Citizendum unforks January 21, 2007

Citizendum aims to create a “new compendium of knowledge” based on the contributions of “intellectuals“, defined as “educated, thinking people who read about science or ideas regularly. (Wikipedia article)

Larry Sanger writes in his Citizendum blog:

So I asked myself: “Would you contribute more if the wiki were blank?” And I had to admit that I probably would. I mean, for example, that I would enjoy taking a fresh crack at the articles about philosophy, epistemology, Irish traditional music, and other topics–none of which is dealt with particularly well by Wikipedia.

So why not simply get rid of all those articles, and encourage people, by default, to start new articles altogether? If we weren’t forking Wikipedia, then I would be quite comfortable starting new articles. And, as I said, as things have been, I’ve felt like the first order of business would always be to read and fix the Wikipedia article.

My aim is to see a universal source of knowledge. If it’s called Wikipedia or Citizendum, I don’t really care. But to ignore nearly 2 millions of articles, it mustn’t be a good decision. Real experts will write excellent articles, no question about it, but nothing can substitute natural selection. Wikipedia is based on natural selection, that’s why I still work there as an administrator.

Keep on trying Larry, believe me, I support you, just this time you chose the wrong way…