CZ:Ready for reading

Below are articles which have been nominated as ready for reading. These may be featured on the landing page or in advertisements for new members.

We particularly want examples of articles that are different from what one would expect to find on Wikipedia in some important way. Communal editing by the larger crew of authors in Wikipedia can often end up degrading a good article, because while it may result in an increase in accuracy details, it may disrupt the voice and global structure of the article, as well as its clarity and focus on fundamentals. It's the difference, for example, between a chapter in a textbook that will delight a student trying to learn a difficult subject, and the usual pile of overwhelming detail. In this respect, the Citizendium's smaller pool of active authors makes for a more productive writing environment than is possible in a larger wiki.

Citizendium has a lot of good science articles which do not yet appear in this list. This may be because they need updating, having been written originally a decade ago when Citizendium had a larger membership. The ones we like best have very consciously avoided the errors present in the Wikipedia versions, whereas the Wikipedia versions (even if chock full of more details) still have the same errors and more.

Several members of the Advisory group (as of August 2020) like the idea of having multiple articles by different authors on the same topic. In some cases, they challenge people to better their own self-nominated articles below.

How to add a nomination

To nominate an article, please add it in alphabetical order to one of the two lists below. Please add who the lead author was, if known, who is making the nomination, and any comments, using the list format we've begun here.

Nominated by non-leads

• American conservatism
  • nominated by Roger Lohmann, 8/13/2020
  • largely written by Howard Berkowitz
  • also some related national security topics by HB – although controversial with some – really very, very good. Milton Boychek was also a very active contributor at about that same time.
• Jane_Addams - American social worker, author, pacifist and feminist leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, the first American woman so honored
  • nominated by Roger Lohmann, 8/13/2020
  • largely written by Richard Jensen
  • Truly outstanding
• Life
  • nominated by Gareth Leng
  • lead author Anthony Sebastian
  • This was Anthony’s tour-de-force; idiosyncratic in places, yet with a unity of tone and intent that is striking.
• Line
  • nominated by Gareth Leng
  • did not compare to the WP version
• Neighborhood
  • nominated by Gareth Leng
  • did not compare to the WP version
• Scientific Method
  • nominated by Gareth Leng

Self nominated

• Battle Abbey
  • nominated by Richard Nevell, 8/13/2020
  • largely written by Richard Nevell
  • The differences with Wikipedia aren't as obvious as they used to be, but can go toe to toe with WP versions. Comparable in length, if not more detailed than WP, and referenced throughout.
• Civil society
  • nominated by Roger Lohmann (no relation), 8/13/2020
  • largely written by Roger Lohmann
  • Nominated in part because it makes the most extensive use possible of subpages.
• Cowdray House
  • nominated by Richard Nevell, 8/13/2020
  • The differences with Wikipedia aren't as obvious as they used to be, but can go toe to toe with WP versions. Comparable in length, if not more detailed than WP, and referenced throughout.
• Edinburgh
  • nominated by Gareth Leng, 8/13/2020
  • largely written by Gareth Leng
  • This was distinctly a labour of affection, full of personal asides and jokes. It was in my eyes, my attempt to render a modern day equivalent of Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Picturesque notes on Edinburgh”
• Email system
  • nominated by David MacQuigg (8/13/2020)
  • largely written by David MacQuigg
  • This was written after great frustration in reading chapters in all the standard textbooks on computer networks. It presents a unique and very useful view that would quickly be shredded if it were on WP. I like the idea of having multiple articles by different authors on the same topic. I challenge anyone to provide a better explanation of email systems.
  • This particular article is being covered up in searches by the article entitled simply Email
• Hopton Castle
  • nominated by Richard Nevell, 8/13/2020
  • largely written by Richard Nevell
  • The differences with Wikipedia aren't as obvious as they used to be, but can go toe to toe with WP versions. Comparable in length, if not more detailed than WP, and referenced throughout.
• Lindisfarne Priory
  • nominated by Richard Nevell, 8/13/2020
  • largely written by Richard Nevell
  • Richard thinks it doesn't have an article on the English Wikipedia
• Malbork Castle
  • nominated by Richard Nevell, 8/13/2020
  • largely written by Richard Nevell
  • The differences with Wikipedia aren't as obvious as they used to be, but can go toe to toe with WP versions. Comparable in length, if not more detailed than WP, and referenced throughout.
• L. J. Hanifan - American educator
  • nominated by Roger Lohmann, 8/13/2020
  • largely written by Roger Lohmann
  • It's not only good enough for Wikipedia. As comparison of publication and editing dates will clearly show, it was taken over in its entirety and published at Wikipedia, with some very minor revisions.
• Michael Gilbert
  • nominated by Hayford Peirce
  • largely written by Hayford Peirce
  • As of August 2020, Hayford thinks this is clearly superior to the WP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Gilbert
  • He also says: "All of the articles I wrote originally for CZ have been ported over to WP and exist there in one form or another. As the years have gone by, the WP "vandals and cretins" have done less work on destroying them than they used to. But SOME of my articles, which I originally wrote a long time ago at WP and then ported to CZ because of the vandalism at WP, have been expanded and then re-ported to WP. There they have been subject to various kinds of editing, not all of it, my my opinion, for the best. Their merits could, of course, be argued, but basically WP takes out (or at least CERTAIN editors take out) whatever THEY think is POV or "non-encyl." etc -- I used to argue with them, now I no longer bother. In any case, a lot of MY CZ articles are LONGER than the WP ones."
• Pompeii
  • nominated by Richard Nevell, 8/13/2020
  • largely written by Richard Nevell
  • The differences with Wikipedia aren't as obvious as they used to be, but can go toe to toe with WP versions. Comparable in length, if not more detailed than WP, and referenced throughout.
• Theodor Lohmann - German social policy activist
  • nominated by Roger Lohmann (no relation), 8/13/2020
  • largely written by Roger Lohmann
  • It's not only good enough for Wikipedia. As comparison of publication and editing dates will clearly show, it was taken over in its entirety and published at Wikipedia, with some very minor revisions.
• Tony Blair
  • nominated by Gareth Leng, 8/13/2020
  • largely written by Gareth Leng
  • now needs to be remained “Tony Blair, the premiership years” or something similar
  • What is unique about this is that (in defiance I have to say of Larry Sanger’s strictures) is that it was built around verbatim quotations. I worked hard to make this neutral, and I think I succeeded reasonably well in this from the comments I received.