User talk:Stephan Schulz

Welcome!

Welcome, new editor! We're very glad you've joined us. Here are pointers for a quick start. Also, when you get a chance, please read The Editor Role. You can look at Getting Started for other helpful introductory pages. It is essential for you as an editor to join the Citizendium-Editors (broadcast) mailing list in order to stay abreast of editor-related issues, as well as the mailing list(s) that concern your particular interests. It is also important, for project-wide matters, to join the Citizendium-L (broadcast) mailing list. You can test out editing in the sandbox if you'd like. If you need help to get going, the forums is one option. That's also where we discuss policy and proposals. You can ask any constable for help, too. Me, for instance! Just put a note on their "talk" page. Again, welcome and thank you! We appreciate your willingness to share your expertise, and we hope to see your edits on Recent changes soon. Jitse Niesen 10:27, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Returning to Citizendium: an update on the project and how to get involved

Hello - some time ago you became part of the Citizendium project, but we haven't seen you around for a while. Perhaps you'd like to update your public biography or check on the progress of any pages you've edited so far.

Citizendium now has over 16,000 articles, with more than 150 approved by specialist Editors such as yourself, but our contributor numbers require a boost. We have an initiative called 'Eduzendium' that brings in students enrolled on university courses to write articles for credit, but we still need more Editors across the community to write, discuss and approve material. There are some developed Computers articles that could be improved and approved, and some high-priority Applied Sciences articles that we don't have yet. You can also create new articles via this guide, and contribute to some Computers pages that have been recently edited - or to any others on Citizendium, since you're a general Author as well as a specialist Editor. You may like to contribute to discussions in the forums, and might consider running for an elected position on the Management and Editorial Councils that oversee the project.

If you have any questions, let me know via my Talk page or by leaving a message below this one. Thank you for signing up and reading this update; I hope that you will look in on our community soon. John Stephenson 13:06, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

I still like the idea of Citizendium. However, I'd have to say that I'm somewhat disappointed with the progress. The number of approved articles is very small. ANd the last time I paid any attention, many more contentious topics seem to have brought fringe positions from Wikipedia without the balance of more sane mainstream editors. And on fairly uncontentious articles, Citizendium articles don't seem to be an improvement over Wikipedia. See e.g. Buffer overflow (an approved article) and Wikipedia's version, which is only "B-Class". I know this is probably a chicken-and-egg problems, but there seem to be a lot more hens over on the "other" encyclopedia. --Stephan Schulz 14:34, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for your input. I think the 'fringe' topics are not so prominent now (e.g. the Editorial Council has blocked all editing on the homeopathy article for the time being pending procedures to avoid contributors running riot). We do lack a lot of expert help (that may improve over time, especially now our financial situation is stabilising), and like you say, it's a bit of a chicken-and-egg issue. If you are unwilling to return, you can still keep an eye on us, and see if the idea becomes a reality. John Stephenson 04:47, 23 January 2012 (UTC)