[WikiEN-l] Community vs Encyclopedia

Sat Jun 3 17:32:52 UTC 2006

On 6/3/06, Joe Anderson <computerjoe.mailinglist at googlemail.com> wrote:
> However, four different viewpoints of the Wikipedia have emerged recently:
>
>   - It is an encyclopedia with a community
>   - It is a community with an encyclopedia
>   - It is an encyclopedia
>   - It is a community

Interesting. The dichotomy I most often see, that people have trouble
deciding on, is :

- Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia
- Wikipedia is a project to create an encyclopaedia

It's probably more of a naming thing than anything else, but it does
imply a point of view on whether the encyclopaedia has actually been
created yet. Is the online version of Wikipedia an encyclopaedia, or
is it a peek into a work in progress?

Steve