User:David Hoffman

I live in a lovely neighborhood less than a mile from a topnotch research library, where I spend much of my time. I hold a graduate degree for pursuing my academic interests in public policy, religion, and ethics. I also enjoy reading, teaching, technology, basketball and various outdoor sports. Though based in the U.S., I've had the pleasure of traveling and living in quite different cultural settings.

Current efforts

Jews and Judaism

My strategy as a CZ contributor

Here are my initial thoughts, which I will revise as I become more experienced here. Please feel free to comment on this statement on my talk page. (You may also edit my wording here!)

Invite collaboration

I love the idea of working collaboratively with people on a compendium of knowledge. Citizendium is appealling because we hope to raise the bar, compared to Wikipedia, by encouraging scholars to become involved. Still, there won't be much collaboration without a critical mass of people who join CZ and feel welcomed to change and contribute to articles. I've read and endorse the Statement of Fundamental Principles. I've also read the piece for Wikipedia writers as well as the blog post on un-forking Wikipedia. In my view, it makes sense to try to add something, add a fair amount, to give both current members and visitors enough material to spark their interest and give them places to contribute, even where they aren't experts.

On stubs

For this reason, I am inclined to bring in stubs from Wikipedia. Such stubs I think invite participation and at least give some basic info to enrich the core articles. (My view here goes against the preferred CZ approach stated in Along these lines, I am skeptical about the advice "At Citizendium, we much prefer you start one or just a few articles, and develop them well—even until they are approved. "