Dec 10 2012
Alternapedia
Wikipedia is an amazing online resource for reliable information. Most of the time.
In general, Wikipedia is most reliable when the entries are devoted to technical topics for which there is little controversy or a minimum of divergent opinion. Entries that are devoted to topics which may have minority opinions that diverge from the currently accepted norms are often less reliable or do not always provide coverage from a neutral point of view.
Neither I (nor apparently anyone else) cannot add supportive research evidence on the page devoted to the blood type diets. My personal page was such as source of upset to my kids that I petitioned WP to take me off. Apparently there is no way to do this, other than to make the case that you are not notable. So I asked someone over there to declare me to be ‘not notable.’ After I was removed I read on several websites a gloating note that I was removed from WP because they had decided that I was not notable. Now if you type in my name it goes to the entry for the BTD which, of course, takes me back to square one. That’s why I decided to write Alternapedia.
Keeping the 99%. Fixing the 1%.
Alternapedia was written to offset the institutional bias against many forms of integrative and alternative medicines often displayed in Wikipedia entries. Ninety-nine percent of the time Alternapedia provides content via a direct link to a reliable Wikipedia entry, albeit in an aesthetically nicer package. In instances where the Alternapedia editors feel that the Wikipedia entry on a subject is faulty, Alternapedia editors instead create an ‘alternative article’ that is stored on our server that provides content to a more balanced, neutral appraisal. Alternapedia is not designed to restrict your access to information: When it supplies one of its alternative entries, you are also given a direct link to the original Wikipedia entry as well, so you can best judge for yourself the relative merits of each.
Despite these problems, Wikipedia remains a huge force on the internet, and supporters of natural health and integrative medicine cannot simply accept the current situation. If every one of our readers with internet and especially Wikipedia skills, took a hand in writing and creating alternative articles with Alternapedia, using verified scientific information with suitable citations, the situation could be improved radically. Now more than ever this is especially important, as health consumers deserve the best information possible.
