Conservapedia

Conservapedia is an internet encyclopedia project that attempts to present information from a conservative and pro-American viewpoint. It is a wiki project using the same Mediawiki software as Citizendium and Wikipedia; the site has set itself up in opposition particularly to Wikipedia and its perceived "liberal bias". It was founded in November, 2006, by Andrew Schlafly, son of conservative commentator Phyllis Schlafly, and originally began as a class project by homeschooled students. As of October, 2008, it had about 26,000 articles.

Editorial policy

Conservapedia aims to help learners discover the truth, and so it exalts certain viewpoints and principles in accordance with its Christian-friendly, US Conservative viewpoint. Alternate ideas may be described, but not presented as truth.

In particular, Conservapedia disputes the mainstream of academic and political thought on evolution and homosexuality. In its first year, the evolution article was heavily biased towards a Young Earth creationism perspective, but that has shifted as Old Earth creationists have come on board. Its stance against homosexuality is based on a Christian perspective shared by senior administrators: i.e, it is immoral and unhealthy.

Conservapedia has had a rocky relationship with people who disagree with its viewpoints, philosophy and policies. After a spring and summer of Conservapedia trying to "engage the opposition", project critics/opponents created the rival Rational Wiki to coordinate their efforts.

Recruiting of new writers has been slow, with hundreds of new user accounts being created each week and all but a handful promptly banned as sockpuppets.

Debate about topics - rather than discussion of how to improve an article - is tolerated; so is questioning the character or judgment of contributors and sysops.

As at Wikipedia, all contributors can freely edit articles unless the page has been protected, and anonymity is permitted. In line with its religious and Christian theme, Conservapedia's editorial policy consists of "Commandments", a reference to the two sets of laws the Bible says were handed down to Moses from God. The Commandments require, among others, that "everything... be true and verifiable" and also enforce a family-friendly policy. Until March, 2007, Conservapedia required by Commandment that "As much as possible, American spelling of words must be used", but now the site's "Manual of Style" presents American spellings as being preferred, with Commonwealth spellings possible depending on the context.

Conservapedia also emphasises that it does not "attempt to be neutral to all points of view". This seems to potentially allow for descriptions that favor one side rather than none; its own example of how "terrorist" is preferable to "militant", in contrast to what Wikipedia might use, presumably presupposes that the subject actually is a terrorist.

Conservapedia administrators frequently have to block vandals attempting to insert inappropriate material.

Liberal commentators have made fun of the obsession of Conservapedia readers with homosexuality, as well as the entries on creation science. In its first year, Young Earth creationism held sway, but now Old Earth creationism is an equal partner.