electowiki:FAQ

Why not just use Wikipedia?

As background, Wikipedia is a free content encyclopedia with an extensive section on voting systems. The community surrounding the election-methods mailing list has "adopted" this section to some degree and most people on the Wikipedia voting pages are aware of the mailing list and vice-versa. However, there are many reasons why this isn't good enough, and why Electowiki can be a good complement to Wikipedia:

Wikipedia is not a research community. Wikipedia only wants things that are well-established and agreed to fact. The election-methods mailing list is, among other things, a research community. There are new systems, new methods for evaluating systems, new insight about systems, and new jargon being invented frequently on the mailing list. Eventually, if these survive the test of time, they will belong in Wikipedia. Meanwhile, Electowiki can help people interested in election-methods think about them. Electowiki is the research community that Wikipedia may, eventually, rely on.
Wikipedia is an encyclopedia Electowiki also strives to be accurate and informative. But here, we can also lobby. For example, on the election-methods mailing list, many people have been collectively working on a letter to IRV advocates informing them about Condorcet methods. A wiki is the perfect medium for working on such a letter.

Anyway, because our content is GFDL, we can reincorporate it into Wikipedia as necessary.