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RationalWiki (RW) is a wiki-based community working together to explore and provide information about a range of topics centered around science, skepticism, and critical thinking. RW is owned by the RationalMedia Foundation (RMF), an incorporated 501©(3) nonprofit. The primary purpose of RationalWiki consists of the following:

1. Analyzing and refuting pseudoscience and the anti-science movement;
2. Documenting the full range of crank ideas;
3. Explorations of authoritarianism and fundamentalism;
4. Analysis and criticism of how these subjects are handled in the media.

I like to think of Rationalwiki as the Wikipedia that doesn't beat around the bush. As RationalWiki puts it themselves: “Wikipedia has NPOV: Neutral Point of View. RationalWiki has SPOV. […] In line with the “not an encyclopedia” guideline, RationalWiki is not required to present “neutral” articles. RationalWiki articles should uncompromisingly explain what is bullshit, what is not, and (most importantly) why. […] The scientific method and the information gained from its application is better than just about anything else humanity has come up with”¹⁾.

The reason I quote so much from RationalWiki statements directly is because they make true on that promise. Personally, my favorites are RationalWiki's articles on alternative medicine, pseudoscience and conspiracies. As part of their mission, RationalWiki is specifically targeting these topics, analysing them, calling out the bullshit and giving good, scientifically based alternatives for what really is true. A very classic example of this is RationalWiki's pages on Flat Earth²⁾, which points out how Flat Earth is wrong, how we know it's wrong and what really is true, using the kinds of resources scientists in the field use to find the scientific consensus (think studies/papers).

Lovingly called “Ratwiki” and often just abbreviated to RW, RationalWiki was born as a response to Conservapedia, which itself was created as a response to Wikipedia, because some editors believed that Wikipedia is riddled with a “liberal” and “atheist” bias. Editors on Conservapedia use the platform to blame liberals, atheists, migrants, gay, trans or any other kind of people for any perceived problem in society. It states Jesus, Christianity and god's creation as fact, denies evolution and describes heteronormativity as the only way to have sex. From there it goes on to pander to virtually any intelligence-based topic under the sun - climate change, conspiracies about 9/11, conspiracies about the moon landing, gun laws, conspiracies big pharma, sexuality, it just never stops. Look, flat earth is a tactial conspiracy made up by, ehem, “evolutionists” (ie. people who believe in evolution) to make Christians look bad.

The result is RationalWiki, a very comprehensive documentation of pseudoscience, crank, quackery and fundamentalism complete with a full, scientifically grounded analysis. While not as influential as Wikipedia herself, RationalWiki is definitely by far one of my favorite internet projects regardless and stands as one of the prime locations on the internet for science communication.

Wiki Culture