WikipediaOS/Possibility of forking
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/AD-Porz.jpg/220px-AD-Porz.jpg)
Hypothesis
editProjects may be forked from the original development team without prior permission, resulting in a distinct piece of software or content that initially had the same structure.
Votes/comments
edit- Support In FLOSS and Wikipedia related projects individual dissatisfaction is transformed into group-level dissatisfaction only occasionally, but here we should consider also forking as something more modular and less "traumatic" like when an article needs disambiguation after along period of two meanings in a single page or when a program or app requires minimum modifications for fitting in other systems (for example a browser extension).
- Support Wikiversity uses forking when users cannot agree on page content after a reasonable attempt. Forking on Wikiversity should be handled with a disambiguation page (or overall subject page) that treats the forks equally and fairly, that is, the diambiguation page should enjoy maximum consensus. The purpose of forking here is to avoid useless controversy and dissension; a university may have more than one class on a controversial topic, and the teachers/students may have different points of views. In mainspace, pages should be fully neutral, eventually. But subpages may be biased, and various means may be used to ensure that students are not misled as to, for example, mainstream scientific opinion, or, in the other direction, by unfair presentation of fringe concepts. When subpages fully express a POV, such that those who hold the POV will agree, "this is what we believe," then work can begin on constructing metapages that fairly summarize; the most reliable sign of NPOV is that all participants agree on the text. That goal may not always be realizable, but it is always desirable, and true consensus is worth pursuing, but subpages allow full expression without struggle. --Abd 14:14, 19 January 2011 (UTC)
- Comment Perhaps fits here: frustration, unhappiness leads to ... [1] though it refers to OS, some readers could adopt this certainly to other things around here :-)
- "...and all four of the distros discussed here were frustrated with their efforts at trying to contribute to the projects that had come before them. Ultimately, the story behind our myriad Linux distributions is like that of Linux itself: each was started by the most pragmatic kind of dreamer who could visualize a better way and had the talent and drive to make that vision real."
- "... stir lightly, bake for 19 years, and you get 452 different meals." ----Erkan Yilmaz uses the Wikiversity:Chat 18:38, 19 January 2011 (UTC)