On Sep 11, 2005, at 4:50 AM, Alphax wrote:
Alright, why do the Star Wars wiki and Memory Alpha exist? Can't the information in them go into Wikipedia (yes, I know that Memory Alpha is not GFDL-compatible)?
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I think this is an excellent point, actually - I think Memory Alpha is another example of a Very Bad Thing, and that the fact that they forked and used a different license is a devastating blow to our Star Trek coverage that will NEVER HEAL. Every article I have read on Memory Alpha would have made a fine Wikipedia article. And we get none of it.
I'd say we need to make up our mind on whether we want to be the sum total of human knowledge or the sum total of human knowledge that will get us mainstream respect, but there's nothing to make our mind up about. We want the former.
David is right. We would be better off with disks overflowing with band vanity, original research, and poo jokes. Those don't do damage to the community and to the long term success of the project. The fact that we have to share the volunteers on Star Trek articles with Memory Alpha, and that the work can never be merged does. So does every other fork.
-Snowspinner