It seems to be widely accepted that Wookieepedia is not an acceptable primary source of information, but I think it would be helpful to have a go-to verdict that says so for easy reference.
What is our stance on answers built upon the foundation of Wookieepedia?
Like all Wikis (and indeed fansites and blogs), if someone cites wookieepedia as if it's a primary source, you should feel free to use the comments and, if needs be, the downvote button to express that real primary sources (such as book or film quotes, for example) are strongly preferred around these parts.
Part of the problem is that a lot of users are simply unaware that WP is fan-written. I find that after that's explained, most newer users stop directly citing it.
This includes things like Wikipedia, Wookieepedia, HP Wikia, Buffy Wikia, Marvel Cinematic Wikia, and IMDB.
Talk to any educator, and you'll hear about students trying to use Wikipedia or similar sources as references for their papers. As these students are told, resources like Wikipedia are fine as starting points, but not for actual citations.
Many wikia sources are full of citations. Wikipedia, itself, is full of citations that can be cross referenced. Wookieepedia is also often well referenced. Other times, not so much.
Our answers should be cited with verifiable references. That means linking to definitive, verifiable sources. We should be linking to the sources that the wikis linked, not the wikis themselves.
Sometimes there are unsourced "facts". That doesn't necessarily mean they're wrong. I'm ok with people mentioning these facts, so long as they also mention that the claim is unverified. I won't downvote answers based on these facts, but they're not getting an upvote from me either.
If there is a verifiable citation to match them, sometimes Wiki sources have great summations of facts. In these cases, I find it acceptable to quote a passage from a wiki source. Sometimes someone else has already said it far better than I ever could.
Despite the rules guidelines above, I hesitate to ever say we need a "consensus" or any sort of official rule about whether wiki sources are acceptable. A poor, unsourced answer is still an answer. It may deserve a downvote, but I would not vote to delete just because it's an unsourced statement.
*Some official wiki type sources like Marvel Universe are more acceptable as they are curated by employees of the company.
For example, in the question How did the dianoga avoid being crushed?
one answer had no sources; it was pure speculation/deductive reasoning:
When the trash compactor starts the dianoga releases Luke. It obviously knows what is coming and it removes itself from the trash compactor.
Because the water level doesn't seem to rise there must be some kind of sluice mechanism in the compactor to deal with this, which would give an ideal escape route for a squid-like creature to hide whilst the compactor works.
another answer cited Wookieepedia and used speculation/deductive reasoning:
There is no canon answer on exactly how the dianoga avoids getting squished. This quote from Wookieepedia seems to offer a possible explanation:
The dianoga itself had managed to burrow into the wall, and so was relatively safe inside the compactor; that is, until the Death Star was destroyed.
So it is possible the dianoga was safe in a hole it had burrowed in the wall. However, as @phantom42 pointed out, that passage isn't cited.
The legends section of the Dianoga page shows that the creature has sharp teeth and strong tentacles, which could have been used to burrow into the wall. So even though the quote above is uncited, it seems as good a speculation as any as to how the creature survives each time the walls close. Burrowing into the wall could also possibly contribute to the water level not rising when the walls start closing, as @Cearon O'Flynn mentioned in his answer.
The bottom line is there is no canon answer; all we have is this Wookiepeedia quote I mentioned above and our own speculation.
A third answer sites a Legends status interview/commentary from Lucas:
Per the film's commentary track with George Lucas, the Dianoga has managed to locate a small space where it can hide while the mashing is going on.
And you begin to say, "how am I gonna get Luke free from this monster?" And you have lots of choices, and obviously the easy one is having Han shoot it, having it let go and go away but that's not too much fun. So when you get in there, you know where things are going... when the walls start to close the Dianoga runs away and hides, in a little space that protects him from the walls. So things start to tell their own story after a while. You got the thing, the thing he lives in there, the thing closes all the time he must have figured out a way not to get squashed but it would mean that he would let go of Luke and release him, and then the next problem would be introduced, the doors closing.
