Announcing the E-Cat World LENR Knowledge Base

I am announcing today the creation of a new E-Cat World project — The E-Cat World LENR Knowledge Base (http://kb.e-catworld.com).

As I continue to follow the topics we cover here at E-Cat World, I become increasingly aware that the site works well as a web site works well for keeping up with latest news and developments, but it is not really designed to be a complete reference site. I feel like there is a need for a reference about LENR that could be useful for the non-expert and expert alike, and as more people become aware of the topic I feel like the need for such a site is growing. This is why I have decided to create the LENR Knowledge Base.

There is a growing body of work and developments taking place  in the LENR field which I believe are important to record and organize. When you visit the site you will see that the Knowledge Base has the familiar Wikipedia look and feel because it uses the open source MediaWiki software, which is well developed and well supported by a large user community around the world.  I think using a Wiki structure for a knowledge base is a good option. It allows for familiar organization of articles which is easily searchable, and has the ability to expand as needed. 

For the Knowledge Base to work, it will need input from volunteers. The MediaWiki software allows for this — as we all know from Wikipedia, anyone can create and edit articles there. In our case, however, I have decided that it may not be wise to leave the Knowledge base open to editing by anyone, as I am very familiar with the activity of pathoskeptics and trolls when it comes to the topic of LENR.

So if you would like to be a contributor of the LENR Knowledge Base, please contact me via email expressing your interest. Before you sign up,  make sure that you are in agreement with the basic guidelines which will govern this Knowledge Base which are as follows:

  • The Knowledge Base should cover topics connected with LENR.
  • The Knowledge Base is built on the assumption that LENR is a real phenomenon and a valid field of science and technology, thus it is not a forum for skeptics to try to disprove its reality.
  • The Knowledge Base is a reference site, so entries should be objective and fact-based, rather than subjective and opinion-based. Editors should avoid personal bias, rumors and unverified speculation in their writing.
  • Please cite sources. (Various citation methods using MediaWiki markup code are explained here: Wikipedia:citing sources)
  • Do not post copyright protected material.
  • Do not use the Knowledge Base for self-promotion purposes.
  • Information about people should focus on their professional work in connection with LENR, and not other aspects of their lives. Personal attacks, or information of a scandalous or sensitive nature are not permitted. Do not post content or make comments that are abusive, insulting or libelous.

Registered users who do not follow these guidelines will be subject to having their accounts removed.

The Knowledge Base is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. See here for the conditions of this license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This is an experiment, and I am not sure how it will turn out. It may not interest many people and it could be a complete flop, and fizzle out.  I think it will take a dedicated group of volunteers for this project to succeed — I certainly cannot build a decent reference for LENR on my own. But I do think this kind of project can work if it is set up right, has the right inupt and so I feel it’s worth trying.

As far as management of this project goes, I will try to play a guiding role in how this works — as the site owner, I will have ultimate decision-making authority — but I hope that the community of contributors itself will largely determine the direction of the project.

If you would be interested in helping contribute to the Knowledge Base, please send an email to [email protected] and let me know what username you would like to use, and I will create an account for you and send you a temporary password via email which you can change after registering. In the subject line of your email, please type ‘Knowledge Base’.

Once you are registered please feel free to contribute in any way you feel would be useful. It could be starting a new article, adding information to existing ones, correcting grammatical errors, improving formatting, etc. — any help will be useful and greatly appreciated!

Frank Acland