Critical views of Wikinfo
From Wikinfo
- See also: Wikinfo
Wikinfo was inspired by Wikipedia in an attempt to solve some of the problems of Wikipedia, however Wikinfo is no stranger to challenges. The site is an evolving "fork" of Wikipedia, but remains underdeveloped as big-brother Wikipedia continues to steal the spotlight in the wikisphere.
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Sympathetic Point of View
The main difference between Wikipedia and Wikinfo is the policy on point of view. Because most articles on Wikinfo are imported copies of the Wikipedia articles, the majority of Wikinfo content was actually written (or rather, was supposed to be written) from a neutral point of view. The sympathetic, "SPOV", articles and forked pagesets which exist are few in number, but allow text and types of work which could never appear on Wikipedia. Links to some of these articles are shown on the main page to display the difference between Wikipedia and Wikinfo to newcomers to the project, but a forum exists to migrate and update that list into more general usage.
English Language Domination
Wikinfo was started as an English encyclopedia, but was later extended to other languages. However, 99% of all articles are still in English. Wikinfo is clearly dominated by one language although it claims to be multilingual. All articles are in the same namespace which can lead to confusion. Lacking respect towards other languages (mainly by English contributors) is a problem which can be annoying. Foreign placenames, persons and expressions are often re-directed to English words. Articles about them are written in English without being followed by "(English)". For example, there was an English article named [[Geist]] instead of [[Geist (philosophy)]] or [[Geist (English)]]. The whole concept of multi-lingualism is not well thought out and is still pretty chaotic.
Low Traffic vs Bubble-Gum Popularity
Wikinfo remains a low traffic site, compared to Wikipedia, which is not surprising when the site sits in the dark shadow of Wikipedia. Due to Google bombs and mirrored results, surfers looking up information on a topic are more likely to go to Wikipedia, and are therefore more likely to wind up editing Wikipedia instead of Wikinfo.
Wikinfo editors could import the up to date set of articles from Wikipedia if they chose to periodically, but the question is how to save original material as the bulk importing was done. It would be possible to have a namespace for modified or original material.
Cross-Editing
Fred Bauder, founder of Wikinfo, not only continues to edit Wikipedia, but actually serves on its Arbitration Committee. Some feel this is an excuse to avoid taking Wikinfo seriously, but Fred still finds "my work on the arbitration committee worthwhile". Many Wikinfos edit on Wikipedia, the most famous exception being proteus, who built GetWiki and has refused to participate in what he calls a "mind-control website".
Racism
Racist viewpoints are allowed on Wikinfo. Readers from counties where racist material is illegal can find this disturbing. People who are not White Caucasian can feel particularly threatened. There will never be universal agreement as to how much weight should be given to free speech and how much weight should be given to protecting ethnic minorities.
Banning
In spite of the fact that Wikinfo has the reputation of being a somewhat friendlier place to edit than Wikipedia (no doubt true), Wikifoans have a rather Qickdraw Mcgraw attitude towards vandals and trolls. Often new users who cross the line will be banned after their first offense, whereas on Wikipedia, they may enjoy two or three warnings before a ban. This may be due to the fact that security on Wikinfo is, (as Fred puts it), not quite twenty four hours.
