What info belongs in this encyclopedia?

Hi, all readers and writers of the ATS encyclopedia called tinWiki,

I think that now and then can it be good to talk about what content belongs in the encyclopedia, and also to talk about organization and structuring, and so on, of the information. tinWiki does, as most here probably know, have a certain focus, but exactly where the limit, so to say, goes for what belongs and what doesn't belong, that is something I think is necessarily going to be good to talk about from time to time, as a kind of standing adjustment and clarification need.

One example, which I think is the first topic I thought of in terms of this, is the topic of Earth. That topic may seem very 'normal' and plain and not necessarily have anything to do directly with neither conspiracies nor aliens, and so on. But even this very 'normal' topic does, in my view, belong in this encyclopedia. Many of the topics in tinWiki articles so to say have no context here if there's a self imposed, as they say, exlusion of topics not direcly conspiracy or ufo (and so on) related. As an encyclopedia, tinWiki might not necessarily be helped, but rather be depleted in a way, in terms of usefulness, from such exlusion.

I would say that tinWiki is about bring 'light' on the entire 'alternative knowledge' area of topics, and that absolutely no limits should be set if such limits mean tinWiki will have a reduced ability to inform about 'alternative topics'. Basically, I think it's correct to say that tinWiki's definition of area of interest is a matter of focusing on a specific type of topics, not a matter of limiting the amount of information in the encyclopedia. If there were more information in tinWiki than in Wikipedia (unrealistic, but I'm just trying to illustrate what I mean), that would not at all be a problem, as long as the information was very strictly organized around the specific focus tinWiki has. That organization would be reflected in what aspects are focused on in articles and on the category structure, and so on.

tinWiki' area of focus is, in my view, not in any way a small area.

And, as you may know, there are lots of encyclopedia wikis 'out there', other than Wikipedia, namely encyclopedias with specific focuses, and many of those are _vast_ in comparison to tinWiki. Their bigger size is not because they relate to bigger areas of focus; some of these have areas of focus that, in my view, are smaller than what tinWiki is about, but they inform of _more_ about their area. And, as I would say it, information and informing is of course what an encyclopedia is all about.

Some examples of encyclopedias with specific areas are Wookiepedia (58,477 articles), Uncyclopedia (23,180 articles), and Encyclopedia Dramatica (173,169 articles). Those article numbers are what seem to be listed, at least. Also, I'm not at all 'endorsing' the two latter..

Many aspects of tinWiki would of course be good to, in a long term perspective, clarify and talk about among both the readers and contributors. And, why I created this thread now, of course, is I think the 'definition' and limits as to what content belongs and not, and in what way content should be presented and not, is among those aspects.

How's this sound?...

Optimist


edit: removing a sentence that was just my repeating myself..

[edit on 29-7-2008 by Optimist]

I'm replying here because I think it's an important question, and because I'm rather confused on the matter, but I don't really have the experience to have formulated an opinion. Maybe it's one of those "I know it when I see it" issues, but I haven't developed the eye yet. I'd really like to see what other people think.

Also, is there a best way to report when we find an article that we think needs fixing? Specifically, I stumbled across [www.tinwiki.org... Dimensional Portals] while I was browsing today. While the topic of dimensional portals probably does belong in tinwiki, this article strikes me as an appropriate OP here at ATS, but emphatically not as an encyclopedia entry about dimensional portals.