MicroWiki
MicroWiki is a multilingual open collaboration online encyclopedia dedicated to cataloguing and documenting every aspect of micronationalism, and operated by the MicroWiki Foundation. Founded on 27 May 2005, it is written and maintained by a community of volunteers via a wiki-based editing system. MicroWiki's lenient content policies intentionally contrast Wikipedia and allow any micronational-related article to be created on the wiki, which in-turn makes most articles on MicroWiki a primary source of information.
Since its foundation, MicroWiki has grown to encompass the largest English-language community of micronationalists on the Internet, in addition to being the largest micronational wiki with 39,026 articles and 99,157 registered user accounts as of 5 August 2025.
History
Wikia
MicroWiki was founded on 27 May 2005 by Fabian Schneider, who wanted to be able to conveniently record information on his micronation, the Principality of Seraya, and other related micronations during the Maryland micronations boom. It was hosted on the wiki hosting service Wikicities (now Fandom). However, Schneider only created two articles—excluding the main page—before ceasing activity on the newly created wiki, causing it to fall into a state of dormancy. Nevertheless, MicroWiki continued to receive page views, and in early September it saw the arrival of several micronationalists who discovered the wiki around the same time via the Internet. They began making edits and formed the first community solely based on the wiki, reviving activity and initiating diplomacy amongst each other via the wiki's talk pages.
Migration and splintering
On 17 October 2010, Wikia implemented unpopular changes that resulted in administrator Philip Fish starting a community discussion to deliberate on an alternative wiki hosting service. On 17 November, former MicroWiki administrator Kyng Fyrst attempted to take over the old Wikia website and turn it into a separate community run by himself. This decision was met with harsh opposition, and by January 2011, Fyrst was finally ostracised from the community as the administration of MicroWiki.org.uk regained control of Wikia and turned it into an archive.
MicroWiki launched several sister projects that ran on various subdomains from December 2010 to 2012. In April 2012, a breakaway community formed on the old Wikia website to rival MicroWiki by claiming to be the "true MicroWiki", causing a feud between the two wikis that would formally end in October 2018.
In October 2013, concerns began to be raised over MicroWiki's financial shortfalls amidst a significant drop in site visits which meant that running advertisements on the wiki were no longer profitable. On 13 May 2014, Jonathan I, Emperor of Austenasia, purchased the wiki from Petya d'Égtavie after he stated he was "looking to transfer ownership of the site to someone who [could] keep it alive." On 14 August 2016, Czech MicroWiki became the first language variant of the wiki after a move from Fandom, where it existed from 2012 when it split from MicroWikia.
Micronations.wiki
On 21 October 2016, MicroWiki transferred to its current domain, micronations.wiki, after complications with the previous domain host. On 17 September 2018, MicroWiki@Discord was launched by the MicroWiki administration, which immediately became immensely popular. On 31 October, Jonathan I persuaded the community on Wikia to officially change its name to MicroNations Fandom, formally renouncing their claim as the "true MicroWiki" and thus ending the schism. On 7 April 2019, MicroWikiDictionary was launched as a dictionary for micronational jargon and constructed languages, though it received scant attention. On 1 May 2020, MicroWiki reached 20,000 articles.
During 2020, MicroWiki's worldwide individual readership numbered approximately 1.8 million from 2.8 million total site visits. On 9 January 2021, MicroWiki opened a Patreon and also moved to a new server provider for better uptime. On 13 January, the main page had its first major redesign in over a decade, a change which was welcomed by many users. MicroWiki's millionth edit was made on 5 December 2021. On 18 January 2022, MicroWiki reached 30,000 articles, and on 14 February Luxor (Karl Friedrich) became a co-owner of MicroWiki alongside Jonathan I. On 16 May, an entry for MicroWiki on Wikipedia was approved through its Articles for Creation process. MicroWiki adopted its present logo on 21 May.
Content policies
Account registration is required in order to be able to make edits, create articles and upload files. Users who edit the wiki are called editors. Under European Union law, which MicroWiki is bound by, account registration is restricted to persons aged thirteen and older. MicroWiki allows for any article related to micronationalism to be created on the wiki, regardless of macronational media coverage. These lenient content policies intentionally contrast Wikipedia, and in-turn make most articles on MicroWiki a primary source of information. However, while citations (including self-published micronational sources), are not required, they may be preferred for claims considered dubious or controversial and or opinionated statements. Administrators and even users may question the validity of any article by stating so on the article's talk page and adding the "Disputed" template. Articles that contain non-compliant material—such as violating MicroWiki's Manual of Style—may be deleted by an administrator.
As an encyclopaedia, MicroWiki hosts content on individuals (biographies) that may contain personal, non-career oriented information. The administration of MicroWiki will generally not allow biographies to be deleted without good reason, however sensitive or otherwise personal information such as birthdates, photographs of an individual, parents names, locations (home, work, school, etc.) may, in most cases, generally be removed by the editor in question without seeking administrative permission. Biographies may usually only be deleted in exceptional cases where an immediate threat is posed to the individual, such as stalking or involvement of the law enforcement in a macronation where secessionism is illegal, as has been the case before.
Owners
- Fabian Schneider (2005)
- Community-managed (2006 - 2010)
- Petya d'Égtavie (2010 - 2014)
- Jonathan Austen (2014 - 2024)
- Karl Friedrich (2024 - 2025)
- Horeidosha (2025 - Present)
Legacy
MicroWiki was directly responsible for influencing the creation of Encyclopedia Westarctica, which, in turn, has become a major source for articles written on MicroWiki. Due to its nearly exclusive focus on Westarctica-related subject matter, the two organizations are friendly and do not see one another as competitors.