I think I'm probably missing some elements of how Knol works... Anyone can create their own version of an article about something? And only pagerank and the starred rating determines which you see first? Won't they have an impossible noise problem?
Also, how do they deal with crap like this: http://knol.google.com/k/graham-colditz-md-drph/cancer-prevention/bzml3lSg/S... "Eight Ways To Prevent Cancer"? The article they've got on squamous cell carcinoma, for instance - lots of junk in it that we wouldn't normally include, so generally speaking I'd say its beneath FA standards. On the other hand, it beats the hell out of our article on the subject. [1][2]
Lastly, whats the import of the Creative Commons license they use? The articles I've seen are all CC-BY 3.0 - we can reuse content under that license, can't we?
1. http://knol.google.com/k/bryan-cho/squamous-cell-carcinoma-of-the-skin/VCa6d... 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squamous_cell_carcinoma