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Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Wikipedia like psub building wiki




Alex,

I also considered wiki's for PSUBS.ORG and have been playing with numerous wiki's for some time since we need to get our FAQ page up to date and more manageable. The problem with open wiki's is:

1) They are difficult to customize for a particular look and feel.
2) They require special notation for formatting, links, photos, etc.
3) There is no control of content, accuracy, or accountability. Anyone can write anything they want.

Originally designed for team collaboration on documentation editing, it's purpose on the web has been essentially as an over-glorified traditional FAQ. The most effective FAQ for PSUBS is one that promotes community participation. Unfortunately, a large number of people will not understand the special notation required for customizing a wiki page. While text can just be entered without special notation, so can a traditional FAQ without the overhead or maintenance of a traditional wiki.

For a group like PSUBS.ORG, accuracy of content and restricting access from trolls and troublemakers who might jeopardize content accuracy is paramount. Unable to find wiki software that suited our special requirements, I simply wrote my own. I have not announced it yet because I was waiting until I finished copying content from the existing FAQ to the new WikiFAQ (which I think is exactly what I will call it). However, you can view the limited existing content at http://www.psubs.org/faq/. I can even supply a separate SEARCH for the FAQ's only. I have not decided whether to keep the answer section in a separate pane, or pop it out into it's own window.

I'm still willing to entertain a traditional wiki if the three issues listed above can be handled. It's not a problem for people who are use to writing software code, but anyone who doesn't know how (or does not want to know how) to write HTML pages is likely not going to be interested in writing wiki pages either.

As always, we are open to further discussion and ideas on this issue.

Jon





Alex wrote:
On the minisubs list someone suggested a sub building wiki. I thought this was
a good idea. How does everyone here feel about this idea?

I installed wikimedia here to see what it can do. It's just like wikipedia
except it doesn't have any pages yet. You can get on it here if you like:

** http://nomad.ignorelist.com/wiki/ **

Feel free to go on it and experiment with any of the features there and create
a page or something so you can get an idea as to whether it is the kind of
thing that could be made in to a useful psub resource. Remember anyone can
edit, and anyone can undo the changes and fix it back, just like wikipedia.

Alex





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