CZ:Introduction to CZ for Wikipedians

Welcome Wikipedians and ex-Wikipedians!

Before you be bold and start contributing, please read this document all the way through. By doing so, you can be sure that your work at Citizendium will get off on the right foot, and that you won't run into any unexpected snags.

There are some very important "do's and dont's" that Wikipedians in particular may have to bear in mind. Wikipedia's policies either do not apply here or have been fundamentally altered. We have our own ways of doing things, you might say. At the same time, some of Citizendium's policies are remarkably similar to Citizendium's. But which are which?

After reading this document, you may also want to read about the really big differences between the Citizendium and Wikipedia.

What Citizendium is NOT

Well, its not a lot of things, but the main thing we want to get across is that Citizendium is NOT a mirror of Wikipedia. Absolutely do not simply copy content from Wikipedia to Citizendium without working on it. If you wish to import material from Wikipedia, it must be because you have immediate plans to improve it. See How to convert Wikipedia articles to Citizendium articles for directions.

Exception: If you are the primary author or manager of an article or class of articles (e.g., about vipers or astrophysics) and you intend to continue your work on and maintenance of the article(s) here. In such a case, place a note to that effect at the top of the article talk page(s); otherwise, your imports are apt to be deleted.

New and unfamiliar practices

We have several practices that will be new and unfamiliar to Wikipedians:

• The "Content is from Wikipedia?" tick-box. If any content of an article — even one sentence — came from Wikipedia and you aren't the sole author of that content, be absolutely sure you check it. It is just above the "Save page" button. There are multifarious reasons for why we must be completely above board in this matter.

• The [[:Category:CZ Live]] category. Place it into articles you write from scratch. Do not place it into articles you have copied from Wikipedia, unless you have made significant changes in at least three different places. See the definition of "live".

• The [[CZ:The Article Checklist|The Article Checklist]]. Place it into all new articles. You can help in the effort by participating in The Big Cleanup.

• Workgroups, Workgroup Category Tags, and Workgroup Recent Changes

The above new practices are things you can use every time you do work on the Citizendium. See We aren't Wikipedia for other new practices.

Get ready to rethink how to write encyclopedia articles!

You're probably used to well-developed Wikipedia articles being divided into many short sections, full of bulleted lists, and written in dense prose that shows off erudition more than really introducing a topic to readers who actually need an introduction. Too often, it seems that Wikipedians write more for other Wikipedians than for people who really need an introduction to a topic.

By contrast, we want Citizendium articles to be highly readable introductions written in compelling, narrative prose that really do the job of introducing a topic to people who need one. This doesn't mean our articles will have less information or be more lightweight. Rather, it means we simplify the difficult, engage our readers, and allow writer's voice. In short, we make it hard for anyone to want to click away from an article until they have read it all the way through.

For further information, see Article Mechanics. It will probably be a quite different take on writing encyclopedia articles than what most Wikipedians are used to. You might also want to have look at Sage advice on writing CZ articles, and a few examples among our approved articles while comparing them with their Wikipedia counterparts. Even some of our developing articles exhibit the difference we are talking about, e.g., our Anthropology article and Wikipedia's version.

Notice also that we aren't putting contributor-oriented templates, such as Wikipedia's neutrality templates, atop our articles.

Behaving like a pro

The concept of professionalism richly captures the culture to which the Citizendium strives. Our professionalism policy is our cornerstone behavior policy and is about much more than just our low tolerance for uncivil and disruptive behavior that can quickly result in permanent banning. It is about our decided intent to enforce a respectful, pleasant, and productive working environment. This is so even when contributors may be working out disagreements and critiquing others' work.

Examples of unprofessional behaviors at Citizendium include:

• Reverting others' work. We have a no-unexplained-revert rule. You must justify any reversion on the talk page and try give others a chance to revert their own work.
• Deletion of others' work without explanation. Deletion of more than 50 words can result in a warning, followed by a ban. Vandalism is excluded.
• Attacks on another's moral character, personal or professional credibility. This applies whether done with Citizendium or other resources.
• Threats of any kind. You'll not only be banned by us but your local authorities will be contacted in serious cases.
• Disrespectful characterization of another's work. We critique it respectfully instead, even if it maybe really is bunk.
• Retaliation when wronged. We call a constable instead and refuse to let go unreported any offenses we see.

Simply put, professional conduct is mandatory here. Professionalism is what differentiates our culture from that of many other Web 2.0 communities. And no one has to be a professional to act professionally.

Handling content disputes without "edit warring"

Content disputes are inevitable, but we simply will not tolerate edit warring. If you disagree with another participant, the first step is to discuss the matter on the talk page; if no satisfactory compromise can be reached, the next step is to ask an editor in the relevant area and with the relevant expertise to adjudicate. We do plan to have a more sophisticated dispute resolution mechanism, but we haven't needed to implement it yet. We've been quite successful at actually collaborating and compromising.

Our world is not flat: editors, authors, and constables

At Wikipedia, everyone has the same role when it comes to making judgments about article content. Between competing citations and changing "consensus", disputes can seem never-ending. We think our system is an evolution to that model.

Editors

You already know we make a special role for experts and that we respect them. But this does not at all mean you cannot professionally argue your case with them; you most definitely should. We feel it is very freeing to have experts on-board who are empowered to make decisions amidst content disputes. Although you might be somewhat skeptical at this point, you'll probably find yourself heartily agreeing after a while — especially after you see your work appearing in articles that have been approved!

Authors

Editors are authors too, but what can authors do? Almost everything. Authors can start new articles, edit existing articles, talk things over on the talk page, and much else. Authors work side-by-side with not only other authors, but with real experts in their field. And our editors aren't distant overseers looking down from the Olympian heights. To edit, editors must work shoulder-to-shoulder with authors and other editors. Contrary to some reports, we ain't elitist.

For more on author functions, please see Authors and Authoring Citizendium Articles.

Constables

Our constables are Citizendium's "community managers" or "Sysops". They oversee adherence to basic policies, and settle behavioral problems whereas editors settle content disputes. Constables also review applications and create new accounts. They operate within a "separation of powers" and are held to a strict conflict of interest policy. Constables may not act as constables in articles where they have acted as authors or editors. All hold at least a bachelor's degree and are at least 25 years old. For further information see Constabulary Policy.

Constables replace attacks of any kind with our {{civil}} template, which reads,

Text here was removed by the Constabulary on grounds of civility. (The author may replace this template with an edited version of the original remarks.)

Attacks result in a warning or even a ban, depending on the case.

Moreover, if you have any complaints to make about other users, no matter how well justified, please don't make them on the wiki. Constables remove complaints and replace them with the {{nocomplaints}} template, which reads:

A comment here was deleted by The Constabulary on grounds of making complaints about fellow Citizens. If you have a complaint about the behavior of another Citizen, e-mail constables@citizendium.org. It is contrary to Citizendium policy to air your complaints on the wiki. See also CZ:Professionalism.

All of our constables are very friendly and helpful, but don't make the mistake of taking that to mean they play fast and loose with the rules. They don't. Constables only block permanently, nothing less. For further information see Constabulary Blocking Procedures.

To "call a constable," please email constables@citizendium.com.

Images

Any type of open content license images are allowable and preferred, although images from Wikipedia or the Wikimedia Commons must pass a two-pronged test before you upload them to Citizendium. Fully copyrighted images are allowable in Citizendium if you place proof of permission in a Permission subpage of the image's talk page. We are still working out our policy on fair use of images, so please withhold uploading fair use images until our policy is finalized.

All images lacking clear copyright data are subject to speedy deletion by constables acting on their own recognizance. Citizendium editors will not nominate articles for approval if the status of their images is unclear.

See Images Help on Copyrights for more detail.

Not categories and projects but workgroups

Wikpedians self-organize into Projects whose foci are articles in certain categories. Citizendium organizes authors and editors into discipline workgroups. Editors are assigned their workgroups, while authors simply add themselves to whichever workgroups they choose. You should join author workgroups straightway after your account has been created.

Article deletion policy

The general rule about article deletion is that articles should be deleted if their continued existence would create more work and frustration, in the long run, for either contributors or users, than deleting them. This is the essence of our Maintainability policy. It is distinctly different from Wikipedia's notability policy.

Constables may delete articles that are not maintainable. Editor permission is required for deletion of other articles. See CZ:Article Deletion Policy for elaboration.

On stubs and lists

At Wikipedia, creating lots of stubs is considered productive. Someone will always come along and add to it — eventually. At Citizendium, we prefer you start one or just a few articles, and concentrate on them until they are approved.

At Wikipedia, creating lists of various types is acceptable. At Citizendium, we create articles first, and sometimes lists afterward.

Don't spill alphabet soup! — POV, RS, V, OR, etc.

We wish to avoid having an insular, unintelligible community. Accordingly, we don't use neologisms like "NPOV" and "POV", "RS", and "OR". Our Chief Constable has made this a bannable offense. We're not sure whether she's kidding or not. Just use plain English. Any page shortcuts you find are exclusively for your personal use.

Family friendly

Wikipedia is not censored does not apply here. We won't have as many articles about porn stars and sexual fetishes. Those we do have will be scholarly and tactful, and none will contain graphic photos.

DON'T ignore all rules

Larry Sanger wrote Wikipedia's original Ignore all rules policy as a way to encourage people to be bold and not sit on the sidelines just because they, for example, did not know wiki markup (you can have a look at the original document). Yet over time, Ignore All Rules has been interpreted to have a "deep and subtle meaning".

Simply put, if you attempt to ignore all rules on Citizendium, you will rapidly meet up with one of our constables.

For further reading

• Citizendium's Statement of Fundamental Policies - The document you endorsed before being granted Citizendium membership.
• A dozen things you should know about - From How to get started with the Citizendium pilot.