CZ:About

Citizendium originally described itself as a "citizens' compendium of everything", an open wiki project dedicated to creating a free, comprehensive, and reliable repository of structured knowledge. The community was to be built on the principles of trust and respect; contributors, or "citizens", would work under their own real names, and all were expected to behave professionally and responsibly. Additionally, experts were invited to play a gentle role in overseeing this structuring of knowledge. The Citizendium ratified a Charter in 2010 that was drawn up in an attempt at governance. It is no longer in effect.

As of 2020, there is a wide consensus that the wiki was unsuccessful in achieving its original goals (see https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-Wikipedia-and-Citizendium). A few dedicated writers have continued working in the wiki, originating some new articles, and improving older articles that they believe are useful and that for various reasons probably could not be written in Wikipedia. On or about Sept. 30, 2020, we plan to end Citizendium as a public "open" project, yet (possibly) keep the wiki running and editable by a combination of donations and subscriptions. How this might be implemented is still being examined.