I, myself, visit the site often and so when I was faced with the opportunity to interview someone, I jumped at the chance to interview one of the admins that work so hard behind the scenes. Hopefully, you'll like the interview I had with the lovely Jules.
How did the site come to be?
Early in 2006, an Australian fan called Hope started a website called Super Canon for Supernatural.
By the end of the first season, she decided that a Wiki would be a better format for a site and the
Supernatural Wiki was born.
The Super Wiki Admin team pays for all the costs associated with the site, with occasional donations
from fans. This means we’re free of ads, and independent of any commercial interests.
Can you tell us more about what Super-Wiki is and its purpose?
The Super Wiki aims to be a guide book to Supernatural and its fandom. We want to provide lots of
information, but also be a directory to all the places Supernatural fandom exists around the internet.
In addition, we want it to be a project that many fans could be part of in. It’s an important part of
the Super Wiki that fans can join in and feel that it really is their site.
There are four main parts to the Super Wiki. In the Canon section we have detailed episode entries,
with transcripts, a guide to all the music, mythology and pop culture references, as well as entries on
all the characters. In addition to the Show, we also cover the Ghostfacers’ webseries, and the new
Supernatural Animation.
Over in the Library, we have more information on the angels, demons and creatures in the Show
than you’d find at Bobby’s place (and we have floorplans to his house too!). If you want to read a
transcript of John’s journal or find out the type of car each of the Four Horse drove, it’s here. The
Wiki loves quirky stuff like cataloguing Bobby’s hats, or finding all the Star Trek references in the
show.
The Production category has entries on the cast and crew, although there are a few pets in
there as well. We have info on all the tie-in novels and books. The Supernatural Scrapbook is a
comprehensive guide to major events, interviews, awards associated with the Show from its first
online mention in 2004.
Supernatural fandom is comprehensively covered. There’s a guide to all aspects of fanworks
whether its songs written by fans or crafts. Fanfic of course is huge and we guide fans through all
the pairings and crack fic and where to find it all. We have a whole section on fandom vernacular –
from the slang to the in jokes – so you have a clue what everyone’s talking about! I love that we can
actually trace back things like Metallicar back to the fan who coined the term.
We also provide comprehensive coverage of all the Supernatural conventions through linking to
fan’s reports, pictures and videos. And not forgetting one of my favourite projects – our gallery of
fan tattoos.
We profile other Supernatural blogs and fansites and there’s a whole section on Twitter and our
exploits there.
If it’s about Supernatural it’s probably on the Supernatural Wiki. Oh and we’re 100% spoiler free.
Your site is the number one search engine when it comes to Supernatural. Did you expect this
upon creation?
We certainly have worked hard to make the site unique. The great thing about the Wiki format is
that any fan can become part of the Super Wiki. One contributor said to me: ”It’s a place where I feel
my contributions make a difference, and I love being part of such a big project”.
Having so many diverse people involved makes the Super Wiki a really rich resource. People bring
their own interests and skills – whether it’s translating Latin, or spotting Simpsons references,
formatting or spotting canon inaccuracies.
What does the admin team do on the Wiki? How much time does it take?
Early on the admin team had a lot to do working out the structure of the Wiki, adding content and
spreading the word about the site. I joined the Admin team in late 2007 and at one point we had a
team of five spread across 3 continents!
These days the Admin team is basically two of us, and the main work is making sure the Wiki
remains accurate and up-to-date as well as helping new users learn how to format using the Wiki
coding and style.
Hope who founded the site is still involved as our resident techie, working behind the scenes to
make sure everything runs smoothly. I would spend some time most days working on the Wiki, but
it’s so well established now that our experienced users on the site also take on the role of checking
content and helping out other users too.
I still love playing on the Wiki – probably because I still love the Show so much. I often say it’s like
knitting – it’s sort of therapeutic and at the end of a session you have something toshow for it.
In addition I run our Twitter account @SuperWiki, which is loads of fun, and lets me meet fans from
all round the world.
You've recently been nominated for the SFX Blog Awards. How excited are you?
I have may squeed when I got the email! It’s a huge honour to be nominated alongside fandom
behemoths like Leaky Cauldron and the One Ring.
Where do you see Super-Wiki in five years?
I would like to think I would be adding a new section for the Supernatural movie! Even if the show
has finished, I think the passion for it is so strong, that people will still be using the Wiki and adding
to it.
Are any of you active in other aspects of the fandom? Is Supernatural the only fandom you are
occupied with?
Supernatural is my main fannish interest. I write fanfic and meta and generally talk a lot about the
show on my Livejournal. I do watch a lot of other TV and movies, and read a lot – mainly science
fiction, horror and crime. I’m also involved in Wincon which is an annual fan convention now in its
sixth year (Check it out at omgwincon.com)
Aren't they amazing? Be sure to vote for them and check out the links included. They worked hard to get where they are and deserve it all!
That's all from me, and I'll see y'all soon.
Shirley Out!
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