Fix PA
Fix PA

Wiki landscape and roles among various companies[]

Hosting[]

4Rs (or 4Rs.org) expects to host both web sites/content and live events. The type, method and positioning of these hosting activities needs explanations.

Source for some insights from http://nadir-point.com/wiki/Wiki_Hosting

Wiki Hosting Market Sectors[]

The wiki hosting market has three primary sectors:

General Knowledge Community Wiki[]

Wiki aiming to provide general knowledge to the public, such as generic Encyclopedia.

These type of wiki are primarily hosted by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation.

  • Aimed at general knowledge.
  • Controlled by the global community.
  • Majority hosted by Wikimedia.

Specific Knowledge Community Wiki[]

Wiki aiming to provide specific knowledge to the public, such as an encyclopedia about a specific topic.

These type of wiki are primarily hosted by the for-profit company Wikia, Inc.

  • Aimed at specific knowledge.
  • Controlled by a global community.
  • Majority hosted by Wikia.

Group Controlled Wiki[]

Wiki controlled by a small group used for their own purposes, or aimed at a topic but controlled by a select few rather than an open community.

These types of wiki are normally either self-hosted, or hosted by a large number of individual companies. But the bulk of hosting setups normally does not stay as up to date as the other 3 sectors, doesn't provide many useful features, or is rarely scalable for high use.

  • Aimed at what the group wants.
  • Controlled by a select group who own the wiki.
  • No clear top quality host.


Unique for 4Rs (or 4Rs.org)}[]

NPOV and APOV[]

Wikipedia.org insists upon a Netural Point of View. However Fix PA should include All Points of View, each to its own page. The linking of people, places, ideas and issues among categories is critical to sustaining the discussions and value.

Wikipedia.org is one of the most popular internet web sites, attracting at least 684 million visitors yearly by 2008. Wikipedia.org rivals Google and Yahoo and surpasses all but only a handful of other web sites by anyone's measure.
Wikia.com presents wiki offerings with top-flight capacity. Wikia's popularity generates 400-million page views per month.
4Rs (or 4Rs.org) presents another logical step in wiki offerings.

Wikipedia's open-source encylopedia deploys a copy-left license and

includes more than 100 different languages.

Wikipedia is written collaboratively by volunteers.

Wikipedia.org is world-wide and includes more than 100 different languages.

Since its creation in 2001, Wikipedia has grown rapidly into one of the largest reference Web sites, attracting at least 684 million visitors yearly by 2008. There are more than 75,000 active contributors working on more than 10,000,000 articles in more than 250 languages. As of today, there are 2,599,861 articles in English; every day hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world make tens of thousands of edits and create thousands of new articles to enhance the knowledge held by the Wikipedia encyclopedia. (See also: Wikipedia:Statistics).

4Rs Contrasts and Biz Justifications[]

  • Wikinews is not a soapbox, chatroom, or discussion forum. Opinion pages are not welcomed at Wikipedia.org sites. 4Rs does host those pages within the Fix Network and the working Fix PA.
  • Wikipedia.org pages are not intended to be a "mirror" nor a repository of links, images, or media files. 4Rs does harvest pages to "mirror" campaign pages of issues from candidates for historical merit.

The following content presents raw ideas. This page needs massive edits, like a {{stub}}. Do not quote this material in any source. It is not sanctioned in any way. Rather, this page is more of a place holder for more editing to come.


  • All content added to Wikinews may be edited mercilessly by others on ths Wikinews site.
  • Wikinews is not a free wiki host or webspace provider. You may not host your own website or blog at Wikinews.

If you are interested in using the wiki technology for a collaborative effort on anything other than writing journalistic news articles, even if it is just a single page, there are many sites (such as SeedWiki or Riters.com) that provide wiki hosting (free or for money). You can even install wiki software on your server.

  • Wikinews is not a theater of war. Every user is expected to interact with others civilly, calmly, and in a spirit of cooperation. Do not insult, harass or intimidate those with whom you have a disagreement. Rather, approach the matter in an intelligent manner, and engage in polite discussion. Do not create or edit articles just to prove a point. Do not make legal or other threats against Wikinews, Wikinewshounds, or the Wikimedia Foundation. Threats are not tolerated and may result in a ban.
  • Wikinews is not an encyclopedia; that is, it is not an in-depth collection of non-newsworthy information. Just because something is a true fact doesn't mean it is suitable for inclusion here. Try Wikipedia instead.

Similar[]

  • Wikinews is not censored for the 'protection of minors' (content-rated). First, anyone can edit an article and the results are displayed instantaneously, so we cannot guarantee that a child will see or read nothing objectionable. Second, Wikinews has no organized system for the removal of material that might be thought likely to harm minors. However, articles can be, and are, censored by consensus.
  • 4Rs robots could be made for this purpose.


  • Wikinews is not a dumping ground for failed Wikipedia articles. Just because it got deleted from Wikipedia doesn't mean it's likely to be better received here, especially if the original article was not neutrally written, had no sources, and had nothing to do with current affairs.


When you wonder what should or should not be in an article named "whatever", ask yourself what a reader would expect under "whatever" from a trusted news provider. There is consensus that Wikinews articles are not:


  • Wikinews articles are not press releases. There are a variety of press release aggregators online who provide this service; check the Reference desk (or try News sources on wikipedia) for links to some of them. Wikinews articles address the 5 Ws and H where possible, and attempt to present newsworthy articles which are balanced and have multiple sources, which press releases by definition do not.
  • Wikinews articles are not source documents. Our sister project Wikisource is a repository for static documents; articles on Wikinews can and should be edited ruthlessly which would be inappropriate treatment for a source document. Also, many news-related source documents are copyrighted - verbatim copying of a source document could not reasonably be considered "fair use".
  • Wikinews articles are not advertisements. Especially, they are not political advertisements. Excluding opinion columns, which are curently not allowed, an exclusively one-sided article, either pro- or con- the subject of the article, is a form of advertisement.
  • Wikinews articles are not scientific papers or critiques of same. Articles might review or synopsize science, but must be written to be read by a wider, lay audience than that of a science journal - use of jargon must be limited and qualified.
  • Wikinews articles are not encyclopedic articles. Each article relates a specific event in time and all further edits should be to provide more information on that specific event in time or correct mistakes in the article. If the information is on a breaking news story it should most likely be included in the article for that story, however if it is a breaking development in even a day-old story, it most likely belongs in a new article. For instance, criminal cases often last months or even years, but events in the case should not be included in one article but articles on each separate event as it happens.
  • Wikinews articles are not editorials. Articles should restrict themselves to reporting news and not commenting on the news or newsmakers.