This is a great project. I had the same idea myself, and posted about it, but never did anything about it! It’s great that people like you are here, with the creativity, and the motivation and skills to do this work.
I think this project is as necessary as Wikipedia itself.
The criticisms in these comments are mostly identical to the opinion most people had about Wikipedia when it started - the it would become a cesspool of nonsense and misinformation. That it was useless and worthless when encyclopaedias already exist.
Wikipedia was the first step in broadening what a source if authoritative information can be. It in fact created richer and more truthful information than was possible before, and enlightened the world. Ibis is a necessary second step on the same path.
It will be most valuable for articles like Tieneman square, or the Gilets Jaunes, where there are sharply different perspectives on the same matter, and there will never be agreement. A single monolithic Wikipedia cannot speak about them. Today, wiki gives one perspective and calls it the truth. This was fine in the 20th century when most people believed in simple truths. They were told what to think by single sources. They never left their filter bubbles. This is not sustainable anymore.
To succeed and change the world, this project must do a few things right.
The default instance should just be a mirror of Wikipedia. This is the default source of information on everything, so it would be crazy to omit it. Omitting it means putting yourself in competition with it, and you will lose. By encompassing it, the information in Ibis is from day 1 greater then wiki. Then Ibis will just supersede wiki.
There should be a sidebar with links to the sane article on other instances. So someone reading about trickle down economics on right wing instance, he can instantly switch to the same article on a left wing wiki and read the other side of it. That’s the feature that will make it worthwhile for people.
It should look like Wikipedia. For familiarity. This will help people transition.
I just assumed that would be easy, that you would have one instance with no actual content. It just fetches the wikipedia article with the same name, directly from the wikipedia website. I guess I didn’t really think about it.
I guess that’s a design choice. Looking at different ways similar issues have been solved already…
How does wikipedia decide that the same article is available in different languages? I guess there is a database of links which has to be maintained.
Alternatively, it could assume that articles are the same if they have the same name, like in your example where “Mountain” can have an article on a poetry instance and on a geography instance, but the software treats them as the same article.
Wikipedia can understand that “Rep of Ireland” = “Republic of Ireland”. So I guess there is a look-up-table saying that these two names refer to the same thing.
Then, wikipedia can also understand cases where articles can have the same name but be unrelated. Like RIC (paramilitary group) is not the same as RIC (feature of a democracy).
I do think, if each Ibis instance is isolated, it won’t be much different from having many separate wiki websites. When the software automatically links you to the same information on different instances, that’s when the idea becomes really interesting and valuable.
The issue of better regulation for dangerous breeds of dogs is starting to get a bit serious right now in Ireland. This is one where the solution is simple, but might not be easy for governments and councils to see....
That’s probably what will happen in the end. Using old familiar idea, because it is familiar.
But that’s not what I’m doing here. I’m interested in new and more effective plans, even if they are not familiar and are unlikely to be used for that reason.
Thanks, internet stranger. I’m glad to hear that you think this has some value.
All the details are up for debate and possible improvement. But in this first draft of the idea:
Will people be forced to fill it in every year?
Only if they want to decide where their money goes.
Will they fill it in at all?
If they don’t fill it in, the fee goes to the RTE.
Will there be a default selection? Like all to RTÉ, or maybe an even split between all options?
All to RTE.
If people don’t have to make a selection every year, will they just choose once and never update or change it because it’s a hassle?
That’s a good idea. You could have an option to inform the revenue of your preference just once, and it will be recorded forever, or until you change it. That way, people don’t have to fill out a tax return every year.
After reading what Varadkar said about genocide yesterday (“Varadkar rules out joining South African genocide case”), there are many things you could say. I’m going to gloss over whether a man who contradicts himself in mid argument is fit to be in government, and focus on a bigger issue....
As battery-powered electric vehicles continue to make inroads in our transportation system, renewable transit advocates are also looking at hydrogen fuel cells as an additional option. Local advocates gathered Tuesday at Via Mobility Services in east Boulder. Via is a non-profit transit provider to people with limited...
It looks like the current government will not take action on the urgent issues of our time. The most urgent is climate change but it’s not the only one....
So there is a name for it. This situation we are in where nearly everyone wants to improve their society and avoid climate crisis etc, but there is no change an individual can make to improve the situation. So everyone keeps doing the same thing, helplessly knowing their strategy contributes to everything being terrible.
Yes that’s it. If we all did it together, we could change the world. But as individuals there is no effective action we can take.
Things like effective democracy, or powerful protest groups, could someday change the rules of the game. They could provide a low effort path for each individual to improve the collective (and his own) outcome.
Yes that’s the value of game theory. It’s not really about the silly games. It’s a way to understand real life, using silly games as examples. It helps us think of ways to understand our problems and to change the world, that we would not have thought of otherwise.
because the system selects for people like him. in a working democracy people like him would be licking stamps, or in a nursing home. you can’t change anything by changing the man, only by changing the system.
Hit and runs have been in the news a lot lately. More people need dashcams. But most people have no urgent need to buy one, and they are hassle to install....
Death Cab for Cutie - President of What? (piped.kavin.rocks)
“You Can Play These Songs With Chords” version. I prefer it over the “Something About Airplanes” version because of the opening.
Announcing Ibis, the federated Wikipedia Alternative (ibis.wiki)
Dog control
The issue of better regulation for dangerous breeds of dogs is starting to get a bit serious right now in Ireland. This is one where the solution is simple, but might not be easy for governments and councils to see....
The government incentive to leave homes empty
I only heard about this because I know someone who is thinking of availing of it....
The right way to fund the RTE
The RTE needs money from the public each year to run. But...
Why It Was Almost Impossible to Make the Blue LED (yewtu.be)
Your appendix is not, in fact, useless (www.npr.org)
Courtney Dauwalter: Step inside the 'pain cave', where rules are remade (www.bbc.com)
Ultraviolet light can kill almost all the viruses in a room. Why isn’t it everywhere? (www.vox.com)
What is and is not a genocide
After reading what Varadkar said about genocide yesterday (“Varadkar rules out joining South African genocide case”), there are many things you could say. I’m going to gloss over whether a man who contradicts himself in mid argument is fit to be in government, and focus on a bigger issue....
French city of Montpellier makes public transport free for all residents (www.theguardian.com)
Cross posted from: lemmy.nz/post/4701018
The Rule of Compounding: Why Small Steps Lead to Big Gains (getpocket.com)
Boulder Buses May One Day Run on Hydrogen (kgnu.org)
As battery-powered electric vehicles continue to make inroads in our transportation system, renewable transit advocates are also looking at hydrogen fuel cells as an additional option. Local advocates gathered Tuesday at Via Mobility Services in east Boulder. Via is a non-profit transit provider to people with limited...
Forcing the government to take action
It looks like the current government will not take action on the urgent issues of our time. The most urgent is climate change but it’s not the only one....
Nash equilibrium (www.dicebreaker.com)
So there is a name for it. This situation we are in where nearly everyone wants to improve their society and avoid climate crisis etc, but there is no change an individual can make to improve the situation. So everyone keeps doing the same thing, helplessly knowing their strategy contributes to everything being terrible.
Inside the strange, secretive rise of the 'overemployed' (www.businessinsider.com)
"I’m endorsing no presidents no more,” Cardi B warned. “Joe Biden is talking about, ‘Yeah, we can fund two wars,’ … talking about, ‘Yeah, we got it, we’re the greatest nation.’ No … we’re not." (hexbear.net)
theguardian.com/…/cardi-b-biden-support-israel-uk…
Hit and runs and dashcams
Hit and runs have been in the news a lot lately. More people need dashcams. But most people have no urgent need to buy one, and they are hassle to install....