Re: [asa] Conservapedia

According to science news, it is a legit site, though it has been "edited" by certain opponents
with intentionally outrageous entries.

http://www.newscientist.com/blog/technology/2007/02/conservative-rival-for-wikipedia.html

Apparently it's not always easy to tell the spoof entries from actual ones, though.

It would be interesting to see if a well-reasoned and fair article on theistic evolutionism would
be allowed to stand.

__
Louise M. Freeman, PhD
Psychology Dept
Mary Baldwin College
Staunton, VA 24401
540-887-7326
FAX 540-887-7121

-----Original Message-----
From: "Iain Strachan" <igd.strachan@gmail.com>
To: ASA <asa@calvin.edu>
Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2007 14:18:39 +0000
Subject: [asa] Conservapedia

> BTW I meant to mention that I'm not entirely sure that Conservapedia
> isn't
> an elaborate hoax. There have been many spoof wikipedias before.
>
> Also some Christians have a track record for gullibility - a few years
> back
> there was an email going round conservative Christian circles about an
> article where J.K. Rowling (of Harry Potter fame) described herself as
> a
> Satanist. No one noticed that it was a spoof article from The Onion
> website.
>
> The Kangaroo article might be a spoof (though Woodmorappe's famous
> statement
> about the animals being trained to poop into buckets on Noah's ark
> wasn't a
> spoof. Well, not unless Woodmorappe is a pesky liberal in disguise!
> ;-)
>
> What do people think? If conservapedia is not a spoof, then it might
> be
> worthwhile trying to establish a presence there (if they re-enable
> registration of accounts).
>
> Iain
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Iain Strachan <igd.strachan@gmail.com>
> Date: Mar 1, 2007 1:42 PM
> Subject: Conservapedia
> To: ASA <asa@calvin.edu>
>
> Much amusement and hilarity at my work was caused today when someone
> stumbled upon
>
> www.conservapedia.com
>
> which is a Conservative "alternative" to wikipedia, peopled by
> fundamentalists, as far as I can see.
>
> The entry on "kangaroo" caused a great deal of amusement. ( "designed
> by
> God for jumping" was especially appreciated!)
>
> Does anyone know about the origin of this site? I noted that there
> wasn't
> any article on Theistic Evolution, but when I tried to create an
> account in
> order to register and write one, but found that new registrations have
> been
> disabled.
>
> It did at least provide an opportunity to explain to a colleague of
> mine who
> describes himself as an atheist that there were ways you could be a
> Christian and still accept evolution, so I suppose I should feel
> grateful
> for the opportunity. But seriously this is turning Christianity into a
> laughing stock.
>
> If anyone finds a way of getting a registered account, let me know and
> we'll
> have a go at doing a Theistic Evolution article. Anything that gets
> hacked
> or distorted can be reported via a blog site if necessary.
>
>
> Iain
> --
> -----------
> After the game, the King and the pawn go back in the same box.
>
> - Italian Proverb
> -----------
>
> --
> -----------
> After the game, the King and the pawn go back in the same box.
>
> - Italian Proverb
> -----------

To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Thu Mar 1 09:30:25 2007