Wikipedia Competition: Citizendium

Wikipedia has had a tough run lately. The free online encyclopedia had to admit that an editor and contributor who went by the name of Essjay didn't have the doctoral degrees or tenured professorship he claimed. Recently, a contributor reported the untimely—and erroneous—death of Sinbad.

Maybe some competition will help right Wikipedia's wrongs. That's why one of the site's co-founders, Larry Sanger, says he is launching a site called Citizendium this week with safeguards he hopes will avoid some of the vandalism and pranks that have befallen Wikipedia. How? By making contributors confirm their credentials and submit short biographies. Pseudonyms will be allowed only in special cases, but names will always be known to Citizendium.

The site launched Sunday with 900 authors, 200 editors, and 1,100 articles. Only 11 of them were approved by editors, garnering a green check mark. Volunteers can revise articles, but entries that have already been approved are labeled as separate "drafts" while they're being rewritten. For more details, check out the full AP story on Citizendium's launch.

A Wikipedia with a few more checks and balances seems like a great idea. I'll be interested to see how it develops. Would you like to see a volunteer online encyclopedia that has more measures in place to assure its contributors are who they say they are and the information they contribute is accurate?