Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 18:23, 15 June 2007

Conservapedia is a wiki-based encyclopedia project with articles written from a socially and economically conservative viewpoint supportive of Conservative Christianity and Young Earth creationism. Andrew Schlafly stated he founded the project because he felt Misplaced Pages had a liberal, anti-Christian, and anti-American bias.

According to the site's FAQ, Conservapedia originated as a project for homeschooled children, who wrote most of the initial entries. Its creator, Andrew Schlafly (a son of noted conservative Phyllis Schlafly), has said that he hopes the site becomes a general resource for United States teachers and works as a general counterpoint to the liberal bias he perceives in Misplaced Pages. Conservapedia is not affiliated with Misplaced Pages or Misplaced Pages's umbrella organization, the Wikimedia Foundation, although both sites use the free MediaWiki software. In addition to its role as an encyclopedia, Conservapedia is also used by Schlafly's "Eagle Forum University" programme. Material for various online courses (e.g., American History) is stored on the site. Eagle Forum University is associated with Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum.

Recently the site announced that it has reached 11,000 articles created. Additionally, the site has 8,000 registered usernames of which about 3000 are permanently blocked.

Conservapedia's earliest articles date from November 22, 2006. Its content can be used and redistributed for free.

Conservapedia and Misplaced Pages

Differences in editorial philosophies

Conservapedia stated a need for an alternative to Misplaced Pages when it launched its online encyclopedia project due to editorial philosophy conflicts. Conservapedia's editorial policies are guided by Conservapedia Commandments, while Misplaced Pages's editorial policies are guided by a range of policies including neutral point of view (NPOV) and attribution.

Conservapedia Commandments

1. Everything you post must be true and verifiable. Do not copy from Misplaced Pages or other non-public domain sources.
2. Always cite and give credit to your sources, even if in the public domain.
3. Edits/new pages must be family-friendly, clean, concise, and without gossip or foul language.
4. When referencing dates based on the approximate birth of Jesus, give appropriate credit for the basis of the date (B.C. or A.D.). "BCE" and "CE" are unacceptable substitutes because they deny the historical basis. See CE.
5. Do not post personal opinion on an encyclopedia entry. Opinions can be posted on Talk:pages or on debate or discussion pages..
6. The operation of unauthorized wiki-bots is prohibited.
7. Unproductive activity, such as 90% talk and only 10% quality edits, may result in blocking of the account. Advertisements are prohibited

Misplaced Pages Core Content Policies

• Neutral Point of View: All Misplaced Pages articles and other encyclopedic content must be written from a neutral point of view (NPOV), representing fairly and without bias all significant views that have been published by reliable sources.
• Attribution: Misplaced Pages is an encyclopedia, not a publisher of original thought. The threshold for inclusion in Misplaced Pages is whether material is attributable to a reliable published source, not whether it is true. Misplaced Pages is not the place to publish your opinions, experiences, or arguments.

Misplaced Pages core content policies allow Misplaced Pages editors to cite Conservapedia and any or all Conservapedia references as Misplaced Pages sources under the appropriate article if the content is authoritative in relation to the subject at hand or is derived from credible published material.

One example of article content differences stemming from editorial philosophy conflicts is evolution. Conservapedia presents the theory of evolution as lacking support and states that creationist scientists and some secular science journals state that it is contra-evidence whereas Misplaced Pages presents evolution as a biological process defined by observable, empirical, and measurable evidence, subject to specific principles of reasoning.

Another example is Misplaced Pages's article on the Democratic Party, which refers to the party's historical origins. Andrew Schlafly has claimed this is an "attempt to legitimize the modern democratic party by going back to Thomas Jefferson" and that it is "specious and worth criticizing." In contrast to Misplaced Pages's core policy of neutrality, Schlafly has stated that "It's impossible for an encyclopedia to be neutral. I mean let's take a point of view, let's disclose that point of view to the reader."

English Misplaced Pages's policy allowing both CE/BCE and AD/BC notation, has been interpreted as anti-Christian bias. Conservapedia also interpreted the policy allowing both British English and American English spellings, as anti-American bias and had a policy that only allowed for American spelling on the site. However, their policy against allowing British spellings was later revised.

In a March 2007 interview with The Guardian newspaper, Schlafly stated, "I've tried editing Misplaced Pages, and found it and the biased editors who dominate it censor or change facts to suit their views. In one case my factual edits were removed within 60 seconds — so editing Misplaced Pages is no longer a viable approach." On March 7 Andrew Schlafly was interviewed on BBC Radio 4's flagship morning show, Today, opposite Misplaced Pages administrator Jim Redmond. Schlafly raised several concerns: that the article on the Renaissance does not give any credit to Christianity, that many Misplaced Pages articles use non-American spellings even though most users are American, that the article on American activities in the Philippines has a distinctly anti-American bias, and that attempts to include pro-Christian or pro-American views are removed very quickly. Conservapedia has asserted that, "Misplaced Pages is six times more liberal than the American public."

Schlafly has indicated that Conservapedia has not adopted what he considers "Misplaced Pages's complex copyright rules," adding that Conservapedia "reserves the right to object to copying of its materials."

Misplaced Pages co-founder Jimmy Wales has stated that he has no objections to the project. "Free culture knows no bounds," he said. Wales denied Schlafly's claims of bias on Misplaced Pages.

Criticism

The Conservapedia project has come under significant criticism for factual inaccuracies and factual relativism. Conservapedia has also been compared to CreationWiki, a wiki written from a creation science perspective.

Widely disseminated examples of Conservapedia articles that contradict the scientific consensus include the claims that all kangaroos descend from a single pair that were taken aboard Noah's Ark, and that "Einstein's work had nothing to do with the development of the atomic bomb." An entry on the "Pacific Northwest Arboreal Octopus" has received particular attention, a page which Schlafly has asserted was intended as a parody of environmentalism. As of March 4 2007, the entry has been deleted. Schlafly also defended the Kangaroo article as presenting a valid alternative to evolution.

Tom Flanagan, a conservative professor of political science at the University of Calgary, has argued that Conservapedia is more about religion than conservatism and that it "is far more guilty of the crime they're attributing to Misplaced Pages "

The policing of articles is accomplished by Andrew Schlafly himself and 28 additional sysops. Throughout March 2007, this small group had numerous problems preserving the creationist viewpoint of Conservapedia, since the majority of the site's dedicated editors disagrees with their goal of censoring non-creationist viewpoints, and edit accordingly. The ultimate authority on article editing conflicts is the Panel, an anonymous group of students from Andrew Schlafly's homeschooled program.

The project has also been criticized for promoting a dichotomy between conservatism and liberalism and for promoting the notion that there "often are two equally valid interpretations of the facts." (See also false dilemma fallacy)

On Monday, March 19, 2007, the British urban free newspaper, Metro, ran the article Weird, wild wiki on which anything goes. The article ridicules Conservapedia for providing only one side of controversial content.

The emphasis on Young Earth Creationism and resort to the Bible as the ultimate authority on every subject has resulted in articles which are top-heavy with refutations of mainstream scientific views and/or Biblical passages refuting conventional views of the subject at hand. Less than half of the space given to Astronomy, Dinosaurs or the Geocentric Theory is actually devoted to an elucidation of scientific views on the topic. Such oxymorons as "secular" science and the use of the term "evolutionist" for any scientist who accepts the Theory of Evolution are widely used to draw attention to view that do not meet the approval of Young Earth Creationists, who demand equal time in all topics where the age of the Earth is in question.

Iain Thomson, writing in Information World Review, has written that "leftist subversives" may have been creating deliberate parody entries.

Licensing of Conservapedia content

The project is not licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) or a similar copyleft license, an issue which has led to some concerns. Instead, Conservapedia allows users to "use any of the content on this site with or without attribution." However, the copyright policy also states "This license is revocable only in very rare instances of self-defense, such as protecting continued use by Conservapedia editors or other licensees."

Conservapedia does not allow users to copy content from Misplaced Pages (or use Misplaced Pages or Misplaced Pages mirror sites as a reference), specifically listing the practice as a violation of its first commandment. Misplaced Pages permits copying of its content only by sites that have adopted the GFDL license.

References

1. ^ Johnson, Bobbie (2007-03-01). "Conservapedia — the US religious right's answer to Misplaced Pages". The Guardian. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. ^ Template:De icon "Conservapedia: christlich-konservative Alternative zu Misplaced Pages". Heise Online. 2007-03-02. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
3. ^ "Conservapedia: Data for Birds of a Political Feather?". Retrieved 2007-03-15.
4. NPR, "Conservapedia founder Andy Schlafly says the new site is an alternative to Misplaced Pages and what he deems to be a liberal bias."
5. "Examples of Bias in Misplaced Pages". Conservapedia. 5 June 2007.
6. ^ Chung, Andrew (2007-03-11). "A U.S. conservative wants to set Misplaced Pages right". The Star.com. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
7. "American History Lecture One". Conservapedia. 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-05.
8. "Eagle Forum University". Eagle Forum University. 30 April 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-05.
9. "List of blocked IP addresses and usernames". Conservapedia. Retrieved 2007-06-10.
10. "Conservapedia Statistics". Conservapedia. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
11. ^ "Conservapedia Commandments, Conservapedia (21 March 2007)
12. ^ "Misplaced Pages:Neutral point of view, Misplaced Pages (21 January 2007)
13. ^ "Misplaced Pages:Attribution, Misplaced Pages (21 March 2007)
14. Conservapedia. (2007).Theory of Evolution. Retrieved March 9.
15. Isaac Newton (1687, 1713, 1726). " Rules for the study of natural philosophy", Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Third edition. The General Scholium containing the 4 rules follows Book 3, The System of the World. Reprinted on pages 794-796 of I. Bernard Cohen and Anne Whitman's 1999 translation, University of California Press ISBN 0-520-08817-4, 974 pages.
16. "Introduction to evolution, Misplaced Pages (17 March 2007)
17. "Evolution, Misplaced Pages (19 March 2007)
18. Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style (dates and numbers), Misplaced Pages (9 March 2007)
19. ^ Thomson, Iain. (2007). "Conservapedia takes on Misplaced Pages 'bias'". Information World Review, February 28.
20. Lewis, Shelley. (2007). "Introducing "Conservapedia" — Battling Misplaced Pages's War on Christians, Patriots". Huffington Post, February 23.
21. Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style (spelling) Misplaced Pages (9 March 2007)
22. "Today programme". BBC radio. 7 March 2007 8:16am. Retrieved 2007-04-09. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
23. Mackey, Rob (2007-03-08). "Conservapedia: The Word Says It All". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-03-09. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
24. Conservapedia. (2007). User talk:Aschlafly, February 4 version.
25. Mitchell, Dan (December 24, 2005). "Insider Editing at Misplaced Pages". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-03-27.
26. Bergstein, Brian (March 25, 2007). "Sanger says he co-started Misplaced Pages". ABC News. Associated Press. Retrieved 2007-03-27. The nascent Web encyclopedia Citizendium springs from Larry Sanger, a philosophy Ph.D. who counts himself as a co-founder of Misplaced Pages, the site he now hopes to usurp. The claim doesn't seem particularly controversial - Sanger has long been cited as a co-founder. Yet the other founder, Jimmy Wales, isn't happy about it. — Brian Bergstein.
27. Mehegan, David (February 12, 2006). "Bias, sabotage haunt Misplaced Pages's free world". Business. The Boston Globe. p. 4. Retrieved 2007-03-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
28. Biever, Celeste. (2007). "A conservative rival for Misplaced Pages?"New Scientist, February 26.
29. Read, Brock. (2007). "A Misplaced Pages for the Right Wing" Chronicle of Higher Education, March 2.
30. ^ the notion "that there's always a second, equally valid interpretation of the facts." Clarke, Conor. (2007). "A fact of one's own".The Guardian, March 1. Cite error: The named reference "Clarke" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
31. ^ Cite error: The named reference Wired was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
32. Conservapedia. (2007). "Kangaroo". February 23 version.
33. Conservapedia. (2007). "Theory of Relativity". February 22 version.
34. Conservapedia. (2007). "Pacific Northwest Arboreal Octopus". Retrieved March 4, 2007.
35. Robert Siegel (March 13, 2007). "Conservapedia: Data for Birds of a Political Feather?". NPR.
36. List of Conservapedia sysops, retrieved June 10 2007
37. See, e.g., the Theory of Evolution Talk Page, especially the "Vote" section, expressing this majority.
38. "Weird, wild wiki on which anything goes". Metro. Associated Newspapers. 2007-13-19. Retrieved 2007-03-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
39. http://www.conservapedia.com/Astronomy
40. http://www.conservapedia.com/Dinosaurs
41. http://www.conservapedia.com/Geocentric_theory
42. "Conservapedia Copyright". Conservapedia. 2007-04-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
43. http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Jimmy_Carter&diff=113225&oldid=113214
44. "Resers' rights and obligations=[[2007-05-09]]". Misplaced Pages. {{cite web}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)

• Online encyclopedias
• Wiki communities
• Conservative organizations in the United States
• Virtual communities
• English-language encyclopedias
• Wikis