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| | '''Conservapedia''', launched on November 21, 2006, is a [[conservative]], [[family-friendly]] [[Wiki]] [[encyclopedia]]. It was founded by [[teacher]] and [[attorney]] [[Andrew Schlafly]] with the help of several students from his fall 2006 World History class. In May 2008, Schlafly and some of his [[homeschooling|homeschooled]] students appeared on the [[CBC]] news program The Hour (see: [[Videos on Conservapedia]]). | | '''Conservapedia''', launched on November 21, 2006, is a [[conservative]], [[family-friendly]] [[Wiki]] [[encyclopedia]]. It was founded by [[teacher]] and [[attorney]] [[Andrew Schlafly]] with the help of several students from his fall 2006 World History class. In May 2008, Schlafly and some of his [[homeschooling|homeschooled]] students appeared on the [[CBC]] news program The Hour (see: [[Videos on Conservapedia]]). |
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| − | When a student handed in her paper using the date-markers “[[BCE]]” and "CE” from [[Wikipedia]], Schlafly realized that Wikipedia, despite its claim of neutrality, contained bias against the achievements of [[Christianity]] and conservatism. Other occasions of [[liberal bias]], including the reversion of factual edits about the 2005 Kansas Evolution Hearings, led to the creation and launch of Conservapedia. | + | When a student handed in her paper using the date-markers “[[BCE]]” and "CE” from [[Wikipedia]], Schlafly realized that Wikipedia, despite its claim of neutrality, contained bias against the achievements of [[Christianity]] and conservatism. Other occasions of [[liberal bias]] on Wikipedia, including the immediate reversion there of factual edits about the 2005 Kansas Evolution Hearings, led to the creation and launch of Conservapedia. |
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| − | Though Conservapedia originally contained mostly [[history]] articles, it has grown over several years to be a general reference, with information about history, [[math]], [[science]], [[politics]], [[religion]] and other topics. It also contains [[Conservapedia:Debate Topics|debates]], [[essays]] and [[Conservapedia:Index|educational resources]]. | + | Though Conservapedia originally contained mostly [[history]] articles, it has grown over several years to be a general reference, with information about history, [[math]], [[science]], [[politics]], [[religion]], and other topics. It also contains [[Conservapedia:Debate Topics|debates]], [[essays]] and [[Conservapedia:Index|educational resources]]. |
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| − | In March 2007 it was picked up by the media, and faced a barrage of [[vandalism]] (See [[Essay:Examples of Moronic Vandalism by the "tolerant"|Examples of Moronic Vandalism by the "tolerant"]]). Ever since then, it has continued to grow, and has now had [[Special:Statistics|more than 900 million page views]], and enjoys prominence on search engines. | + | In March 2007, Conservapedia was addressed by the [[liberal media]], and faced a barrage of [[vandalism]] (See [[Essay:Examples of Moronic Vandalism by the "tolerant"|Examples of Moronic Vandalism by the "tolerant"]]). Ever since then, it has continued to grow, and has now had [[Special:Statistics|more than 900 million page views]], and enjoys prominence on search engines. |
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| − | During the 2016 U.S presidential election year, Conservapedia saw a major surge in web traffic. Post [[Donald Trump]]'s election, Conservapedia continues to see a significant growth of web traffic. | + | During the 2016 U.S. presidential election year, Conservapedia saw a major surge in web traffic. After [[Donald Trump]]'s second election as president, Conservapedia continues to see significant growth in web traffic. |
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| | ==Leadership== | | ==Leadership== |
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| | The administrative hierarchy prevents Conservapedia from being hijacked by a faction, and thus preserves it from mobocracy, as discussed above. | | The administrative hierarchy prevents Conservapedia from being hijacked by a faction, and thus preserves it from mobocracy, as discussed above. |
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| − | Conservapedia has come up with a key [[wiki]] metric that measures tolerance/intolerance at a wiki. Namely, the [[Essay: Edits to blocked editor accounts ratio at a wiki|edits to blocked editor accounts ratio at a wiki]] which measures the close-mindedness/intolerance and [[groupthink]] of a wiki. Mathematically, the edits to blocked editor accounts ratio can be expressed as: Edits to blocked editor accounts ratio at a wiki = E % BE, where E is the number of edits to the wiki and BE equals the number of blocked editor accounts of the wiki. The edits to blocked editor accounts ratio was partly inspired by [[Andrew Schlafly]]'s essay [[Essay:Quantifying Openmindedness|Quantifying Openmindedness]]. Unlike Conservapedia, Wikipedia does not have a policy where members of the public are free to set up debate pages and engage in vigorous debate where the debate pages are lightly moderated (see: [https://conservapedia.com/Category:Conservapedia_Debates Conservapedia debates pages]). | + | Conservapedia has come up with a key [[wiki]] metric that measures tolerance/intolerance at a wiki. Namely, the [[Essay: Edits to blocked editor accounts ratio at a wiki|edits to blocked editor accounts ratio at a wiki]], which measures the close-mindedness/intolerance and [[groupthink]] of a wiki. Mathematically, the edits-to-blocked-editor-accounts ratio can be expressed as: Edits-to-blocked-editor-accounts ratio at a wiki = E % BE, where E is the number of edits to the wiki and BE equals the number of blocked editor accounts of the wiki. The edits to blocked editor accounts ratio was partly inspired by [[Andrew Schlafly]]'s essay [[Essay:Quantifying Openmindedness|Quantifying Openmindedness]]. Unlike Conservapedia, Wikipedia does not have a policy where members of the public are free to set up debate pages and engage in vigorous debate where the debate pages are lightly moderated (see: [https://conservapedia.com/Category:Conservapedia_Debates Conservapedia debates pages]). |
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| | ==Influential editors and users== | | ==Influential editors and users== |
| − | *[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] is the username of the aforementioned founder of Conservapedia, [[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]]. He has contributed massively to Conservapedia since the beginning, authored many articles including the [[World History Lectures|student lectures]], and is the final authority on article content and user conduct. | + | *[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] is the username of the aforementioned founder of Conservapedia, [[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]]. He has contributed massively to Conservapedia since the beginning, authored many articles, including the [[World History Lectures|student lectures]], and is the final authority on article content and user conduct. |
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| − | *[[User:RobSmith|RobSmith]] is the primary curator of Conservapedia's ''Breaking News''. He created some of Conservapedia's most acclaimed and trafficked articles. He has documented how the [[Russia hoax]], [[2020 election fraud]] and the [[NATO proxy war against Russia]] is all one story that "should never have happened". He authored the [[Coronavirus]] article, and is a tireless author on [[Socialism]], [[Communism]], [[Fascism]], [[Maoism]], [[Political correctness]], the [[Peoples Republic of China]], [[Cultural Marxism]], the [[New Deal]], [[Great Society]], [[Volodymyr Zelensky]], [[Vladimir Putin]], [[American Foreign Policy]], the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections and every President from [[Franklin Roosevelt]] to [[Barack Obama]]. RobSmith is the Founder of Wikipedia Project Cold War History.<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Cold_War/Members Wikipedia Project Cold War History], December 6, 2006. wikipedia.org</ref> ''[[The Gatewaypundit]]'' cited the work involved in creating Rob's extensive [[List of Americans in the Venona papers|Venona project]]<ref>https://rumble.com/v6vky6n-molyneux-mccarthyism-5-the-venona-cables.html</ref> series as "Conservapedia is the only place collecting a great deal of factual historical material in any coherent way."<ref>[https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/09/tgp-interview-andrew-schlafly-conservapedia-founder/ TGP Interview with Andrew Schlafly, Conservapedia Founder], By Benjamin Wetmore, Sep. 5, 2023. www.thegatewaypundit.com</ref> | + | *[[User:RobSmith|RobSmith]] is the primary curator of Conservapedia's ''Breaking News''. He created some of Conservapedia's most acclaimed and trafficked articles. He has documented how the [[Russia hoax]], [[2020 election fraud]] and the [[NATO proxy war against Russia]] is all one story that "should never have happened". He authored the [[Coronavirus]] article and is a tireless author on [[Socialism]], [[Communism]], [[Fascism]], [[Maoism]], [[Political correctness]], the [[Peoples Republic of China]], [[Cultural Marxism]], the [[New Deal]], [[Great Society]], [[Volodymyr Zelensky]], [[Vladimir Putin]], [[American Foreign Policy]], the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections and every President from [[Franklin Roosevelt]] to [[Barack Obama]]. RobSmith is the Founder of Wikipedia Project Cold War History.<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Cold_War/Members Wikipedia Project Cold War History], December 6, 2006. wikipedia.org</ref> ''[[The Gatewaypundit]]'' cited the work involved in creating Rob's extensive [[List of Americans in the Venona papers|Venona project]]<ref>https://rumble.com/v6vky6n-molyneux-mccarthyism-5-the-venona-cables.html</ref> series as "Conservapedia is the only place collecting a great deal of factual historical material in any coherent way."<ref>[https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/09/tgp-interview-andrew-schlafly-conservapedia-founder/ TGP Interview with Andrew Schlafly, Conservapedia Founder], By Benjamin Wetmore, Sep. 5, 2023. www.thegatewaypundit.com</ref> |
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| | *The [[User:Conservative]] account has contributed the majority of content to the popular [[atheism]], [[evolution]], [[homosexuality]] related articles. User:Conservative's work has been cited/quoted/referred to by the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', ''[[USA Today]]'', ''The [[Chicago Tribune]]'', ''[[The Telegraph]]'', [[BBC]], ''[[Vanity Fair]]'', ''The Tampa Tribune'', [[Concerned Women for America]], [[CRU]], [[WorldNetDaily]], [[Alister McGrath]], [[Shockofgod]], [[Penn Jillette]], [[PZ Myers]], [[Secular Talk|Kyle Kulinski]] and [[Lewis Black]].<ref>{{Cite episode|title=Episode 12087|url=http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=89307&title=new-media|series=The Daily Show|network=Comedy Central|air-date=June 27, 2007|access-date=May 27, 2008|archive-date=April 6, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080406012918/http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=89307&title=new-media|url-status=live}} Black highlighted Conservapedia's [http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Homosexuality&oldid=188063 introductory sentence] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923210447/http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Homosexuality&oldid=188063 |date=September 23, 2015 }} "homosexuality is an immoral sexual lifestyle." In response, he said: "On Conservapedia, '[[gay]]' sounds way more interesting!"</ref> The [[PNN News and Ministry Network]] produced a video entitled ''Viral article deals major blow to atheism''. The book ''Atheist Persona: Causes and Consequences'' by John J. Pasquini, Th.D, cites Conservapedia's [[Causes of atheism]] article several times.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books/about/Atheist_Persona.html?id=TaTsnQEACAAJ ''Atheist Persona: Causes and Consequences'' by John J. Pasquini, Th.D.]</ref><ref>[https://sites.google.com/view/conservapedia-atheism/home Conservapedia influence on public perception of atheism]</ref> | | *The [[User:Conservative]] account has contributed the majority of content to the popular [[atheism]], [[evolution]], [[homosexuality]] related articles. User:Conservative's work has been cited/quoted/referred to by the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', ''[[USA Today]]'', ''The [[Chicago Tribune]]'', ''[[The Telegraph]]'', [[BBC]], ''[[Vanity Fair]]'', ''The Tampa Tribune'', [[Concerned Women for America]], [[CRU]], [[WorldNetDaily]], [[Alister McGrath]], [[Shockofgod]], [[Penn Jillette]], [[PZ Myers]], [[Secular Talk|Kyle Kulinski]] and [[Lewis Black]].<ref>{{Cite episode|title=Episode 12087|url=http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=89307&title=new-media|series=The Daily Show|network=Comedy Central|air-date=June 27, 2007|access-date=May 27, 2008|archive-date=April 6, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080406012918/http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=89307&title=new-media|url-status=live}} Black highlighted Conservapedia's [http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Homosexuality&oldid=188063 introductory sentence] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923210447/http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Homosexuality&oldid=188063 |date=September 23, 2015 }} "homosexuality is an immoral sexual lifestyle." In response, he said: "On Conservapedia, '[[gay]]' sounds way more interesting!"</ref> The [[PNN News and Ministry Network]] produced a video entitled ''Viral article deals major blow to atheism''. The book ''Atheist Persona: Causes and Consequences'' by John J. Pasquini, Th.D, cites Conservapedia's [[Causes of atheism]] article several times.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books/about/Atheist_Persona.html?id=TaTsnQEACAAJ ''Atheist Persona: Causes and Consequences'' by John J. Pasquini, Th.D.]</ref><ref>[https://sites.google.com/view/conservapedia-atheism/home Conservapedia influence on public perception of atheism]</ref> |
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| | *Karajou was one of the original three who joined at the beginning of the influx in February 2007, amid massive media attention, and has been an extraordinary contributor ever since. The cartoons and many of the military history entries are his superb work. | | *Karajou was one of the original three who joined at the beginning of the influx in February 2007, amid massive media attention, and has been an extraordinary contributor ever since. The cartoons and many of the military history entries are his superb work. |
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| − | *[[User:RJJensen|RJJensen]] has a PhD in American Studies and has been a professor of history and political science at numerous schools. Professor Jensen has made significant contibutions to Conservapedia's historical articles. | + | *[[User:RJJensen|RJJensen]] has a PhD in American Studies and has been a professor of history and political science at numerous schools. Professor Jensen has made significant contributions to Conservapedia's historical articles. |
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| | *[[User:Iduan|Iduan]] has thousands of edits and his work on Templates has been particularly noteworthy. | | *[[User:Iduan|Iduan]] has thousands of edits and his work on Templates has been particularly noteworthy. |
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| | *[[User:SharonS|SharonS]] has been an editor since the very beginning of Conservapedia, and was interviewed and quoted in a newspaper article to explain and defend the project. | | *[[User:SharonS|SharonS]] has been an editor since the very beginning of Conservapedia, and was interviewed and quoted in a newspaper article to explain and defend the project. |
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| − | *[[User:AddisonDM|AddisonDM]] works on maintenance, and in addition to neutral contributions has created the popular article [[Essay:Examples of Moronic Vandalism by the "tolerant"|Examples of Moronic Vandalism by the "tolerant"]], as well as the Conservapedia article itself. | + | *[[User:AddisonDM|AddisonDM]] works on maintenance, and in addition to neutral contributions, has created the popular article [[Essay:Examples of Moronic Vandalism by the "tolerant"|Examples of Moronic Vandalism by the "tolerant"]], as well as the Conservapedia article itself. |
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| | *[[User:JacobB|JacobB]] is a gifted mathematician who has been invaluable to many of those entries. | | *[[User:JacobB|JacobB]] is a gifted mathematician who has been invaluable to many of those entries. |
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| | ''See also:'' [[Conservapedia:Atheism articles statistics]] and [[Conservapedia:Atheism Project|Conservapedia Atheism Project]] | | ''See also:'' [[Conservapedia:Atheism articles statistics]] and [[Conservapedia:Atheism Project|Conservapedia Atheism Project]] |
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| − | The Conservapedia [[atheism]] article has been well-received by [[theism|theists]], major Christian YouTube channels and has received other favorable reviews (see: [[Essay: Conservapedia's atheism article|Public commentary on Conservapedia's atheism article]]). The [[Freedom From Atheism Foundation]] has featured Conservapedia atheism content on their Facebook page which receives a considerable amount of social media traffic. | + | The Conservapedia [[atheism]] article has been well-received by [[theism|theists]], major Christian YouTube channels, and has received other favorable reviews (see: [[Essay: Conservapedia's atheism article|Public commentary on Conservapedia's atheism article]]). The [[Freedom From Atheism Foundation]] has featured Conservapedia atheism content on their Facebook page, which receives a considerable amount of social media traffic. |
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| − | Conservapedia has one the largest collection of articles on atheism on the internet. Its main atheism article and its collection of atheism articles (mainly created using the User: Conservative account) have both received a considerable amount of web traffic. See: [[Conservapedia:Atheism articles statistics]] | + | Conservapedia has one of the largest collections of articles on atheism on the internet. Its main atheism article and its collection of atheism articles (mainly created using the User: Conservative account) have both received a considerable amount of web traffic. See: [[Conservapedia:Atheism articles statistics]] |
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| − | Conservapedia has over [https://conservapedia.com/Category:Atheism 1,900+ atheism related articles, essays and humor/satire pieces]. | + | Conservapedia has over [https://conservapedia.com/Category:Atheism 1,900+ atheism-related articles, essays and humor/satire pieces]. |
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| | From 2006-2016, negative views about atheism in the United States have sharpened (see: [[Essay:Views on atheists]]).<ref>[http://cla.umn.edu/news-events/news/atheists-remain-most-disliked-religious-minority-us Atheists Remain Most Disliked Religious Minority in the US]</ref> | | From 2006-2016, negative views about atheism in the United States have sharpened (see: [[Essay:Views on atheists]]).<ref>[http://cla.umn.edu/news-events/news/atheists-remain-most-disliked-religious-minority-us Atheists Remain Most Disliked Religious Minority in the US]</ref> |