By now you may already know that to add scholarly articles to the English version of Wikipedia is difficult due to the “notability” concept and tight control from anonymous editors (see this article). In recent years, entire Wikipedia topics and articles dedicated to software and data science have been wiped out by a few nameless characters without clearly-indicated scientific credentials. Their user pages are usually empty, and their login names tell nothing. That’s right – “notability” of information on Wikipedia is enforced by non-notable people.
Barbarism is not unusual to Wikipedia. To avoid it, Wikipedia articles are accepted through the consensus of many editors. However, for scientific and software topics, it is not uncommon when such discussions happen between the author and, typically, a single anonymous editor. Wikipedia editors may have their own agenda (and even financial interest) for cancelling scholarly articles.
You cannot change the Wikipeda policy, nor the authoritarian personality of unnamed editors. However, one can overcome this problem by using alternative Wiki-style resources as discussed in this article. If your article cannot be inserted into Wikipedia, consider Everipedia, Scolapedia, EduTechWiki and other similar resources.
Finally, HandWiki also accepts articles on data science and software. For example, you can look at this list of articles related to data sciences:
Unlike Wikipedia, these articles can contain more comprehensive information since they discuss programs that are not limited to existing Wikipedia entries. You are free to add new entries to these listings even without dedicated Wikipedia articles. You only need to give an external reference to the program you want to add, i.e. to Everipedia, HandWiki article (which is more permissive for new content than Wikipedia), or to other external web resources. Here are examples showing how to reference a software package “MyProgram” on HandWiki:
- [[MyProgram]] – reference to the HandWiki existing article
- <wipe>MyProgram</wipe> – reference to the Wikipedia article
- <wp>MyProgram</wp> – reference to the Everipedia article
- [[https://www/MyProgram MyProgram]] – reference the external URL link
If your article is rejected on Wikipedia and cannot be listed on any Wikipedia page, bring this article to HandWiki (without changing MediaWiki syntax). You can also add tutorials and manuals on software programs, which cannot be done for Wikipedia/Everipedia. The minimum requirement to open HandWiki account is to indicate your scholarly background during registration.
R.Riviera
