Forwarded for Gregory Kohs, who believes he's being moderated. I think the content is useful and on topic.

-george

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Gregory Kohs thekohser@gmail.com Date: May 14, 2007 1:11 PM Subject: For the WikiEN-l list To: george.herbert@gmail.com

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They're not getting it at all. If we lose editorial control and include absolutely everyone, we won't be an encyclopedia any longer. There's nothing stopping people from making a people wiki, but it doesn't have to be Wikipedia. You actually need to have done something noteworthy to be listed here, and there's plenty of people who don't even meet such a basic definition.

Mgm

Might be an interesting project/experiment to do a notability-not-required en.wikibios.org project or somesuch, with our other editing standards.

On the other hand, trying to track down vandals and libel through 300m odd US entries seems daunting.

-- -george william herbert george.herbert@gmail.com

George, what you've described is exactly what we are trying to accomplish at Centiare.com. We're using the Semantic Mediawiki software, and we have little to no "notability" requirements. So, if you want to imagine a directory of 300 million Americans -- not to mention 14 million American businesses -- Centiare is your place. Wait, there's no need to even limit it to America. Portuguese, Kenyans, Germans, and Malaysians are welcome, too! (No Angolans need apply. Just kidding.)

We're dealing with vandals as follows:

(1) Users must register (and reply) with a non-throwaway e-mail account.

(2) Legal entities (i.e., living persons, operational companies, political bodies) are encouraged to take "ownership" of their topical article in Centiare's "Directory Space". The Directory Space is not open to community-editing. Therefore, while Joe Schmoe might register an account and create an unflattering Directory page about former President Jimmy Carter, if it's truly egregious, we can delete the page and/or block User Schmoe. Preferably, though, Mr. Carter (or one of his approved agents) will join Centiare, take ownership of the article, and write from an "advocate point of view". It's highly unlikely that Jimmy Carter would choose to vandalize his own protected article.

So, Centiare might be called a "vanity directory" as opposed to an encyclopedia.

Centiare's hurdle (despite about 900 page views per day) has been getting more users to register and write articles about themselves, their companies, their home town, the book they're writing, the album they're recording, etc. The site is even promoting a contest with $300 in cash prizes for wiki editing (just Google the words "Centiare Prize"). All Wikipedians who might have a personal yen to promote themselves or their enterprises are welcome to give it a try.

Kindly,

Greg