RationalWiki:What is going on at Citizendium?

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Keep up to date with what is going on at the alternate Wikipedia, Citizendium, with our rolling reports of the happenings there. We report, you decide which entries are worthy of thumbs up and down! If you are contributing for the first time please read the instruction manual. For older entries, have a look at the archives.

(Looks like some people are voting entries down multiple times. We must be doing something right.)

What is going on?

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[edit] What is going on?

[edit] May 2012

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15A startling admission from one-time chief Larry Sanger that he "never found the time to readimg" the discussion on reducing server costs, from the project's paid technical adviser.
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4The masks start to drop, as Matt Innis shows his irritationimg at the anti-democratic abuse of power of the MC ever since the Charter was implemented:
Here is the way I see it. If Citizendium had a chat section from the beginning and it was removed without a referendum after the charter was created at the whim of a few MC members, then theoretically, it should be returned, and if there is someone that is having difficulty with it, then they can create a referendum to get rid of it.

[edit] April 2012

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11How hard is it to advertise someone on Citizendium? Well, here's a sample article, in full:
Artemis: From Greek mythology, (Roman name: Diana) the goddess of hunting, wild animals, girls before their marriages, who brings sudden death to women in the same way that Apollo brings sudden death to men. She is the twin sister of Apollo, daughter of Zeus and Leto; after Homer, she began to be identified with the moon. Source: Elizabeth Vandiver, Classics scholar, authority on Greek mythology and Greek tragedy, including the Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Homer, and Virgil. This definition is based on her course Classical Mythology for The Teaching Company.
The advert for Vandiver is part of the article text... and there were 84 others., but since this post they have all been removed.
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17David Finn's explanations somewhat fall on deaf ears: he gets a permanent ban for "multiple simultaneous offences", probably including this postimg responding to cross-posting on the forums. Meanwhile, a Mediawiki page that provides information when blocking an account has been edited only twice in the last five yearsimg... on both occasions, to add new offences committed by David Finn just before banning him. Mysteriously, neither of these appear on the official list of reasons to blockimg, which might lead naive observers to think that Citizendium's ban policy is... unfair? Arbitrary? Fascistic?
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9Want some space to rant about a topic, but Wikipedians keep editing your work? Try the new Citizendium blog platform, and easily self-publish whatever you want! As David Finn explains:img "...the community is incapable of expanding those articles[.] If we look at the recent changes for, oh I don't know, say the last couple years, we will see that there is no amount of content considered worthy enough for the community to help work on..."
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14 PLoS Computational Biology published an article about coverage of that subject on Wikipedia! Anthony Sebastian asks the important question: "Why cannot PLoS Computational Biology meet Citizendium?"img In other news, Google is reoptimizing its search algorithm. Chunbum Park asks "Does that mean CZ's entries might come out on top as well?"img Answer: No. Conclusion: It's all about Citizendium! We're important! PAY ATTENTION TO US!
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10The Editorial Council is annoyed that they tried to get someone blocked, but they were refused because the charter doesn't give them that power. But they want to be able to ban people. Poor, poor Editorial Council!img
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11"So, the only thing about Citizendium that is not demonstrably inactive is the Featured Article, thanks to Chunbum. However the MC chair thinks that bad because he isn't getting the recognition he thinks he deserves for having worked on a subpage once in the past, and the EC thinks it equally bad because someone took some initiative without their permission. Do none of them actually ever stop to wonder why this site has become the laughing stock of the wiki-world?" - David Finnimg
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10Back in February, there was a lot of bureaucratic activity on one subject. It started with a motion by one councilimg, then a motion by another councilimg, then a formal acceptanceimg. But now, thanks to all this work, the formerly-disused blog, after all this work... can remain disused, but by someone else! Sound and fury, signifying nothing.
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12According to Citizendium, "A lemma article is an article created for a subject where there is a presumption that it is unlikely a significant amount will be written about that subject in the near future, and thus the article consists simply of a definition that is transcluded on the main page for the article." Examples of lemma articles on Citizendium: Aeschylus, who is not one of the most important playwrights of Ancient Greece. Tennyson, who is not amongst the most famous English poets. Romeo and Juliet, a play noone reads. Skeleton and Bone, insignificant parts of the body you've probably never heard of. And many other bits of obscure knowledge.
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7Astoundingly, well over a year since the lead image of the Biology article was tagged with "as it stands, this image is a copyvio because the owners of the separate images need to be credited here"... the copyvio still remains in place, and the article remains one of Citizendium's rare "approved" articles. Apparently, dealing with the site breaking the law is less important than organising endless elections and engaging in petty bureaucracy.

[edit] March 2012

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10Citizendium continues its history of jobs for the boys with the appointment of Aleta Curry to the created position of "Editorial Personnel Administrator"img, for two years. Because the project is bursting with editorial activity that needs to be administrated...

[edit] February 2012

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8For the first time in over a year, an article approvalimg takes place. (Not a new article, just a new approved version of an old approved article.)
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19Giving the guy at the top of the project the keys to the organization's disused blog requires a motion by one councilimg, then a motion by another councilimg, then a formal acceptanceimg. (To be fair, some members of the Editorial Council apparently didn't really believe it was their job to walk this through, but went ahead with it anyway to keep the Management Council happy.) When efficiency threatens to prevail, always introduce more arbitrary hurdles.
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17Larry Sanger in Aug 2011: Donations are handled by a private individual (Larry Sanger) in accounts separate from his own personal accounts.
Larry Sanger in Jan 2012: I deposited the $630.12 check into my personal checking account, and I used that same account to pay $319.90 monthly to Steadfast for five months, from Sept. 26 through Jan. 20.

[edit] January 2012

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7The Editorial Council, after a split voteimg, opted to keep the Homeopathy draft articleimg locked for the second year running rather than risk anyone editing it at allimg.
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8Facepalm.img Facepalm squared.img
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11David Finn is very mad that the Management Council might ignore the electorateimg. All twenty six of them. Reference is made, of course, to the U.S. constitution. Because twenty six people voting about something on an obscure wiki is so comparable to running a world superpower.
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