WikiChristian talk:Community Portal

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I have some information on the book of Hebrews that I would like to contribute. Could that page be unprotected so that I can add the info? Cpark 08:37, 4 Feb 2005 (PST)

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Okay, I've unprotected the main index page for Hebrews (and for all the other books of the Bible)

songs and lyrics

I'm not sure where to post this info, so I thought that it'd fit here. I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to wikis, so I have some ideas regarding the layout of songs. Currently each song has a separate page linking to its lyrics instead of just writing a heading and let the lyrics be underneath. Linking means that there will be a very large amount of pages as soon as we start to really grow, and it might be confusing for especially new users. I also have to object against the same behaviour being practised when it comes to, for example the page about Matt Redman. Can't his info and/or bio reside in that page instead of the current About Matt Redman.

Back to songs. Right now all songs have the name in the page title, meaning that it might be a little difficult to see what pages are songs, what pages are articles and so on. On another wiki wer'e using namespaces to make things easier. That means that songs have the page prefix Song: and that it is separately searchable. Free Bible Dictionary does already follow that naming scheme, and it works pretty well to keep it from cluttering, doesn't it?

Feel free to comment on my ideas. Etnoy 02:08, 18 Mar 2005 (PST)

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Hi, Regarding the issue of lyrics, Graham grove is doing that wonderful work and you can go ahead and discuss any ideas for improvement with him. It is a matter of style and some times planning for the growth in future. As long as the pages have proper links, it may not be confusing but I think some of the pages that have just one page link can be made part of other pages. Discuss the issue with Graham grove and agree on a plan or agree to disagree.

Thanks, Prab

copying articles from wikipedia

There seem to be tons of articles on wikipedia for Christian subjects. Are there any problems in copying these over to here? Any legal ramifications or anything?

No, all wikipedia's content is licensed under GNU FDL and can feeely redistributed as long as you say the source.

Any easy way to port them over here? I'm thinking mainly of the historic and factual entries such as the ones on all the different denominations.

Yes, it's perfectly legal to copy any or every wikipedia article -- see the GNU FDL for details, and OpenFacts for examples of other web sites doing just that. However, is copying -- or more accurately, forking -- really a good idea? I think that for historical facts where we think Wikipedia has gotten it right, we might as well leave it there and just link to it. Obviously I'm a big fan of http://CommunityWiki.org/ConsolidateInformation . I'm willing to grant that it may be a good idea for *some* articles to be copied over, to gain http://CommunityWiki.org/ProductiveWikiOverlap . But not *every* article on "Christian subjects". --DavidCary 22:10, 15 Apr 2005 (PDT)

I'd be pretty interested in copying at least some of the material over. There are some important fundamental sections that could be used as fillers for now, until local editors create something better. --Mustaphile 22:29, 4 May 2005 (PDT)

• Nice find with CommunityWiki. Have y'all considered contributing to Wikisource for EBD, KJV Concordance, Smith's, etc? I think this would be a great way to consolidate "wiki" information. I've mentioned this on TheoWiki EBD Wikisource discussion and Talk:Easton's_Bible_Dictionary. --J. J. 11:08, 10 May 2005 (PDT)
  • I think it sounds good in principle, but in reality people like to keep users on their wiki, rather than sending them off to another wiki, where they have no links guiding them back. There are issues of administration and point of view(POV) in using other wiki sources that are difficult to address. From my POV, a solely christian wiki is going to be more lenient with regards to christian content than a wiki that does not have a christian focus. --Mustaphile 15:02, 10 May 2005 (PDT)

Layout of some of the pages

Hi all. I've recently found this wiki after spending a lot of my time on Wikipedia. I must say that some of the ways that articles have been created here with links leading to pages with more links, leading to pages with more links has really grated with my wikipedia sensibilities. I find it frustrating to be constantly narrowing the focus of my choices each time, when what I really want to do is just get the article(any article in fact sometimes, as often times I reach the end and there is nothing there). I have been looking for any discussion on a styleguide, but have not found anything. I think it might be a worthwile discussion to have. --Mustaphile 22:26, 4 May 2005 (PDT)

Style guide for song articles

I've recently begun re-arranging the way that songs are entered into the Wiki. Being the type of Wiki editor that I am, I tend to go all guns blazing into the task. I wonder whether we should at least be having some discussion on the subject though, as I don't want to be too aggressive in how I go about editing other peoples work. I'm going to start a page to talk about styleguides for song entries on WikiChristian:Song styleguide. I hope others will participate on the discussion on this at the talk page concerned at WikiChristian talk:Song styleguide --Mustaphile 08:28, 8 May 2005 (PDT)

Apologetics Index

I'd like to start/expand an index of apologetics and although others have done it, wiki sure seems the way to go. I really want to this as complete as possible (most info may be external links for a while) but I'd like a little discussion before I start. Is WikiChristian the best place for this? Eventually I'd like to use it as a place to point non-Christians to; since those people could edit the topics, is this practical? (For example, a Christian could write Revelation was written around 90 AD and a Muslim could edit it to 120 AD as he honestly thinks is more accurate.) I'm mainly intending orthodox subjects (biblical inerrancy, Trinity, etc) not interdenominational disputes.

Please give me any thoughts here or email Masheach-at-gmail.com. --JBJ 12:23, 2 Jul 2005 (PDT)

Go ahead and start and expand an index of apologetics. It is an excellent idea. WikiChristian hopefully is a good place for it. Let me know if you need to be a sysop. G.G.

(Wikipedia people use colons before replies instead of hyphens.) I would like an index of all denominational views/doctrines/theology. I want to see what denominations believe and how they support their beliefs Scripturally and how they respond to opposition or debate. Is there any place like that on the web or here? --Jeolmeun 05:44, 27 January 2006 (EST)

Defining WikiChristian

I think it would be greatly beneficial if we (or the sysops or whoever) could create an in depth definition of WikiChristian is and what it is not. I think Wikipedia is a great example of having done this well. I come from the perspective that "all truth is God's truth," that very little exists that is inappropriate for a Christian encyclopedia. However, I don't think we want to aimlessly copy and paste from other wikis as a use of our time, yet doing so in some capacity seems very practical. Let's decide where to draw this line. I would hate for anyone to contribute in bulk and have someone decide later that those hundreds of hours should not be displayed.

Another example is on the issue of objectivity. Whereas Wikipedia is strict in not making or implying any kind of bias, we clearly accept the bias that Christianity is true and positive thus we have content excluded from Wikipedia. (That is why I am here.) On the Christian spectrum from conservative to liberal to universalist, how far should that extend? A universalist may label herself both Christian and Muslim and cite Muslim beliefs; how do we deal with that?

Another issues Is original research/original ideas acceptable?

I think we need to formally define WikiChristian as more than a Christian encyclopedia, but as a Christian index as well. Informally, we have done this already, eg the song index, the apolgetics index, personal stories, entire translations of the Bible; this kind of content would never be in a normal enclopedia. In fact, perhaps it would be defined only as a Christian index, therein containing enclopedic entries.

So far WikiChristian has been small enough not to deal with such issues, but if it grows to a household name, which I pray it does, these will be crucial issues. Best to "nip them in the bud." Your thoughts? --JBJ 05:51, 9 Sep 2005 (EDT)

I agree with JBJ that we need to define what wikichristian is and what it is not. I like the idea that all truth comes from God and should be represented here. However, to be focussed in our mission, we have to draw a line as to what we want to include and what not! While wikipedia's mission is a general encyclopedia, wikichristian is more focussed on everything related to Christians and Christianity and there will be some overlap. I think there is so much that could be done related to Christianity that we should be focussed on our mission at this point and do not spread ourselves too thin. I agree that our goals and mission might change as we grow and that is perfectly fine. We have no articles on many great people like "Billy Graham" and the like. We can also start wikichristian in other languages, as we grow!

Wikichristian has been and should be more than an encyclopedia. It is a wiki community, "Christian Index" and a wiki repository for all public domain christian works and an encyclopedia with a "Christian Perspective".

I think we should create a wikichristian vision page and let users express their opinions on the talk page and edit the vision page. Since you brought up the issue, I think you should take charge of this wikichristian vision page and start putting some thoughts together so that others can join in.

--Prab 06:12, 9 Sep 2005 (EDT)

Okay, here's a start: WikiChristian:Vision. --JBJ 09:03, 10 Sep 2005 (EDT)

Naming Conventions

Has any thought been put into how to best name pages, besides with the lyrics pages? If so, can it be made public? Perhaps I just don't understand, but I'm not seeing comprehensive pattern or ruling. On account of being more than an encyclopedia, (see above entry) I don't think standard encyclopedia entries will be enough. I know Wikipedia uses Categories (but I don't have a good idea how). Is that an option for this? I've been using the format "General_Topic: Specific_Topic" when the Specific_Topic could likely be used in another context at a later point, but I'm not sure this is the best way. Again, the sooner this is resolved, the sooner we can correct past mistakes and the less work in total. --JBJ 06:03, 9 Sep 2005 (EDT)

Recent Namespace change has busted the tutorial section

Hi all. I've been absent a bit lately due to switching over from windows to a linux OS on my computer. I did notice that the Namespace 'WikiChristian' has been changed to 'WikiChristian.org'. This has broken a whole lot of links to the tutorial section and within the tutorial itself. When I get a nice solid block of time to work on it, I'll try to fix it up. --Mustaphile 08:23, 29 Sep 2005 (EDT)

Leona

Some questions from Leona

How can I write about stuff?

How do I make hypolinks to other pages?

www.wikichristian.org/index.php?title=Answers_in_Genesis does not work!!!

Where is the chatroom?

God bless, Leona.

Use double brackets, for example, Answers_in_Genesis. Click edit and see how the text looks. --Jeolmeun 05:22, 27 January 2006 (EST)

List of all doctrines of all denominations?

Is there a list of all doctrines of all denominations? Maybe a list of beliefs where there are disagreements? The list would also link to articles on how each denomination supports their beliefs Biblically. The articles would also link to Biblical objections or debates. --Jeolmeun 05:57, 27 January 2006 (EST)

Something like the following...

Sabbath Observance:

• Observes Seventh-day Sabbath
• Observes First-day
• Observance is done away
• Observance is unnecessary
• Observance is optional
• Recommends Observance
• ...

Trinity Doctine:

• Believes Trinity doctrine
• The Father and Son are just Father and Son
• The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father
• ...

State of the Dead:

• Souls are sleeping waiting resurrection
• Souls are in heaven or in hell waiting for resurrection
• Souls have been judged already
• ...

Immortality:

• Souls can die the second death
• Souls are immortal in heaven or hell
• ...

IRC?

Does this Wiki have an IRC Channel?