Quartz has a very interesting article describing the genesis and ongoing success of one of the Internet’s most respected repository of comprehensive, up-to-date, and authoritative information (as long as you’re interested in the topic of philosophy): the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. I’ve relied on the SEP in the past, and always found it well-written and informative (albeit not as comprehensive as Quartz would have you believe), but I didn’t realize just how rigorously it is maintained.
Best part of the article though? The argument that the SEP doesn’t have to remain a lone unicorn, a solitary bastion of credible, useful information on the Internet. Nope: other disciplines could–and should–seek to emulate it’s success.
Useful, reliable information on the Internet.
Imagine that.
Larry Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia, after he had his falling with Jimmy Wales, left Wikipedia and a few years later founded Citizendium, which was an attempt to fix the flaws of Wikipedia by bringing in experts to guide and correct those aspects of Wikipedia that make it unreliable as a true scholarly source.
Unfortunately, the project never really took off, and Larry moved on to other projects. It’s too bad, really.