WikiIslam:Renovations: Difference between revisions

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A number of transformative steps have been undertaken as part of an ongoing effort to ‎improve the content, professionalism, and reliability of WikiIslam. Raising the wiki’s ‎standards and expectations will serve both to attract higher quality contributors and ‎contributions and to spark a positive-feedback loop conducive to WikiIslam’s continued ‎enhancement.‎
'''A number of transformative steps have been undertaken as part of an ongoing effort to ‎improve the content, professionalism, and reliability of [[WikiIslam]].''' Raising the wiki’s ‎[[WikiIslam:Policies and Guidelines|standards and expectations]] will serve both to attract higher quality [[WikiIslam:Message to New Users|contributors]] and ‎[[Special:RecentChanges|contributions]] and to spark a positive-feedback loop conducive to WikiIslam’s continued ‎enhancement.‎


Key changes include:‎
=== Key changes:‎ ===


A new mission statement
==== A new mission statement ====
''‎“To provide accurate and accessible information from traditional and critical ‎perspectives on the beliefs, practices, and development of Islam”‎''


‎“To provide accurate and accessible information from traditional and critical ‎perspectives on the beliefs, practices, and development of Islam”‎
==== A stricter, more academic scope ====
The [[WikiIslam:Scope and Article Relevance|scope of the wiki]] has been changed in a number of important ways. Whereas the ‎wiki once stretched to comprise anything having to do with Muslims, Muslim-majority ‎nations, and Islam throughout history, the scope is now more narrowly confined to ‎topics related particularly to the ''“beliefs, practices, and development of Islam”''. On the ‎other hand, whereas the wiki once limited itself to referencing primary Islamic sources, ‎the wiki now aims to complement these primary sources with the growing body of ‎modern, historical-critical scholarship on the origins of Islam. Finally, implicit in this ‎second major transition is a broadening of the wiki’s focus from merely the ''criticism of ‎Islam'' to ''Islam in general'' – that is, whereas WikiIslam may once have been concerned ‎only with [[Aisha's Age|''Aisha’s age'']], it is now interested in ''Aisha herself''.‎


A stricter, more academic scope
==== A zero-tolerance policy on hateful, misleading, unencyclopedic, and polemical ‎content ====
WikiIslam no longer tolerates any amount of hateful, misleading, unencyclopedic, or ‎polemical content. Whereas there were once a great deal of such unhelpful and even ‎hurtful articles and language on the wiki, these are no longer. And whereas the wiki once ‎actively participated in and contributed to everlasting online religious polemics, the wiki ‎now limits itself to documentary role in simply observing and addressing those ‎polemical and apologetic currents which have risen to comprise mainstream Islamic ‎discourse. Likewise, with WikiIslam's newly encyclopedic spirit, articles are no longer permitted to maintain ‎any point of view, be it political or religious – facts, straightforwardly described, are for ‎the reader alone to judge.‎


The scope of the wiki has been changed in a number of important ways. Whereas the ‎wiki once stretched to comprise anything having to do with Muslims, Muslim-majority ‎nations, and Islam throughout history, the scope is now more narrowly confined to ‎topics related particularly to the “beliefs, practices, and development of Islam”. On the ‎other hand, whereas the wiki once limited itself to referencing primary Islamic sources, ‎the wiki now aims to complement these primary sources with the growing body of ‎modern, historical-critical scholarship on the origins of Islam. Finally, implicit in this ‎second major transition is a broadening of the wiki’s focus from merely the criticism of ‎Islam to Islam in general – that is, whereas WikiIslam may once have been concerned ‎only with Aisha’s age, it is now interested in Aisha herself.‎
==== The cleansing, re-conception, renaming, merging, archival, and deletion of several ‎hundred articles ====
In a major stride towards realizing the wiki’s renewed standards and objectives, several ‎hundred articles on the wiki have been reviewed, renovated, or removed. Salvageable ‎articles have seen their very worst infractions expunged, sometimes being transformed ‎in the process, while those articles deemed irrelevant or irredeemable have been exiled ‎to the [https://archive.wikiislam.net/wiki/Main_Page WikiIslam archive]. And while a number of these purely polemical, testimonial, and ‎statistical articles may, in the future, be hosted elsewhere, they do not belong on ‎WikiIslam.‎


A zero-tolerance policy on hateful, misleading, unencyclopedic, and polemical ‎content
==== An open invitation to sober and serious contributors, Muslim, non-Muslim, or ‎otherwise ====
WikiIslam is once again accepting [[WikiIslam:Join the Team|editors]] and [[WikiIslam:Translation|translators]]. While IP edits have been ‎indefinitely disabled due to the persistent and futile efforts of pitiful vandals, sober and ‎serious contributors who request an account will be readily provided one. Due to the ‎new, adamantly neutral demeanor of the wiki, contributors’ background and religious ‎persuasion are utterly irrelevant. Indeed, the devout Muslim moved to write about the ‎intelligent piety of Abu Bakr, scholar hoping to outline potential Aramaic readings of the ‎Qur’an, atheist roused to documenting the seemingly-absurd injunctions of [[Islamic Law|Islamic law]], ‎and curious by-passer simply hoping to [[WikiIslam:Writing Style Guide|correct grammar]] as they browse are all equally ‎welcome and encouraged to [[WikiIslam:Join the Team|join the WikiIslam team]].‎


WikiIslam no longer tolerates any amount of hateful, misleading, unencyclopedic, or ‎polemical content. Whereas there were once a great deal of such unhelpful and even ‎hurtful articles and language on the wiki, these are no longer. And whereas the wiki once ‎actively participated in and contributed to everlasting online religious polemics, the wiki ‎now limits itself to documentary role in simply observing and addressing those ‎polemical and apologetic currents which have risen to comprise mainstream Islamic ‎discourse. Likewise, in encyclopedic spirit, articles are no longer permitted to maintain ‎any point of view, be it political or religious – facts, straightforwardly described, are for ‎the reader alone to judge.‎
As always, the wiki is a work in progress. Serious [[WikiIslam:Contact Us|feedback]] and [mailto:[email protected] infraction-reports] are ‎welcome.‎
 
The cleansing, re-conception, renaming, merging, archival, and deletion of several ‎hundred articles
 
In a major stride towards realizing the wiki’s renewed standards and objectives, several ‎hundred articles on the wiki have been reviewed, renovated, or removed. Salvageable ‎articles have seen their very worst infractions expunged, sometimes being transformed ‎in the process, while those articles deemed irrelevant or irredeemable have been exiled ‎to the WikiIslam archive. And while a number of these purely polemical, testimonial, and ‎statistical articles may in the future be hosted elsewhere, they do not belong on ‎WikiIslam.‎
 
An open invitation to sober and serious contributors, Muslim, non-Muslim, or ‎otherwise
 
WikiIslam is once again accepting editors and translators. While IP edits have been ‎indefinitely disabled due to the persistent and futile efforts of pitiful vandals, sober and ‎serious contributors who request an account will be readily provided one. Due to the ‎new, adamantly neutral demeanor of the wiki, contributors’ background and religious ‎persuasion are utterly irrelevant. Indeed, the devout Muslim moved to write about the ‎intelligent piety of Abu Bakr, scholar hoping to outline potential Aramaic readings of the ‎Qur’an, atheist roused to documenting the seemingly-absurd injunctions of Islamic law, ‎and curious by-passer simply hoping to correct grammar as they browse are all equally ‎welcome and encouraged to join the WikiIslam team.‎
 
As always, the wiki is a work in progress. Serious feedback and infraction-reports are ‎welcome.‎
 
<br />


[[Category:WikiIslam]]
[[Category:WikiIslam]]

Revision as of 06:58, 11 November 2020

A number of transformative steps have been undertaken as part of an ongoing effort to ‎improve the content, professionalism, and reliability of WikiIslam. Raising the wiki’s ‎standards and expectations will serve both to attract higher quality contributors and ‎contributions and to spark a positive-feedback loop conducive to WikiIslam’s continued ‎enhancement.‎

Key changes:‎

A new mission statement

‎“To provide accurate and accessible information from traditional and critical ‎perspectives on the beliefs, practices, and development of Islam”‎

A stricter, more academic scope

The scope of the wiki has been changed in a number of important ways. Whereas the ‎wiki once stretched to comprise anything having to do with Muslims, Muslim-majority ‎nations, and Islam throughout history, the scope is now more narrowly confined to ‎topics related particularly to the “beliefs, practices, and development of Islam”. On the ‎other hand, whereas the wiki once limited itself to referencing primary Islamic sources, ‎the wiki now aims to complement these primary sources with the growing body of ‎modern, historical-critical scholarship on the origins of Islam. Finally, implicit in this ‎second major transition is a broadening of the wiki’s focus from merely the criticism of ‎Islam to Islam in general – that is, whereas WikiIslam may once have been concerned ‎only with Aisha’s age, it is now interested in Aisha herself.‎

A zero-tolerance policy on hateful, misleading, unencyclopedic, and polemical ‎content

WikiIslam no longer tolerates any amount of hateful, misleading, unencyclopedic, or ‎polemical content. Whereas there were once a great deal of such unhelpful and even ‎hurtful articles and language on the wiki, these are no longer. And whereas the wiki once ‎actively participated in and contributed to everlasting online religious polemics, the wiki ‎now limits itself to documentary role in simply observing and addressing those ‎polemical and apologetic currents which have risen to comprise mainstream Islamic ‎discourse. Likewise, with WikiIslam's newly encyclopedic spirit, articles are no longer permitted to maintain ‎any point of view, be it political or religious – facts, straightforwardly described, are for ‎the reader alone to judge.‎

The cleansing, re-conception, renaming, merging, archival, and deletion of several ‎hundred articles

In a major stride towards realizing the wiki’s renewed standards and objectives, several ‎hundred articles on the wiki have been reviewed, renovated, or removed. Salvageable ‎articles have seen their very worst infractions expunged, sometimes being transformed ‎in the process, while those articles deemed irrelevant or irredeemable have been exiled ‎to the WikiIslam archive. And while a number of these purely polemical, testimonial, and ‎statistical articles may, in the future, be hosted elsewhere, they do not belong on ‎WikiIslam.‎

An open invitation to sober and serious contributors, Muslim, non-Muslim, or ‎otherwise

WikiIslam is once again accepting editors and translators. While IP edits have been ‎indefinitely disabled due to the persistent and futile efforts of pitiful vandals, sober and ‎serious contributors who request an account will be readily provided one. Due to the ‎new, adamantly neutral demeanor of the wiki, contributors’ background and religious ‎persuasion are utterly irrelevant. Indeed, the devout Muslim moved to write about the ‎intelligent piety of Abu Bakr, scholar hoping to outline potential Aramaic readings of the ‎Qur’an, atheist roused to documenting the seemingly-absurd injunctions of Islamic law, ‎and curious by-passer simply hoping to correct grammar as they browse are all equally ‎welcome and encouraged to join the WikiIslam team.‎

As always, the wiki is a work in progress. Serious feedback and infraction-reports are ‎welcome.‎