Changes

In the early part of 2007, Wales upped the ante and ordered that all external links from Wikipedia to outside sites should be hampered by a "nofollow" tag that would eliminate them from most search engine algorithms.  Wales claimed that he made this decision on guidance from "Google and others".  However, there was an exception to this new "nofollow" rule -- ''inter-wiki'' links, including many that pointed to Wikia.com, would still get treated as "do follow" links, which was a significant benefit to Wales' for-profit site and brought a rousing [http://techcrunch.com/2007/04/28/wikipedia-special-treatment-for-wikia-and-other-wikis/ criticism from the tech media].  

In the early part of 2007, Wales upped the ante and ordered that all external links from Wikipedia to outside sites should be hampered by a "nofollow" tag that would eliminate them from most search engine algorithms.  Wales claimed that he made this decision on guidance from "Google and others".  However, there was an exception to this new "nofollow" rule -- ''inter-wiki'' links, including many that pointed to Wikia.com, would still get treated as "do follow" links, which was a significant benefit to Wales' for-profit site and brought a rousing [http://techcrunch.com/2007/04/28/wikipedia-special-treatment-for-wikia-and-other-wikis/ criticism from the tech media].  

By December 2009, there were over 21,300 external links from Wikipedia to Wikia.com sites -- sites funded by Google AdSense and other advertising revenues, with not a dime going back to the crowd-sourced contributors.  By November 2010, that number had risen to [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:LinkSearch&limit=5000&offset=20000&target=http%3A%2F%2F*.wikia.com 24,870 links] from Wikipedia, an increase of 16.8% in less than a year.  (Note, during that time period, Wikipedia article growth clocked in at 8.5%.  So, the rate of increase in Wikia-bound links from Wikipedia outpaces by 98% the rate of increase in natural Wikipedia growth.)  By the beginning of 2013, Wikipedia hosted over 34,100 external links to Wikia.com sites.  Of course, the more links, the more traffic; and the more traffic, the more money in Jimbo Wales' pocket.

By December 2009, there were over 21,300 external links from Wikipedia to Wikia.com sites -- sites funded by Google AdSense and other advertising revenues, with not a dime going back to the crowd-sourced contributors.  By November 2010, that number had risen to [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:LinkSearch&limit=5000&offset=20000&target=http%3A%2F%2F*.wikia.com 24,870 links] from Wikipedia, an increase of 16.8% in less than a year.  (Note, during that time period, Wikipedia article growth clocked in at 8.5%.  So, the rate of increase in Wikia-bound links from Wikipedia outpaces by 98% the rate of increase in natural Wikipedia growth.)  By the beginning of 2013, Wikipedia hosted over 34,100 external links to Wikia.com sites, which represents over 800 links to Wikia per 100,000 Wikipedia articles -- one of the highest ratios of any external website.  Of course, the more links, the more traffic; and the more traffic, the more money in Jimbo Wales' pocket.

==Wikia was the Wikimedia Foundation's landlord==

==Wikia was the Wikimedia Foundation's landlord==