Encyc:About: Difference between revisions
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===Inclusionism=== | ===Inclusionism=== | ||
Wikipedia originally aspired to be the "sum of human knowledge", but it is now overrun with deletionists who prevent articles about your favorite hobbies, writers, or businesses from entering the encyclopedia. We at Encyc strive to be more inclusive, and we will never ask you to move good encyclopedic content to a for-profit site. For | Wikipedia originally aspired to be the "sum of human knowledge", but it is now overrun with deletionists who prevent articles about your favorite hobbies, writers, or businesses from entering the encyclopedia. We at Encyc strive to be more inclusive, and we will never ask you to move good encyclopedic content to a for-profit site. For example, consider the articles [[Hefty Smurf]], [[Pro Co]], [[Basketball card]], [[Clover honey]], [[MXR Carbon Copy]], and [[Heed the Thunder]]. | ||
===Mobile-friendly=== | ===Mobile-friendly=== | ||
Revision as of 21:12, 20 September 2020
Encyc is a free, general encyclopedia written by volunteers using collaborative wiki software.
We're here because we like to write encyclopedia articles. There is a need for simple, well-written, readable articles that are easy to change and mobile-friendly. Encyc is all about making the job of writing these documents easier, by reducing the barriers between readers and writers. Encyc is sensitive to the needs of our readers and wishes to provide the best experience possible.
All content submitted here is owned by the original contributors and licensed under the Creative Commons - Share Alike License in order to make it available for the widest number of readers. It's the same setup that has made Wikipedia so successful, and makes sharing between Encyc and Wikipedia relatively easy.
Encyc has been in existence for more than a decade, and is experiencing steady growth. Write a good article here, and it could be read by thousands of people. Some users have copied Wikipedia articles to Encyc, and enjoy working on them in a small group setting. You can make major changes, and let your personal writing style come through in your work.
Encyc has no complicated templates, advanced coding, or byzantine regulations for you to worry about. If you have a question, please pose it at the Questions discussion page. Better yet, start writing and see what happens.
Before using this website, please read our disclaimer.
Contact us
General questions
For general questions about Encyc or if you would like to apply for a user account:
Abuse
For complaints regarding copyright infringement, illegal content, publication of private identifying or personal information, or other violations:
Why we exist in addition to other wiki encyclopedias
We are huge fans of Wikipedia, and use it all the time. However, there is a need for more than one wiki encyclopedia. We like to think that we make the internet a more diverse and interesting place. One big website tends to get homogenized, whereas a bunch of little ones can bring unique perspectives and do things in their own way.
Inclusionism
Wikipedia originally aspired to be the "sum of human knowledge", but it is now overrun with deletionists who prevent articles about your favorite hobbies, writers, or businesses from entering the encyclopedia. We at Encyc strive to be more inclusive, and we will never ask you to move good encyclopedic content to a for-profit site. For example, consider the articles Hefty Smurf, Pro Co, Basketball card, Clover honey, MXR Carbon Copy, and Heed the Thunder.
Mobile-friendly
Wikipedia articles are very comprehensive, to the point that they fill many screens on a desktop. Many use table formatting and are difficult to view on small screens. Encyc articles are generally more concise and clearly formatted, and it is easier to get to the information you are looking for on a mobile device.
Simplicity
When wikis started, it took very little training to be able to read wiki markup and understand the source code for articles. They were "human readable". Over time, some very technically talented people developed labor-saving templates. While these made for some nifty improvements in desktop functionality, they came at the cost of increased complexity. We are moving in the other direction, bringing the wiki encyclopedia back to its roots where truly anyone can edit.
Information diversity
Large centralized information sources are vulnerable to manipulation and disruption. It is important to get information from multiple sources.
Even the most enlightened group of writers is going to make editorial decisions that you may or may not agree with. Everyone develops biases and perspectives based on their life experiences, and no matter how inclusive a site attempts to be it is impossible for all points of view to be fairly represented.
This is why information monoculture is so damaging, and why we are trying to improve the situation by offering a clear, easy-to-find, reliable alternative.
Traffic numbers
Your writing has as good a chance of being read here as any other place on the internet. Our small scale, freedom from spam, relatively high traffic numbers, and policy of letting good content stand indefinitely mean that your work here is time well spent.
Check out Special:Statistics, our internal numbers, and Special:PopularPages.
Scholarly reception
Encyc has been referenced in three separate publications.
- Common Knowledge?: An Ethnography of Wikipedia, by Dariusz Jemielniak. Stanford University Press, May 14, 2014.
- Genre Analysis of Online Encyclopedias: The Case of Wikipedia, by Anna Tereszkiewic. 2010.
- Konidaris, Dimitrios N. "Social recommendations production at online e-learning platform using web 2.0 technologies." (2015). (translated from Κονιδάρης, Δημήτριος Ν. "Παραγωγή κοινωνικών συστάσεων σε διαδικτυακή πλατφόρμα ηλεκτρονικής μάθησης με χρήση τεχνολογιών web 2.0." (2015). using Google Translate.)