Wikipedia:Alternative outlets

"WP:OTHER" redirects here. For the essay regarding a common deletion argument, see Wikipedia:Other stuff exists. For the use of "other uses" template (also known as hatnotes), see Wikipedia:Hatnote.

"WP:OUT" redirects here. For the outing policy, see WP:OUTING.

Background

When content (text, pages, images, etc.) is deleted, various policies and guidelines such as "Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not", notability, verifiability and our prohibition on original research are often cited as reasons the material does not belong here, in an encyclopedia, and rightly so. Unfortunately, this is not particularly helpful or calming to the person(s) who put in time and effort to write the material. They often see it as their hard work being casually tossed away. The phrase "try another wiki" is also sometimes used, for similar intent.

There is more than one path to take to get something accomplished. Maybe you should choose an alternative outlet other than Wikipedia for some types of content...

In an effort to foster general spirit of collegiality, this page provides some referrals to alternative outlets which do allow content that Wikipedia does not. Sometimes material is submitted that is perfectly factual and verifiable, but simply outside of the scope of Wikipedia. Just because the content does not belong here does not mean it does not have value, and it is worth preserving valuable free content if we can.

Please consider directing people to these sites (or this page), rather than simply telling them that their contributions are WP:NOT wanted.

For example, Wikipedia contains a significant amount of information about the "Star Wars" media franchise, but for an even more detailed treatment, try Wookieepedia—a wiki dedicated to the "Star Wars universe". Similarly, information on the "Star Trek" franchise can be found at Memory Alpha. JurisPedia focuses on legal topics, and WikiWikiWeb is the oldest wiki. There also are wikis devoted to specific languages or localities that may be more appropriate for a given topic.

There may be legal or ethical restrictions on the copying of content from Wikipedia to other sites. It is up to individual contributors to familiarize themselves with the procedures and policies of other outlets and to examine their licensing arrangements, which may differ from Wikipedia in significant ways.

Sister projects

Wikipedia is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other projects:

	Commons Free media repository		MediaWiki Wiki software development		Meta-Wiki Wikimedia project coordination
	Wikibooks Free textbooks and manuals		Wikidata Free knowledge base		Wikinews Free-content news
	Wikiquote Collection of quotations		Wikisource Free-content library		Wikispecies Directory of species
	Wikiversity Free learning materials and activities		Wikivoyage Free travel guide		Wiktionary Dictionary and thesaurus

Other wikis

There are Wikipedia articles, lists, and categories which provide information on other wikis:

• Comparison of wiki farms
• List of wikis
• Category:Wikis
• Category:Wiki communities

This page also has links to external sites which provide similar information.

There are also Wikipedias in many other languages, including a Simple English Wikipedia.

Directory of alternatives

Wikipedia is not a(n)...	... so try this instead
Arbiter of viewpoints	Conservapedia, RationalWiki
Biographical directory	WikiBios
Blogging site	Category:Blog hosting services
City guide	Wikivoyage
Comedy site	Uncyclopedia, BJAODN, Illogicopedia
Computers how-to guide	ComputerWiki
Dictionary	Wiktionary
Directory	AboutUs.org, MyWikiBiz, WikiIndex.org
Forum for general chatter	#wikipedia, Wikipedia Review
Game guide	Encyclopedia Gamia, StrategyWiki
Genealogy	FamilySearch Wiki, Encyclopedia of Genealogy, WikiTree
How-to manual	Wikibooks, wikiHow, eHow
Indiscriminate collection	Everything2, Wikinfo, Annex, h2g2
Link directory	DMOZ
Lyrics site	LyricWikia
Magic tricks	MagicPedia
Micronations	Micronations Wiki
Music directory	Discogs, Last.fm, MusicBrainz
News provider	Wikinews
Popular culture guide	TV Tropes, Urban Dictionary
Quote wiki	Wikiquote
Social networking site	List of social networking websites
Software directory	Software Infocard Wiki
Specialized wiki	Wikia
Thesaurus	Wikisaurus
Travel guide	Wikivoyage
Webspace provider	Category:Web hosting
Wiki of your own	List of wikis, Comparison of wiki farms, Start your own wiki

Inclusion criteria

The above is more than an arbitrary list of sites. Sister projects in the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) are preferred. Failing that, sites should meet some combination of the following criteria to be listed:

• Policies consistent with the spirit of WMF goals
• Allow content to be moved over verbatim (e.g., CC BY-SA-compatible or GFDL-compatible)
• A wiki, or like a wiki
• Notable in some way (preferably as a link to an existing Wikipedia article)

License restrictions

Content (text, images, etc.) Text submitted to Wikipedia is required to be licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License (CC BY-SA); Media submitted to Wikipedia is required to be licensed under the terms of the CC BY-SA or a similar free license. Other sites (especially non-WMF sites) may require a different license. Do not copy content from Wikipedia to other sites unless you are sure the licenses are compatible. If they are not, try contacting the copyright holder of the content to obtain permission to re-license the content. Typically the user who submitted the content to Wikipedia in the first place is the copyright holder. Check the page's edit history to help identify the user.

For CC BY-SA content being deleted from Wikipedia, the edit history should also be copied or preserved in some way. For example, if the target site uses talk pages in the style of Wikipedia, copy the edit history there.

For more information, see: Reusing Wikipedia content.

See also

• Wikipedia:Other projects similar to Wikipedia
• Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not/Outtakes (humor)
• Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not Google

Moving content

• Guide for Everything2 noders—Moving content from Wikipedia to E2
• Transwiki guide at Meta

Deletion

• Introduction to deletion process
• Guide to deletion
• Deletion policy
• Deletion debates
• Deletion process
• Deletion review
• Undeletion policy
• Recreation of previously deleted pages
• Arguments to avoid in deletion discussions
• Common deletion outcomes
• Deletion guidelines for administrators
• Deletion review guide
• Why was my page deleted?
• Editor's index entries about deletion

External links

• WikiIndex.org - a wiki of wikis
• editthis.info – List of wikis
• Wikindex.com - tracking statistics of MediaWiki sites