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Alternative to Wikipedia launched

02/03/2007- American religious activists have created a rival online encyclopedia in order to combat what they claim has is a liberal bias in Wikipedia. Conservapedia.com will use the same open editing technology as Wikipedia but its founders claim it will offer a "much-needed alternative".
Conservapedia will use the Wiki technology, the process that allows anybody who registers with the site to edit any of the entries for free, used by Wikipedia. The founders of Conservapedia claim that there is an anti-American and liberal bias on Wikipedia and they blame the site's network of global volunteer editors for this claiming they prevent alternative views from being published.

Andy Schlafly, the founder of Conservapedia, told The Guardian newspaper. "I've tried editing Wikipedia, and found that the biased editors who dominate it censor or change facts to suit their views. In one case my factual edits were removed within 60 seconds so editing Wikipedia is no longer a viable approach," he said

Schlafly is a lawyer and son of Phyllis Schlafly, a prominent American conservative who is renowned for her opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment and feminism. He says that that Conservapedia will reflect Christian values, beliefs that he feels are ignored on Wikipedia.

"Facts against the theory of evolution are almost immediately censored," he said. He also took umbrage at the use of British spellings as opposed to American spellings and advised that Wikipedia 'refuses' to give Christianity proper credit for the renaissance.

Conservapedia started life last November and was set up as a project for home-schooled children. Schlafly hopes that eventually it can become a reference for American teachers.

The co-founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, has not been upset by the claims made by Conservapedia's founders. "Free culture knows no bounds. We welcome the reuse of our work to build variants. That's directly in line with our mission," he said.

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<a href="http://www.pulsewebhosting.com/news/alternative-to-wikipedia-launched-/47/" title="Alternative to Wikipedia launched ">Alternative to Wikipedia launched </a> Published Date: 2007-03-07 15:01:42

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