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Welcome to Citizendium - encyclopedia article - Citizendium
"What is the point of the Citizendium," you might ask, "when Wikipedia is so huge and of reasonably good quality? Is there really a need for it?"
There is a better way for humanity to come together to make an encyclopedia.
To put it forcefully: there is a better way for humanity to come together to make an encyclopedia. So we make this appeal to you. If we can do better than Wikipedia—or more positively, if we can pioneer a truly effective way to gather knowledge—then shouldn't we?
In response to this, a critic might argue: but you can't do better than Wikipedia. It has millions of articles, it is ranked #8 in traffic, it has thousands of very active contributors, and Nature did a report saying the accuracy of its science articles was not far below that of Encyclopedia Britannica. As the saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
But to make our case, we don't have to say that Wikipedia is broken. While different Citizens have different views about Wikipedia's merits, we agree on one thing: we, humanity, can do better. But why think that the Citizendium, in particular, can do better?
1 comment:
As an early committed contributor to Citizendium -- with over 3,500 edits on the site -- I have to say it is moribund. Though Wikipedia has its problems, its coverage is enormous, and it would take a decade or more at its present rate of growth for Citizendium to come close. A good idea that just didn't draw enough support, Citizendium may be a model for the future, but the site itself is largely useless.
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