Citizendium#Content

File:L Sanger.jpg, founder and former {{nowrap|editor-in-chief}} of Citizendium]]

Sanger said in a 17 October 2006 press release that Citizendium "will soon attempt to unseat Wikipedia as the go-to destination for general information online".Larry Sanger. [http://www.citizendium.org/release_001.html "Co-Founder to Launch Edited Version of Wikipedia: Pilot Project for the Citizendium to Launch This Week"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061105061805/http://citizendium.org/release_001.html|date=5 November 2006}}, Citizendium, 17 October 2006. In August 2007, he captioned its pages: "The world needs a more credible free encyclopedia."{{cite news|title=CZ:Monthly Write-a-Thon|url=http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:Monthly_Write-a-Thon|publisher=Citizendium|date=1 August 2007|access-date=1 August 2007}} The project began its pilot phase in October and November 2006.

On 18 January 2007, a change of plans was announced. Sanger announced on the CZ (Citizendium) mailing list that only articles marked "CZ Live", those which have been or will soon be worked on by Citizendium contributors, would remain on the site, and all other articles forked from Wikipedia would be deleted. Not all Citizendium contributors were supportive of this change, but Sanger emphasized that this deletion was "an experiment" and a new set of Wikipedia articles could be uploaded if the experiment were deemed unsuccessful.Larry Sanger. [https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2007-January/000863.html "OK, let's delete the Wikipedia articles (an experiment)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720042603/https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2007-January/000863.html|date=20 July 2011}}, Citizendium-l mail list, 18 January 2007.

In May 2009, Sanger reduced his direct activity at Citizendium, and, in a message on 30 July 2009, he reminded those on the Citizendium-l mailing list of his previously declared intention not to serve as editor-in-chief for more than two or three years after the start of the project.Larry Sanger [https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2009-July/001418.html [Citizendium-l] My recent absence] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720034117/https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2009-July/001418.html|date=20 July 2011}} Sanger has reiterated his call for the Citizendium community to prepare an orderly process for choosing a new editor-in-chief. Sanger said that he was spending more time on his WatchKnow project,{{cite web|url=http://watchknow.org/|title=WatchKnow|publisher=WatchKnow|access-date=8 December 2010}} partly because he needs to earn an income—he said the "Citizendium project doesn't earn me a dime"—and partly because the Citizendium community had demonstrated that it could function effectively without his close, daily involvement, and because "there are squeakier wheels in my life just now". He added that stepping aside may "precipitate something of a constitutional crisis, considering that we [Citizendium] never adopted a proper charter". Citizendium finally ratified its charter in September 2010.{{cite web|url=http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:Charter|title=CZ:Charter|publisher=Citizendium, en.citizendium.org|date=23 September 2010|access-date=8 December 2010}} On 22 September 2010, Sanger stepped down as editor-in-chief, but said he would continue to support the project.Larry Sanger blog post, [http://blog.citizendium.org/?p=578 Citizendium blog: Citizendium Charter Ratified] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725172912/http://blog.citizendium.org/?p=578 |date=25 July 2011 }}

According to statements and essays on Citizendium,{{cite web|url=http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:DeWPify|access-date=1 April 2012|date=26 April 2011|publisher=Citizendium|title=CZ:DeWPify}}{{cite web|url=http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:FAQ#You_began_as_a_fork_of_Wikipedia.2C_and_then_decided_not_to_fork_after_all.2C_but_start_most_of_your_articles_over_from_scratch._Why.3F|access-date=1 April 2012|date=27 February 2012|publisher=Citizendium|title=CZ:FAQ – You began as a fork of Wikipedia, and then decided not to fork after all, but start most of your articles over from scratch. Why?}}{{cite web|url=http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:Statistics|access-date=1 April 2012|date=4 March 2012|publisher=Citizendium|title=CZ:Statistics}} the project was initially intended to begin as a fork of Wikipedia, carrying a copy of each article—under the rules of the GNU Free Documentation License—as it existed on Wikipedia at the time of Citizendium's launch.Larry Sanger. [https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2006-September/000483.html "Why we should fork all at once"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720042909/https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2006-September/000483.html|date=20 July 2011}}, Citizendium-l mail list, 29 September 2006. However, after initiating the idea of not forking, and then soliciting comments on the matter from Citizendium mailing list and web forum members, Sanger said that a complete fork at launch was not a "foregone conclusion".Larry Sanger. [http://forum.citizendium.org/index.php/topic,68.0.html "Forking argument summary"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929142244/http://forum.citizendium.org/index.php/topic%2C68.0.html|date=29 September 2007}}, Citizendium forum, 29 September 2006. On 18 January 2007, Sanger announced that the pilot would, as an experiment, only carry articles that had been, or would soon be, worked on by Citizendium contributors, instead of a complete set of Wikipedia articles. He stated that the experiment "represents a reconception of our project's basic aim".

No announcement was made on Citizendium editions in languages other than English, but Sanger stated that they may be forthcoming after the English-language version was established and successfully working. In a review of Andrew Keen's book The Cult of the Amateur, Sanger comments ironically on Keen's favorable treatment of Citizendium: "The first example of a 'solution' he offers is the Citizendium, or the Citizens' Compendium, which I like to describe briefly as Wikipedia with editors and real names. But how can Citizendium be a solution to the problems he raises, if it has experts working without pay, and the result is free? If it succeeds, won't it contribute to the decline of reference publishing?"{{cite web|url=http://blog.citizendium.org/?p=200|title=Review of Keen's "Cult of the Amateur"|author=Larry Sanger|publisher=Citizendium Blog|date=17 July 2007|access-date=21 May 2011}}

The stated aim of the project is to create a "new compendium of knowledge" based on the contributions of "intellectuals," defined as "educated, thinking people who read about science or ideas regularly."{{Cite web|url=http://larrysanger.org/2006/09/toward-a-new-compendium-of-knowledge-longer-version/|title=Toward a New Compendium of Knowledge (longer version)|author=Larry Sanger}} Citizendium aimed to foster an expert culture and a community that encourages participants (to be called "authors") to "respect" the expert contributions (by what he referred to as a "gentle process of guidance").

Experts are required to verify their qualifications openly, for transparency and publicly accepted authority.Larry Sanger. [http://www.citizendium.org/policy_draft.html "Citizendium Policy Outline"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703045711/http://www.citizendium.org/policy_draft.html|date=3 July 2007}}, Citizendium. This contrasts with the open and largely anonymous nature of Wikipedia,{{cite journal|doi=10.2307/4486062|title=Can History Be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past|last=Rosenzweig|first=Roy|journal=The Journal of American History|year=2006|volume=1|issue=1|pages=117–146|jstor=4486062}} where subject specialists have neither any verifiable special knowledge of their subject nor agreed special status. Sanger stated that editors would not have pre-approval rights over edits by ordinary authors, though editors would have somewhat undefined authority over articles that fall within their specific area of expertise.

Unlike Wikipedia, Citizendium does not allow anonymous editing. Participants must register under their real names with a working email address. Sanger decided that Citizendium administrators would be called "constables," and need a bachelor's degree to qualify. He also instituted a minimum "maturity" requirement—25 years of age—for constables. The "head" constable is the Chief Constable (D. Matt Innis), and the head editor is the Managing Editor.Larry Sanger. [https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2006-September/000348.html "Constables, editors, and the Citizendium Foundation"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720035223/https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2006-September/000348.html|date=20 July 2011}}, Citizendium-l mail list, 23 September 2006.

Originally, Sanger operated as Editor-in-Chief, the "main individual in charge," part of and answerable to a Board of Directors. Sanger stated that final decisions about management structure will not be made "until more of the (future) primary stakeholders are on the scene."Larry Sanger. [http://forum.citizendium.org/index.php/topic,51.0.html "How should we manage growth?"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929091425/http://forum.citizendium.org/index.php/topic%2C51.0.html|date=29 September 2007}}, Citizendium forum, 2 October 2006.

Citizendium articles are subject to an "approval" process after they have achieved reasonable quality. An "editor" can determine when an article is ready to be approved.

Initially the project phased under the Tides Center as an incubator project{{cite web|title=Project Directory: Citizendium Foundation|url=http://www2.tidescenter.org/directory/project_detail_new.cfm?id=60306|publisher=The Tides Center|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929101008/http://www2.tidescenter.org/directory/project_detail_new.cfm?id=60306|archive-date=29 September 2007|access-date=5 June 2007}} and then was supposed to be carried out under the auspices of the Citizendium Foundation,

but in 2020, the treasurer of the project stated that the foundation was never registered.{{cite web|date=2020-01-02|title=Let's deliberately shut down|url=https://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Forum_Talk:Technical_Issues/Archive_1#Let.27s_deliberately_shut_down|url-status=live|access-date=2020-02-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200707152439/https://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Forum_Talk:Technical_Issues/Archive_1|archive-date=7 July 2020}}

{{Pie chart

| caption= Breakdown of articles in December 2007{{cite web|url=http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Image:Checklisted.jpg|title=File:Checklisted.jpg}}{{Update inline|date=February 2021|reason=}}

| label1 = Developing

| value1 = 38.2

| label2 = Stub

| value2 = 30.3

| label3 = Developed

| value3 = 15.8

| label4 = External

| value4 = 14.7

| label5 = Approved

| value5 = 1.0

}}

Citizendium original articles are available under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC BY-SA).{{cite web|url=http://blog.citizendium.org/2007/12/21/our-gift-to-the-world-cc-by-sa/|title=The Citizendium encyclopedia project picks a Creative Commons license|access-date=25 December 2007|author=Sanger, Larry|date=21 December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071226111923/http://blog.citizendium.org/2007/12/21/our-gift-to-the-world-cc-by-sa/|archive-date=26 December 2007|url-status=dead}} Articles that originated in part from Wikipedia are also available under the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.2.{{cite web|url=http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Main_Page|title=Citizendium:Main Page|publisher=Citizendium|access-date=14 September 2009}} These licensing decisions were announced on 21 December 2007, about a year after the launch of the pilot project.{{cite web|url=http://www.citizendium.org/czlicense.html|title=An explanation of the Citizendium license|first=Larry|last=Sanger|author-link=Larry Sanger|date=22 December 2007|access-date=22 December 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225155254/http://www.citizendium.org/czlicense.html#Thanks|archive-date=25 December 2007}}

File:Citizendium number of articles graph.png

The project was announced by Sanger on 15 September 2006, at the Wizards of OS 4 conference in Berlin. He gave no deadline for the full launch of the wiki.Larry Sanger. [https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2006-September/000476.html "Citizendium launch plan as of 26 September"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720033511/https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2006-September/000476.html|date=20 July 2011}}, Citizendium-l mail list, 27 September 2006.[https://archive.org/download/WOS4_06_13h_QualityManagementInFreeContent/06_13h_QualityManagementInFreeContent.ogg WOS video stream containing Sanger's announcement] However, on 2 October 2006, Sanger released a pilot project announcement that envisioned a fully functioning wiki within "one to two months."

In an apparent attempt to quicken the pace of the project, on 2 October 2006, Citizendium web forum moderator Peter Hitchmough suggested what he called an "alpha test" of the concept. Hitchmough proposed the forking of a limited number of Wikipedia articles to a site where Citizendium web forum and mailing list members could "rewrite a complete section" of Wikipedia content.Peter Hitchmough. [http://forum.citizendium.org/index.php/topic,80.0.html "Proposal: Fork Wikipedia and launch with some A1-class model subjects"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929092137/http://forum.citizendium.org/index.php/topic%2C80.0.html|date=29 September 2007}}, Citizendium forum, 2 October 2006.

Larry Sanger reacted enthusiastically to the idea and at first suggested his already existing Textop wiki as the site for the alpha test. Sanger later posted that Textop would not be a good choice, but showed continued interest in the proposal. He envisioned a "restricted-access" wiki where the idea could be tried and requested further discussion.Larry Sanger. [https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2006-October/000499.html "Administrivia: interesting pilot project proposal"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720173835/https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2006-October/000499.html|date=20 July 2011}}, Citizendium-l mail list, 2 October 2006.

No access to the pilot version of Citizendium, even read-only, was allowed to the general public. Sanger stated: "Only invited people will be able to view and edit the pilot project wiki."Larry Sanger. [http://www.citizendium.org/cfa.html "Call for applications to participate in the Citizendium Pilot Project"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061103062617/http://www.citizendium.org/cfa.html|date=3 November 2006}}, Citizendium. Sanger also said that constables for the pilot project will be chosen by the chief constable.Larry Sanger. [https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2006-November/000796.html "Pilot Project Application Review Procedure"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929143442/https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2006-November/000796.html|date=29 September 2011}}, Citizendium-l mail list, 13 November 2006.

In a press release on 17 October 2006, Sanger announced: "the fledgling Citizendium Foundation will launch a six-week pilot project open to potential contributors by invitation". Several editors and other project leaders were named. It was also announced that the Citizendium Foundation had "started the process of applying for 501(c)(3) status [non-profit status]" and had "received a firm commitment for a significant seed grant from a foundation, as well as small personal donations." In a follow-up post to the press release, Sanger said that the initial group allowed access to the pilot would consist of "ten editors, three constables, six authors, and me."Larry Sanger. [https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2006-October/000571.html "Ad hoc steering group kicked off"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929143500/https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2006-October/000571.html|date=29 September 2011}}, Citizendium-l mail list, 18 October 2006.

The pilot project began operations on 23 October 2006.Jason Potkanski. [https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2006-October/000614.html "Developers Wanted: forge.citizendium.org Open"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929143507/https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2006-October/000614.html|date=29 September 2011}}, Citizendium-l mail list, 23 October 2006. On 8 November, Larry Sanger reported that 263 user names had access to the pilot wiki, 183 articles on the wiki were "live" (meaning "someone is or intends to be working on them") and there were about 300 total edits to the wiki on 7 November.Larry Sanger. [http://blog.citizendium.org/2006/11/08/stats/ "Stats"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929152513/http://blog.citizendium.org/2006/11/08/stats/|date=29 September 2007}}, Citizendium blog, 8 November 2006.

File:Citizendium Creation rate main.png

In a 17 January 2007 post to the Citizendium forum, Sanger stated that "we have had only 10–20 (very) active people out of 500 accounts created." As a result, Sanger decided to delete all articles besides those marked "CZ live" from the pilot project in an attempt to motivate greater participation.Larry Sanger. [http://forum.citizendium.org/index.php/topic,431.msg3437.html#msg3437 "Would you contribute more if the wiki were blank?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070525223312/http://forum.citizendium.org/index.php/topic,431.msg3437.html#msg3437|date=25 May 2007}}, Citizendium forum, 17 January 2007. On 22 January 2007, Citizendium experimented with a new self-registration procedure: read/write access was granted automatically after creation of the account. There were a few instances of vandalism after this change, though the vandalism was quickly reverted.Citizendium pilot wiki. [http://pilot.citizendium.org/wiki?title=Main_Page&limit=500&action=history "Main page revision history"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312134913/http://pilot.citizendium.org/wiki?title=Main_Page&limit=500&action=history|date=12 March 2007}}, 23 January 2007. On 19 January, Sanger announced the formal organization of Citizendium as a legal non-profit organization.Larry Sanger. [https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-editors/2007-January/000235.html Upcoming announcements; your help requested] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929143535/https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-editors/2007-January/000235.html|date=29 September 2011}}, Citizendium-l mail list, 19 January 2007

On 16 February 2007, in response to rising site vandalism, automatic account creationLarry Sanger. [https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2007-January/000871.html "Self-registration begins!"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929143526/https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2007-January/000871.html|date=29 September 2011}}, Citizendium-l mail list, 22 January 2007. The first act of vandalism was carried out via an account named 'Chris Nguyen', to vandalise three pages including the main one and that of Larry Sanger, apparently before the announcement was made. The account was indefinitely blocked a little over half an hour after the first improper edit. was put on hold while increased protections were being put in place to counter vandalism.[http://blog.citizendium.org/2007/02/16/vandal-assault/ Vandal Assault], at the Citizendium Blog {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070227080856/http://blog.citizendium.org/2007/02/16/vandal-assault/|date=27 February 2007}} The next day, page moves were limited to constables as an additional measure against vandalism.[https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2007-February/000901.html "Page moves now require constable help; and semi-automated hand-approval of new accounts?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929143542/https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2007-February/000901.html|date=29 September 2011}}, Citizendium-l mail list, 17 February 2007 In addition, Sanger continued the process of un-forking the Citizendium from Wikipedia by inviting contributors to delete any Wikipedia content that had changed only superficially since it was imported.

File:Citizendium main page.png

On 25 March 2007, Citizendium ended its pilot phase and went live, into its beta phase, and the site became publicly readable.Larry Sanger. [http://blog.citizendium.org/2007/03/25/we-have-launched/ "We have launched"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070925173453/http://blog.citizendium.org/2007/03/25/we-have-launched/|date=25 September 2007}}, Citizendium blog, 25 March 2007 The launch coincided with a feature-length Associated Press article that ran widely, with a title in USA Today of "Citizendium aims to be better Wikipedia."{{cite news|first=Brian|last=Bergstein|title=Citizendium aims to be better Wikipedia|url=https://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/2007-03-25-wikipedia-alternative_N.htm|agency=Associated Press|date=25 March 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070521014755/http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/2007-03-25-wikipedia-alternative_N.htm|archive-date=21 May 2007}} "This week, Sanger takes the wraps off a Wikipedia alternative, Citizendium. His goal is to capture Wikipedia's bustle but this time, avoid the vandalism and inconsistency that are its pitfalls." — Brian Bergstein.

The day prior to launch, Sanger released an essay, "Why the Citizendium Will (Probably) Succeed" in which he stated that activity at Citizendium grew from 100 edits a day in the first month to over 500 prior to launch.Larry Sanger. [http://www.citizendium.org/whyczwillsucceed.html "Why the Citizendium Will (Probably) Succeed"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070408074455/http://www.citizendium.org/whyczwillsucceed.html|date=8 April 2007}}, Citizendium, March 2007.
"Our activity has grown from 100 edits per day in the first month to over 500 prior to launch. Every day, a large variety of people from many fields sign on and do some work. This is all in a period in which the project has been visible only to those who have applied to the project. In addition, while it has received a fair bit of press, we have done very little in the way of recruitment—but with good results when we have. More aggressive recruitment is our trump card, which we haven't played." After the launch, on 27 March 2007, a press release quotes Sanger as saying "You don't have to choose between content and accountability. We have shown that we can create open and credible content. We can, in fact, be open to all sorts of participants, but still hold people to higher standards of content and behavior as a community."Larry Sanger. [http://www.citizendium.org/release_003.html Citizendium Opens its Free Online Encyclopedia Project to the Public] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070427214950/http://www.citizendium.org/release_003.html|date=27 April 2007}} Citizendium, 27 March 2007.
"The modest success of our pilot project shows that there is hope that we can correct exactly the sort of abuses that people demonize Web 2.0 for," said the project's Editor-in-Chief, Wikipedia co-founder Dr. Larry Sanger. "You don't have to choose between content and accountability. We have shown that we can create open and credible content. We can, in fact, be open to all sorts of participants, but still hold people to higher standards of content and behavior as a community."

Sometime after the launch, it was noted that Citizendium's family-friendly policy would mean the project would likely tend to avoid articles on slang terms for sexual activity, and particularly explicit articles on sexual practices.{{cite news|first=Larry|last=Sanger|title=CZ:Family-Friendly Policy|url=http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:Family-Friendly_Policy|publisher=Citizendium|access-date=7 June 2007|quote=Probably, we will not have graphic depictions of the sex act or photographs of human sex organs; we will have few articles about pornography; we will not catalog every sex position and every fetish; we will not have gratuitous, and truly shocking and disgusting, pictures of gore (e.g., crime scene photos); and so forth.}} The Citizendium has a "professionalism" policy for editors, which Sanger said is different from most online communities.{{cite news|first=Larry|last=Sanger|title=CZ:Professionalism|url=http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:Professionalism|publisher=Citizendium|access-date=15 July 2007|quote=The Citizendium differs significantly from other online communities in its commitment to professionalism—that is, professional behavior—and low tolerance for incivility and disruption. For there to be efficient content output and motivated contributors it is crucial that we all treat each other "professionally," and each other's work respectfully.}}

On 29 June 2007, Sanger announced an initiative via the project-wide mailing list that he dubbed "Citizendium 2.0". Characterizing his comments as a "project planning document," Sanger detailed a series of initiatives designed to launch Citizendium into its next phase of development. The document outlined plans for a judicial board, an advisory board, a personnel manager, a new chairman of the editorial council, wider participation in the project by volunteers, a system of subpages for articles, and an expanded article checklist.{{cite web|url=https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2007-June/000994.html|title=Toward CZ 2.0|author=Larry Sanger|publisher=Citizendium-l|date=29 June 2007|access-date=29 June 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720040936/https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2007-June/000994.html|archive-date=20 July 2011|url-status=dead}}

At the project's first anniversary in September 2007, Citizendium included 3,000 articles written and revised by 2,000 people.{{in lang|fr}} Comment le web change le monde : l'alchimie des multitudes, Francis Pisani et Dominique Piotet, éd. Pearson, 2008 ({{ISBN|978-2-7440-6261-2}}), p. 120 A number of media reports appeared in late October and early November 2007 about the anniversary of Citizendium. An article in the Financial Times quoted Larry Sanger predicting strong growth for the project: "At some point, possibly very soon, the Citizendium will grow explosively – say, quadruple the number of its active contributors, or even grow by an order of magnitude. And it will experience that growth over the course of a month or two, and its growth will continue to accelerate from that higher rate."{{cite news|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ae382288-8b41-11dc-95f7-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1|title=Citizendium vs Wikipedia|first=Richard|last=Waters|work=Financial Times|location =London|date=5 November 2007|access-date=15 November 2007}}

Citizendium was honored on 5 December 2007, as an award finalist of the Society for New Communications Research. The Society describes itself as a nonprofit global think-tank "dedicated to the advanced study of new communications tools, technologies and emerging modes of communication, and their effect on traditional media, professional communications, business, culture and society." The Society chose Citizendium for an award because it considered it "a leading organization" in these respects.Report: http://www.newsobserver.com/1566/story/803518.html{{Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. The Society for New Communications Research website: http://www.sncr.org. Also see [http://blog.citizendium.org/2007/12/06/cz-receives-award-of-excellence-from-the-society-for-new-communications-research/ Citizendium Blog entry] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225214033/http://blog.citizendium.org/2007/12/06/cz-receives-award-of-excellence-from-the-society-for-new-communications-research/ |date=25 December 2007 }}.{{cite news|author=|title=Society for New Communications Research to Honor Organizations and Individuals from Around the Globe at 2nd Annual Excellence in New Communications Awards, December 5th in Boston|url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20071130005559/en/Society-New-Communications-Research-Honor-Organizations-Individuals|work=Business Wire|location=Boston|date=30 November 2007|access-date=7 January 2018|df=dmy}}

File:Citizendium Editing users.png

Library writer Walt Crawford noted in April 2009 that Citizendium appeared to be in an "extended lull", with a constant rate of creation of new articles at around 13–14 per day and a decline in the number of active authors.[http://citesandinsights.info/civ9i5.pdf Crawford, Walt, Cites & Insights Volume 9, Number 5] (April 2009), ISSN 1534-0937. In August 2009, Richard Waters wrote in the Financial Times technology blog: "At best, Citizendium could be called a qualified success. Launched in March 2007, as of August 2009 it had 11,810 articles – 2,999,674 fewer than the English-language version of Wikipedia."{{cite web|url=http://blogs.ft.com/techblog/2009/08/citizendium-founder-ready-to-jump-ship/|title=Citizendium founder ready to jump ship|publisher=The Financial Times, blogs.ft.com|date=25 August 2009|access-date=14 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090828023131/http://blogs.ft.com/techblog/2009/08/citizendium-founder-ready-to-jump-ship/|archive-date=28 August 2009|url-status=dead}} Mathieu O'Neil, Principal Researcher at the Australian Department of Broadband, Communication and the Digital Economy, wrote in a March 2010 article on crowdsourcing that "new participants to Wikipedia know that their contributions will have a significant audience; becoming a Wikipedia editor is trivial and instantaneous; since it lacks this immediate quality, Citizendium failed to attract the crowd."O'Neil, M., 2010: Shirky and Sanger, or the cost of crowdsourcing. Journal of Science Communication 09(01) C04.

In March 2010, the project had 90 contributors who made at least one edit, with a core of 25 contributors who made more than 100 edits. Median word count dropped from 468 words per article in October 2007 to 151 in May 2010.{{cite web|url=http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:Statistics#Word_count|title=CZ:Statistics|publisher=Citizendium, en.citizendium.org|date=28 March 2007|access-date=8 December 2010}} In June 2010, the number of users making 1, 20, or 100 edits per month all were at their lowest point since the project went public in March 2007. By October 2011, only about a dozen members made edits on a typical day, and an Ars Technica headline called the Citizendium project "dead in the water." In 2014, the number of Citizendium contributors was under 100 and the number of edits per day was about "a dozen or so" according to Winthrop University's Dean of Library Services.{{cite book|author=Mark Y. Herring|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-JmdAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA52|title=Are Libraries Obsolete?: An Argument for Relevance in the Digital Age|publisher=McFarland & Company|year=2014|isbn=978-0786473564|edition=1|pages=52|access-date=October 3, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150415232302/http://books.google.com/books?id=-JmdAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA52|archive-date=April 15, 2015|url-status=live}} In September 2015, only seven editors had been active in the previous 30 days.{{cite web|url=http://en.citizendium.org/wiki?title=Special:RecentChanges&limit=500&days=30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200208061120/http://en.citizendium.org/wiki?limit=500&days=30&title=Special%3ARecentChanges|url-status=dead|archive-date=2020-02-08|title=Recent changes|publisher=Citizendium|date=2015-09-25|access-date=25 September 2015}}

In November 2016, a referendum was held to abolish the governing Citizendium Charter and the Council in favor of Wikipedia-style discussion and consensus. It attracted nine votes, and was passed. A new managing editor was to be elected at the same time, but there were no nominations.{{cite web|url=http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/User:ElectionNovember2016|title=Election November 2016|date=2016-11-08|access-date=2016-11-25}}

On 2 July 2020, Larry Sanger wrote that he had transferred legal ownership of the Citizendium domain name to Pat Palmer, saying that Citizendium had "stopped being 'my' project a long time ago. But until this morning, I still owned the domain name."{{cite web|title=Forum Talk:Technical Issues|url=https://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Forum_Talk:Technical_Issues#Citizendium_ownership_change|website=Citizendium|access-date=6 July 2020}} In early 2022, Citizendium upgraded its software to the latest version of MediaWiki. User accounts were not retained and had to be recreated on the new server.[https://citizendium.org/wiki/index.php?title=Forum_Talk:Technical_Issues&oldid=875586 Notice on Citizendium's Forum about loss of old user accounts during upgrade], see Section 17, "Old_server_dying_on_5/20;_go_save_your_User_Contributions" last access 1/3/2023

{{As of|2023|07}}, Citizendium's web traffic was 70,000 visits per month.{{Cite web |title=citizendium.org Market Share, Revenue and Traffic Analytics |url=https://www.similarweb.com/website/citizendium.org/#overview |access-date=2023-07-21 |website=similarweb.com}}

{{Portal|Internet|United States}}

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• {{cite web|title=Making Wikis Work for Scholars|website=Inside Higher Ed|first=Andy|last=Guess|date=28 April 2008|url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/04/28/making-wikis-work-scholars|access-date=1 May 2020}}

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