# Is thre an alternative to Wikipedia? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 8, 2014, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thre-an-alternative-to-wikipedia/695098 "2014-08-08T08:38:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thre-an-alternative-to-wikipedia/695098/1 "2014-08-08T08:38:01Z")
Is there another site that is generally edited by users who know something about the subject, but is not just narrowly focussed on one subject, and doesn’t have the priggish entrenched arsehole attitude amongst its editors that Wikipedia has developed? Obviously there’s nothing that’s going to have quite the breadth, but is there anything similar, which spans all general subjects? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thre-an-alternative-to-wikipedia/695098/2 "2014-08-08T09:18:52Z")
[H2G2](http://h2g2.com/) (Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition) is the closest I can think of, other than the various sites that actually use Wikipedia as a base, like the Plain Language and Simple Wikis. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thre-an-alternative-to-wikipedia/695098/3 "2014-08-08T12:40:29Z")
There’s the Probert Encyclopaedia > **[Legal Advice The Legal Encyclopaedia Find out the Law!](http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/)** > > Welcome to the legal world of Encyclopaedia what legal words and law categories explained. Free Legal Advice from our Law Encyclopaedia. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thre-an-alternative-to-wikipedia/695098/4 "2014-08-08T12:49:38Z")
There’s [Metapedia](http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/Main_Page), if you’re a Nazi. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thre-an-alternative-to-wikipedia/695098/5 "2014-08-08T13:40:22Z")
Conservapedia, if Wikipedia is too liberal for you. Hell, _the bible_ is too liberal for these people, they are literally making their own version of it. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thre-an-alternative-to-wikipedia/695098/6 "2014-08-08T14:28:39Z")
I’m not sure if the last 2 posts were supposed to be a joke, a dig or helpful; but I’ll clarify that I’m not accusing wikipedia of having any particular political slant, the entrenched behavior I see is mainly on books/entertainment type stuff, because that’s the only stuff I’ve attempted edits to, but it leads me to doubt the usefulness of the politali/important stuff. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thre-an-alternative-to-wikipedia/695098/7 "2014-08-08T14:38:01Z")
Mine, at least, was just meant to be a joke. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thre-an-alternative-to-wikipedia/695098/8 "2014-08-08T15:32:34Z")
I don’t generally trust Wikipedia when it comes to “serious” subjects. If anything, I may check whatever sources are giving in an article and begin my own search from there. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thre-an-alternative-to-wikipedia/695098/9 "2014-08-08T15:42:10Z")
I only use Wikipedia for totally non-controversial topics, like information about what airlines fly to a particular airport. For that it seems perfectly accurate. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thre-an-alternative-to-wikipedia/695098/10 "2014-08-09T22:15:25Z")
Before there was Wikipedia, there was Everything2. It’s still around, but largely dormant. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thre-an-alternative-to-wikipedia/695098/11 "2014-08-09T23:01:32Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Conservapedia, if Wikipedia is too liberal for you. Hell, _the bible_ is too liberal for these people, they are literally making their own version of it. And RationalWiki for the other side. Both are proof that irrational conclusions and general dumbshittery are bipartisan. Wikipedia’s founder is big into libertarianism, but I don’t notice any big systematic bias. That won’t stop people from claiming it. I don’t notice anything with the “staff” but then I don’t edit beyond minor typos. Certain pages are full of crazy (e.g. Armenian genocide, at least at one time). Everything2 and h2g2 are similar in that they have less serious articles and don’t require any accuracy but are still affected by other users. > [@JoseB](#): > > I don’t generally trust Wikipedia when it comes to “serious” subjects. If anything, I may check whatever sources are giving in an article and begin my own search from there. It’s perfectly trustworthy 99.9% of the time and I believe it but I wouldn’t let a student use it as a reference. The method you describe is helpful.