Pen Pal Wiki:About
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[edit] About Pen Pal Wiki
Pen Pal Wiki is a multilingual directory for people who wish to correspond with other people, particularly in other languages, cultures, and countries. Anybody is allowed to list themselves, provided that the listing is appropriate and that it is in the correct category.
Pen Pal Wiki should be safe, easy to use, and easy to understand if people don't speak a language very well. All content should be appropriate for anybody.
[edit] Why A Wiki?
It is becoming increasingly evident that a wiki is a powerful medium and way of communication. You need only look at Wikipedia to see evidence of that. Looking at such sites and services as Wikia and PBWiki, it's easy to see that a wiki can be made about almost anything!
So why a pen pal wiki?
Firstly, many pen pal websites on the Internet are commercial affairs brimming with advertising. They are often hard to use, off-putting, or expensive (as opposed to free). They're too complicated and even unsafe. Their fancy pen pal matching systems are often enfuriating, generalised, unuseful, and even pointless, considering some of the best pen pals don't even share the same interests as you!
Then there are the less commercial directories which are generally run by individuals. They tend to work better than the commercial websites. They're often no more than a list of people wanting pen pals (perhaps sorted into basic categories such as age). The disadvantage of these is that they are often too much for a single person to keep up with (hence some decent pen pal sites have become neglected), and they are also only limited to one or a select few languages.
Pen Pal Wiki draws upon the effective simplicity of the many small pen pal sites around, with the added benefit that no one person has the burden of maintaining it. Instead, as with Wikipedia, a community of dedicated users can work together to develop and maintain the site. Anybody can make Pen Pal Wiki available in new languages, meaning Pen Pal Wiki has the potential to be available in many more languages than any other pen pal website.
Surely the positive community spirit of a wiki is the best way of getting pen pals and communicating with others around the world!
See also:
[edit] Getting Involved or Getting In Contact
If you want to get involved, go to the Community Portal. If you have some sort of query, contact Markdarb (the founder), or say something on the discussion page of a relevant page.
