Revision 180166363 of "Wikipedia:Wikinfo" on enwiki

{{Merge|History of Wikipedia|date=September 2007}}
{{dated prod|concern = {{{concern|no really evidence of notability presented, just some weak self-references and various bits of tat.}}}|month = December|day = 25|year = 2007|time = 23:38|timestamp = 20071225233807}}
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{{Infobox Website
| name = Wikinfo
| logo = [[Image:Wikiowl.gif]]<br>'''Wikinfo logo'''
| url = http://www.wikinfo.org/
| commercial = No
| type = [[Internet encyclopedia project]]
| language = English
| registration = available
| owner = [[ibiblio]]
| author = [[User:Fred Bauder|Fred Bauder]]
| author = Various
}}

'''Wikinfo''', formerly known as '''Internet-Encyclopedia''' (renamed in January [[2004]]), is an online [[encyclopedia]] and a [[Fork (software development)|fork]] of the [[English Wikipedia]]<ref>{{cite journal|title=Can History Be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past|author=Roy Rosenzweig|volume=93|issue=1|date=June 2006|journal=The Journal of American History|url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/93.1/rosenzweig.html|publisher=Organization of American Historians}}</ref> initiated by Fred Bauder in July 2003. It is hosted by [[ibiblio]].

==Wikinfo policies==
Rather than adopting Wikipedia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view neutral point of view] editorial policy, Wikinfo's policy on a contributor's [[perspective (cognitive)|point of view]] is to edit for a sympathetic point of view.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Case of Mutual Aid: Wikipedia, Politeness, and Perspective Taking|author=Joseph M. Reagle Jr.|url=http://reagle.org/joseph/2004/agree/wikip-agree.html|date=2004}}</ref><ref name="telepolis">{{cite web|author=Erik Möller|url=http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/19/19859/1.html|title=Der Stein der Wikis|work=[[Telepolis]]|date=[[2005-04-11]]|language=German}}</ref> This policy endeavors to present a subject or concept in a favorable light. A main article is written from a sympathetic point of view, described as "a way of encouraging a pluralism of content, rather than limiting content to an unattainable encyclopedic goal."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.internet-encyclopedia.org/wiki.php?title=Sympathetic_point_of_view|title=Wikinfo: Sympathetic point of view|accessdate = 2006-09-12}}</ref> A critical article in the style of ''"[Main article title]: A critical view"'' is likewise encouraged. A set of articles about a particular topic are split into a number of articles with a specified point of view&mdash; thus Wikinfo can have several points of view on each topic, each linked to the other at the top of the article.

Users of Wikinfo feel this policy is a way of escaping debilitating [[edit war]]s (disagreements in which [[wiki]] editors undo one another's changes repeatedly), which they perceive to be frequent on Wikipedia.  They aim to avoid becoming "hamstrung by squabbling [[sysop]]s getting [[Legalism (Western philosophy)|legalistic]] about their [[bias]]es," as Wikinfo user ''Proteus'' describes Wikipedia.<ref name=promote>{{cite web|url=http://www.wikinfo.org/wiki.php?title=Wikinfo:Village_pump/Archive_2|title=Wikinfo: Village pump|accessdate = 2006-09-12}}</ref>  Some Wikinfo users appreciate the fact that their submissions are not edited as frequently as on Wikipedia.<ref name=promote />

Wikinfo accepts and encourages [[original research]] from their writers, and states: "Creativity and diversity are strongly encouraged in our articles. This means we do not encourage the capricious generation of factoids, but the deeper connections and discussion of new patterns revealed to us by other knowledge."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wikinfo.org/wiki.php?title=Wikinfo:About|title=Wikinfo:About|accessdate = 2006-12-22}}</ref>

==Importation and modification of articles==

Wikinfo uses the [[GNU Free Documentation License]] for most of its text, which allows verbatim copying and modification as long as derivative works remain licensed under the same terms. Wikinfo also supports signed articles, which are not subject to substantial editing by others and can be released under another license.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wikinfo.org/wiki.php?title=Wikinfo:Signed_articles|title=Wikinfo: Signed articles|accessdate = 2006-09-12}}</ref> In contrast with Wikipedia, Wikinfo does not allow unregistered editing; this is done to prevent vandalism and protect users' privacy, as unregistered users still have their [[IP address]]es publicly revealed and recorded. As of August 2007, there is some activity on Wikinfo, with several hundred edits per week.<ref name="stats"/> The site states that there are approximately one thousand user accounts and 29 administrators, including Bauder himself.<ref name="stats">{{cite web|url=http://www.internet-encyclopedia.org/index.php/Special:Statistics|title=Wikinfo:Statistics|accessdate = 2007-08-09}}</ref>

By December 2007 Wikinfo had approximately 37,700 articles. The process of importing articles had been accelerated by using an interface called GetWiki, a highly modified version of release 1.1.0 of the [[MediaWiki]] software (2003) used to power Wikipedia and other [[website]]s. The intention of GetWiki's author, M.R.M. Parrott ("proteus"), was to add some new features to MediaWiki, but it was decided to [[Fork (software)|fork]] the codebase from the MediaWiki project in January 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.getwiki.net/wiki.php?title=GetWiki:1.0|title=GetWiki:1.0|accessdate=2007-02-07}}</ref> Instead of red links, GetWiki uses green links to point to articles which do not exist locally.

When the user follows such a link, GetWiki tries to dynamically fetch it from the wiki designated as an external source (in Wikinfo's case, the English Wikipedia), then renders and displays the article text. A local copy is created only if the page is edited. Effectively, Wikinfo therefore provides a [[transparency (computing)|transparent]] "wrapper" around Wikipedia pages which have not yet been copied.

Wikinfo no longer uses GetWiki.

==Multilingual==
Although there are no subdomains on Wikinfo to separate articles of different languages, Wikinfo allows articles in languages other than English and requests that articles on the same topic in different languages link to each other.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.internet-encyclopedia.org/index.php/Wikinfo:About/Purpose|title=Wikinfo:About/Purpose|accessdate=2007-09-25}}</ref> Existing links to Wikipedia articles in other languages are retained in the case of articles copied from Wikipedia.

==See also==
Other general-purpose wiki encyclopedias:
* [[Wikiweise]] (German)
* [[WikiZnanie]] (Russian)
* [[Susning.nu]] (Swedish)
* [[Enciclopedia Libre]] (Spanish)
* [[Citizendium]] (English)

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Klobas, Jane ''et al.'' (2006). ''Wikis: Tools for information work and collaboration''. Oxford: Chandos Publishing. ISBN 1-84334-178-6. {{OCLC|63136958}}. pp 45-46. 

==External links==
* [http://www.wikinfo.org/wiki.phtml Wikinfo main page] (Main - FJB)
* [http://www.wikinfo.org/wiki.php?title=Wikinfo:About/Comparisons_to_Wikipedia Comparisons to Wikipedia]
* [http://www.getwiki.net/ GetWiki website] (fork - proteus)
{{Wikipediahistory}}

[[Category:Internet properties established in 2003]]
[[Category:Free encyclopedias]]
[[Category:Free websites]]
[[Category:Wikis]]
[[Category:GFDL]]
[[Category:History of Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Online encyclopedias]]
[[Category:Websites which use Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Wiki communities]]

[[cs:Wikinfo]]
[[de:Wikinfo]]
[[eo:Wikinfo]]