Discover independent wikis
on your favorite topics
On an internet dominated by ads and corporate-run websites,
Indie Wiki Buddy is a browser extension that helps you easily find and support independent wikis.
When you visit a wiki on Fandom or Fextralife, this extension will notify or automatically
redirect you to quality independent wikis when they're available.
Search results in Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, Brave, Ecosia, and Startpage
can also be filtered, guiding you to visit an independent counterpart instead.
Indie Wiki Buddy supports over 100 independent wikis across 7 languages.
And you're in full control -- you can choose your experience wiki-by-wiki!
Indie Wiki Buddy also supports BreezeWiki, a service that renders
Fandom wikis without ads or bloat.
Once enabled, BreezeWiki provides a more enjoyable reading experience when an
independent wiki isn't available!
Once installed, you can access the extension's setting popup via the
in the top bar, at the top right.
If you don't see the icon, it may be in the extension dropdown, which is a jigsaw icon
in both Firefox and Chrome.
Inside this popup, you can toggle the extension on and off via the power button at the top right.
You can also control three global options:
🔔 Desktop notifications when redirected to an indie wiki or BreezeWiki
When this option is enabled, you will receive a desktop notification whenever you are
automatically redirected to either an indie wiki or BreezeWiki.
This is on by default.
If you aren't getting notifications when this is enabled, check your operating system's notification
settings to ensure that your browser is allowed to send notifications.
🔎 Filter non-indie wikis in Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, & other search engines
When this option is enabled, non-indie wikis will be filtered from search engine results
when an independent wiki is available. This is to help prioritize independent wikis in your results.
This is on by default.
Currently, Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, Brave, Ecosia, and Startpage are supported.
Note that image results are not filtered;
we don't want users to miss out on images they might not find elsewhere!
When a search result is filtered, it will be replaced with:
"A search result from ABC Wiki has been removed by Indie Wiki Buddy. Look for results from XYZ instead!"
🌬️ Use BreezeWiki on Fandom
This option will render Fandom wikis through BreezeWiki, an external service that removes clutter, simplifies the page, and removes ads.
Occasionally, BreezeWiki or one of its mirrors may go down; when this happens, you can simply switch to another working instance. This is off by default.
You can click "View All Settings" to open a full settings page where you can configure your settings per-wiki.
The list of all wikis allows you to configure what you want to happen when visiting the respective
non-independent wiki:
Disable: You will be neither notified
of nor redirected to the independent counterpart. You will still be directed to BreezeWiki if it
is turned on.
Redirect: Be automatically redirected
to the independent counterpart.
Alert: Have a display banner at the top
notifying you that an independent wiki is available. This will appear on both Fandom and
BreezeWiki pages.
Search filtering: Hide the non-independent wiki(s) in
Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, Brave, Ecosia, and Startpage, to help guide you to
find the independent counterpart. Usually, the independent wiki will appear in that same search.
The "set all" buttons above the list of wikis ("disable all", "set all to redirect", etc.) let you quickly
toggle settings for all wikis at once.
Clicking one of these buttons will set that as the default behavior for new wikis that are added in the future.
We're always looking for more wikis to add to the extension!
Here are the criteria:
The destination wiki should be independent, meaning that decision-making and control of the wiki
largely rests with the wiki's staff and volunteer editing community.
Factors include editorial independence, the editorbase's ability to request changes from
their host, and any history of the host exerting decisions contrary to a wiki
community's wishes.
Miraheze wikis may be considered independent, due to Miraheze's openness,
customizability, and ability for wikis to migrate off the platform.
wiki.gg wikis are not considered independent. There is a separate "Redirect to wiki.gg"
extension available for
Chrome
and
Firefox
that you can use alongside Indie Wiki Buddy.
The destination wiki should be of decent quality, ideally matching (or exceeding) the quality
and size of the origin wiki. While we want to support all independent wikis, we also want
extension users to be directed to wikis where they can find what they are looking for.
Should be of general interest. Wikis about particularly niche subjects may be discluded.
When there are multiple independent wikis on the same subject, we will usually point to the wiki
that is most complete and prominent in the community.
If the independent wiki meets the criteria, you can submit it to be included in one of the following
ways:
Large, corporate-run wiki farms have enabled hundreds of great wikis and communities. Unfortunately,
these wiki farms can easily overshadow quality independent wikis, especially in search engine results.
Independent wikis often have the benefit of greater self-determination and fewer ads, but are easily
missed by users who aren't aware of their existence. This extension aims to help wiki readers discover
and user quality, independent wikis.
Why does this extension need access to so many sites?
Indie Wiki Buddy requests access to fandom.com, fextralife.com, and BreezeWiki and its mirrors,
in order to display redirect banners.
Indie Wiki Buddy also requests access to Google (across all its country domains),
Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, Brave, Startpage, and Ecosia in order to filter search results on those sites.
There are almost 200 different domains for Google Search by country
(e.g. google.co.uk, google.ca, google.es, etc.), which take up most of the site accesses you see.
The full list of sites Indie Wiki Buddy requests access to is available
here.
Indie Wiki Buddy never transmits or stores data from these sites. Access is only used in order to
display alert banners and filter search results.
Can Miraheze wikis be added to this extension?
Yes! For the purposes of this extension, Miraheze wikis are considered independent. Even though Miraheze
is a large wiki platform, it is a non-profit organization that allows for extensive control by wiki
staff, and provides for wikis to easily migrate off the platform.
Can wiki.gg wikis be added to this extension?
While wiki.gg is a great platform, for the purposes of this extension, wiki.gg wikis are currently not
considered independent and are out of this extension's scope. Fortunately, there is a "Redirect to
wiki.gg" extension available for
Chrome
and Firefox that you
can use alongside Indie Wiki Buddy.
For independent wikis to be added to the extension, why do they need to be of equal quality and
coverage as its non-independent counterpart?
The extension is geared towards readers looking for information, and pointing them towards wikis that
might not have the information they're seeking isn't an ideal experience.
That being said, I do want to support all independent wikis and know the importance for developing wikis
to get new readers and editors. In the future, the extension may allow for less-complete wikis to be
added, though likely with some sort of control to allow users to easily filter/toggle these wikis.
If you have any ideas for how this experience should look, please reach out!
What happens when there are multiple independent wikis on the same topic?
We will try to redirect to the most complete wiki, and will also consider factors such as what is most
popular in the wiki subject's community.
Can I see or contribute to the code?
Yes! Indie Wiki Buddy is open source and available
on GitHub.
in the top bar, at the top right.
in both Firefox and Chrome.
Disable: You will be neither notified
of nor redirected to the independent counterpart. You will still be directed to BreezeWiki if it
is turned on.
Redirect: Be automatically redirected
to the independent counterpart.
Alert: Have a display banner at the top
notifying you that an independent wiki is available. This will appear on both Fandom and
BreezeWiki pages.
Search filtering: Hide the non-independent wiki(s) in
Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, Brave, Ecosia, and Startpage, to help guide you to
find the independent counterpart. Usually, the independent wiki will appear in that same search.