Electowiki:FAQ

Why not just use Wikipedia?

Wikipedia is a free content encyclopedia with an extensive section on voting systems. The election-methods mailing list community has "adopted" the Wikipedia section to some degree; most people who edit Wikipedia voting pages are aware of the mailing list and vice-versa. Wikipedia is a great encyclopedia project. However:

1. Wikipedia is not a research community. Wikipedia only wants well-established ideas and facts. New systems, new methods for evaluating systems, new insight, and new jargon are invented frequently on the mailing list. These ideas need a place to grow up to before they are notable enough to be included in Wikipedia. Electowiki can be this research community; Wikipedia cannot.
2. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia Electowiki strives to be accurate and informative. But many of us research not just for knowledge, but also for change. Electowiki can be the place where we collaborate on arguments for change, craft draft letters to use when we write to groups where we are involved, et cetera.

Because Electowiki and Wikipedia's content are both governned by the GFDL, they can be perfect complements to one another, incorporating content from the other whenever useful.