[WikiEN-l] Sister project templates for non-sister projects

Wed Apr 27 04:59:42 UTC 2005

There are now at least two templates:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template%3AWikitravel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template%3AWikicities

that point to projects that are not operated by the Wikimedia 
Foundation, but which look exactly like Wikimedia Sister Project templates:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia%3ASister_projects

Both the Wikitravel and Wikicities template are used on lots of pages.

It's difficult enough to explain to people the difference between wikis, 
Wikimedia, and MediaWiki. We're not helping our case by using identical 
templates for outside projects. In the case of Wikicities, we especially 
want to avoid this confusion, as Wikicities is a for-profit, and 
Wikimedia is a non-profit.

I recall that the Wikitravel template was listed for deletion, with the 
rationale that regular external links should be used, but there were too 
many Wikitravel fans opposed to it to get through. The Wikicities 
template would likely meet a similar fate.

So we need a better solution to make it clear that these are not 
Wikimedia projects.

My proposal would be to list *free content* websites somewhat 
differently from normal ones, but to not give them a full-blown "sister 
project" type box. For example:

== External links ==
  ____________________________________
| [[Free content]] links:            |
| * Wikitravel                       |
| * Wikicities                       |
|____________________________________|

Where the box symbolizes a different background color. But that's just 
the first thing I can think of - other ideas would be welcome as well.

Note that I would classify "non-commercial only" licenses as non-free. 
There should at least be theoretical compatibility with Wikipedia.

All best,

Erik