons include way too many ads, biases forced by Fandom's profit-driven regulations, outdated information for communities who have successfully moved out, AI-generated "quick answers"... etc.
Whether the Wiki is on Fandom or another farm, it's not official unless the creators of whatever you're looking up have said so. Wikis are filled by individuals, not brands, not companies: this is extremely important and what allows them to be as unbiased as possible. Sources/references serve as proof of that. Wikis are amazing places to learn information.
