CZ:How to convert Wikipedia articles to Citizendium articles: Difference between revisions

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imported>Stephen Ewen
 
imported>Larry Sanger
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We can use Wikipedia articles as places to start our articles here on the ''Citizendium.''  But we should bear in mind that [[CZ:We aren't Wikipedia|the ''Citizendium'' is a different project]], for which we are creating a new culture. To the extent that Wikipedia articles themselves encode a navel-gazing, user-unfriendly culture that we want to reject, we absolutely must revise these articles entirely--or start over from scratch.
All articles in Wikipedia are not of the same standard. Many are quite exhaustive and accurate, following the appropriate format. Those may require less attention.  


== The advantages of writing from scratch ==
However, a large number of articles in Wikipedia are not coherent, logical or authoritative. These articles will certainly require much greater attention from Citizendium.


Maybe you should simply write an article from scratch. There are many advantages to doing so:
To make a decent start, the important Wikipedia articles that need a facelift in Citizendium, can be brought under a proper structure, followed by wikification to other articles in Citizendium.  


* '''Editing Wikipedia articles can be a pain.'''  Wikipedia articles might appear to be impressive on first glance, but we have found that they are in fact frequently poorly-written and need huge amounts of revision.  It can be faster, and certainly more pleasant anyway, to start over.
(To finish.  Someone made a draft of this elsewhere, but I don't know where it is!)
 
* '''Editing Wikipedia articles tends to lock you into things that need redeciding.'''  Editing someone else's article usually means you retain the structure/outline of the article, the writing style, and in general ''everything'' that you do not specifically choose to undo.  If the article you're editing happens to be of high quality, this is not a problem; but if not...
 
* '''Writing from scratch is more motivating.'''  If you write from scratch, you experience the joy of creation in a way you do not if you merely clean up someone else's article.  Furthermore, if an article originated with the ''Citizendium,'' then ''other'' people arguably will be more interested in joining in; it's more interesting to collaborate with the original author(s) of an article than on a neutral article for which no one in particular is responsible.
 
* '''Writing from scratch allows us to avoid using the GFDL.'''  There's an excellent chance that we will be releasing our own articles, i.e., those with no Wikipedia content, under a Creative Commons license rather than the GFDL.  Arguably, this makes it easier for other people to use those articles.
 
== Should you really upload that Wikipedia article to the ''Citizendium?'' ==
 
Maybe, maybe not.  Your answers to the following questions should all be "Yes":
 
* '''Is the Wikipedia article reasonably good?'''  In other words, to create an expert-approvable article, in your judgment, it should be more efficient to edit the article than start over from scratch.  If the Wikipedia article is mediocre, we would prefer that you start over from scratch.
 
* '''Do you ''actually'' intend to do significant work on the article sometime in the next hour?'''  If not, don't upload it, or not until you actually want to start working on it.  We are ''not'' creating a mirror of Wikipedia here.  If you merely want your brilliant work on Wikipedia to be reprinted in another, more credible source, then you must make up your mind: are you really going to maintain the article here on the ''Citizendium'' or not?  If not, stick with Wikipedia.
 
* '''Have you actually bought into this ''Citizendium'' thing at all?'''  If not, leave well alone, please, and stick with Wikipedia until you're actually convinced.  This means, among other things, that you are committed to working in a collegial, mature atmosphere, guided gently by expert editors.  It also means that you are actually using your own real name; we ''do'' take that policy seriously here.  More generally it means you accept our [http://www.citizendium.org/fundamentals.html Statement of Fundamental Policies.]
 
== First, check the "Content is from Wikipedia?" box ==
 
The very first step, after you copy a Wikipedia article's text here, is to '''check the "Content is from Wikipedia?" box,''' which appears just below the edit summary.  This is a box that appears only on the ''Citizendium,'' so Wikipedians may not be familiar with it.  But it's there and it is waiting to be checked, if you use any text from Wikipedia!
 
There is one exception to this rule, and that is if you copy ''only'' what you personally wrote.  If you do that, then ''please'' place a prominent notice to that effect at the top of the article's talk page.
 
Also, first save the copy from Wikipedia without making any changes.  This will allow others to see how many changes you've made, when they look at the page history.
 
== Improving articles stylistically ==
 
Many Wikipedia articles have certain stylistic problems.  When you rewrite them:
 
* '''Make sure that the articles are well-written and unified,''' following a coherent, well-organized narrative, not grab-bags of unintegrated facts.  The purpose of an encyclopedia article is not just to list out information about a topic, but to contextualize general information about a topic in a single readable "story," as it were.
 
* '''Craft your sentences using engaging language,''' not the typical vague, unadventurous, and soporific prose that some people seem to think is required for encyclopedia articles.
 
* '''Generally, keep your audience in mind.'''  Bear in mind that articles on the ''Citizendium'' are written first and foremost for ''the educated person who needs an introduction to the topic''--and ''not'' for the author to catalog very impressively everything he knows on the topic.  More particularly, bear in mind that your audience is university-level, unless your topic itself absolutely requires a higher-level treatment (cannot be understood "at the undergraduate level").  You might have to rewrite completely those articles that appear to be written by people more concerned with showing off what they learned in their graduate seminars than actually introducing a topic to people who need an article about the topic.
 
== Improving article mechanics ==
 
While we follow many of Wikipedia's conventions of mechanics, such as '''bolding''' titles---our own are being developed at [[CZ:Article Mechanics]]--we are stripping down many others.  In particular, we are removing many templates, virtually all categories, and all interwiki links.
 
=== Templates ===
 
Templates should "pay their own way" by actually ''helping'' the user rather than ''distracting'' the user from important information.
 
Delete ''many'' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Template_messages template messages]--particularly the ones that are for contributors and are self-referential.  This includes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Template_messages/General#Timing-related_messages timing-related messages], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Template_messages/General#Expansion_requests expansion requests], and all [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Sister_projects Wikimedia sister projects].
 
Other templates to delete include: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Template_messages/Sources_of_articles#Requesting_sources requesting sources], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Template_messages/Deletion deletion], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Template_messages/Disputes disputes and warnings], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Template_messages/Maintenance maintenance], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Template_messages/Cleanup cleanup], and
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Template_messages/Lists lists].  Presumably, we will want to rewrite our own such templates--if we have any at all--and place them on talk pages, not on the articles themselves.
 
If you ''do'' retain a template in an article you're working on, for an infobox for example, then be sure to upload the template from Wikipedia.  Sorry, no, we will not be uploading the entire Wikipedia template namespace; that's too much of an inducement for people to replicate Wikipedia's overuse of templates here.
 
Many [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Infobox_templates infobox templates] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Navigational_templates navigational templates] need to be completely revisited.  Many are useful, but many are not.
 
=== Categories ===
 
Delete all categories that were not specifically added for the ''Citizendium.''  That means virtually all categories.  Categories ''not'' to delete include "workgroup" categories, <code><nowiki>[[Category:CZ Live]]</nowiki></code>, and occasionally some other extremely well-chosen categories.
 
There is an excellent chance that we will replace subject categories with an in-line system of "Subtopics" and "Related topics"; [http://forum.citizendium.org/index.php/topic,513.0.html see this Forums post.]  So, please do not create new categories.
 
=== Interwiki links ===
 
Delete all of these.  They will be broken, and many ''Citizendium'' articles will have different titles from Wikipedia articles--in all languages.
 
=== Images ===
 
Please, if you like, do upload all ''usable'' images from Wikipedia or Wikimedia Commons.  But note that some images are not usable.  Make sure that you also upload ''all licensing information'' as well!
 
In particular, do ''not'' upload images (and delete links to these) that were created by someone who ''on Wikipedia'' was evidently using a pseudonym.  We must be able to locate the original uploader of all media, and a real name is a minimum requirement for this.  You might be able to get the person to reveal his or her name for our use here on ''Citizendium;'' you can attempt to contact the person on Wikipedia.
 
Also, do not upload images that do not have clear licensing data.  And again, ''copy'' that licensing data.

Revision as of 22:38, 5 December 2006

All articles in Wikipedia are not of the same standard. Many are quite exhaustive and accurate, following the appropriate format. Those may require less attention.

However, a large number of articles in Wikipedia are not coherent, logical or authoritative. These articles will certainly require much greater attention from Citizendium.

To make a decent start, the important Wikipedia articles that need a facelift in Citizendium, can be brought under a proper structure, followed by wikification to other articles in Citizendium.

(To finish. Someone made a draft of this elsewhere, but I don't know where it is!)

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