European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 28, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse Wednesday March 28 2007 stars and stripes Page 17 ant Wikipedia does away with anonymity by Brian Bergstein the associated press in just six years Wikipedia has Mush roomed into one of the webs most astonish ing successes with 17 Milhon articles in English alone the Downside is that the free encyclopedia has its share of errors and juvenile vandalism and sometimes the writing is incomprehensibly arcane to Wikipedia fans these blemishes Are an unavoidable and relatively Small Price to pay for the dazzling breadth spawned by its anyone can edit open de sign but Larry Sanger Doest buy it to who was present at the creation of Wikipedia in fact Call him a Confounder although that like Many things within Wikipedia is disputed its charms seem to outweigh its warts simply because it has no Competition and that precisely what Sanger Hopes to change this week Sanger takes the wraps off a Wikipedia alternative citizen drum his goal is to capture Wikipedia Bustle but this time avoid the vandalism and inconsistency that Are its Pitfalls like Wikipedia citizen drum will be non profit devoid of ads and free to read and edit unlike Wikipedia citizen Drums Volunteer contributors will be expected to pro vide their real names experts in Given Fields will be asked to Check articles for accuracy if theres going to be a free encyclopedia id like there to be a better free encyclopedia says Sanger 38 who has a doctorate in philosophy and Speaks slowly As Flap Over founder is years old Kiichiro Larry Sanger who worked on the Early Days of Wikipedia has started an alternative called citizen drum the nascent web encyclopedia Citi a Indium Springs from Larry Sanger who counts himself As a Confounder of Wikipedia the site he now Hopes to usurp the claim Doest seem particularly controversial Sanger has Long been cited As a Confounder yet the other founder Jimmy Wales int Happy about it Sanger has assembled Many links at his web site that appear to put the matter to rest among the citations Are Early news stories and press releases that say Wikipedia was founded by Wales and Sanger it was an offshoot of Nup Edia an encyclopedia project for which Wales hired Sanger to be editor in chief and there is evidence that it was Sanger who proposed augmenting Nup Edia with flexible open Wim software the Wikipedia entry on Wales also holds that Sanger played a sizable role even giving Wikipedia its name but Wales insists that Sanger was a subordinate employee of his and by that measure 20 other people would deserve Confounder status Wales claims Sanger wrote those Early news releases to inflate his role Sanger re sponds that Wales approved the re leases in a Exchange about citizen drum and other topics Wales raised the subject of Sangers role when you write this up please do not uncritically repeat Sangers absurd claim to be the Confounder of Wikipedia i know of no one who was there at the company at the beginning who would think it anything other than laughable he added if cautiously choosing every word it has bothered me that i helped to get a project started Wikipedia that people Are Misus ing in this Way and yet the project itself has Little Chance of radically improving Stephen Ewen an adult education instructor in Jupiter Fla gave up on contrib uting to Wikipedia and plans to work on Cit in Indium he believes the Quality of Wiki Pedia entries often degrades Over time be cause someone inevitably comes along to express a counterproductive viewpoint contributors Are free to hash out such changes on the discussion pages that accompany every article but Ewen believes Wikipedia anonymity reduces the accountability that stimulates healthy exchanges to some dissidents Wikipedia seems an inscrutable world unto itself not unlike the Devotion inspiring virtual environs of role playing games when you put everybody in a system that is Flat where everybody can say yes or no without any sense of authority what you get is tribalism Ewen says what has gone into the article creation is very often the result of this dysfunctional sys tem it presents itself with this Aura of authority whereas what goes on behind the scenes is anything but because the sign up and other Steps Are the Antithesis of Wikipedia Brazen ease its hard to imagine citizen drum garnering 3 million accounts like Wikipedia has then again Many of those accounts sit unused lets say we Only have on equal Ter of the contributors of Wikipedia Sanger says would we be Able to create a credible competitor for Wikipedia within not too Many years yes i think 2007 Korea Region mar opening exhibit and awards ceremony will be held at a Nisan arts and crafts Center 9 May at i so hrs winning entries will be submitted to the army arts crafts contest deadline to submit entries to Yon san arts crafts Center is 18 apr 07 building no 4253 ceramics Wood fibres and textiles prints categories of Competition metals and jewelry Oil 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