On Feb 11, 2007, at 11:15, Fred Bauder wrote:
The premise of Citizendium is that certified expertise
is important
in producing the product. There are potential problems, for
example, in law, most of the real experts are working, rates run
$200 a hour and more. To be sure, lawyers have fun too, and a few
might find editing an encyclopedia fun, but would even 5 genuine
experts be available? We accept 14 year olds here. I have voted for
people who said they were 14 years old to be arbitrators. But I
will be a lot more comfortable when that person has some life
experience.
Finding experts isn't the only potential problem. Being an expert
doesn't mean one can use English as effectively as is required for an
authoritative encyclopedia. Sure, experts can say, "this is factually
accurate," but can they explain in an encyclopedic tone the basics of
their field? Reading the biology article (the PDF version), I'd have
to say, so far, the answer is no. I'm astounded at the tone of the
article, a tone which insults my intelligence and treats me, the
reader, as if I were eight. It reads like a textbook, not a neutral
collection of information. And if the "authors", the ones who could
clean this up and make it more encyclopedic, are treated like they
don't matter, I don't think it is going to get much better. Unless
Citizendium has a hidden army of English majors. Which it might. But
maybe they are only allowed to edit linguistics articles.
I won't contest that maybe the editing atmosphere is more relaxed and
enjoyable, but I will contest that the outcome is the same or better.
It doesn't seem that Citizendium is going to achieve the critical
mass it requires either, but time will tell.
--keitei