Type of site | Online encyclopedia |
---|---|
Available in | English |
Created by | Larry Sanger |
URL | en |
Commercial | No |
Registration | Yes (Required to edit pages, via request of account) |
Launched | 23 October 2006 25 March 2007 (public) | (pilot)
Current status | Largely inactive[1][2] |
Content license | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Citizendium (short for the citizens' compendium) is an English-language wiki-based online encyclopedia launched by Larry Sanger in 2007. On this wiki, people have to use their given names and must request an account to prove they are real. Articles created by Citizendium editors are under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. As of September 2020, Citizendium has 17,000 articles[3] and 149 approved articles.[4]
When Citizendium started, experts were given a special status: they were allowed to "approve" articles and were able to decide who is right when there are conflicts over the content in the encyclopedia. As of 2020, the former "experts" policy is in limbo, as the membership of the wiki is too small to implement it and because it was deemed not effective. All writers are treated as equal.
The server which runs the website costs money to run. The only way the wiki can stay active is if members donate money, or if Citizendium can find a group or organization that can provide funds.[5]
Citizendium is now a small community. In early 2022, it had around ten contributors making at least one edit a month.[2] The managing editors in 2022 are Pat Palmer and John Stephenson.