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contribute and discussions are not hidden behind closed doors. If a project grows large enough to need elected leadership, it is important that these leaders serve as coordinators for their communities rather than rulers of a fiefdom. Additionally, the programs sponsored by a WikiProject should in some way benefit
Knowledge's efforts toward building an encyclopedia, rather than serving merely as chat rooms and miscellaneous diversions. This doesn't mean that all WikiProjects are devoid of fun and friendship, but those pursuits must not become a project's overriding purpose.
381:, meaning that the project had the potential to serve as a forum for discussion of Knowledge policies rather than just a collection of articles about a single topic. Sadly, new editors have been posting questions on the project's talk page for years without any replies. Had WikiProject Nudity been created by a dedicated group of mature editors, it might have actually served a purpose. Ultimately, a WikiProject is not a page, nor is it a grouping of articles. A WikiProject is a community of editors working together to make Knowledge better.
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275:, or an old-fashioned alphabetical list of every Knowledge article? To be fair, Knowledge had a much smaller collection of articles back then, so the idea of sifting through lists of articles didn't seem as absurd as it does today with the English Knowledge sporting over 4 million articles. WikiProject Contents made for an interesting discussion board, but no plan of action or timetable for changes ever materialized.
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to evolve, leaving WikiProject
Contents stuck in the past. Users simply searched for the information they needed rather than scrolling through long lists of articles. People discovered new things by following wikilinks rather than hunting through a complex classification system. An article's traffic was affected more by current events, social media posts, and
365:. The first two editors listed on the project's membership page noted beside their names "no, it is not a joke! :)" and "this is the best april fools wikiproject ever." That's about as close as the project got to collaboration. The project's page has remained essentially unchanged since that first day.
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As they talked, other projects sprouted and made their own decisions. Topic-specific WikiProjects categorized their own articles, created portals to serve as gateways to their unique fields, and introduced a variety of templates and metadata to make it all navigable. Meanwhile, the internet continued
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I'm sorry that we mistakenly traced the project to an older set of WP:Reference pages. Looking at the project's talk page, there was no indication that the earliest discussions had been transplanted from elsewhere or that further discussions were hidden away. Since the project has had no activity in
30:
Special: Lessons from the dead and dying: With
Halloween, the Day of the Dead, and other gloomy celebrations this week, we're taking a look at Knowledge's dead and dying. For some dead WikiProjects, the sole purpose of their life was simply to serve as a warning to others. Some of these projects may
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The project began with the noble goal of bringing common sense to all the articles and talkpages of
Knowledge. That's before they defined exactly what they meant by "common sense." The project's goals reads more like an essay covering senseless bickering on talkpages, treating people with respect,
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To stay relevant, WikiProject
Contents tried to take up other pursuits like improving infoboxes and series templates, duplicating the efforts of other projects. It became unclear exactly what WikiProject Contents was intended for, leading one editor to mistakenly merge the project with Knowledge's
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in 2007. Esperanza's story is one of good intentions gone awry. A thriving community where members could interact and grow became embroiled in internal politics, incivility, and secretive associations. Called a clique and a cabal (among other things), Esperanza was torn apart to form a variety of
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As noted in the above discussion of WikiProject Nudity, a true WikiProject is a community of editors, just like
Esperanza aspired to be. However, Wikipedians have expectations as to how a community conducts itself. Knowledge's communities are dedicated to openness and transparency. Anyone can
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In the realm of television, there are dozens of dead projects covering programs past and present. The larger, more active projects tend to cover television programs and franchises that have been going for many years, if not multiple generations. Knowledge does not need a WikiProject for every
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is best told by those who lived through that turbulent time in
Knowledge's past. But since few people want to talk about it today, editors unfamiliar with Esperanza should check out what remains of this project's page and the decent synopsis of the project's demise
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It's fine for a project to describe their ideal world, but the project won't go anywhere if they don't have a plan to achieve it. Join WikiProjects to improve
Knowledge. If you just want to vent, consider jotting your ideas in user space and then share them with
237:, and other gloomy celebrations this week, we're taking a look at Knowledge's dead and dying. For some dead WikiProjects, the sole purpose of their life was simply to serve as a warning to others. Some of these projects may still be salvageable, but for most, a
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related topics," with a respectable 219 articles tagged under the project's scope, including 2 Good
Articles. The project's templates and categories remain functional. Clear connections were created between the project and Knowledge's
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Sorry if I was a bit harsh; I know how much effort goes into these articles, and they're driven just by good curiosity and attempts at lesson sharing. But on the other hand, I'd commented at that talkpage in Sep 2013! :P
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television show that has ever been aired, nor is it beneficial for dead projects to sit around giving the illusion that the articles under that project's scope are being watched and maintained. Collaborating at
335:), task forces are now widespread and serve as subdivisions within WikiProjects that allow for editors to focus on a narrower topic while still tapping the resources and user-base of the larger WikiProject.
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had a simple goal when it was created: build a useful table of contents for a book that has no page numbers and is still being written. The project was spawned from comments in 2001 by
Knowledge co-founder
581:. 2005/2006 were the years of many redesigns, starting at the Main Page. WikiProject Contents was simply a set of pages to comprehensively list and organize what already existed - it started in
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and other editors calling for a way to organize Knowledge's content from a top-down approach. Should articles be organized by topic or discipline? Should Knowledge catalog material using the
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and not claiming that one's side is the truth. Rather than spreading common sense, WikiProject Common Sense became an essay about dispute resolution. But that's as far as the project got.
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Despite the lack of committed editors, WikiProject Nudity is actually a fairly well constructed project. The project's scope "aims to improve Knowledge's coverage of
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still be salvageable, but for most, a revival is unlikely. Here are some projects that never got off the ground and the lessons that can be gleaned from their follies
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Articles should be articles. Essays should be essays. WikiProjects should be WikiProjects. When someone gets confused, you end up with something like
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That's a fairly inaccurate explanation of Wikiproject Contents, due to some page moves/merges in 2006 which confused everything. The talkpages (
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will get more attention and if Knowledge really needs a space for your favorite television show, it should really be a task force.
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than by people trying to read everything about Zoology by starting from the most general article and moving to specifics.
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is unlikely. Here are some projects that never got off the ground and the lessons that can be gleaned from their follies:
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months and is tagged as inactive, we didn't expect anyone to answer requests for more information.
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Submit your project's news and announcements for next week's WikiProject Report at the
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Next week's article should be accessible to all. Until then, navigate our extensive
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main page, resulting in the inactive WikiProject Contents becoming Knowledge's
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independent initiatives, most of which have failed over the past few years.
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appears to be way ahead of its time... since we have yet to discover
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This is where task forces come into play. Initially devised by
361:. The project's flesh-colored page was created in 2008 on
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553:If your comment has not appeared here, you can try
577:(c.2005), which was what eventually got moved to
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245:Set clear, attainable goals and follow through
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585:. (If the author had asked for comments at
72:Special: Lessons from the dead and dying
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194:WikiProjects are requested to test the
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331:as an organizational tool (hence the
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698:Knowledge Signpost archives 2013-10
587:Knowledge talk:WikiProject Contents
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644:is written by editors like you –
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295:Not every subject needs a project
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412:Don't be all talk and no action
549:add the page to your watchlist
379:policy of rejecting censorship
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329:WikiProject Military History
18:Knowledge:Knowledge Signpost
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351:WikiProjects are not a joke
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419:WikiProject Common Sense
302:WikiProject Life on Mars
573:) were originally from
546:. To follow comments,
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459:"WikiProject report" →
345:WikiProject British TV
341:WikiProject Television
269:Open Directory Project
186:has a new newsletter:
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197:first release of Flow
183:The Knowledge Library
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565:Wikiproject Contents
542:from this article's
451:"WikiProject report"
289:most-watched project
261:Dewey Decimal System
251:WikiProject Contents
385:Don't form a clique
575:WP:Reference pages
533:Discuss this story
518:WikiProject report
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432:WikiProject Essays
358:WikiProject Nudity
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69:WikiProject report
46:← Back to Contents
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557:purging the cache
398:published by the
355:Let's talk about
299:At first glance,
204:, please contact
51:View Latest Issue
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513:Recent research
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480:30 October 2013
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679:Suggestions
540:transcluded
322:adaptations
273:topic maps
83:Share this
78:Contribute
22:2013-10-30
673:Subscribe
607:–Mabeenot
583:late 2007
544:talk page
392:Esperanza
231:Halloween
692:Category
668:Newsroom
663:Archives
646:join in!
622:Quiddity
591:Quiddity
449:Previous
400:Signpost
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215:Signpost
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125:LinkedIn
105:Facebook
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439:archive
319:foreign
315:spinoff
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206:Maryana
115:Twitter
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317:, and
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95:E-mail
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653:Home
626:talk
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80:—
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571:eg
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620:–
609:(
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484:(
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