Difference between revisions of "Marspedia:About"

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=Differences versus Wikipedia=
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=About Marspedia=
 +
Marspedia is a free online encyclopedia covering all aspects of the planet Mars, including the future human exploration and settlement of the red planet, and all the tools, techniques and technologies that will be needed.
  
There are several differences between Marspedia and Wikipedia in both policy and Wiki software capability.
+
Marspedia is an official project of both [http://www.marssociety.org The Mars Society] and [http://marsfoundation.org The Mars Foundation].  Individuals from [http://www.moonsociety.org The Moon Society] have also been involved with Marspedia since the beginning, as well as its sister wikis listed in the left navigation.
  
==Marspedia Policies==
+
The Mars Society was founded in 1998 and our goal is to explore and settle the planet Mars. 
  
===Languages===
+
The Mars Foundation was founded in 2004 to promote the permanent settlement of the planet Mars.  Marspedia's domain expenses are covered by donations from the Mars Foundation and individuals with shared interests in the goals of the Mars Foundation.
 +
 
 +
In October 2017, the [[Marspedia:Council|Marspedia Governing Council]] was formed between these three organizations to manage and grow the wiki.
 +
 
 +
=Marspedia Policies=
 +
 
 +
==Languages==
 
Currently, Marspedia is composed entirely of English-language articles. In time, and when established as a leading source in Mars-based information, Marspedia may be translated into a selection of modern languages to improve accessibility for international users. For now, we ask all users to create articles in English.
 
Currently, Marspedia is composed entirely of English-language articles. In time, and when established as a leading source in Mars-based information, Marspedia may be translated into a selection of modern languages to improve accessibility for international users. For now, we ask all users to create articles in English.
  
===Original Work is Allowed===
+
==Original Work is Allowed==
 
We are more open to material types than Wikipedia, and less interested in deleting material.  Specifically, Wikipedia enforces a rule that all entries must NOT be "original work". That rule does not apply for Marspedia, we are very happy for you to post original work, provided it is not copyright.  Therefore there is not so much duplication between Marspedia and Wikipedia as you might expect.  For example, the Marspedia page on '''Insert Appropriate Link Here'''<!-- [[Solar Power Satellites]] --> contains interesting material which under Wikipedia rules would be deleted because it is "original work".
 
We are more open to material types than Wikipedia, and less interested in deleting material.  Specifically, Wikipedia enforces a rule that all entries must NOT be "original work". That rule does not apply for Marspedia, we are very happy for you to post original work, provided it is not copyright.  Therefore there is not so much duplication between Marspedia and Wikipedia as you might expect.  For example, the Marspedia page on '''Insert Appropriate Link Here'''<!-- [[Solar Power Satellites]] --> contains interesting material which under Wikipedia rules would be deleted because it is "original work".
  
 
Note: Once "original work" has been published on Marspedia, then anybody could put on Wikipedia a link to the Marspedia article, and that might be OK for Wikipedia as it would no longer be original work, and references are usually accepted over there.  For those cases where you want to reference it elsewhere, we could arrange for it to become read-only protected.
 
Note: Once "original work" has been published on Marspedia, then anybody could put on Wikipedia a link to the Marspedia article, and that might be OK for Wikipedia as it would no longer be original work, and references are usually accepted over there.  For those cases where you want to reference it elsewhere, we could arrange for it to become read-only protected.
  
===No Need to be Notable===
+
==No Need to be Notable==
  
 
Wikipedia enforces a requirement that all articles about people or organizations must demonstrate why the subject is "notable".  There is no such requirement on Marspedia, although there is a general expectation that it should somehow be related to Mars development.
 
Wikipedia enforces a requirement that all articles about people or organizations must demonstrate why the subject is "notable".  There is no such requirement on Marspedia, although there is a general expectation that it should somehow be related to Mars development.
  
===No Need to be Neutral===
+
==No Need to be Neutral==
  
 
You can advocate positions, but expect to be challenged.  Conversely, do not just delete material you do not agree with, but feel free to add a rebuttal.
 
You can advocate positions, but expect to be challenged.  Conversely, do not just delete material you do not agree with, but feel free to add a rebuttal.
Line 26: Line 33:
 
'''''{{PersPosSection}} [[User:MikeD|MikeD]]'''''
 
'''''{{PersPosSection}} [[User:MikeD|MikeD]]'''''
  
===Commercial Links are OK===
 
  
It is perfectly fine to highlight products or services, including both your own and those of other persons or companies.  Just make sure it is relevant.
+
=Software Capabilities=
 +
 
 +
Marspedia uses the latest stable version of Mediawiki, so in many respects it is very similar to Wikipedia.  
 +
 
 +
 
 +
==Visual Editor==
  
==Software Capabilities==
+
Marspedia is now using a new and experimental [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:VisualEditor Visual Editor]. Please report any problems to [mailto:jburk@marssociety.org James Burk], who set it up.
  
Marspedia uses the latest stable version of Mediawiki, so in many respects it is very similar to Wikipedia. At the time of writing this, we were running version 1.11.1 while 1.13alpha was the unreleased development version.
+
==Interwiki==
  
===Interwiki===
+
'''''New! (2017)'''''
 +
Common Interwiki formats available in Mediawiki are now available for Marspedia, such as '''Wikipedia:''' ('''w:''' can also be used), '''dictionary:''' and '''google:'''
 +
 
 +
 
 +
===Space Interwiki===
 
Interwiki is now supported between Marspedia and it's sister sites Lunarpedia and ExoDictionary. To use interwiki you just use tags like:  
 
Interwiki is now supported between Marspedia and it's sister sites Lunarpedia and ExoDictionary. To use interwiki you just use tags like:  
  
:<nowiki>[[exd:Sandbox]], [[lunarp:Sandbox]], [[marsp:Sandbox]] and [[spacep:Sandbox]]</nowiki>.  
+
:<nowiki>[[exd:Sandbox]], [[lunarp:Sandbox]], [[marsp:Sandbox]] and [[spacep:Sandbox]]</nowiki>.
  
 
These would take you to:
 
These would take you to:
Line 53: Line 68:
 
'''The interwiki prefixes on the other sites are identical.'''
 
'''The interwiki prefixes on the other sites are identical.'''
  
===Installed Extensions we admit to===
+
  [[category:Help]]
 
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[[category:Main Page Maintenance]]
*CategoryTree
 
*Cite
 
*ImageMap
 
*MathStatFunctions
 
*ParserFunctions
 
*SpamBlacklist - Should we admit to having this or will that only encourage the idots to waste their time and sometimes ours
 
*Spellcheck
 
*articletocategory
 
*create
 
*inputbox
 
 
 
We recently added the footnote capability to Marspedia, so that is now the same. 
 
 
 
 
 
Other differences: 
 
 
 
* Wikipedia has some cool citation templates which we might add
 
* Wikipedia reflist template is not available i.e. {{reflist}}
 
* the Wikipedia [citation needed] template is not available:  {{Fact|date=March 2007}}.
 
 
 
 
 
Extensions in the pipeline (maybe):
 
 
 
*Graphviz
 
*TeX Editor (This is really nice but we had to disable it as there seemed to be a security issue with it)
 
*WikiTeX (Will take quite some time to install, has a plethora of dependencies)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  [[category:Help]][[category:Main Page Maintenance]]
 

Latest revision as of 07:38, 15 September 2019

About Marspedia

Marspedia is a free online encyclopedia covering all aspects of the planet Mars, including the future human exploration and settlement of the red planet, and all the tools, techniques and technologies that will be needed.

Marspedia is an official project of both The Mars Society and The Mars Foundation. Individuals from The Moon Society have also been involved with Marspedia since the beginning, as well as its sister wikis listed in the left navigation.

The Mars Society was founded in 1998 and our goal is to explore and settle the planet Mars.

The Mars Foundation was founded in 2004 to promote the permanent settlement of the planet Mars. Marspedia's domain expenses are covered by donations from the Mars Foundation and individuals with shared interests in the goals of the Mars Foundation.

In October 2017, the Marspedia Governing Council was formed between these three organizations to manage and grow the wiki.

Marspedia Policies

Languages

Currently, Marspedia is composed entirely of English-language articles. In time, and when established as a leading source in Mars-based information, Marspedia may be translated into a selection of modern languages to improve accessibility for international users. For now, we ask all users to create articles in English.

Original Work is Allowed

We are more open to material types than Wikipedia, and less interested in deleting material. Specifically, Wikipedia enforces a rule that all entries must NOT be "original work". That rule does not apply for Marspedia, we are very happy for you to post original work, provided it is not copyright. Therefore there is not so much duplication between Marspedia and Wikipedia as you might expect. For example, the Marspedia page on Insert Appropriate Link Here contains interesting material which under Wikipedia rules would be deleted because it is "original work".

Note: Once "original work" has been published on Marspedia, then anybody could put on Wikipedia a link to the Marspedia article, and that might be OK for Wikipedia as it would no longer be original work, and references are usually accepted over there. For those cases where you want to reference it elsewhere, we could arrange for it to become read-only protected.

No Need to be Notable

Wikipedia enforces a requirement that all articles about people or organizations must demonstrate why the subject is "notable". There is no such requirement on Marspedia, although there is a general expectation that it should somehow be related to Mars development.

No Need to be Neutral

You can advocate positions, but expect to be challenged. Conversely, do not just delete material you do not agree with, but feel free to add a rebuttal.

If you do advocate positions, please do so in a manner that makes it obvious that it is your personal position and not that of Marspedia as a whole. You can do this using the tags '''''{{PersPosArticle}} ~~~''''' or '''''{{PersPosSection}} ~~~''''' which would display something like so:

This article reflects the personal position of MikeD
This section reflects the personal position of MikeD


Software Capabilities

Marspedia uses the latest stable version of Mediawiki, so in many respects it is very similar to Wikipedia.


Visual Editor

Marspedia is now using a new and experimental Visual Editor. Please report any problems to James Burk, who set it up.

Interwiki

New! (2017) Common Interwiki formats available in Mediawiki are now available for Marspedia, such as Wikipedia: (w: can also be used), dictionary: and google:


Space Interwiki

Interwiki is now supported between Marspedia and it's sister sites Lunarpedia and ExoDictionary. To use interwiki you just use tags like:

[[exd:Sandbox]], [[lunarp:Sandbox]], [[marsp:Sandbox]] and [[spacep:Sandbox]].

These would take you to:

exd:Sandbox, lunarp:Sandbox, marsp:Sandbox and spacep:Sandbox respectively.

Other examples would be:

[[exd:Azimuth]], [[lunarp:Carbon economy]], [[marsp:Mars Express]] and [[spacep:ISDC_2007]].

These would take you to:

exd:Azimuth, lunarp:Carbon economy, marsp:Mars Express and spacep:ISDC_2007 respectively.

The interwiki prefixes on the other sites are identical.