CZ:We aren't Wikipedia: Difference between revisions

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'''How is the ''Citizendium'' similar to Wikipedia?'''  
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#We aim to create a giant free general encyclopedia.
Citizendium was originally founded by [[Larry Sanger]], one of Wikipedia's co-founders.  Citizendium has gone through multiple different management models since its inception in 2006, but it has always adhered to its real-names policy. Let's look at how it compares with Wikipedia as of 2023.
#We're managed by a nonprofit (the Citizendium Foundation, a project of the Tides Center).
#We use [[Special:Version|MediaWiki software]].
#We use wiki methods of strong collaboration.  We don't sign articles or even have lead authors; we encourage everybody to "be bold".
#No credentials are needed to participate (as an author).
#We rely on "soft security" to a great extent.  We mostly trust people and solve what few behavioral problems arise.
#We are committed to a neutral, unbiased presentation of information.
#We have similar naming conventions, and some other style guidelines in common.
#Some our articles originally came from Wikipedia.
#The community and project has been organized by one of the persons who originally organized Wikipedia, [[User:Larry Sanger|Larry Sanger]].


'''How do we differ?'''
==How is Citizendium similar to Wikipedia?==
#'''We have editors.'''  They are experts in their fields.  They work shoulder-to-shoulder with everybody else on the wiki, but have a few extra responsibilities.
# Citizendium and Wikipedia both aim to create a giant free general encyclopedia.
#'''We respect them for their expertise.''' In an encyclopedia project, respect for expertise is just good sense.
# Citizendium and Wikipedia both use [[Special:Version|MediaWiki software]].
#'''We have a method for approving articles.'''  While Wikipedia has a "featured article" system, we have expert-approved articles. [[CZ:Approval Process|Our approval system]] depends on the judgment of experts.
# Citizendium and Wikipedia both use wiki methods of collaboration and encourage everybody to work on articles in their area of interest and expertise.
#'''Our community and contributors are different.''' (If you haven't yet discovered this for yourself, we encourage you to [[Special:RequestAccount|get a contributor account]].
# On both wikis, no particular qualifications are needed to contribute.
#*'''We have no vandalism.''' Excluding accounts created during the short period in which we permitted self-registration, we have had zero vandalism—none.
# Both wikis work on the basis of trust and rely on "soft security" to a great extent.
#*'''We use our own names and identities.'''  We require people to sign in, to use their own real names and to fill out a publicly readable biography.  We also go to some lengths to verify identities—and to greater lengths for editors.
# Both wikis have similar naming conventions and other style guidelines in common. See [[CZ:Manual of Style]] for the differences.
#*'''We expect professional behavior and have very low tolerance for disruption.'''  Our Constabulary has some [[CZ:Constabulary Blocking Procedures|pretty firm rules]] that require [[CZ:Professionalism|professionalism]]. This means that not only do we have rules against personal attacks, blatant violations of the neutrality policy.  We enforce our rules by warnings (in most cases) followed by permanent bans, which can be rescinded only through appeal or application for reinstatement.   
# Both wikis are committed to an [[CZ:Objectivity_Guidance|objective, unbiased]] presentation of information (although there are some differences as described in the following section).
#*'''Our Citizens are bound by a social contract.''' We are a community defined by shared principles expressed in our [[CZ:Charter]].
 
#*'''Our user pages are biographies, not vanity pages.''' We don't use "userboxes".   
== How is Citizendium different from Wikipedia? ==
#*'''We don't use excessive acronyms.'''  Using a lot of acronyms for every small point of policy creates a sort of in-group that makes the community insular and unintelligible.
# Citizendium contributors use their '''real names''' and identities, must sign in, and are expected provide a publicly readable biography listing some of the life experience or training that they have.  This policy exists to prevent vandalism and help contributors negotiate over article content.  Citizendium goes to some lengths to verify contributor identities. Its user pages are for brief, helpful biographies and are not intended as vanity pages.  Contributors are not allowed to promote their own resumes or business endeavors via this wiki.
#'''Our community managers (called "constables" not "administrators") are different.'''
# Citizendium defines '''objectivity''' differently than Wikipedia.  The "neutrality policy" of Wikipedia, as applied nowadays by its leading editors, is that Wikipedia is based solely on "reliable" sources. If there's a consensus of those, then Wikipedia asserts that as unquestioned fact in its own voice, and other points of view, no matter how widely held, may not even be mentioned. This differs rather widely from Citizendium's concept, which is that if there are important points of view that "the scientific community" or some such rejects, Citizendium just says so.<ref>Unlike Wikipedia, Citizendium discourages the loaded language which dismisses certain people and ideas in the first sentence of an article by use of labeling them immediately as "pseudo-scientific" or "fads". For an example of differences in Wikipedia's "neutrality policy" and Citizendium's "objectivity policy", look at Citizendium's treatment of [[Graham Hancock]], as compared with [[Wikipedia:Graham Hancock|Wikipedia's article on him]] with it's multiple uses of the label "pseudo-".  Citizendium would likely reject that first sentence as an example of loaded language which is far from objective.</ref> Citizendium also '''uses sources differently''' from Wikipedia; in Citizendium, sources are something to help the reader rather than a required "proof" for every single assertion made within an article.  
#*'''Our constables must have a bachelor's degree and be at least 25 years old.
# Citizendium is a '''community whose shared principles are expressed in its [[CZ:Policies|policies]]'''.  Citizendium managers have a low tolerance for disruption. Its management team has some [[CZ:Moderator Group Blocking Procedures|firm rules]] that require [[CZ:Professionalism|professionalism]]. There are rules against personal attacks, self-promotion, and blatant violations of the objectivity guidelines, usually enforced first by warnings delivered privately if possible.  The Citizendium community settles policies by discussion and (where necessary) voting by the community.  The management team is supported behind the scenes by a private advisory group with long-term experience in wiki use and management.  Any Citizendium contributor interested in managing the wiki may request to join this group by messaging the managing editor.
#*'''Unlike Wikipedia administrators, constables do not make editorial decisions.'''  We have a "separation of powers."  Constables oversee ''behavior and adherence to basic policies''; editors oversee ''content''.
# Citizendium encourages '''discussion of editorial options''' on article Talk pages and in the Forums.  The real-names policy allows a contributor's opinions (as expressed on Talk pages or the Forum) to be evaluated by the community with some reference to their life experience and professional qualifications. It helps us understand one another.  On Wikipedia, it is not uncommon for a contributor who wishes to control the content of an article quickly to archive the article's Talk page in order to hide the fact that someone has raised a point of contention requiring community debate.  On Citizendium, article Talk pages are not to be archived unless they become too long, and if defamatory content appears on them, management will simple remove the content from the page.
#*'''Unlike Wikipedia administrators, constables are held to a strict conflict of interest policy.''' If they have engaged in a dispute or are otherwise at work on an article, they may not exercise constable authority with respect to that article.  
# Citizendium has '''its own [[CZ:Content_Policy|content policy]]''' that differs from Wikipedia's idea of ''notability''.    Also, Citizendium articles are classified broadly into different '''[[CZ:Workgroups|Workgroups]]'''<ref>Workgroups are designated on the article's Metadata subpage template.  See [[CZ:Subpages|Subpages]] for more infromation.</ref> and normally, categories are not used on articles.   Works on Citizendium use the [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported (CC-by-sa)] license.  
#'''We are more than just an encyclopedia project.''' Attached to every article is a set of "[[CZ:subpages|subpages]]," or pages of supplementary reference information.  These will include not only lists of related articles, bibliographies, and external articles, but also galleries, tables, timelines, tutorials, and even signed introductory articles by experts.
# In terms of '''writing style''', Citizendium management prefers articles that are compelling introductory narratives, not mere collections of data. An excessive use of '''acronyms''' is discouraged on grounds that acronyms can render a topic unintelligible to non-experts.
#'''Policy decisions are made by representatives and plebiscites."'''   The ''Citizendium'' community will settle policies by discussion and (where necessary) vote of the Editorial Council, the Constabulary, and many editor-led workgroups.
# Attached to every article is a set of '''[[CZ:subpages|subpages]]''' of supplementary information.  These may include the standard tabs for related articles, bibliographies, and external articles, but also can be customized to include galleries, tables, timelines, tutorials, and signed introductory articles by experts.   
#'''The ''Citizendium'' editor-in-chief is a limited-term position; he is not "dictator for life."'''  
# Citizendium takes '''avoidance of defamation''' seriously. This is why it has a [[CZ:Policy on Topic Informants|Policy on Topic Informants]] and a [[CZ:Topic Informant Workgroup|Topic Informant Workgroup]].
#'''Our license for our own work differs.'''  Works that originate on Citizendium use the [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported (CC-by-sa)] license.
# At Citizendium, '''all contributors are equal'''. <ref>Formerly, Citizendium had experts in certain fields who were called Editors, and every Editor was also an Author; it also once had a [[CZ:Approval Process|method for producing citable articles]] that depended on the judgment of experts.  ''These features are not currently being used.''</ref>  A few of Citizendium's experienced contributors tend to help arbitrate editorial decisions via discussions on Talk pages or in the Forum.  Any contributor is welcome to weigh in with their ideas, opinions or helpful information.
#'''Our article policies differ.'''
#*'''Our aim is to craft compelling introductory narratives, not mere collections of data.''' #*'''We use an older version of the neutrality policy.''' Wikipedia has added all sorts of bells and whistles to its original neutrality policy.  We've gone back to one of the original versions.   
#*'''We take defamation seriously.''' This is why we have a [[CZ:Policy on Topic Informants|Policy on Topic Informants]] and a [[CZ:Topic Informant Workgroup|Topic Informant Workgroup]].
#*'''We take a more sensible approach to citing sources.'''  The editors we have on board actually ''create'' the sort of sources that Wikipedia cites. We do cite sources, of course, but we have [[CZ:Article Mechanics#Citations|a sensible approach]] to doing so. We cite sources because doing so helps ''the reader''.  We ''do not'' cite sources in order to settle internal disputes, or to "prove" a point to contributors.  
#*'''We talk about maintainability (or feasibility), not notability.''' We have a [[CZ:Maintainability|Maintainability]] policy.
#*'''We aren't going to use categories.
#*'''We don't overuse templates.'''  
#*'''We will never have nearly as many articles about porn stars and sexual fetishes.'''  We aim to be family-friendly.
#'''We don't have as many articles.'''  Yet.


== See also ==
== See also ==
Line 45: Line 28:
*[[CZ:How to convert Wikipedia articles to Citizendium articles|How to convert Wikipedia articles to Citizendium articles]]
*[[CZ:How to convert Wikipedia articles to Citizendium articles|How to convert Wikipedia articles to Citizendium articles]]
*''Citizendium'' Blog post (Feb. 28, 2008): [http://blog.citizendium.org/2008/02/28/whos-more-command-and-control-wikipedia-or-cz/ Who's more command-and-control, Wikipedia or CZ?]
*''Citizendium'' Blog post (Feb. 28, 2008): [http://blog.citizendium.org/2008/02/28/whos-more-command-and-control-wikipedia-or-cz/ Who's more command-and-control, Wikipedia or CZ?]
== Notes ==
<references>
</references>


{{organization}}
{{organization}}

Latest revision as of 11:04, 7 March 2024


Citizendium was originally founded by Larry Sanger, one of Wikipedia's co-founders. Citizendium has gone through multiple different management models since its inception in 2006, but it has always adhered to its real-names policy. Let's look at how it compares with Wikipedia as of 2023.

How is Citizendium similar to Wikipedia?

  1. Citizendium and Wikipedia both aim to create a giant free general encyclopedia.
  2. Citizendium and Wikipedia both use MediaWiki software.
  3. Citizendium and Wikipedia both use wiki methods of collaboration and encourage everybody to work on articles in their area of interest and expertise.
  4. On both wikis, no particular qualifications are needed to contribute.
  5. Both wikis work on the basis of trust and rely on "soft security" to a great extent.
  6. Both wikis have similar naming conventions and other style guidelines in common. See CZ:Manual of Style for the differences.
  7. Both wikis are committed to an objective, unbiased presentation of information (although there are some differences as described in the following section).

How is Citizendium different from Wikipedia?

  1. Citizendium contributors use their real names and identities, must sign in, and are expected provide a publicly readable biography listing some of the life experience or training that they have. This policy exists to prevent vandalism and help contributors negotiate over article content. Citizendium goes to some lengths to verify contributor identities. Its user pages are for brief, helpful biographies and are not intended as vanity pages. Contributors are not allowed to promote their own resumes or business endeavors via this wiki.
  2. Citizendium defines objectivity differently than Wikipedia. The "neutrality policy" of Wikipedia, as applied nowadays by its leading editors, is that Wikipedia is based solely on "reliable" sources. If there's a consensus of those, then Wikipedia asserts that as unquestioned fact in its own voice, and other points of view, no matter how widely held, may not even be mentioned. This differs rather widely from Citizendium's concept, which is that if there are important points of view that "the scientific community" or some such rejects, Citizendium just says so.[1] Citizendium also uses sources differently from Wikipedia; in Citizendium, sources are something to help the reader rather than a required "proof" for every single assertion made within an article.
  3. Citizendium is a community whose shared principles are expressed in its policies. Citizendium managers have a low tolerance for disruption. Its management team has some firm rules that require professionalism. There are rules against personal attacks, self-promotion, and blatant violations of the objectivity guidelines, usually enforced first by warnings delivered privately if possible. The Citizendium community settles policies by discussion and (where necessary) voting by the community. The management team is supported behind the scenes by a private advisory group with long-term experience in wiki use and management. Any Citizendium contributor interested in managing the wiki may request to join this group by messaging the managing editor.
  4. Citizendium encourages discussion of editorial options on article Talk pages and in the Forums. The real-names policy allows a contributor's opinions (as expressed on Talk pages or the Forum) to be evaluated by the community with some reference to their life experience and professional qualifications. It helps us understand one another. On Wikipedia, it is not uncommon for a contributor who wishes to control the content of an article quickly to archive the article's Talk page in order to hide the fact that someone has raised a point of contention requiring community debate. On Citizendium, article Talk pages are not to be archived unless they become too long, and if defamatory content appears on them, management will simple remove the content from the page.
  5. Citizendium has its own content policy that differs from Wikipedia's idea of notability. Also, Citizendium articles are classified broadly into different Workgroups[2] and normally, categories are not used on articles. Works on Citizendium use the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported (CC-by-sa) license.
  6. In terms of writing style, Citizendium management prefers articles that are compelling introductory narratives, not mere collections of data. An excessive use of acronyms is discouraged on grounds that acronyms can render a topic unintelligible to non-experts.
  7. Attached to every article is a set of subpages of supplementary information. These may include the standard tabs for related articles, bibliographies, and external articles, but also can be customized to include galleries, tables, timelines, tutorials, and signed introductory articles by experts.
  8. Citizendium takes avoidance of defamation seriously. This is why it has a Policy on Topic Informants and a Topic Informant Workgroup.
  9. At Citizendium, all contributors are equal. [3] A few of Citizendium's experienced contributors tend to help arbitrate editorial decisions via discussions on Talk pages or in the Forum. Any contributor is welcome to weigh in with their ideas, opinions or helpful information.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Unlike Wikipedia, Citizendium discourages the loaded language which dismisses certain people and ideas in the first sentence of an article by use of labeling them immediately as "pseudo-scientific" or "fads". For an example of differences in Wikipedia's "neutrality policy" and Citizendium's "objectivity policy", look at Citizendium's treatment of Graham Hancock, as compared with Wikipedia's article on him with it's multiple uses of the label "pseudo-". Citizendium would likely reject that first sentence as an example of loaded language which is far from objective.
  2. ↑ Workgroups are designated on the article's Metadata subpage template. See Subpages for more infromation.
  3. ↑ Formerly, Citizendium had experts in certain fields who were called Editors, and every Editor was also an Author; it also once had a method for producing citable articles that depended on the judgment of experts. These features are not currently being used.


Citizendium Organization
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