Lexicanum

This page is in need of cleanup. Srsly. It's a fucking mess.

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The old splash page, which greeted many a neckbeard in 2008

The Lexicanum is an unofficial wiki based on Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000 product lines; like this wiki, it uses the wikimedia format, distinguishing it from the rival Warhammer 40k Wiki, which uses Wikia (renamed to Fandom). They are both fully dedicated to record every bit of fluff there is, EVERY BIT. They do, however, refuse to record any kind of crunch on Warhammer 40k characters for legal reasons, though many Warhammer players prefer to look up the crunch on units rather than fluff. However, there are a large number of people who don't play the tabletop game for various reasons (cost being one of the biggest ones, Warhammer 40k miniatures are very expensive). Many people are interested in the fluff of the Warhammer universes out of general interest or an interest in one of the game's other iterations, i.e. video games or roleplaying games. Both wikis also have a very stringent policy on everything from how articles and images are to be created and uploaded, to the nature of personal comments on talk pages. The rules are stringent enough that you'll rarely see any non-Warhammer 40k related humor in any of their talk pages or articles. Lexicanum also occasionally writes articles for Community, showing that GW clearly thinks that it’s the most official of the ‘big three’ Warhammer wikis (Lexicanum, Wh40k wiki, and yours truly).

Regardless, the Lexicanum and the Warhammer 40k Wiki are both good places to look up fluff on anything Warhammer as they've recorded almost all of it. When compared to the Warhammer 40k Wiki, the Lexicanum's articles tend to be shorter due to Administrator Inquisitor S's paranoia, but are more numerous, so while the WH40k Wiki's Carnifex article is much longer and more detailed than the Lexicanum's, the Lexicanum has more information on many aspects of the various alien races of the Warhammer universe which the WH40k Wiki does not. If you want every bit of information that has been collected about a specific WH40k topic, the Warhammer 40k Wiki is the better bet; though there is the caveat that the WH40k Wiki may or may not have an article for that particular thing. But if you want to be sure of finding at least a short article for even the most obscure WH40k topic, the Lexicanum is your wiki.

The WH40k Wiki and the Lexicanum have something of a rivalry, but there is little doubt that the Lexicanum is the better known of the two sources, as the WH40k Wiki came into existence in its current incarnation only in May 2010, while the Lexicanum was created in 2005. This differential also explains why the WH40k Wiki has a smaller number of articles than the Lexicanum.

To simplify it: While WH40k Wiki has generally more information and higher quality of information on any given topic, it suffers from the fact that it once allowed fan-made imagery in. The Lexicanum, on the other hand, is more reminiscent of official Games Workshop material (often word for word), such as the tabletop game's codices, but it sometimes lacks as much depth on a particular topic.

While the Warhammer 40k Wiki's pages are of superior quality, it lacks the sheer number and scope of articles that Lexicanum has, are somewhat Imperium sided and allows fan-art on the site though the site's rules indicate that fan art will only be accepted in certain very rare cases, this is not followed well. In addition Warhammer 40k Wiki articles relies heavily on simply copying and pasting contents straight from Games Workshop books. Most of the post-2010 content has been constructed this way and if you look at any recent big article chances are that it is simply copied and pasted Codex or rulebook text, word for word. This is generally frowned upon in the fan wiki community but 40k Wiki is in the limbo zone of having Lexicanum for the obscure stuff and 1d4chan for quick and fast work while obscure or smaller fandoms tend to have no special wikis beyond Wikia/Fandom (or at least wiki style pages) and most serious fandoms only have one generally known wiki style website beyond Wikia/Fandom, so it is excusable to some degree. The Warhammer Fantasy wikia is superior to the Lexicanum's fantasy version in almost all areas, while the Age of Sigmar wiki and Lexicanum Age of Sigmar are adequate but need expansion.

Warhammer 40,000 Wiki cites all sources used at the bottom of each article rather than using footnotes. The lack of in-line citation, however, means that the authors must be trusted, making it far more difficult to check each article's facts. However, the small, professional staff is quick to fix errors that are pointed out by the community.

While it's rare for obvious homebrew fluff to survive for long on either wiki, Lexicanum's articles are somewhat less prone to contamination by fanon than Warhammer 40,000 Wiki, due to its policy of requiring in-line citations and specific page/chapter references. This is generally obvious when you find a passage on Warhammer 40,000 Wiki that was copied over from Lexicanum: typically, it will be reworded slightly (usually using more pretentious verbose language), or mixed up with some of the editor's own speculation/conclusions/fan wank, which may be hard to distinguish from official lore. A good way to avoid getting misled by fanon is to compare the overlapping information on both wikis, and see how they differ. Lexicanum does not allow fan content and not even citing Lexicanum itself is allowed. 40k wiki is supposed to not have it, but it's difficult to track and in some instances fan images are allowed. 1d4chan is filled to the brim with blatantly untrue fanwank and actual homebrew content. For homebrews there is also the 40khomebrew wiki also on Fandom.

TL;DR: Lexicanum for hard, inline cited facts in a few minutes, 40k Fandom Wiki/formerly Wikia for reading copy pastes of GW fluff/killing time, a splash of fanwank and vague citations, 1d4chan for the memes, sarcasm, crunch and salt with a rare dash of actual lore, as well as fan content.

Comparison, aka why 1d4chan is teh besht wicki evah!

Source for Warhammer Lore:	Lexicanum	Warhammer 40k Wiki/Warhammer Fantasy Wiki (Fandom, formerly Wikia)	1d4chan
Minutiae	Many, many articles on obscure fluff. Sometimes to the point that some articles shouldn't deserve a page because there's such little information about it and it bears no relevance to anything else.	Fewer articles on obscure fluff, obscenely large amounts of information on main fluff (often repeated later in the sections because of poor oversight).	Not dedicated to only 40k, so you'll find articles on all sorts, from official material to fanon that ranges from shitty to master-crafted. Unlike the others that focus more on fluff, we also offer a few basic bits of crunch and more in-depth analysis of tactics, units, gear, and so on.
Article Quality	Articles are extremely short and concise; no editor speculation allowed. Good for a quick overview of a subject, place, character, and even occasionally a full story plot.	Longer, more in-depth articles; walls of text everywhere. Very prone to copy-pasting codex passages verbatim with all the bloat this implies, but good for a deeper look at something.	Usually like the WH40wiki, but with more opinions, sarcasm, skub, and salt that typically pokes fun of the absurdities found in the settings they discuss. Some stubs due to lack of interest. Speculation present as well as homebrewed stuff for multiple systems.
Update Speed	More recent information, usually within a couple days or so for bigger reveals but can still take weeks on books of smaller importance.	Even slower to update. There are articles moderately large in importance that aren't looked at for years at a time.	Often updates within minutes of any news being revealed. This does have the downside of everyone claiming the apocalypse for every update to their favorite wargame, and a tendency to take all rumors at face value.
Fanart Tolerance	Official art or bust.	Fanart used when considered applicable/needed, but is heavily downplayed nowadays. Almost no PROMOTIONS.	Fanart can be used so long as it is relevant to the article, although official material is preferred so we can poke fun of/admire the developers' design choices later. Gallery section pumped full of fanart and PROMOTIONS.
Community Quality	Well known in community, better established, has been endorsed by GeeDubs on the Warhammer Community website.	Relatively new next to Lexicanum, otherwise one of the go-to sources for the newfags.	Once considered the armpit of the internet as far as its subject matter is concerned, now very slightly more respectable (the belly button). Is the go-to place if you want a brutally honest yet comedic retelling of your favorite franchises. Used to show up just below Lexicanum before the admin delisted the site from Google.
Citations	In-text links to citation footnotes. The most meticulous by far on all of this, with all the pros and cons of such.	Citations only at the end of the page and do not link to specific portions, forcing you to comb through every fucking book listed to find a specific tidbit's source.	Sources are not enforced and are rarely put in by authors, unless it's to prove the truly outlandish tidbits in fluff. The reasoning for this is twofold; one is that you can always get more factual and serious articles elsewhere (and also verify the things we say here). Second is that articles on 1d4chan are geared towards deconstructing and discussing fluff, like what normally happens on /tg/, rather than just flat-out listing it like a dictionary. So, rather than just copying what our competition does; we instead provide something you can't get there; deeper insight into fluff (and laughs), straight from the minds of a thousand grizzled neckbeards. Plus as stated above; we also provide tried-and-true in-game data for popular wargame pages (especially 40K), to help you with your TT needs. Two for the price on one. Downside: there's a chance that a chunk of the stuff has been pulled straight out of an editor's ass and nobody noticed.
Body of Editors	Rampant paranoia about new edits, very veteran editors. If you don't provide a source book and page/paragraph or ignore the usual article structure, God help your soul.	More open, smaller staff, volunteer staff replaced by professionals because the fans could not be trusted to look after themselves.	More dialogue than the other two put together in talk pages when issues come up, opinionated and defensive authors can cause debates over the silliest things that can last for months on end.
Edit Wars	Your edits WILL BE REVERTED and FUCK YOU FOR NOT SOURCING THE EXACT PAGE THAT YOU GOT THIS FROM!	Your edits will probably be reverted. Fuck you.	DAT GIT'Z NOT AGREEIN' WITH MY POV?! EDIT WAAAAAGH! (And just like a real waaagh, this only stops when one side is victorious or everyone gets bored and slowly splinters elsewhere.)
Advertisements	Few ads on the top and side, mostly unrelated to the wiki unless you go incognito.	You will DROWN in advertisements if you don't register.	Two ads located at the top and side, but that still won't save you from the spambots.
Information about Fantasy and Age of Sigmar?	Does have sub-portals forWarhammer Fantasy and Age of Sigmar information. Most of it is bare-bones crap and outdated, though. The German version has generally more information and media than English version, but even that is still crap and outdated.	No Warhammer Fantasy or Age of Sigmar information (you have to rely on two different wikis for that; the Warhammer Fantasy Wiki is superior to Lexicanum in terms of breadth and amount of content).	More Fantasy and Age of Sigmar knowledge than most, due to /tg/ wanting to preserve the memory of WHFB (and keep an eye on AoS).
Lewds?	No Rule 34!	No PROMOTIONS!	ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?! IS THAT NOT WHY YOU ARE HERE?!
Spelling and Grammar	Immaculate grammar due to being endorsed by GeeDubs themselves, so the mods comb over everything. Spelling and grammatical errors are nearly non-existent.	Poor grammar makes people on it want to kill themselves. Copypasta paragraphs ram into each-other like errant freight trains and preserve any of GW's fuckups in print.	Slightly above-average due to almost everyone in the site being written by English-speaking grammar Nazis. Errors do still exist, although they're usually in obscure articles that people rarely tend to notice, intentionally done for comedic purposes, or tend to get corrected shortly after if the article is popular enough. Newer articles on newer units tend to have more errors, since most people don't come here for an in-depth fan-analysis of the new units that GW shat out and forced their haggard writing team to pen slap-dash new lore for, usually these are fixed over a few weeks unless it also counts for the trivial category.
What about Firewalls?	Usually can be accessed from a restricted wifi, but not as much as this site. The school wifis may allow it due to obscurity.	Can't be accessed because fandom is considered too cancerous.	Is accessible through most restricted wifi networks, including most of the PROMOTIONS.