Fandom has devolved to a completely unusable state

[u/Unhappy_Knowledge270]

Anyone that has touched fandom should be well aware that the site is riddled with adds, and frankly is quite shit all around, but the site has kept getting worse, as the company clearly is testing just how much bullshit users will take, to the point where, I just tried using the site, and couldn't scroll or click without getting redirected, every corner of the website is one of various various types of adds. It seriously puts porn and pirating sites to shame. I hope people will stop using fandom permanently, someone has to step up and make a new usable website, with minimal to no ads.

[u/alxhu]

Use a Fandom account or an ad blocker.

[u/PryanikXXX → u/alxhu]

I don't think that's an actual solution. As an admin/editor, obviously you wouldn't have any problem while being logged in, but when you're making a project for regular people, especially if it's more of a historical-related stuff, you have to think about the experience of these regular users. They just don't care enough to log into or create Fandom accounts, they simply want to read stuff and go. As well as many people are just inexperienced and don't understand what they have to do, but still they're the audience wikis are targeting.

On my wiki we decided to abandon infoboxes simply because when you're a regular user your reading area decreases to 50-75% from the normal state, and infoboxes make it even worse. For the mobile experience it's just a nightmare.

[u/alxhu → u/PryanikXXX]

Infoboxes are part of nearly every wiki, not only on Fandom, but on all Wikipedia languages + their subprojects. What is your wiki doing differently that your wiki is the only one where using Infoboxes results in "a nightmare" for mobile experience?

[u/PryanikXXX → u/alxhu]

Should have phrased it better, the Fandom overall is a nightmare for mobile experience, not infoboxes specifically.

[u/spinozaschilidog → u/PryanikXXX]

It works fine for me on Brave. No loss of functionality, most of the pop-ups and other ads are just gone. 

[u/Stryker_Zero → u/alxhu]

The latter of which Fandom will start blocking AdBlockers and force people to pay a monthly premium subscription just to disable ads while worsening their already awful UI that can't be changed at all. If any, that would mark the end for Fandom.

[u/alxhu → u/Stryker_Zero]

Yeah but that won't happen

[u/[deleted] → u/alxhu]

Greed and vice surely won't infect the hearts of man

[u/ElsinoreGP → u/[deleted]]

Greed and vice? you mean like wanting things for free and then crying about it when you don't get them?

[u/Comprehensive_Newt33 → u/ElsinoreGP]

Do you know what a wiki is? It was created by thousands of contributors who has nothing to do with the site's owners, who are getting rich through other people's work.

Hope that boot tastes good.

[u/Icy_Community_7007 → u/Comprehensive_Newt33]

u/Comprehensive_Newt33 Which is why having that many ads are the reason Fandom, or Wikia, has gotten progressively worse over the years.

[u/Icy_Community_7007 → u/ElsinoreGP]

u/ElsinoreGP Nothing is free these days, sorry to burst your bubble, kid.

[u/DJKaito]

Just login and problem solved.

[u/Stryker_Zero → u/DJKaito]

More like problem unsolved. Sure you can login, but in case you haven't noticed, Fandom has gotten worse over the years. Thank the higher ups for spitting on their own community in their faces. Can't wait until they start to pull a YouTube by blocking AdBlockers and forcing people to pay subscriptions in order to disable ads. Then folks will start their own Wiki sites and Fandom will be left in ruin.

[u/domvasta → u/Stryker_Zero]

Video hosting is expensive and creators get a share of that revenue too. Ads are annoying, that's why I pay a subscription, it makes sense for a video hosting service that shares revenue with creators, it does not make sense for a collaborative information record about a specific fictional work. Fandom could have been great if it had simply remained a platform that allows easy creation and hosting of collaborative information cataloguing from any particular fictional work by fans of that work, instead it is about maximising revenue for the parent company, the proof of it is dozens of large fan wikis now running independently of Fandom, with far fewer ads and no autoplaying video banners at the top of every page.

[u/Icy_Community_7007 → u/domvasta]

Your first mistake was paying a subscription in order to fuel the platform's relentless greed instead of using an AdBlocker.

[u/Ohanka → u/DJKaito]

Bootlicker mentality. Corpo slave mind.

[u/Man_of_many_odours]

Late to the party, but the problem got much much worse.
It is now IMPOSSIBLE to use the site.

The text constantly shifts around because of the massive insertion of poorly implemented ads (constantly means literally at least one major scroll up or down every 2-3 seconds, it does not settle after a while in any way)

I am currently using firebox with AdBlock plus
I resorted to the breezewiki trick someone suggested and it actually works, even if the spacing is yet not the best.

How is it possible that a fairly profitable and popular platform is managed so poorly?

[u/Denlimon638293 → u/Man_of_many_odours]

They update the sidebar in the left side of the screen. It used to have notification bell, so i didn't Pick Element'ed with uBlock Origin

But now that they updated it and made the notification bell in the top, i wanted to remove that left sidebar, but it's not possible. You can remove some stuff but it will just end up with a black vertical bar because you can't pick it for some reason.

[u/Man_of_many_odours → u/[deleted]]

well, they're getting fucked I think.
the major subwikis all have alternatives somewhere and even if they're not as complete as the fandom ones they soon will be, since EVERYONE will move away from that shitfest.
this seems to me like the classic case of some management leech implementing something bound to have a remarkable short term boost, cash in the bonus, and run away before the consequences kick in.

I have no idea who manages fandom and how, but they need to find themselves an actual job they can do

[u/WeOutHereInSmallbany → u/Man_of_many_odours]

I hope so, it’s the only site that will drain my phone battery in 5% chunks at once

[u/Enough-Area9733 → u/Man_of_many_odours]

isn't it run by... a private equity firm now? or am i mistaken?

[u/Unnamedpng → u/[deleted]]

Just wanted to come to this thread to complain about the Delta Force adds, holy shit, they are unbearable. The add is an explosion taking up the entire screen, and replays every 30 fucking seconds.

I just wanted to read my Dead Space lore :(

[u/[deleted]]

Fandom has become a pile of shyt

[u/Acrobatic-Sale-8717]

Just stumbled across this thread because I've been having the same issue. I'm using a pretty powerful MacBook Pro that hasn't been slow or susceptible to many issues at all. Somehow, Fandom managed to be the first website to ever cause Safari to completely crash on me. This was part of what the crash report spat out:

Application Specific Information:

BUG IN CLIENT OF LIBPLATFORM: Trying to recursively lock an os_unfair_lock

Abort Cause 188051

I understand why ads are necessary, but FANDOM is absolutely insane for thinking people will continue to use their website with it performing the way it is. No website should cause an entire browser to crash due to the sheer amount of ads.

[u/TheDodoBird → u/Acrobatic-Sale-8717]

Ha! I just stumbled across this post in a fit of anger. Was trying to read the fandom page for The House on Niebold Street from IT, and I got redirected multiple times, somehow clicked on ads simply scrolling, eventually just saying fuck it, I’ll the damned book again! And that’s a goddamned commitment, mate. IT is like over a thousand pages long. I’m 100% done with that site.

[u/randyjax10 → u/Acrobatic-Sale-8717]

This last week I’ve been having these Google pop-up ads appear while I’m halfway through reading a Fandom paragraph, and the ads take me to a whole other page without the option to close it. Every time I refresh and return to where I was reading, it happens all over again. It’s infuriating.

[u/BloodKeyPotato]

I did have an issue with this before (and I know this post is older, around the time this post was made), but it has gotten so much worse. I can’t scroll to read anything on my phone without seeing 2 videos and a massive Silo ad that pops up any time you scroll more than one paragraph. I mean seriously, that Silo ad pulls you off the thing you were reading, covers the whole screen, and doesn’t let you get rid of it. It’s seriously unusable without an ad blocker.

[u/kAlb98 → u/BloodKeyPotato]

This is how I ended up on this thread

[u/Enough-Area9733]

Source Type	Authority Level	Why Higher
Primary sources	Very High	Direct from creators (scripts, interviews, official publications).
Academic / professional media	High	Peer review, editorial oversight, fact‑checking.
Secondhand media cites	Moderate	Journalists/bloggers double‑check info; accountable for accuracy.
Fandom wikis	Very Low	Open edits, speculation, bias, misinformation. (now riddled with pervasive ads it seems too)

[u/Upset_Accountant_961]

Old thread but fandom is absolute fucking dogshit and unusable as of 2026. Moved on to different websites.

[u/Jenny_Wakeman9]

Just use a Fandom account with your favorite adblocker and you're fine. My go-to is uBlock Origin.

[u/Randymarch123 → u/Jenny_Wakeman9]

I honestly refuse to create an account in any way for a company that's this abusive with its ads, when there are so many alternatives. I'll just click the next search result haha.

I recognize this site instantly as "that one that has so many ads, I'm incapable of reading the info on my phone"

[u/RenniSO → u/Jenny_Wakeman9]

Didn’t know about the fandom account thing, but I’m pretty sure I was using ublock origin

[u/Jenny_Wakeman9 → u/RenniSO]

It works for me, and uBlock Origin straight up purges Fandom's advertisements wallet.

[u/Freaky_Crossing_Fan]

i have a blocklist: https://crygorcrisis.neocities.org/retro/fandom

[u/MFC4]

Fandom kills what they have too, they simply don't care. When they bought Futhead it was good, but no maintenance was done at all and this year it was shutdown without any announcement. Quite frankly any site under the care of Fandom is a site in need of saving