Infogalactic
 |
|
| Area served | Worldwide |
|---|---|
| Founder(s) | Vox Day |
| Industry | Internet |
| Slogan(s) | the planetary knowledge core |
| Website | infogalactic |
| Type of site | wiki encyclopedia |
| Advertising | no |
| Registration | Required to edit. Planned progression to something approaching that of Wikipedia. |
| Available in | English only |
| Launched | February 4, 2016 |
| Current status | online as of 16 September 2022 |
Infogalactic is an English language wiki encyclopedia project run on MediaWiki software founded on 4 February 2016.[note 1] [note 2]
Summary
InfoGalactic is described by its founders as a "planetary knowledge core." Its lead designer is American author and entrepreneur Theodore Beale (also known by his pen name Vox Day). The project started as a fork of the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia, whose full content was transferred onto the wiki. A "forkbot" is used to automatically update articles and article segments that member editors have not yet worked on. The site's membership consists of Galaxians (standard editors), Starlords (administrators), Corelords (corporate professionals who have purchased a license to oversee articles related to their industries), and a Council (top-level supervisors). Corelords do not have censorship abilities, but can control forked articles they may favor. Some articles are also listed as "Verified". All article edits must be truthful and meet other site standards.
InfoGalactic is intended to have less alleged politically progressive, left-wing, or "politically correct" bias than Wikipedia, and to allow articles or statements that would not be allowed on Wikipedia because of problems with Wikipedia's policies on reliable sources,[1] or due to biases held by Wikipedia editors.[2] Standards on notability are more relaxed, within limits. Articles based on original research may also be allowed if all conflicts and controversies are disclosed.
Evolution
In 2016, Vox Day designed a system intended to reduce bias in online knowledge by eliminating centralized control of the content on mainstream online encyclopedias such as Wikipedia and RationalWiki. With the help of 172 of his readers, he created Infogalactic, where he is the Lead Designer and a member of the Star Council.
As of 2022, creating or editing articles is restricted to editors who have first had to request a free account. Later, it is planned to allow anyone to edit almost all articles, similar to Wikipedia. Exceptions would be articles vulnerable to frequent vandalism or "edit wars", but, in those cases, the articles themselves could be "forked" to allow different viewpoints to express themselves (unlike Wikipedia).
Notable early articles created on Infogalactic have focused on alleged or official cases of left-wing bias or media censorship,[3] which are listed with sources. Many articles about classic authors were expanded, and Wikipedia articles about political controversies were either significantly altered or restored to previous revisions.
In its third year, Infogalactic's highest priority was to acquire more contributors. Wikipedia has millions of articles that are regularly updated by tens of thousands of editors from almost all countries. About 100,000 editors contribute at least once a month.[4] Specialist contributors spend several hours a month maintaining articles in their areas of expertise. Meanwhile, Infogalactic was criticized for still having too few editors.[5] However, as Wikipedia becomes more "SJW converged" or imposes more politically correct or other censorship,[6] editors expelled from Wikipedia may choose to work for other online information sources instead.
Reception
In October 2016, Lucas Nolan of Breitbart News Network described InfoGalactic as a "replacement for Wikipedia that promises to be free of the problems that have plagued Wikipedia such as the bureaucracy amongst editors, censorship of content, harassment, and vandalism of public figures’ pages." [7] Infogalactic has also been featured in articles in Wired[8] and in L'Express[9].
Site culture
Infogalactic has a wide diversity of contributors representing generally right-wing or progressive libertarian viewpoints. There are some traditional left-wing and alt-right editors, though they would be allowed. As contributors worked to expand the list of edits and of original articles, it was argued that editors should avoid deleting original contributions, but instead improve them by adding qualifying text; and that Infogalactic should accept shorter or more rudimentary articles and edits than Wikipedia (for now).
Name
The name Infogalactic resembles the fictional Encyclopedia Galactica featured in Isaac Asimov's science fiction stories and novels published between 1942 and 1993 known as the Foundation series, which is meant as a compendium of all human knowledge.
See also
Notes
- ↑ The domain "infogalactic.com" was registered on 27 January 2016.
- ↑ the first revision on the wiki is dated to 4 February 2016.
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Fitts, Alexis Sobel (2017). "Welcome to the Wikipedia of the Alt-right," Wired. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
- ↑ Daniel Oberhaus (Nov 7, 2017) https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/7x47bb/wikipedia-editors-elite-diversity-foundation
- ↑ (Mar 24, 2018) https://camestrosfelapton.wordpress.com/2018/03/24/crunching-some-numbers-on-voxopedia/
- ↑ (Mar 26, 2019) https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2019/03/26/wikipedia-editors-paid-to-protect-political-tech-and-media-figures/
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Alexis Sobel Fitts (Jun 21, 2017) https://www.wired.com/story/welcome-to-the-wikipedia-of-the-alt-right/
- ↑ (Jun 27, 2017) https://voxday.net/2017/06/28/infogalactic-in-lexpress/ | http://lexpansion.lexpress.fr/high-tech/infogalactic-metapedia-conservapedia-l-extreme-droite-aussi-a-ses-wikipedia_1922139.html
