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(a)gmail.com>
Date: May 14, 2007 1:11 PM
Subject: For the WikiEN-l list
To: george.herbert(a)gmail.com
++++++++++++++
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(a)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
--
Gregory Kohs
Cell: 302.463.1354
--
-george william herbert
george.herbert(a)gmail.com