[Wikipedia-l] Fork within a language

[Ian]

On Mon, 18 Mar 2002, Lars Aronsson lars at aronsson.se XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX wrote:
[snip]
> Could a Wiki devoted to history have a place outside of Wikipedia?
> When describing London, it would focus on the city's historic
> features, not on the facets of today's London.  Then again,
> Wikipedia's entries on many things are focused on history.  It is
> almost as if Wikipedia is that history Wiki.  History, after all, is
> so much more in line with the contents of an encyclopedia than is
> object-oriented software development.

I think the history of London certainly has a place in an encyclopedia.
One problem I think Wikipedia is facing, but is sorting out, is how to
deal with large amounts of text about a subject. I don't think we should
force people to decide between linking to page about current London and
its history. The current solution seems to be to have an opening page
[[London]] and then [[London (History)]] or [[History of London]].

> Could a leftist-point-of-view Wiki exist side by side with Wikipedia?
> It would carefully point out any misuse of power, and list activist
> and political groups.  Its logotype could be a hammer-and-sickle or
> simply a red star on white background.  (There is already a leftist
> encyclopedia (non-Wiki) in Danish on http://www.leksikon.org/)

Um, no. If it did, it would be sit next to in the same way Nupedia sits
next to Wikipedia.

> A youth culture Wiki might list all the hot dance clubs in London, but
> forget the British Museum.  (Does Wikipedia list any clubs at all?)
> The entire Wiki could be white text on black background.
> 
> I think target groups, focus, design, logotypes would be different
> for each one of these Wikis.  Just like websites are different today.
> Some titles (like "London") would exist in several of them, but with a
> different slant.  Some titles (like "British Museum") might only exist
> in Wikipedia.
> 
> If all of these Wikis existed side by side, how would Wikipedia best
> take advantage of this expanded network?  Should Wikipedia be its
> backbone, or try to be self-sufficient, ignoring the outside world?
> 
> Just to be clear: I'm not suggesting a fork of Wikipedia.
> 

If such places are created and released their stuff under a usable
license or public domain, we could list them on the Public Domain
resources page with the rest of them. None of them are really within the 
mission of Wikipedia.

Ian Monroe
http://mlug.missouri.edu/~eean/