[WikiEN-l] NuNotNuPedia (again) (was The whole point of wikipedia)

Mon Oct 24 10:15:36 UTC 2005

David Gerard wrote

>Martin Richards wrote:

>>I think it is only a matter of time before a clone of wikipedia pops up 
>>with
>>restricted editing, gains some popularity (especially with academics), and
>>over time makes Wikipedia start to look like the urban dicionary.

>There's probably a happy medium between Wikipedia and Nupedia,
actually. I can easily picture something using MediaWiki or a variant
with a workflow something like Wikinews. Get academics to write and
sign articles. Release the results under GFDL and maybe CC-by-sa.
Source Wikipedia articles (under GFDL only, of course) that pass
muster. It could be quite complementary to Wikipedia.

>From where I sit, surveying the mathematics coverage, there are a few 
reasons for doubting the scenario:

1. A moderated site, PlanetMath, has done good work, without attracting 
people as good as WP-en has
2. Their articles are worthy but easy to improve with freer editing
3. We are beginning to get more articles about current research, the real 
USP for a hot site

Academics who even consider doing pro bono expository work have of course a 
free choice.  They all have departmental web space; if they just want to 
write surveys and essays, they can post there easily.

Charles