Hello AYP-ers,
Check this out: http://www.wikipedia.org
So there’s this free, online encyclopedia called Wikipedia, which is becoming very popular. Some of you have linked to it in posts, so I know many of you are aware of it. Anyways, Wikipedia is “open-source”, meaning anyone can create new articles, or modify or dispute existing ones. It’s moderated, so even though anyone can create articles, bogus or poorly-written ones are not accepted. They try to keep a high level of integrity and quality of entries.
While looking up yoga stuff, it occurred to me that there is no entry for AYP. There are entries for related subjects, like: yoga, kundalini, Paramahansa Yogananda, meditation, etc. So the idea entered my mind that we could create an AYP entry. It could include a description, history of AYP, related topics, and external links.
Additional articles could be created for Yogani (biographical), as well as for each book in the AYP series (and Wilder). Not only would people encounter the AYP articles while searching for related topics, but there could also be direct links to the AYP home page. I recommend browsing around on Wikipedia, to get an idea what I’m talking about. Use “Rajneesh” as a key word, for example 
Is anyone interested in contributing to this effort?
Peace out homies
What a great idea Cosmic. Anyone here ready to do this?
If not, if someone could guide me on how this can be done… I will do it. Yogani? David?
There was another post by Hunter here
Did someone follow up on this?
Can this be done via email?
Once again… guide me on what needs to get done and I will do it…
Ideally everyone (or at least lots of people) would. Wikipedia is all about combined effort. So someone start, and let the others edit and supplement. And don’t fret if the anthill is frequently rebuilt, that’s the way of wikipedia.
Hi Shanti, Jim and All:
Guy followed up on the Hunter/East-West, Calif lead. Not sure where that one is right now. Keep in mind that most areas have a local new age and/or yoga publication, and one way or other they can hear about AYP – hint, hint… 
Someone put AYP on Wikipedia a month or two ago and it got shot down, supposedly because it was too commercial with books on it. What??? Tolle and others have books on their sites. AYP does not sell anything directly on the site, not to mention the more than 300 free lessons on practices there, plus this terrific forum.
So, the question is, who is opposed to AYP on Wikipedia? Could it be the sectarians?
A multi-person effort on Wikipedia, as suggested by Jim, would be wonderful.
Note: For a few ideas, see Trip’s fine work on Zaadz at: http://ayp.zaadz.com
Thanks for bringing Wikipedia up, Cosmic. It is an important one.
The guru is in you.
i know. my friend from long ago, lon milo duquette has an entry and advertises all his books about crowley and the OTO. So what’s the difference? Maybe if someone has the time to analyze (anal-ize) it they could tell.
Really? That’s interesting… was their complaint that the Wikipedia entry was too commercial, or that the AYP site was? Because if it’s the former, it could probably be re-written in a way that mentions the books without pushing them. This puzzles me because I know that many books and authors are on Wikipedia…
Yogani, do you happen to have the text of the AYP entry on Wikipedia? Reading it might shed some light on why it was removed…
In the meantime, I’ll start researching Wikipedia so we can have an idea how to proceed… I don’t see how AYP is any different (from an informational standpoint) than say, BKS Iyengar, SRF, etc.
i looked at lon milo duquette’s entry again. The books are only mentioned at the end as a “bibliography”. In the body it just says he wrote so many books, and they’re on these subjects. Here’s what he does with his life. Here’s what makes him unique. That sort of thing.
maybe that’s what we need for Yogani.
I put a link to AYP on Wikipedia about a month ago, as far as I know its still there. I did not try to create an AYP page, that did occur to me, but I dont have the time right now. Links should be added to yoga, pranayama, etc pages on wikipedia.
The link was at first shot down b/c the maintainer said it was a commercial site, but I convinved him it was not, then I added it again and…it looks like its gone, along with the entire “external links” section.
It seems like putting AYP on the Wikipedia would provide good exposure.
This will also pass.
Hi All:
Here was the previous attempt with AYP on Wikipedia – see will.iam’s June 12th post at http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1202&SearchTerms=wikipedia
It seems what AYP is, how it works, and how people can use it would be of interest to many, without mention of the books. Whoever had a problem with the book links on the website obviously didn’t look far enough to find that there is a huge amount of free instructional material there. Isn’t it odd? It used to be that most people had a hard time seeing the books because of the free lessons. Now they can’t see the free lessons because of the books! 
As for my background, the most that is available on this is in the first press release last year – http://www.aypsite.org/pressrelease1.html
You are welcome to use content from there.
All the best!
The guru is in you.
PS – Ah, there you are will.iam! Thanks for chiming in.
Before an entry is removed on wiki, there is a discussion on the ‘talk page’ for the entry. The talk page can probably be found – I doubt the y delete it, and maybe the original page can be found.
Do we have any volunteers who want to look into this? Anyone interested in entering the wiki world?
Wiki does not want to be a promotional site, it’s an encyclopedia, and just as with AYP, people submitting articles have to conform to the intention of the site at large. Why could Tolle’s books be put up and others? Just because whoever put the article up either had conformed by luck in the beginning, or learned to conform.
So what I am saying is that an article can surely be put up about AYP/Yogani, but the relevant game just has to be played. This will include learning what the rules are, learning how to play by them, and a certain amount of persuasion/advocacy of the article if necessary on the ‘talk page’.
In the article, you need to keep to the facts and avoid straying into what they call POV, or point-of-view or bias. If you insist on your POV, you may ultimately have a big warning put on the article that its ‘neutrality is disputed’, and eventually they will remove it.
If someone uses this to inform about AYP/Yogani, they will be able to do so, but if they cross a line and try to make it overly-promotional, it will backfire.
Simple answer. Just don’t make it real promotional. Create and entry and explain the practice. Make it interesting and informative, rather than a starry eyed come-on/endorsement. And then, at bottom, put links and info on books and the site and the forum.
The wikipedians don’t appreciate people coming around and erecting billboards. it’s not what they’re about (just like we don’t appreciate people using us as a marketing billboard). They do like good info, though. So let’s give them info.
how about this: Put up information about Yogani and AYP being non profit, mention free lessons and don’t put any information whatsover about things that can be purchased.
Then later on add that information. Wiki is always up for additional information.
Hi Ether:
Just to be clear, AYP is not a non-profit organization. It isn’t an organization at all. It is just an old guy writing like crazy 
… and all of you wonderful practitioners …
Even so, there is no profit – not even close. Maybe in a few more years book sales will pay the bills. The crazy writer certainly hopes so. There will be no regrets about profit if and when there is any. And I expect the writing will go on as long as the brain and fingers are working … though a vacation certainly wouldn’t hurt.
For whatever it is worth… 
The guru is in you.
David Said: Do we have any volunteers who want to look into this? Anyone interested in entering the wiki world?
If there are no volunteers, I will do it. But I will need help to get started… any volunteers there???
Well Shanti, I volunteer . Lately, I’ve been busy and haven’t been online much… but my intention is to start writing the Wikipedia article, or at least break it down into headings/divisions that more skilled writers than myself could elaborate on. Hell, I’ll do it now…
Here are some possible headers, each of which would have a body of text (not necessarily in this order):
1.) Description - (description of what AYP is)
2.) History - (brief history of AYP)
3.) Founder - (short biography of Yogani - could link to a separate article on Yogani)
4.) Claims - (what AYP claims the results of practices are, or testimonials)
5.) Teachings - (a list or description of the main teachings)
6.) Key concepts - (the things we want to emphasize about AYP)
–6a.) The guru is in you - (what the phrase means and its relevance)
–6b.) Self-pacing - (what it is and its relevance)
–6c.) Scenery - (what it means in this context)
–6d.) Paying it forward - (what it means in this context)
–6e.) Being active in daily life - (what it means in this context)
–6f.) Horizontal teaching - (the learning and support the forums bring)
7.) Criticisms - (if there are any - adding this would help negate claims of non-neutrality/bias)
This is just off the top of my head… if there’s anything I missed, please speak up. Any volunteers for the writing? I’ll check out the links Yogani posted and start writing the description based on that, in this coming week…
Thanks Cosmic. Phew!! that’s a load off my head
Your headers are awesome… sound great.
If there is anything I can do to help let me know… if you need me to collect info for you, or write some stuff to cover a couple of your headers… just let me know.
Thanks again Cosmic.
-Shweta.
Yes thanks Cosmic.
I wanted to do something with this and didn’t have time.
If you want help from anyone, just post the headers you want help with here, and maybe we can answer by picking one of them and filling it with something.
Hi Cosmic,
Now I am wondering… 
“Cosmic said: Well Shanti, I volunteer”
Are you replying to David’s request …
“Do we have any volunteers who want to look into this? Anyone interested in entering the wiki world?”
Or are you replying to my request:
“If there are no volunteers, I will do it. But I will need help to get started… any volunteers there???”
I appreciate you volunteering for either… just need to know if you are doing the writing… or you will help me if I do the writing…
Since Wikipedia is, to its core, a collaborative enterprise, the way to do this is by someone throwing something up over there, and others nibbling away at it insofar as they have time/interest.
In other words, do it there, rather than here. No need to discuss it, just build it organically.
And never be afraid to undo or change the words and work of others over there. That’s what Wikipedia is about.
I would suggest just writing a very brief paragraph about the main teachings (5). For the first cut at least, write an article about AYP, not an article detailing the teachings of AYP. The latter is just far too ambitious; and links to the AYP site serve the purpose better.
Compare with articles on Eckhart Tolle, Krishnamurti …
There, isn’t that easier?
Now Shanti, I’ve helped you.