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