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Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Wikipedia like psub building wiki
Hi Jon,
Glad you're making moves toward the sub encyclopedia.
I agree that you couldn't have everybody just sticking stuff
in "Willy Nilly".
You made mention of a committee some time back, perhaps
they could have the final word on what goes in.
My main reason for suggesting this system a while back,
was to retain some of our email "Gems" that come up from
time to time & get lost in the archives. If a select group could
copy & paste these in when they come up, then we would be
writing a sub wikapedia in the course of our normal conversation.
If someone has something they specifically want in it, they could
first submit it to the group for critique' & then from there a commitee
member could enter it.
Alan
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jon Wallace" <jonw@psubs.org>
To: <personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
Sent: Saturday, October 31, 2009 3:49 AM
Subject: 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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603-529-1100
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