CZ:Introduction to CZ for Wikipedians

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Welcome Wikipedians and ex-Wikipedians!

Before you be bold and start contributing, please read this document all the way through. By doing so, you can be sure that your work at Citizendium will get off on the right foot, and that you won't run into any unexpected snags.

There are some very important "do's and dont's" that Wikipedians in particular may have to bear in mind. Wikipedia's policies either do not apply here or have been fundamentally altered. We have our own ways of doing things, you might say. At the same time, some of Citizendium's policies are remarkably similar to Wikipedia's. But which are which?

Citizendium is not a mirror

Citizendium is not a mirror of Wikipedia. Absolutely do not simply copy content from Wikipedia to Citizendium without working on it. If you wish to import material from Wikipedia, it must be because you have immediate plans to improve it. See How to convert Wikipedia articles to Citizendium articles for directions.

Exception: If you are the primary author or manager of an article or class of articles (e.g., about vipers or astrophysics) and you intend to continue your work on and maintenance of the article(s) here. In such a case, place a note to that effect at the top of the article talk page(s); otherwise, your imports are apt to be deleted.

New and unfamiliar practices

We have several practices that will be new and unfamiliar to Wikipedians:

  • The "Content is from Wikipedia?" tick-box. If any content of an article — even one sentence — came from Wikipedia and you aren't the sole author of that content, be absolutely sure you check the tick-box. It is just above the "Save page" button. If you are the sole author, however, please make it clear on the relevant talk page. There are multifarious reasons for why we must be completely above board in this matter.
  • The Category:CZ Live category. Place it into articles you write from scratch. Do not place it into articles you have copied from Wikipedia, unless you have made significant changes in at least three different places. See the definition of "live".
  • Workgroups, Workgroup Category Tags, and Workgroup Recent Changes. Anybody can edit any article but we want every article to have its editorial team assigned.

The above new practices are things you can use every time you do work on the Citizendium. See We aren't Wikipedia for other new practices.

Get ready to rethink how to write encyclopedia articles!

You're probably used to well-developed Wikipedia articles being divided into many short sections, full of bulleted lists, and written in dense prose that shows off erudition more than really introducing a topic. Too often, it seems that Wikipedians write more for other Wikipedians than for someone who really needs a solid introduction to a topic.

By contrast, we want Citizendium articles to be lucid, highly readable introductions written in compelling, narrative prose that really does the job of introducing a topic to people who need one. This doesn't mean our articles will have less information or be more lightweight. Rather, it means we simplify the difficult, engage our readers, and allow writer's voice, all the while offering a commanding knowledge. In short, we make it hard for anyone to want to click away from an article until they have read it all the way through.

For further information, see Article Mechanics. It will probably be a quite different take on writing encyclopedia articles than what most Wikipedians are used to. You might also want to have look at Sage advice on writing CZ articles, and a few examples among our approved articles while comparing them with their Wikipedia counterparts. Even some of our developing articles exhibit the difference we are talking about, e.g., our Anthropology article and Wikipedia's version.

Notice also that we aren't putting contributor-oriented templates, such as Wikipedia's neutrality templates, atop our articles.

Behaving like a pro

The concept of professionalism richly captures the culture to which the Citizendium strives. Our professionalism policy is our cornerstone behavior policy and is about much more than just our low tolerance for uncivil and disruptive behavior that can quickly result in permanent banning. It is about our decided intent to create — and enforce — a respectful, pleasant, and productive working environment. This is so even when contributors may be working out disagreements and critiquing others' work.

Examples of unprofessional behaviors at Citizendium include:

  • Reverting others' work. We have a no-unexplained-revert rule. You must justify any reversion on the talk page and try to give others a chance to revert their own work.
  • Deletion of others' work without explanation. Deletion of more than 50 words can result in a warning, followed by a ban. Vandalism is excluded.
  • Attacks on another's moral character, or personal or professional credibility. This applies whether done with Citizendium or other resources.
  • Threats of any kind. You'll not only be banned by us but your local authorities will be contacted in serious cases.
  • Disrespectful characterization of another's work. We critique it respectfully instead, even if it maybe really is bunk.
  • Retaliation when wronged. We call a constable instead and refuse to let go unreported any offenses we see.

Simply put, professional conduct is mandatory here. Professionalism is what differentiates our culture from that of many other Web 2.0 communities. And no one has to be a professional to act professionally.

Real names means real names

Part of behaving professionally is signing with your real name on the wiki. Placing anything except for perhaps a more informal variant of your real name in the "nickname" box in your preferences breaks the spirit of our real names policy and is not allowed. Thus, if your user name is "Jonathan Walter Fields", acceptable uses of the nickname box would include "Jonathan Fields", "Jonathan W. Fields", "Jon W. Fields", "Jon Fields", "J. Walter Fields", and "Walt Fields", if that is what you usually go by. "Jonathan", "Jon", "Walt", and "J.F.W." are examples of not quite so good nicknames. Anything that doesn't have your real name in it is entirely unacceptable; so, "SexyDude99" just won't fly. Constables warn users with unacceptable nicknames, instruct them that they may apply for a pseudonym, and then ban them if they fail to correct the name. See Improper names in the preferences nickname box.

Handling content disputes without "edit warring"

Content disputes are inevitable, but we simply will not tolerate edit warring. If you disagree with another participant, the first step is to discuss the matter on the talk page; if no satisfactory compromise can be reached, the next step is to ask an editor in the relevant area and with the relevant expertise to adjudicate. We do plan to have a more sophisticated dispute resolution mechanism, but we haven't needed to implement it yet. We've been quite successful at actually collaborating and compromising.

We ain't elitist, but our "world" isn't flat

At Wikipedia, everyone has the same role when it comes to making judgments about article content. Between competing citations and changing "consensus", disputes can seem unending. We think our system is an evolution to that model.

Editors

You already know we make a special role for experts and that we respect them. But this does not at all mean you cannot professionally argue your case with them; you most definitely should. We feel it is very freeing to have experts on-board who are empowered to make decisions amidst content disputes. Although you might be somewhat skeptical at this point, you'll probably find yourself heartily agreeing after a while — especially after you see your work appearing in articles that have been approved!

Authors

Editors are authors too, but what can authors do? Almost everything. Authors can start new articles, edit existing articles, talk things over on the talk page, and much else. Authors work side-by-side with not only other authors, but with real experts in their field. And our editors aren't distant overseers looking down from the Olympian heights. To edit, editors must work shoulder-to-shoulder with authors and other editors. Contrary to some reports, we ain't elitist; but our "world" isn't completely flat, either.

For more on author functions, please see Authors and Authoring Citizendium Articles.

Constables

Our constables are Citizendium's "community managers" or "Sysops". They oversee adherence to basic policies, and settle behavioral problems whereas editors settle content disputes. Constables also review applications and create new accounts. They operate within a "separation of powers" and are held to a strict conflict of interest policy. Constables may not act as constables in articles where they have acted as authors or editors. All hold at least a bachelor's degree and are at least 25 years old. For further information see Constabulary Policy.

Constables replace attacks of any kind with our {{civil}} template, which reads,

Text here was removed by the Constabulary on grounds of civility. (The author may replace this template with an edited version of the original remarks.)

Attacks result in a warning or even a ban, depending on the case.

Moreover, if you have any complaints to make about other users, no matter how well justified, please don't make them on the wiki. Constables remove complaints and replace them with the {{nocomplaints}} template, which reads:

A comment here was deleted by The Constabulary on grounds of making complaints about fellow Citizens. If you have a complaint about the behavior of another Citizen, e-mail constables@citizendium.org. It is contrary to Citizendium policy to air your complaints on the wiki. See also CZ:Professionalism.

All of our constables are very friendly and helpful, but don't make the mistake of taking that to mean they play fast and loose with the rules. They don't. Constables only block permanently, nothing less. For further information see Constabulary Blocking Procedures.

To "call a constable," please email constables _at_ citizendium.org.

Images

Any type of open content licensed images are allowable and preferred, although images from Wikipedia or the Wikimedia Commons must pass a two-pronged test before you upload them to Citizendium. Fully copyrighted images are allowable in Citizendium if you place proof of permission in a Permission subpage of the image's talk page. We are still working out our policy on fair use of images, so please withhold uploading fair use images until our policy is finalized. Watch the Notice board for an announcement.

All images lacking clear copyright data are subject to speedy deletion by constables acting on their own recognizance. Citizendium editors will not nominate articles for approval if the status of their images is unclear.

See Images Help on Copyrights for more detail.

Not categories and projects but workgroups

Wikpedians self-organize into Projects whose foci are articles in certain categories. Citizendium organizes authors and editors into discipline workgroups. Editors are assigned their workgroups, while authors simply add themselves to whichever workgroups they choose. You should join author workgroups straightway after your account has been created.

Article deletion policy

The general rule about article deletion is that articles should be deleted if their continued existence would create more work and frustration, in the long run, for either contributors or users, than deleting them. This is the essence of our Maintainability policy. It is distinctly different from Wikipedia's notability policy.

Constables may delete articles that are not maintainable. Editor permission is required for deletion of other articles. See CZ:Article Deletion Policy for elaboration.

On stubs and lists

At Wikipedia, creating lots of stubs is considered good practice. Someone will always come along and add to it — eventually. At Citizendium, we much prefer you start one or just a few articles, and concentrate on them until they are approved.

At Wikipedia, creating lists of various types is acceptable. At Citizendium, we create articles first, and sometimes lists afterward.

Don't spill alphabet soup!

We wish to avoid having an insular, unintelligible community. Accordingly, we don't use neologisms like "NPOV" and "POV", "RS", and "OR". Our Chief Constable has made this a bannable offense, and we're still not sure whether she's kidding or not. Just use plain English on top of wikilinks or post them in full. Any page shortcuts you find (the one for this page is CZ:CZ4WP) are exclusively for your personal use.

Family friendly

Wikipedia is not censored does not apply here. We won't have as many articles about porn stars and sexual fetishes. Those we do have will be scholarly and tactful, and none will contain graphic photos.

Don't ignore all rules, but do be bold

Larry Sanger wrote Wikipedia's original Ignore all rules policy as a way to encourage people to be bold and not sit on the sidelines just because they, for example, did not know wiki markup (you can have a look at the original document). Yet over time, Ignore All Rules has been interpreted to have a "deep and subtle meaning".

Simply put, if you attempt to ignore all rules on Citizendium, you will rapidly meet up with one of our constables. But please don't let a lack of confidence keep you sitting on the sidelines.

Now, be bold!

For further reading

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