Wikipedia Insiders Launch Competitors

Wired profiles former employees out to offer 'more accurate' articles
By Ryan Riley,  Newser User
Posted Nov 6, 2007 10:41 PM CST
Wikipedia Insiders Launch Competitors
After co-founding Wikipedia, Larry Sanger went on to start Citizendium, an expert-driven alternative.   (Wikimedia Commons)

Danny Wool is following on the heels of Larry Sanger, says a Wired profile of Wiki's next-of-kin, becoming a former Wikipedian who's gone out on his own to offer "more accurate" content. While Wool’s Veropedia refurbishes Wikipedia articles, Sanger’s Citizendium quickly jettisoned that approach, declaring them unsalvageable. Both start-ups, however, take measures to combat the unreliability of contributors.

Sanger strips writers of their anonymity to reduce vandalism, and Wool prevents users from editing articles after his experts touch them up. Although perhaps more accurate, the nascent sites still lag in coverage. Veropedia has under 4,000 articles to date. Nevertheless, Sanger believes his site, which produces 14 new articles a day, can eventually rival Wikipedia’s 2 million. (More Citizendium stories.)

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