Re: Wiki War I

On Fri, 26 Mar 2004, Aaron Peterson wrote:

> Issues with the wiki as I see them:
> 
> backlinks
> from what I see, wikipedia does not support backlinks, which means that 
> developers must do twice as much work for every update than is neccessary

	I think "What links here" provides this functionality (or is 
"backlinks" something different?).
> 
> Navigation
> pages must have links to documents that are logically parents, and peers
> this type information makes it extremely easy to navigate a site
> 
	The wiki should not have to be organized in a parent/child format 
- you should be able to flow through the wiki by clicking on topics that 
interest you.

> moderator quickness to moderate
> moderators should delay before editing a page, perhaps talk to the user while 
> the user is online instead of nuking new pages introduced by a member

	Pages should only be "nuked" if there is a good reason (copyright 
violation for instance).

> Main Page
> this page needs to start people on their way. it should list the most commonly 
> used subset items of a category next to the super category...  i.e., it 
> should be like download.com, listing common utilities under utilities.. 
> helping to define what is meant
> 
	The Main Page is still growing/taking shape and I will keep your 
suggestion in mind.

> Quantity vs Quality
> let there be little pages that have a crumb of information... that  hyperlink 
> may be exactly what the user wanted!  who cares about the formatting!!!
> if somebody has nothing better to do, then go make the formatting easier to 
> navigate/ clearer... don't make it so that the user must scroll through two 
> or three pages of screen space to find that crumb.

	The user is free to enter in info in the format they like.  It 
will (hopefully) be edited at some point to fit into the Manual of Style.  
the site really needs to have a consistent look/feel.  If you have 10,000 
people entering info in whatever way they like, the end result will be an 
unreadable mess that is of little use.

> * wiki.linuxquestions.org   This is the first page where I've had to deal with 
> other people... I have always been god...   D something or other beat me down 
> a bit   (a good thing), and now I come to you all with my tail between my 
> legs, offering with my last bit of strength suggestions and advice. regarding 
> your epic project.
> 

	Having a large number of participants is what is making the LQ 
wiki great.  It is a collaborative effort.  One person can add a stub, the 
next person some info, the next person just spelling corrections, etc.  In 
the end we get a well written, well formated, non-bias and informative 
article.

--jeremy