Citizendium
Citizendium (/ˌsɪtɪˈzɛndiəm/ SIT-i-ZEN-dee-əm; "the citizens' compendium of everything") is an English-language wiki-based free online encyclopedia launched by Larry Sanger, co-founder of Nupedia and Wikipedia.
Screenshot The Citizendium homepage with default format, 2018 | |
Type of site | Online encyclopedia |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Created by | Larry Sanger |
| URL | en |
| Commercial | No |
| Registration | Optional (Required to edit pages, via request of account) |
| Launched | 23 October 2006 (pilot) 25 March 2007 (public) |
| Current status | active, but with few editors |
Content license | CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 |
It was first announced in September 2006 as a fork of the English Wikipedia, but instead launched in March 2007 with an emphasis on original content. The project's aim was to improve on the Wikipedia model by providing increased reliability. It planned to achieve this by requiring virtually all contributors to use their real names, by strictly moderating the project for unprofessional behavior, by providing "gentle expert oversight" of everyday contributors, and through "approved articles" which have undergone a form of peer-review by topic experts with credentials.
Active contributors increased through the first quarter of 2008 and then declined; by 27 October 2011, the site had fewer than 100 active members. The last managing editor was Anthony Sebastian, until the office was vacated in 2016. As of 21 July 2023, it had 17,956 "live" and 6,322 "lemma" articles (lemmas are undeveloped articles which contain little more than a definition).