Nintendo Independent Wiki Alliance

The logo of NIWA, featuring the hiragana にわ, meaning "garden".

The Nintendo Independent Wiki Alliance, NIWA for short, is a network of wikis and their associated websites that aims to chronicle all things Nintendo, supporting wikis independent of large corporate wiki groups.

History

First Wave: Founding Members

Pokémon series
Bulbapedia
Joined on February 14, 2010

Super Mario series
Super Mario Wiki
Joined on February 14, 2010

The Legend of Zelda series
Zelda Wiki
Joined on February 14, 2010

NIWA began as an expansion of the concept of Encyclopaediae Pokémonis, shortly after the administration of Zelda Wiki contacted Archaic, Bulbagarden's head, about a possible affiliation. It was jointly decided, shortly thereafter, that rather than a simple affiliation, an entire network of Nintendo-based wikis could be begun, and Super Mario Wiki was shortly asked to join as a founding member.

After a little under a month of planning, NIWA was launched on February 14, 2010, coincidentally the fifth anniversary of the public launch of Bulbapedia.

Second Wave: Puffballs, Morph Balls, and Cannonballs

Kirby series
WiKirby
Joined on May 21, 2010

Metroid series
Metroid Wiki
Joined on May 29, 2010

Wars series
Wars Wiki
Joined on June 4, 2010

Within two months more, preparations were complete for the launch of Metroid Wiki and WiKirby, which had been spun off by users of the original trio of NIWA wikis, and they joined the group. Wars Wiki, a wiki based on the age-old Nintendo Wars franchise, became the first member recruited from outside the original trio.

Third Wave: The Great Influx

Star Fox series
Lylat Wiki
Joined on October 1, 2010

Pikmin series
Pikipedia
Joined on October 8, 2010

Pikmin series
Pikmin Fanon
Joined on October 8, 2010

No specific series
StrategyWiki
Joined on October 15, 2010

Super Smash Bros. series
SmashWiki
Joined on October 29, 2010

EarthBound series
WikiBound
Joined on November 5, 2010

Donkey Kong series
Donkey Kong Wiki
Joined on November 12, 2010
Left on November 17, 2019

Animal Crossing series
Nookipedia
Joined on November 19, 2010

Golden Sun series
Golden Sun Universe
Joined on November 30, 2010

No specific series
NintendoWiki
Joined on December 10, 2010

After a period of calm, there was a sudden uprising in the world of wikis. With their commercial host announcing mandatory, highly controversial, and widely panned changes to its entire network, wikis started packing up and moving on in the dozens. Five of them would end up being directed towards joining NIWA's rapidly inflating ranks, supplemented by a few original startups.

Fourth Wave: Swords and Stars

Fire Emblem series
Fire Emblem Wiki
Joined on April 10, 2011

Starfy series
Starfy Wiki
Joined on April 28, 2011

Fifth Wave: Speed, Sky, and Slime

F-Zero series
F-Zero Wiki
Joined on March 16, 2012

Kid Icarus series
Icaruspedia
Joined on March 23, 2012

Dragon Quest series
Dragon Quest Wiki
Joined on March 30, 2012
Left on December 2022

Sixth Wave: Squares, Squids, and Springs

Tetris series
Hard Drop Tetris Wiki
Joined on January 17, 2014

Splatoon series
Inkipedia
Joined on July 5, 2015

ARMS
ARMS Institute
Joined on June 22, 2017

Seventh Wave: Roleplaying and Speedrunning

Xeno series
Xeno Series Wiki
Joined on March 14, 2021

Dragalia Lost
Dragalia Lost Wiki
Joined on April 28, 2021

Super Mario 64
Ukikipedia
Joined on May 9, 2021

Eighth Wave: Arts, Hearts and Stars

Drawn to Life series
Drawn to Life Wapopedia
Joined on December 13, 2022

Kingdom Hearts series
Kingdom Hearts Wiki
Joined on January 19, 2023

Magical Vacation series
Kovopedia
Joined on March 2, 2023

In other languages

German

Mario series
MarioWiki
Joined on March 12, 2012

Zelda series
Zeldapendium
Joined on March 12, 2012

Italian

The Italian version of NIWA is called by the name NiwiN (Network italiano wiki indipendenti Nintendo) and features its own unique logo.

NiwiN logo as seen on the Italian Super Mario Wiki

Mario series
Super Mario Wiki
Joined on January 26, 2018

Pokémon series
Pokémon Central Wiki
Joined on January 26, 2018

EarthBound series
WikiBound
Joined on January 26, 2019

Xenoblade series
Xenopedia
Joined on January 26, 2019

Affiliates

Bulbagarden
Doom Wiki
Halopedia
Jojo's Bizarre Encyclopedia
SEIWA
Wikifang
Wikimon
Wikisimpsons
Zelda Chaos

Name

NIWA's name, an acronym of Nintendo Independent Wiki Alliance, is also romanized Japanese for "garden", symbolizing the natural growth of the community around the fandoms that make it up. This is fitting, given Nintendo's Japanese origins, with romanization of Japanese being an important aspect of all twenty-six wikis that currently make up the network.

Manifesto

Click "expand" to expand the table and read the Manifesto

This is a proposed draft. If you would like to give feed back on it, please post here.
In no way should it be treated as official.
If you would like to see the official equivalent, please go here.

Preamble & Purpose

Over the past years, we have noticed a disturbing trend in online fandoms. Where once stood friendly communities, operated by well known and well loved faces, now stand sterile places run by faceless operators, whose only care for their visitors is how much advertising revenue they generate. Nowhere is this more true than with fan wikis. For the past several years, there has been a systematic attempt made by certain groups to acquire wikis of sufficient size and prominence in their respective fandoms. Any independent wiki finding itself with an ounce of modest success promptly finds themselves flooded with offers from organisations that apparently cannot stand the idea of competition. While some webmasters have resisted, many others have instead given themselves over. Some have sadly been led astray by greed, with promises of shared advertising revenues or even flat out lump sums of cash. Many however have simply been misled by duplicitous offers of free hosting, only to later find that these offers had many more strings attached than they were ever aware. Such wikis are often overrun by advertising, with profitability as the key motive. When fans subsequently try to reclaim the content which is rightfully theirs, they often find yet more strings, discovering that they don't have ownership of their own work anymore.

We here at NIWA, the Nintendo Independent Wiki Alliance, seek to fight these trends.

Founding

On February 14th 2010, NIWA was founded by a coalition of Bulbapedia, Zelda Wiki and Super Mario Wiki, three strong communities making their stand for the future of online Nintendo fandom. Since then, NIWA has expanded to a network of more than a dozen wikis covering a multitude of Nintendo franchises, both large and small.

Concept

The word "niwa" in Japanese (にわ) translates as "garden", and it is that concept which best embodies us. We are not a wiki farm, run by farmers who care only for how they can best harvest their cash crops. We are a wiki garden, where wikis are tended to and nurtured to grow as individuals in complement to each other. Sometimes grown from seeds, sometimes from cuttings, sometimes from transplants, but always growing their own sake, to be the best that they can be.

Execution

All of the wikis in NIWA are separately owned, operated and hosted. While being a part of the garden, each maintains their own unique designs, values and traditions. We are bound together not by contracts, but by our common desire to better ourselves (and each other) while retaining our own identities and autonomy. NIWA is here to help wikis where they need it, not by taking control of them and enforcing policies. Each Wiki serves to enhance the others in the garden by the way they enhance the garden itself, and the only thing NIWA requires of its members is that they work always in the best interests of their communities and their fandoms.

Our Principles

What NIWA stands against is the meddling in the operation and management of our communities by the "faceless farmers", which we feel is a detriment to our fandoms as a whole. Our feelings on this can be summarised thus:

Fan communities should be run by the fans, by people whose involvement in the well-being of the community is of the emotional nature of the fan. They may be funded or hosted by them, but the actual operation of these communities should not be in the hands of those having only a purely financial investment, with no interest in the wiki's content itself.
Fan communities should be run for the fans, by people who will take a positive interest in the fans' desires, always thinking about how they can continue to enhance the enjoyment of everyone in the community.
Fan communities should be run together with the fans, embracing a spirit of co-operation and camaraderie in our fandoms, with friendly rivalries rather than bitter divides.

Our Goals

Our goals and these positions should not be misunderstood as being part of an anti-corporate agenda. We believe that there is most certainly a place in online fandoms for corporate sponsorship, and even for wiki farms, provided they are properly managed in accordance with a spirit of cooperation with fandoms. Many fansites, a number of us included, would not be able to cover their hosting bills without advertising of some sort.

Likewise, we cannot begrudge those who have found themselves even on a poorly managed wiki farm. Indeed, it is for the sake of these wikis that NIWA exists. Operating a wiki is time consuming, and it can be very difficult even just getting off the ground. The financial and technical burdens for those of us who become large are often quite significant, and there are most certainly difficulties for webmasters in forming the networks and connections they need to make enough return off their advertisements to pay for their communities. In such circumstances, it is more than understandable how some communities may have seen wiki farms as their only option. For wikis in such situations, NIWA offers another alternative. For those already on wiki farms, we offer them the opportunities they need to break away and reach their full potential. For those for whom wiki farms would once have been the only option, NIWA offers an avenue for them to get the assistance they need to allow them to retain their independence and their identity.

Our Declaration

We hope that our example will send a message to fandoms everywhere: we will not take this trespass into our domain lying down, and neither should they. NIWA is as much about building relationships and trust as it is about nurturing those who need it. We will show the world that such a stand is possible and worthwhile, and in doing so hope that we shall serve the as the inspiration for the flowering of many more gardens.

It's time we made our stand together, as fans, for the sake of the futures of our fandoms.

To those of you who seek to dominate and hold power over us, we say fear us, and know that your actions will be tolerated by the fans no more. To those of you who seek freedom in your pursuit of knowledge, and to those of you oppressed under the shackles of faceless shadows, we say seek out and join us. We are NIWA, and this is our declaration of our independence.

Wiki Representatives

Wiki Link	N-Wiki Link	Forum Link	Other Position(s)
Coordinators
SuperHamster	N/A	NIWA profile	Coordinator Director of Nookipedia
ARMS Institute
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Bulbapedia
SnorlaxMonster	SnorlaxMonster	NIWA profile	Bureaucrat
Dragalia Lost Wiki
Elaeagnifolia	N/A	N/A	Webhost and Bureaucrat
Drawn to Life Wapopedia
BakiDance	N/A	N/A	Webhost and Administrator
F-Zero Wiki
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Fire Emblem Wiki
PikaSamus	N/A	N/A	Editor-in-Chief and Bureaucrat
Golden Sun Universe
dkpat	N/A	NIWA profile	N/A
Hard Drop Tetris Wiki
Blink	N/A	N/A	N/A
Icaruspedia
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Lylat Wiki
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
MarioWiki (German)
N/A	N/A	N/A	Bureaucrat
Metroid Wiki
Metroidking	Metroidking	NIWA profile	Bureaucrat
NintendoWiki
Tacopill	N/A	NIWA profile	Administrator Owner of Fire Emblem Wiki, Lylat Wiki, Pikmin Fanon,WikiBound, and WiKirby
Nookipedia
Jake	N/A	N/A	Director
Pokémon Central Wiki
Snorlite	N/A	N/A	Bureaucrat
Pikipedia
Espyo	N/A	N/A	Bureaucrat
Pikmin Fanon
Neocraftz1553	N/A	N/A	N/A
SmashWiki
Toomai	N/A	N/A	Bureaucrat
StrategyWiki
Prod	Prod	NIWA profile	Lead Administrator
Starfy Wiki
Torchickens	Torchickens	NIWA profile	Editor-in-Chief
Super Mario Wiki
Porplemontage	Porplemontage	NIWA profile	Webmaster and Proprietor Owner of SmashWiki and Pikipedia
Super Mario Wiki (Italian)
Stormkyleis	N/A	N/A	Bureaucrat
Ukikipedia
JoshDuMan	N/A	N/A	Bureaucrat
Wars Wiki
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
WikiBound
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
WikiBound (Italian)
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
WiKirby
Gigi	N/A	NIWA profile	Editor-of-Chief
Xeno Series Wiki
Sir Teatei Moonlight	N/A	N/A	Webhost and Bureaucrat
Xenopedia
Koopastefo	N/A	N/A	Bureaucrat
Zelda Wiki
CodyDaviesTV	N/A	NIWA profile	Partnered Staff
Zeldapendium
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A