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Memory Alpha (often abbreviated to MA) is a collaborative project to create the most definitive, accurate and accessible encyclopedic reference for topics related to the '', Esperanto , French , German , Polish , Spanish and Swedish . The contents of Memory Alpha are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial license. Because this license does not allow commercial reuse, it is incompatible with the GFDL , and material from the site cannot be copied into projects that use the GFDL. This distinction makes Memory Alpha a "sister project" of the GFDL-based Wikia which are hosted by Wikia, Inc. . HISTORY Memory Alpha aims to create a comprehensive database which all fans can access, but it was not conceived exclusively as a wiki. Two main concerns prompted the project's creation: many existing ''Star Trek'' reference projects were incomplete, and those that had the most promise regularly shut down for various reasons. A recent example of the latter concern is the site "TrekPulse", which inexplicably closed its doors in late 2005 only to re-emerge as "TrekCore" the following year. Doddema and Carlson chose to dub the upcoming project Memory Alpha, after a ''. Doddema and Carlson decided to use a wiki format which they believed would allow more freedom, flexibility and extensibility than other formats available to them. As Carlson was quoted in the Charlotte Observer, "The idea I latched onto with the wiki concept is you can spread the work around. Everyone can pitch in and go in on their own special interest." After a brief experiment with the TikiWiki software, they found it too cumbersome and switched to the MediaWiki platform. MediaWiki, best known as the platform of choice for Wikimedia , proved stabler and more efficient in their opinions, so a test site was brought online on November 11 , 2003 . When this was successful, Memory Alpha officially launched on December 5 . The site gained momentum in the following months, aided by a mention on the ''Star Trek'' fan site "TrekNation" on December 23 . Memory Alpha reach 1,000 articles by January 12 , 2004 , but on March 23 , the site's Database was accidentally erased during an upgrade of the MediaWiki Software . Although this caused six weeks of work to be lost, the project expanded to include Dutch and German versions on April 10 and May 14 respectively. It remained stable until the following year, when the fees associated with hosting the site became more than the founders could afford. In February 2005, Memory Alpha switched hosting servers and joined for more details. Technical issues led the MediaWiki software to believe Memory Alpha was started on name for the Klingon Language ), modeled after the way wikis link to pages in other languages. The latter part of 2005 and early 2006 saw several new features added to the site. Among these was a 2005 UTC . On November 20 of that year, Memory Alpha began a "Babel" program, inspired by and modeled after that of the Wikimedia Commons , to help users who speak the same language. Other recent innovations include an area for user projects, sometimes referred to as WikiProject s on other wikis, and coverage of Fan Film s. The site has remained popular since its inception, although its growth has slowed in recent times. For instance, it was the largest project on Wikia until October of 2005, when its article count was surpassed by Uncyclopedia and the . The Alexa claim is based on a page view comparison on February 6, 2005. Memory Alpha has influenced the design of other wikicities dedicated to information about television franchises, including {Link without Title} . STRUCTURE Several aspects of Memory Alpha set it apart from other reference works, such as its method of citing sources. All information must be cited from a valid source (see '' (TNG) pilot " Encounter At Farpoint ", one would add: (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint"). The same rule applies for movies, sans the series prefix and with italics in place of quotation marks. Articles on Memory Alpha are written from two points of view: "in-universe", which are written as if the reader is a part of the ''Star Trek'' universe, and "production", which speak from a real-world perspective. For "in-universe" articles, behind-the-scenes information is not included in the main body of the article; rather, it is placed in a separate background section or included indented and italicized to separate it from the in-universe perspective. The latter method is used in cases where either the information is particularly important (such as conflicting information from two canon sources) or there is not enough background to justify a separate section. In most cases, the background method is preferred and italics are used sparingly. Like many wikis, Memory Alpha has a section for "featured articles", those believed to represent the best the community has to offer. The criteria for this distinction are that an article must be well-written, comprehensive (which includes citing sources), accurate and undisputed – criteria any article could hypothetically fulfill. This has caused some conflict over the criteria involved (see Current Issues section). To be featured, an article must be nominated by a user and unanimously supported by at least five other users; any objections must be fixable and may be invalidated if deemed irrational or unreasonable. Each week, one of the site's featured articles becomes the "Article of the Week" to be displayed on the project home page. Several methods of communication are available beyond conventional talk pages. The Community Portal section of the website is named after Ten Forward , a locale frequented by characters on ''The Next Generation''. Issues discussed there range from disputes between users to new ideas on how to improve the site to upcoming projects. A separate area, the Reference Desk , exists for discussions and questions related to what is considered canon, discrepencies between sources, and other such topics. However, "meta-Trek" topics (a term used for ''Star Trek''-related topics that do not pertain in any way to Memory Alpha) are not discussed on the wiki; a separate IRC chatroom exists for these discussions. CANON POLICY The question of were involved with it and the existence of several references to TAS events in later series. Information taken from the '' Star Trek Encyclopedia '' and ''Star Trek Chronology'' is mostly accepted on Memory Alpha as well, to the extent that it does not break from established on-screen facts. Content from these sources is an acknowledged grey area of Memory Alpha's canon policy and is disregarded if deemed speculative or contradictory. Thus, in some ways they hold the same weight as novels and other publications do for Star Wars Canon : a "second tier" of canonicity, which is subservient to primary (on-screen) sources. Other sources such as books and computer games are not included as canon, but are covered by Memory Alpha in a way which sets it apart from other ''Trek'' resources: books, comics, and other products are included as articles about the products (i.e. from a "production point of view"), but "in-universe" information unique or new to them is covered on the product page. For example, in the '''' line of books, a new host of characters is introduced to the Trek universe, and their vessel is known as the USS ''Excalibur''. The characters, ships and information from ''New Frontier'' books do not receive pages of their own, but they are covered on the pages about the books. In this way, Memory Alpha remains all-inclusive while attempting to distinguish canon from apocrypha. CURRENT ISSUES is a featured article.]] Several issues face the Memory Alpha community, one of which is the question of which articles should be given "featured" status. Under Memory Alpha's current policies, both major and minor topics are eligible; however, the question has been raised of whether the criteria for featuring should be more subjective, i.e., if a topic is not significant enough, it should not be featured regardless of how comprehensive its article is.Hippocrates Noah's for featured status can be found on Memory Alpha. There was an unprecedented level of debate associated with the nomination. There is currently no consensus in the Memory Alpha community about the topic, although there has been no change in featuring policy. The question of what all Memory Alpha should cover has plagued the project since its creation. On the project's home page, it describes itself as "a collaborative project to create the most definitive, accurate, and accessible encyclopedia and reference for everything related to ''Star Trek''", but fans often have different interpretations of what "everything" means. In some cases, one or more users may add content about a subject – such as a website, fan club or parody – that does not fit existing pages, necessitating a community decision about whether to keep the content and, if so, what to do with it. Such incidents led to the creation of an article on ''Star Trek'' parodies after several questions were raised about where to put information related to, but not a part of, the ''Star Trek'' franchise. An example of the reverse case is "The Sunspots", a musical group consisting of '', several articles on the group have been deleted because the community deemed the topic not directly related to the franchise. As Of 2006 , information about The Sunspots can be found on the different actors' pages rather than a single, separate article. Perhaps the most headed issue on Memory Alpha in recent months is the controversy surrounding their canon policy. Aside from issues of length and excessive use of Legalese , this new policy has been put into question by several of the site's regular users due to its rule that articles and information which were not seen on-screen but were derived from official production sources are not considered canon on Memory Alpha. The site's archivists are divided as to exactly whether or not such information should be allowed as canon, with some wanting only to allow what was seen on-screen while others wish to include that which was originally intended to be used on-screen but never made it, such as information from deleted scenes, early script drafts, etc. The latter archivists believe that such information can be included so long as it does not contradict what was seen on-screen and so long as it states where the source of the information comes from. As of April 2006, no consensus has been reached and the debate continues. REFERENCES Note: The nature of a wiki means that it is possible you will be viewing a vandalized or otherwise altered version of the page in question. Check the page history if information seems suspicious.
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