[Foundation-l] Should we offer to host citizendium?

[Hans A. Rosbach]

On 12 November 2010 10:13, Gerard Meijssen <gerard.meijssen at gmail.com>wrote:

> <grin> I would even like the idea of us helping
> encyclopaedia Brittanica in a similar way </grin>
> Thanks,
>      GerardM
>
> Brittanica may or may not be in need of some help, I don't know. But the
Norwegian equivalent "Store Norske Leksikon" is definitely in need of some
help. The publishing company have made an unsuccessful attempt at getting
governmental financial aid after about a year of offering an
advertisement-supported portal with an alternative way to involve the public
in extending it. With not only one, but two 50000+ Norwegian language
Wikipedias to compete against, that attempt lasted about a year when they
found that they would not succeed alone. The government has refused to help,
but they gave the source away, and now some private money - 30 MNOK - is
available for the resulting project for the next 3 years.

I don't think they are anywhere near wanting "our" help, but I as a
Wikipedian in the biggest of the two Norwegian Wikipedias, no.wikipedia.org,
I would definitely have been supportive of giving aid in the form of
hosting.

We have become the superpower, and that gives us a moral obligation to think
beyond our own projects. Among the things we ought to be wary of is
monoculture. If Wikipedia becomes the only source for encyclopaedic
information, not only does that make the world poorer, but it makes our own
projects poorer. Wikipedia needs the competition, if for no other reason
than for strengthening ourselves.

Hans A. Rosbach
no:user:haros