CZ:Content Policy

Content Policy

This is the root page for all Citizendium content policy pages. Generally, we may write about whatever we like in the Citizendium. There are, however, a few constraints on the choice of article topic: Encyclopedia topics. Topics should be plausible as encyclopedia article topics. This excludes topics expressing personal opinions or highly complicated topics that reflect original research (e.g., "Fruit production in France, Turkmenistan, and Australia"). We also usually excludes articles about people known only for committing acts of violence, including mass shooters; see this Content Forum debate. Exceptions might be accepted with the Editor in Chief's consent. Redundancy and Disambiguation If one topic is quite similar to another--for example, is just a variant on the name--then the less common topic name should in many cases be redirected to the more common topic name. Thus, for example Great War redirects to World War I. When starting articles using a person's name, it is preferable to disambiguate the title (i.e., not just "Eugene Daub", but rather "Eugene Daub (sculptor)". Unlike in Wikipedia, there is no requirement on the Citizendium that article topics be "notable", which means we do not exclude topics solely on the ground that their topics do not strike contributors as being significant or important. We recognize that what may be completely trivial to one person might in fact be quite important to another.

If you would like our "top policy picks," or the most important policy documents, see: Citizendium Policies Article Mechanics Objectivity Guidance Subpages Naming Conventions How to convert Wikipedia articles to Citizendium articles Approval Standards (now mostly inactive)

General article policy and instructions Article Mechanics A guide to encyclopedia article style and mechanics. What Citizendium articles are not A few items that one should not confuse Citizendium encyclopedia articles with. Sage advice on writing CZ articles Just a few words of wisdom. Approval Standards (now mostly inactive) The basic qualities of a good encyclopedia article. Fundamental principles Objectivity Guidance Use reliable sources and try to avoid advocacy Article Inclusion If an article is of very low quality and nobody is interested in developing it, it can be removed by Editorial decision. Media policy Images How to upload and give credit for images. Media Assets Workgroup A proposed workgroup would help manage our media resources. Fair Use Policy Guidance for fair use issues. Topic Informants and Self-Promotion Policy on Topic Informants What we do when someone with a vested interest in a topic wants to get involved. Topic Informant Workgroup Interviewers and writers volunteering to work with topic informants. Policy on Self-Promotion Thou shalt not promote thyself.

Subpages Subpages We're not just an encyclopedia. See what else. Default subpages Related Articles and Definitions | Bibliography | External Links Subpages that should be included in (almost) all articles. Optional subpages Catalogs, timelines, galleries, tutorials--all different sorts of reference information. Special issues Stubs Even "stubs," very short articles, can be high quality. How to convert Wikipedia articles to Citizendium articles If you must upload that Wikipedia article, here's how. Topic Choice First step is to pick a topic; a few rules about that. Naming Conventions How to name articles. Citation style How to cite articles and books. Formatting Mathematics How to format mathematical equations. Page categories How they are used here. Disambiguation "Disambiguation pages" let people choose which sense of a term they're interested in. Legal Disclaimer Essentially, unapproved articles shouldn't be relied upon, and we officially make no guarantees about our approved articles, either. License CZ is free, but see this page for formal details about our licensing scheme. Reusing Citizendium Content A more informal explanation of how to reuse our content. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License Our main license (used for articles that began life here). This is the dry legalese. GNU Free Documentation License The other of our licenses (used for articles that began life on Wikipedia). This is the dry legalese. Reusing Media Hosted at Citizendium How you may reuse media we host. Permissions Contributors, it's important to document use permissions you receive. See also Privacy policy Part of our Organization pages.

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