Wikinfo according to Wikipedia (corrected)
From Wikinfo
See also: Wikinfo according to Wikipedia and Wikinfo
Wikinfo, formerly known as Internet-Encyclopedia (renamed in January 2004), is a fork of the English language Wikipedia initiated by Fred Bauder in July 2003. It is hosted by ibiblio. Although there are no subdomains on Wikinfo to separate articles of different languages, Wikinfo does welcome articles in languages other than English and requests that articles on the same topic in different languages link to each other. Existing links to Wikipedia articles in other languages are retained in the case of articles copied from Wikipedia.
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Wikinfo's Policy on POV
Instead of relying on Wikipedia's neutral point of view, Wikinfo's policy on a contributor's point of view is to edit using a sympathetic point of view. This is a point of view which presents a subject or concept in a favorable light. The main article is written from a sympathetic point of view which is described as "a way of encouraging a pluralism of content, rather than limiting content to an unattainable encyclopedic goal." Critical articles in the style of any title: A critical view are encouraged. A set of articles about a particular topic are split into a set of articles with a specified point of view - thus offering several points of view on a topic.
Users of Wikinfo feel Wikinfo is a way of escaping debilitating edit wars, which are frequent on Wikipedia. They do not want to become like Wikipedia, "hamstrung by squabbling sysops getting legalistic about their biases", as Wikinfo user Proteus put it. Some Wikinfo users appreciate the fact that their submissions are never edited as frequently as on Wikipedia. Some people are users of both Wikinfo and Wikipedia.
Forks and Sets of Articles
Like Wikipedia, 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 a license other than the GNU FDL, such as signed articles. Wikinfo does not permit editing of its articles by anyone other than those with a user account. As of February, 2006, there is some activity on Wikinfo, with a handful of articles edited each day.
By September 2005 Wikinfo had over 33,000 articles, most of which have been copied from Wikipedia with minimal modification. The process of importing articles has been accelerated by using a fork of the MediaWiki software called GetWiki. Instead of red links, GetWiki uses green links to point to articles which do not exist in its database.
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) using an XML import feature, then renders and displays the article text. A local copy is created only if the page is edited. Effectively, Wikinfo therefore provides a transparent "wrapper" around Wikipedia pages which have not yet been copied.
Wikipedian Complaints
Tension arose in 2004 from the fact that Wikinfo also fetches Wikipedia personal user pages using the XML import feature, and user pages are those where users can put information about themselves and the reasons they contribute to Wikipedia. Such user pages were, but are not now, displayed like other articles would be, and carry an added step in order to display. Some Wikipedia users still feel that this creates the false impression that they contribute to Wikinfo, as if it mattered to anyone.
It is possible to prevent dynamically loading a Wikipedia user page on Wikinfo by editing it - a Wikipedian practice strongly discouraged, as stated on the Wikinfo account creation/login page. To do otherwise would be to overstate the importance of Wikipedia users over Wikinfo users, or wiki editors in general, for that matter, and it creates a false number of users in statistics just to satisfy a vocal and wrong minority. No potentially imported user page is displayed on Wikinfo unless someone specifically imports it after viewing the "blank" article. Of course, most usernames cannot be reserved just because they are used on Wikipedia.
See Also
Other wiki encyclopedias:
- Enciclopedia Libre (Spanish)
- Susning.nu (Swedish)
- Wikiweise (German)
- WikiZnanie (Russian)
Reference
Adapted from the Wikinfo article "Wikinfo according to Wikipedia", used under the GNU Free Documentation License
