A Wikipedia with ethics? It's About Time

Wikipedia founder plans better version

Better controls

By Nick Farrell: Wednesday 18 October 2006, 08:51

LARRY SANGER, One of the co-founders of Wikipedia, has spelt out his plans for a more reliable version of the online encyclopaedia.

Speaking to ZD Net, Sanger said that the rival site called Citizendium will user registration and editorial controls to govern user-submitted articles.

He said that while Wikipedia had grown and the articles are remarkably good given the system that is in place, there are a number of problems that needed to be resolved.

Sanger said that Citizendium will weed out trolls from posting obscenities or biased information. It is not clear if the Everywhere Girl will be allowed to exist in this new patch of cyber space or whether she will be killed off by some kid with a pseudo-penis fetish.

Citizendium will be a "fork" of the open-source code of Wikipedia. It will replicate the existing database of articles and then evolve.

Sanger said that the move will not kill off Wikipedia, but will try and create something better.

If you're like me you love Wikipedia for the accessibility of instant facts. Except when those facts are opinions and obscure the picture with people's peronal agendas.

So I am very happy to hear that Larry Sanger is back and he's got a real encyclopedia in mind.