CZ:Getting Started

Welcome to the Citizendium pilot project!

This is a general orientation for new contributors. It's a little long, but that's because it's comprehensive. Especially if you're not

We're glad to have you here and hope you'll join our friendly little (but growing!) community as an active contributor. What makes us different? Well, for one thing, we're all contributing under our own real names. We take responsibility for our own work, and we like to think we're a bit more civil than your average Internet community. For another thing, there are editors working right alongside authors. Editors can make decisions about articles in their areas of expertise, but for the most part, we collaborate just as folks do on Wikipedia--only with more collegiality. Editors also have a special task that doesn't exist on Wikipedia: they can approve articles.

One of the first things you must realize is that you've got to be bold if this project is to work.