Asklemmy @lemmy.ml nutomic @lemmy.ml 6 mo. ago

What would be a good name for a federated Wikipedia?

Let's say someone created a Wikipedia clone with Activitypub support, so you can freely read and edit articles on other servers. Basically the same way that Lemmy works. What would be a good name for such a project? Bonus points if the name goes with a cute animal mascot.

Edit: Here you can see the names of existing Fediverse projects.

90 comments

As it stands now, you can download all of Wikipedia for offline viewing. It's not restricted in any way. And since Wikipedia is looking for objective truth, not opinions, I'm not sure what benefit federation would do. You want it centralized, not broken up. What happens when two instances decide that their version is the only correct one?

I just don't see any benefit. This feels like when everyone was slapping "blockchain" on things because it was the current buzzword. What is Wikipedia failing at currently that decentralizing it would make better?
- It doesnt have to be a federated “wikipedia” it can be a federated wiki. Look at the fandom controversy right now where a bunch of games are now moving to their own wikis. A federated wiki software would let all those game wiki host their own wikis but still contribute to eachother without making an account on each wiki.
  
  I want to subscribe to the minecraft and the terraria wikis from my garrys mod wiki account to get notifications on new pages and i want to contribute to them without making an account on each. Federated wikis would be cool
  
  Also i DEFINITELY want a full fledged wiki page available on lemmy so each community can have a wiki with multiple pages and nice linking and a WYSISWYG editor like wikipedia
  
  This isn't talking about "wikis". This is talking about an online encyclopedia of knowledge. I don't want 15 versions of the "physics wiki". I want one centralized source. So again, what does Wikipedia currently fail at that decentralizing it would solve? No one is stopping you from making an account right now and making edits.
  
  What you're describing about seeing updates is just an RSS feed.
  
  This is just slapping "federization" on something that doesn't need it because cool new thing.
- What is Wikipedia failing at currently that decentralizing it would make better?
  
  Just like reddit (and many other services), its a centralized US-based service, has a history of scandals and conflicts of interest, has ties to the US state department, and is dominated by a small group of editors (despite its perception as being a universal unbiased knowledge store).
  
  There's definitely a need to decentralize knowledge, move it away from US control, and allow the collaboration that activitypub provides.
  
  Federation, by it's very nature, is "if I don't like you, I can just make my own instance and do whatever I want". How will you find objective truth when people can't even agree within their own country? You really think we won't just end up with LeftyWiki and RightyWiki and CommieWiki and FacistWiki? Because federated code would encourage this. You're literally adding problems when your problem is people based, not code based.
  
  I agree, that's a big issue. The US regime hires people to influence the Wikipedia organization, they choose the "reliable news sources", mark some news outlets as fake news, and they edit articles about wars and so on to disseminate their propaganda. Also, the PATRIOT Act... As I wrote a couple months ago, we should end digital colonialism.
  
  Scientific articles about math and stuff like that are fine.
- Wikipedia has very major problems, but almost nobody is aware of them. Give this article a read to get an idea.
  
  I don't have the time to read all of that, but everyone should know that alternative medicine is another word for not medicine.
  
  It's bizarre that people still believe stuff like that and other pseudoscience.
  
  All the bad conspiracy theories around ADD, ADHD, Autism, and it's various medications are really getting on my nerves.
  
  And it feels like it will just keep on getting worse. It's insane how much (at least apparent) movement the anti vac crowd are getting.
  
  Sorry for the rant.
  
  Those seem to be the same criticism almost everyone levels at the org, and that are more or less intrinsic to an open platform. mainly that anyone can edit it. How does federation solve these issues, seems to me it would make them much much worse.
  
  Let's pretend I agree with the article. You'd still be in the same boat with a federalized wiki. It'd still be hundreds of thousands of volunteer contributors, and that's where all the corruption supposedly lies. Except now it's broken up amongst many many many places, and moderation is that much harder now. So, for the upteenth time, what exactly is Wikipedia THE PLATFORM failing at, and why is the fediverse a solution to that specific problem? What part of wikipedias code or implementation is broken and what will the equivalent federated code/setup look like to combat this? Because if you're just going to point to corrupt people, I have a whole world for you to take a look at. Corruption isn't a uniquely Wikipedia problem and isn't caused by their code.
  
  Haha nobody needs this and youre too dumb to know.
Fedipedia?

I wouldn't worry about a mascot so much as making the name instantly recognizable as an online encyclopedia. Keep it simple.
- Sounds like furry stuff
- That's a horrible name for multiple reasons, least among which that it sounds like "stinky-pedia" in portuguese.
- Yes the mascot is not mandatory, thats why I said bonus points. Fedipedia is too boring though, and too similar to Wikipedia.
Ibis ? Each article would be a parchment of knowledge. Check the myth and legends section : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_sacred_ibis
- I like this, although it feels a bit too short.
  
  I tried combining it with other words but none felt correct. Maybe " Ibis's library" as a nod to "Anna's archive"
- Ah the glorious bin chicken.
  
  I thought pigeons were the sky rats but they got nothing on the mighty Ibises. Truly marvelous creatures.
  
  Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
  
  Ah the glorious bin chicken.
  
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  
  I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Wiki McWikface
Encyclopedia is "general education", referring to its broad scope. Wikipedia added wiki as a reference to the source, so the best one would be {source}pedia.

Fedepedia isn't awful but feels... bland, in my opinion.

Something like consolidate is a good synonym for it, but consolipedia also doesn't feel right to me, so if we're not referring to the federated part, we'd have to refer to the decentralized part. Decentropedia is fairly decent, but I'm fond of Micropedia, because the root word is very common, and I feel it's catchier than decentropedia. Either of those are good though.
- I think decentralization mostly shines in sharing. Comunopedia would obviously do what I'm thinking but I bet there's some who would feel scared of it.
  
  Sadly, too many would be afraid to be a good name. Sets itself up as a target.
  
  Naming an ideally unbiased reference source after an economic model that has a storied political past doesn't make sense.
Some ideas: Fediwiki, Wikiverse, PlanetWiki...

But its also a good idea to use codenames and go with an animal mascot like we did with lemmy, because you never know if the scope of your project will change (either limiting it, or expanding it).

Also fediverse.observer has a bigger list of software.
- Capybarawiki, Copybora
- Fedipedia? I guess you want the wiki bit in the name, but Fedipedia really rolls off the tongue.
Kleiopedia. Named after Kleio the Greek muse of History. Alternate spelling derived from her Latin spelling is Cliopedia but I personally prefer Kleiopedia. She was often depicted with a scroll or a chest full of books.
Here's some that I thought about:

Wikipub

Wikihive (A bee mascot)

Academoo (A cow mascot)

LinkLynx (A lynx with a magnifying glass maybe?)

Encyclonet
A few animal-inspired names that I think have a nice ring to them

Dodopedia (extinct like Mastadons, similar vowel rhythm to "wiki")

Hippopedia

Komodopedia
- hehe doodoopedia
OwlEyrie. It refers to owls as symbols of wisdom and to a group of owls.
- And then everyone can call it O RLY
  
  YA RLY
I like "Escargot", because snails are cute and it rhymes with "Margot".

🐌

I've expressed this before, but there needs to be a federated alternative to challenge Fandom, especially after they bought out every single independent wiki like Memory-Alpha and WowWiki, and then filled them with ads.
Thothpedia, with a little chibi thoth as the mascot. Thoth is the god of writing.
- I love the internet
  
  Is good, no? Could also do Ganapedia. Ganapati (Ganesha) is the Hindu divine scribe. But thoth has such a cool history/myth around writing.
Allow me to share, Federated Wiki. I don't think it uses ActivityPub, but otherwise I think it's close to what you described. Instead of letting anyone edit articles it uses more of a fork & pull request model.
- Yes I saw this before. However the structure is quite confusing and not at all like Wikipedia. From what I can tell it also doesnt federate that well.
Wikifedia, Fediwiki?
Ourpedia
- Keep your laws off of MyPedia
@nutomic
Ward and co. Are already off to the races with fedwiki
Kiwipedia. With a kiwi as mascot.
- That would be cute
  
  right? they are super cute!
- Oh yeah theres an open source offline wikipedia app called kiwix so its even more fitting
  
  Cool, I didn't know.
Clusterfuckipedia
Have loads of different encyclopedias, each with their own "truth" that differs from everyone else. What could possibly go wrong?
Feddupedia! Cause we're fed up from centralized.. I dunno. Sorry lol
Versipedia.
Wikiverse
@nutomic Wikiverse
@nutomic I think keeping it simple and intuitive is the best option.

FediWiki. Fedipedia.
@postwatchbot@lemy.lol
Dave
Fedipedia?
Bullshitpedia? Sounds like "You dont believe my facts I defederate"
Wekipedia? Probably too similar, but then maybe that'd be a strength.
- If you are a copy, you will always be in the shadow of the original
  
  Tell that to Oreos.
  
  Oreos?
@nutomic Barsa

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