I have attempted to consolidate and expand upon the answers to many of the concerns raised about Wikispecies on the Wikipedia-l mailing list over the last few days.

Please see http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikispecies_FAQ . The page includes both questions specific to Wikispecies, as well as the wider issues concerning the decision making processes of the Wikimedia Board, including the following questions:

1 What is Wikispecies? 2 Is Wikispecies a fork of Wikipedia? 3 Why is Wikispecies not part of Wikipedia? 4 Why is Wikispecies not part of the Wikimedia Commons? 5 What happens if people start writing encyclopedia articles on Wikispecies? 6 What if people want Wikiwar, Wikichemistry etc 7 Was there consensus on starting this project? 8 Was Wikispecies a board decision? 9 Where was this announced? 10 Why was the full log of the meeting not published? 11 What is the next step for Wikispecies?

Angela.