Few details about Google "Knol" have been released, but knowing Google I expect it will be excellent software and it will soon be competitive with Wikipedia. We may not be invited quickly, but I expect we will be in a few months.
This action by the skeptics may prove to be a blessing in disguise: They have reverted Wikipedia to a out-of-date and inadequate version of the article. They have permanently driven away the talent on our side, especially Pierre, so the Wiki article will stay as bad as it is, or they make it even worse. They say they plan to leave the article "frozen" for months or years. Where does that leave us? It leaves us with an ideal opportunity to write a better article in Knol, and take away the Wiki audience. Many people find article in Wiki via Google. You can bet that Google will soon be finding Knol articles often. If we can build a new article in a few month, with many hyperlinks and many links in other pages pointing to it, then in a few months when people look for information on "cold fusion" they will find Knol. When they compare that to Wiki they will see a long, comprehensive, fact-based article with dozens of references in Knol, and a vapid collection of biased opinions in Wiki. We may even sneak a link into the Wiki article, pointing to Knol. I am confident that we can write a far better article than those characters can. I could even do more justice for the skeptical view, since I know far more about the actual failed experiments and stupid claims in cold fusion than they do. As McKubre says, "I could make their case better than they do." I probably should, too, to give the article balance. We should include things such as the failed NHE program. I have never been willing to add this kind of "dirty laundry" to the Wiki article because some skeptic will seize upon it and exaggerate it, but if we have control over Knol, I will not hesitate to describe the NHE fiasco. - Jed
