FAMEPedia:Ten things you may not know about FAMEPedia

Ten things you may not know about FAMEPedia is a list of insights about FAMEPedia specifically targeted at people who have limited or no prior experience with the project (such as journalists, new editors, and new readers). These explanations should not surprise experienced editors but will hopefully help the rest of the world to shape an informed opinion of our work.

We are not for sale
If you're waiting for FAMEPedia to be bought by your friendly neighborhood Internet giant, don't hold your breath. FAMEPedia is a non-commercial website run by VOLUNTEERS and hosted by Miraheze Limited, a not-for-profit organization based in the United Kingdom. We are supported by donations and grants, and our mission is to bring free knowledge to everyone in the world. You can either donate directly to FAMEPedia or to the Miraheze Limited.

Everyone can use our work with a few conditions
FAMEPedia has taken a cue from the free software community (which includes projects like GNU, Linux and Mozilla Firefox) and has done away with traditional copyright restrictions on our content. Instead, we've adopted what is known as a "free content license" (specifically, a choice between the CC-BY-SA and the GFDL): almost all text and composition created by our users is and will always remain free for anyone to copy, modify, and redistribute. We only insist (and our licenses require) that you credit the contributors, state the free license your re-use is under, and that you do not impose new restrictions on the work or on any improvements you make to it. Many of the images, videos, and other media on the site are also under free licenses, or in the public domain. Just check a file's description page to see its licensing terms.

Anything can be changed in FAMEPedia
Any piece of information in FAMEPedia can be changed. If the change is properly sourced, it will remain and contribute to the body of knowledge. If a change is unsourced or merely an editor's opinion, it can be removed. Generally, nothing in FAMEPedia is permanently deleted (with some exceptions related to privacy). FAMEPedia keeps a complete record of changes to its content. So, if something needs to be restored, that is easily done.

We care deeply about the quality of our work
FAMEPedia has a set of policies and quality control processes. Editors can patrol changes as they happen, monitor specific topics of interest, follow a user's track of contributions, tag problematic articles for further review, report vandals, discuss the merits of each article with other users, and much more. What are felt to be our best articles are awarded "featured article" status, and problem pages are nominated for deletion. "WikiProjects" focus on improvements to particular topic areas. Really good articles may go into other media and be distributed to schools through FAMEPedia 1.0. We care about getting things right, and we never stop thinking about new ways to do so.

We do not expect you to trust us
It is in the nature of an open collaboration and work-in-progress like FAMEPedia that quality may vary over time, and from article to article. While some articles are of the highest quality of scholarship, others are admittedly complete rubbish. Also, since FAMEPedia can be edited by anyone at any time, articles may be prone to errors, including vandalism, so FAMEPedia is not a reliable source. So please do not use FAMEPedia to make critical decisions. This encyclopedia is especially useful for improving familiarity with a subject and its jargon, and for learning search terms with which to further explore a subject beyond FAMEPedia. Helpful external links are also provided to assist you in learning more.

We are not alone
FAMEPedia is part of a growing movement for free knowledge that is beginning to permeate science and education. Miraheze Limited is a wiki farm that also hosts other wikis and are directly used by FAMEPedia too: Miraheze Commons (a media repository of images, videos, sound files and other media), FAMEData (a knowledge base). Like FAMEPedia itself, these projects are also freely licensed and open to contributions.

We are merely fact collectors
Articles in FAMEPedia do not include bylines, and contributors are unpaid volunteers. Whether you claim to be a tenured professor, use your real name, prefer to remain pseudonymous, or contribute without registering, your edits and arguments will be judged on their merits. We require that verifiable sources be cited for all significant claims, and we do not permit editors to publicize their personal conclusions when writing articles. All editors must follow a neutral point of view; they must only collect relevant opinions which can be traced to reliable sources.

We are neither a dictatorship nor any other political system
Miraheze Limited is controlled by its Board of Trustees, which is required according to its Bylaws to have several members chosen from the Miraheze community. The Board do not usually take a role in editorial issues, and projects are self-governing and consensus-driven. FAMEPedia co-founder Ugo Chima Joseph occasionally acts as a final arbiter on FAMEPedia. FAMEPedia is transparent and self-critical; controversies are debated openly and even documented within FAMEPedia itself when they cross a threshold of significance.

We are in it for the long haul
We want FAMEPedia to be around at least a hundred years from now, if it does not turn into something even more significant. Everything about FAMEPedia is engineered towards that end: our content licensing, our organization and governance, our international focus, our fundraising strategy, our use of free software, and our never-ending effort to achieve our vision. We want you to imagine a world in which everyone can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That is our commitment—and we want your help.