Welcome to WikiIndex — the 'wiki index' of all wikis, wiki people, wiki software, wiki farms, and wiki ideas.
Please add your wiki, and join our community. Note: WikiIndex is not a wiki hosting service.

(please log-in to bypass the anti-spam Captcha and remove this heading notice)

RationalWiki (en): Difference between revisions

From WikiIndex
Jump to navigation Jump to search
((linked to critical section instead)Better than nothing.Create a criticism page or help formulate policy here.)
(Wide logo switch, WikiApiary)
 
(113 intermediate revisions by 41 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Wiki  
{{Wiki <!--see 'Template:Wiki' for full detail and hidden help advice-->
| wiki_logo             = http://wikiindex.org/images/3/31/RW_Logo_vector.svg-2.png
|name            = RationalWiki (English)
| wiki_URL              = http://www.rationalwiki.com/wiki/Main_Page
|URL             = https://RationalWiki.org/wiki/Main_Page
| wiki_recentchanges_URL = http://www.rationalwiki.com/wiki/Special:Recentchanges
|logo            = https://RationalWiki.org/w/images/6/6e/Rw_logo.png
| wiki_wikinode_URL      = No
|wide logo        = y<!--insert 'y' when the logo is too wide AND / OR the title name is too long-->
| wiki_status            = Vibrant
|recentchanges URL= https://RationalWiki.org/w/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&limit=250
| wiki_language          = English
|wikinode URL    = https://RationalWiki.org/wiki/RationalWiki:Wikinode
| wiki_editmode          = OpenEdit
|about URL        = https://RationalWiki.org/wiki/RationalWiki
| wiki_engine            = MediaWiki
|founder          = {{RW|User:ColinR|ColinR}}<!--https://RationalWiki.org/wiki/RationalWiki:Timeline-->
| wiki_maintopic        = Pseudoscience
|status          = Vibrant
|language        = English
|editmode        = OpenEdit
|engine          = MediaWiki
|license          = Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike
|maintopic        = Fringe science
|backupurl        = https://RationalWiki.org/wiki/RationalWiki:Content_dumps
}}
}}
'''{{tag|Wiki English|English}}''' language version of '''[[RationalWiki]]'''.


''For a criticism of RationalWiki, see [[Talk:RationalWiki#Criticism_and_rebuttals|this]] (or the other complaints on the discussion page).
As of March 2014, the [[moderator]]s of the English RationalWiki are AD, David Gerard, Genghis Khant, MarcusCicero, Mikal, PowderSmokeAndLeather, and Sophie Wilder.[https://RationalWiki.org/wiki/Special:ListUsers/moderator]
{{Size <!--see 'Template:Size' for extensive full detail-->
|pages= 7695<!--plain numeric value for number of CONTENT pages (or Files on a commons wiki); NO thousands separators-->
|statistics URL= https://RationalWiki.org/wiki/Special:Statistics
|wikiFactor= <!--(wF), preferred; see: Category:wikiFactor; if wF unknown leave void; archived wF value may be used-->
|wikiFactor URL= https://RationalWiki.org/wiki/Special:PopularPages
}}(As of: 2022-12-09)<!--YYYY-MM-DD; manually add/amend ISO 8601 date when stats are verified and/or updated-->


'''RationalWiki''' is an open wiki taking a critical look at the pseudoscience movement and extremist politics, through the use of side-by-side examinations and humour.
;''External links
 
{{WikiApiary}}
Their stated goals are:
{{RationalWiki}}
*Analyzing and refuting the anti-science movement, ideas and people.
[[Category:Vector]]<!--skin categories, default skin first-->
*Analyzing and refuting the full range of crank ideas.
[[Category:Cologne Blue]]
*Explorations of authoritarianism and fundamentalism.
[[Category:Minerva]]
 
[[Category:Modern]]
RationalWiki is currently suffering a temporary loss of service and will return to normal service as early as the 6th of September, no later than the 8th.[http://rationalwiki.blogspot.com/2009/08/when-will-we-be-back.html]
[[Category:Monobook]]
 
[[Category:Nostalgia]]
==Info==
[[Category:Timeless]]
{{Size
[[Category:Founded in 2007]]<!--https://RationalWiki.org/w/index.php?title=Main_Page&dir=prev&action=history-->
| statistics URL = http://www.rationalwiki.com/wiki/Special:Statistics
| pages = 3534
| wikiFactor = 16
| wikiFactor URL = http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/Special:PopularPages
}}
 
RationalWiki has about 3,197 registered users, of which 359 (or 11.23%) have Sysops rights, which are awarded very liberally by the bureaucrats.
 
RationalWiki runs a large collection of specially customized extensions allowing a wide range of features such as; up-down voting, slider voting, a site wide intercom system, and easy bible quotations.
 
RationalWiki also has a namespace dedicated to [[Conservapedia]].
 
==History==
RationalWiki started in {{tag|FoundedIn2007|May 2007}} after a group of editors at [[Conservapedia]] were banned over ideological differences with the authorities there.  Their edits had consisted mostly of debating on talk pages, attempting to counteract what they perceived to be overwhelming anti-scientific and far-right political bias.  Although the site was called RationalWiki to highlight the pro-scientific worldview of the founders, the content was largely weighted to the perceived lunacy of events at Conservapedia.
 
==Rationalwiki today==
While Conservapedia continues to be a major focus of RationalWiki, they have branched out into many areas of skepticism.  Many articles focus on unfounded medical claims, pseudoscience and Biblical literalism. Despite a seemingly anti-religious stance, some editors are practicing Christians or Jews, tending towards the more liberal aspects of their religion rather than fundamentalism.
 
The site works to refute a range of faith based ideas and superstitions. They have critical material on Scientology, Creationism, {{tag|Astrology}}, "New Age" philosophy, and many others.  It also comments critically on other Christian creationist wikis notably [[A Storehouse of Knowledge]], see [http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/A_Storehouse_of_Knowledge RationalWiki on A Storehouse of Knowledge].
 
Despite this branching into other areas, most of their traffic is to the page [http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/Conservapedia:What_is_going_on_at_CP%3F What is going on at Conservapedia?].
 
The website has a rather idiosyncratic sense of humour, which includes widespread intentional misspellings and other peculiar phrases.  There are many "inside jokes", particularly in the material relating to Conservapedia, and the writing often has the tone of a close-knit social group.
 
Example of RationalWiki’s perspective:-
<Blockquote>''As a site we have a point of view, and that point of view is that the scientific method and the information gained from its application is better than almost anything else humanity has come up with. We believe that the support of, profiting from and creation of pseudosciences is dangerous and wrong. [http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/RationalWiki:Project_Whitewash/What_is_a_RationalWiki_article]''</Blockquote>
 
==Tempory service outage==
On Aug 19th, RationalWiki (and related sites such as [[RationalWikiWiki]] and the RationalWiki forums) became inaccessible.[http://rationalwiki.blogspot.com/2009/08/pretty-much-worse-case-scenario.html] The stated reason is that a problem has occurred with the server, most likely due to a MySQL connection error. RationalWiki is hosted on its own private server at Tmtoulouse's domicile, who is on a trip out of town and is unable to attend to the problem. Although RationalWiki has nightly backups stored on a separate server, it is hoped they will not be needed.
 
During the "crisis", RationalWikians have found a temporary home to discuss their drinking habits and love of the goat at [[Teflpedia]], where roughly 30-40 RationalWikians have signed up to endure the inaccessibility of their home wiki. A more complete list of places to find RationalWikians can be found [http://teflpedia.com/index.php?title=RW_contact_points here].
 
==Criticism==
 
Although it claims to welcome contributors of all religions, many of its users are hostile towards religion. An ex-conservapedia sysop accused it of containing "...filthy and blasphemous language, replete with name-calling, smearing, innuendo, hypocrisy, and other undesirable attributes" [http://www.astorehouseofknowledge.info/index.php?title=User_talk:Philip_J._Rayment&diff=14129&oldid=14127]
 
==See also==
*[[RationalWikiWiki]] meta site for RationalWiki.
*[[Debatepedia wiki]] also discusses controversial topics -- but puts both viewpoints side-by-side on the same page.
*[[FreeThoughtPedia]]
*[[Iron Chariots]]
*[[Liberapedia]], a parody of Conservapedia, with some serious articles on religious fundamentalism.
*[[Atheism Wiki]]
 
==External links==
*[http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/Conservapedia:What_is_going_on_at_CP%3F RationalWiki's most popular article] RationalWiki's take on events at Conservapedia
*[http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/Conservapedia Conservapedia], RationalWiki’s Main article about Conservapedia
*[http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/Essay:The_Conservapedia_RationalWiki_War The Conservapedia RationalWiki War], the RationalWiki interpretation of the "war" between Conservapedia and RationalWiki
*[http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/Category:Conservapedia Category of articles]  RationalWiki’s  large collection of articles about Conservapedia.
 
further tags:
* {{tag|creationism}}[[Category:Atheism]][[Category:Wikis with a strong viewpoint]][[Category:Criticism]]

Latest revision as of 21:28, 9 December 2022

https://RationalWiki.org/w/images/6/6e/Rw_logo.png
RationalWiki (English)
Recent changes • WikiNode • About • [No Mobile URL]
Founded by: ColinR
Status: Vibrant
Language: English
Edit mode: OpenEdit
Wiki engine: MediaWiki
Wiki license: Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike
Main topic: Fringe science
Backups: unknown or dynamic date

English language version of RationalWiki.

As of March 2014, the moderators of the English RationalWiki are AD, David Gerard, Genghis Khant, MarcusCicero, Mikal, PowderSmokeAndLeather, and Sophie Wilder.[1]

Wiki size: 7,695 article pages see stats

(As of: 2022-12-09)

External links

RationalWiki (RW) wiki sites in these languages (view / edit / talk)
English (en) • Russian / ру́сский (ru)

RationalWiki (RW) is an open wiki site taking a critical look at pseudo-science, and 'Conservative' and Christian fundamentalist politics, through the use of side-by-side examinations and humor.

Stated goals are:[1]

As of January 2014, the original English language RationalWiki had about 395 active users. 530 users had sysop rights; any sysop may add or remove sysop rights. The block log is used as a chat line.[2]

RationalWiki runs a large collection of specially customized extensions, most of which were created by User:Nx, implementing a wide range of features, such as: up-down voting (WIGO, or what-is-going-on), slider voting, a site wide intercom system, a signature checker, and easy Bible quotations.[3] The source code of many of these extensions has been made publicly available.

RationalWiki also has a namespace dedicated to Conservapedia,[4] and a collection of recipes,[5] some of which are pseudo-recipes whose real purpose is to impart jokes[6] or religious commentary.[7] The site's slogan rotates among several dozen possibilities, some of which are weighted more heavily than others.[8]

History

RationalWiki started in May 2007, after a group of editors at Conservapedia were banned over ideological differences with the authorities there. Their edits had consisted mostly of debating on talk pages, attempting to counteract what they perceived to be overwhelming anti-scientific and far-right political biases. Although the site was called RationalWiki to highlight the apparent pro-scientific worldview of the founders, the content was largely weighted to the perceived lunacy of events at Conservapedia. As of January 2014, voting was ongoing concerning whether to expand RationalWiki's mission. It appeared unlikely that RationalWiki was going to explicitly embrace the idea of becoming a general encyclopaedia.[9]

In 2011, a Russian-language version of RationalWiki was launched, founded by Bertran, and located at ru.RationalWiki.org.[2]

RationalWiki today

While Conservapedia continues to be a major source of traffic to RationalWiki (mainly, their What is going on at Conservapedia? page), RationalWiki have branched out into many areas of skepticism. Many articles focus on unfounded medical claims, pseudo-science, and Biblical literalism. Despite a seemingly pro-atheist, anti-religious stance, some editors are practicing Christians, Jews, Muslims, or Odinists (among others); tending towards the more liberal aspects of their religion rather than fundamentalism. However, most of the regular contributers to RationalWiki are atheists.[citation requested]

The site works to refute a range of faith-based ideas, as well as superstitions. They have critical material on Scientology, Christianity, Creationism, Astrology, 'New Age' philosophy, and many others. It also comments critically on other Christian creationist wikis, like the relatively unnotable, if it weren't for their editors joining up to argue with the founder, A Storehouse of Knowledge (see RationalWiki: A Storehouse of Knowledge).

The website has an idiosyncratic sense of humour, which includes widespread intentional misspellings and other peculiar phrases. There are many 'inside jokes', particularly in the material relating to Conservapedia, and the writing often has the tone of a close-knit social group. Some dialog takes place through log summaries for ultra-short-term (or even zero-duration) blocks.[2]

RationalWiki has one or two great features — readers can vote on their 'What Is Going On' pages;[citation requested] there are random text generators for entertainment purposes — usually for parodying various figures at Conservapedia.[citation requested]

A former example of RationalWiki's perspective (subsequently revised):-

As a site we have a point of view, and that point of view is that the scientific method and the information gained from its application is better than almost anything else humanity has come up with. We believe that the support of, profiting from and creation of pseudosciences is dangerous and wrong.[1]

Policies and guidelines

This section requires expansion.
Please help by adding to it.
Expand section, with citations

RationalWiki has a set of community standards to which it sometimes / somewhat adheres. For example, it states "Talk pages should never be deleted", but in actual practice, talk pages deemed to consist of trolling sometimes are deleted. Policies are few, and readily disregarded. RationalWiki does not aspire to be a general purpose encyclopedia like Wikipedia; therefore, pages deemed to be off-mission are deleted. Such decisions are made through a mobocratic process.

Culture

This section requires expansion.
Please help by adding to it.
Expand section, with citations

RationalWikians generally tend to frown on editing articles from a non-leftist point of view, and favor instead having talk page discussions with dissenting viewpoints.

Critiques

Former Conservapedia sysop and A Storehouse of Knowledge founder Philip J. Rayment harshly criticized RationalWiki as; "[a] place of filthy and blasphemous language, replete with name-calling, smearing, innuendo, hypocrisy, and other undesirable attributes".[10] RationalWiki is often criticized as intolerant toward minority opinions. Encyclopedia Dramatica argues; "RationalWiki doesn't seem to realize that science is dynamic, and established theories may be rejected in the future."[11]

Many of those critical of RationalWiki refer to the website as "RatWiki" or "IrrationalWiki". Although Liberapedia is mostly supportive of the wiki, it is critical of its perceived conservative bias.[citation requested] One of the more famous essays on this topic, linked by hundreds of pages and probably more by broken external links to the defunct RationalWikiWiki page, is "I thought this was supposed to be RATIONALWiki".[12] One of the more thorough critiques of RationalWiki's claims to rationality was Maratrean's "Is RationalWiki really rational?"[13] Customarily, one is entitled or encouraged or required to imbibe whenever someone complains that RationalWiki users' thinking or behavior is irrational, and that this is contrary to the ideals implied by the site's name.

Among the wikis that have articles positively or negatively critiquing RationalWiki are ChildWiki,[14] Encyclopedia Dramatica,[15] Liberapedia,[16] Libertapedia,[17] PolyWiki,[18] SuicideWiki,[19] and TV Tropes.[20] English Wikipedia has a brief description of RationalWiki in its Conservapedia article, along with a more recent substantive RationalWiki article. Conservapedia seems to prefer to pretend that RationalWiki doesn't exist, and to treat it as an 'unwiki' (in the Orwellian sense). Three RationalWiki articles have been hurled down the Conservapedia memory hole, and presently it is protected from being re-created.[21] This has been mocked at New Conservapedia, whose RationalWiki article states, "We do not include a link. Pseudo-science must be censored beyond all coasts."[22]

Satire

Satirical and satiricritical articles, respectively, on RationalWiki appear here in Uncyclopedia and here in Encyclopedia Dramatica. Uncyclopedia has a page encouraging readers to vandalize RationalWiki.

RationalWiki Foundation

In July 2010, ownership of the RationalWiki websites transferred to a non-profit foundation called the RationalWiki Foundation.[23] This did not entail a substantive change in the day-to-day running of the site.

RationalMedia Foundation

In July 2013, the name of the Foundation was formally changed to the RationalMedia Foundation, becoming a tax-exempt public charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code, following a unanimous vote of the Foundation Board for such change.[23]

See also

References

  1. Jump up to: 1.0 1.1 RationalWiki: What is a RationalWiki article; RationalWiki.org; accessed 2022-12-09.
  2. Jump up to: 2.0 2.1 Special:Log/block; RationalWiki.org; accessed 2022-12-09.
  3. Special:Version; RationalWiki.org; accessed 2022-12-09.
  4. All pages (Conservapedia namespace); RationalWiki.org; accessed 2022-12-09.
  5. All pages (Recipe namespace); RationalWiki.org; accessed 2022-12-09.
  6. Recipe:Insanity; RationalWiki.org; accessed 2022-12-09.
  7. Recipe:Atheist's Nightmare; RationalWiki.org; accessed 2022-12-09.
  8. View source for Template:RationalWiki Slogan; RationalWiki.org; accessed 2022-12-09.
  9. Forum: Expanding RW's mission – Less talking, more voting!; RationalWiki.org; accessed 2022-12-09.
  10. User talk:Philip J. Rayment/Archive 2#Invitation[dead link] aStorehouseofKnowledge.info; A Storehouse of Knowledge; accessed 2018-08-01.
  11. RationalWiki - How to Trolling RationalWiki[dead link] EncyclopediaDramatica.rs; Encyclopedia Dramatica; accessed 2018-08-01.
  12. Essay: I thought this was supposed to be RATIONALWiki; RationalWiki.org; accessed 2022-12-09.
  13. Essay talk: Is RationalWiki really rational?; RationalWiki.org; accessed 2018-08-01.
  14. RationalWiki – from ChildWiki, the children's liberation encyclopedia; ChildWiki.net, via Archive.org; archived 2014-03-28.
  15. RationalWiki[dead link] EncyclopediaDramatica.rs; Encyclopedia Dramatica; accessed 2018-08-01.
  16. RationalWiki; Liberapedia.Fandom.com; Liberapedia; accessed 2022-12-09.
  17. RationalWiki; Libertapedia.org, via Archive.org; archived 2013-01-15.
  18. RationalWiki – from PolyWiki, the global storehouse of information about polyamory; PolyWiki.org, via Archive.org; archived 2014-01-27.
  19. RationalWiki – from SuicideWiki, the global repository of suicide reasons, methods and miscellany; SuicideWiki.org, via archive.is; archived 2014-03-04.
  20. Rational Wiki[dead link] TVTropes.org; accessed 2018-08-01.
  21. Combined display of all available logs of RationalWiki on Conservapedia; Conservapedia.com; Conservapedia; accessed 2022-12-09.
  22. IrrationalWiki; Conservapaedia.Referata.com, via Archive.org; archived 2015-03-16.
  23. Jump up to: 23.0 23.1 RationalWiki:RationalMedia Foundation; RationalWiki.org; accessed 2018-08-01.

Similar wikis

  • Debatepedia wiki also discusses controversial topics – but puts both viewpoints side-by-side on the same page – RationalWiki also has side-by-side articles
  • Psiram — a wiki similar in attitude (multilingual)