Wikipedia:Alternative outlets: Difference between revisions

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This is an essay.

It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

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This page in a nutshell: There are other places for potentially useful or valuable content which is not appropriate for Wikipedia.

Background

When content (text, pages, images, etc.) is deleted, "Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not" is commonly cited as explanation, and rightly so. Unfortunately, this is not particularly helpful or calming to the person(s) who put in time and effort to write the material. They often see it as their hard work being casually tossed away. The phrase "try another wiki" is also sometimes used, for similar intent.

In an effort to foster a spirit of WikiLove, this page provides some referrals to alternative outlets which do allow content that Wikipedia does not. Sometimes material is submitted that is perfectly factual and verifiable, but simply outside of the scope of Wikipedia. Just because the content does not belong here does not mean it does not have value, and it is worth preserving valuable free content if we can.

Please consider directing people to these sites (or this page), rather than simply telling them that their contributions are WP:NOT wanted.

For example, Wikipedia contains a significant amount of information about the "Star Wars" media franchise, but for an even more detailed treatment, try Wookieepedia—a wiki dedicated to the "Star Wars universe". Similarly, information on the "Star Trek" franchise can be found at Memory Alpha. JurisPedia focuses on legal topics, and WikiWikiWeb is the oldest wiki. There also are wikis devoted to specific languages or localities that may be more appropriate for a given topic.

There may be legal or ethical restrictions on the copying of content from Wikipedia to other sites. It is up to individual contributors to familiarize themselves with the procedures and policies of other outlets and to examine their licensing arrangements, which may differ from Wikipedia in significant ways.

Sister projects

Wikipedia is written by volunteer editors and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other volunteer projects:

Commons
Free media repository
MediaWiki
Wiki software development
Meta-Wiki
Wikimedia project coordination
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals
Wikidata
Free knowledge base
Wikinews
Free-content news
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations
Wikisource
Free-content library
Wikispecies
Directory of species
Wikiversity
Free learning tools
Wikivoyage
Free travel guide
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus

Other wikis

There are Wikipedia articles, lists, and categories which provide information on other wikis:

This page also has links to external sites which provide similar information.

There are also Wikipedias in many other languages, including a Simple English Wikipedia.

Directory of alternatives

Shortcut

WP:OUTLETDIR

Wikipedia is not a(n)...	... so try this instead
Arbiter of viewpoints	Conservapedia, RationalWiki
Biographical directory	WikiBios
Blogging site	Category:Blog hosting services
City guide	Wikivoyage
Comedy site	Uncyclopedia, Encyclopedia Dramatica, BJAODN, Illogicopedia
Computers How-To guide	ComputerWiki
Dictionary	Wiktionary
Directory	AboutUs.org, Yellowikis, Wikicompany, MyWikiBiz, WikiIndex.org
Forum for general chatter	#wikipedia, Wikipedia Review
Game guide	eGamia/Wikia Gaming, StrategyWiki
Genealogy	FamilySearch Wiki, Encyclopedia of Genealogy
How-to manual	Wikibooks, WikiHow, eHow
Indiscriminate collection	Everything2, Wikinfo, Annex, h2g2
LGBT wiki	WikiQueer LGBT History Project (UK)
Link directory	DMOZ
List of every micronation	Micronations Wiki
Music directory	Discogs, Last.fm, MusicBrainz
News provider	Wikinews
Popular culture guide	TV Tropes, All The Tropes Urban Dictionary
Quote wiki	Wikiquote
Social networking site	List of social networking websites
Software Directory	Software Infocard Wiki
Specialized wiki	Wikia
Thesaurus	Wikisaurus
Travel guide	Wikivoyage
Webspace provider	Category:Web hosting
Wiki of your own	List of wikis, Comparison of wiki farms, Start your own wiki

Inclusion criteria

The above is more than an arbitrary list of sites. Sister projects in the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) are preferred. Failing that, sites should meet some combination of the following criteria to be listed:

Policies consistent with the spirit of WMF goals
Allow content to be moved over verbatim (e.g., CC-BY-SA-compatible or GFDL-compatible)
A wiki, or like a wiki
Notable in some way (preferably as a link to an existing Wikipedia article)

License restrictions

Content (text, images, etc.) Text submitted to Wikipedia is required to be licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License (CC-BY-SA); Media submitted to Wikipedia is required to be licensed under the terms of the CC-BY-SA or a similar free license. Other sites (especially non-WMF sites) may require a different license. Do not copy content from Wikipedia to other sites unless you are sure the licenses are compatible. If they are not, try contacting the copyright holder of the content to obtain permission to re-license the content. Typically the user who submitted the content to Wikipedia in the first place is the copyright holder. Check the page's edit history to help identify the user.

For CC-BY-SA content being deleted from Wikipedia, the edit history should also be copied or preserved in some way. For example, if the target site uses talk pages in the style of Wikipedia, copy the edit history there.

For more information, see: Reusing Wikipedia content.

External links

@@ Line 142: / Line 142: @@
 == See also ==
+*[[Wikipedia:Other projects similar to Wikipedia]]
 *[[Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not/Outtakes]] (humor)
 *[[Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not Google]]