I have never experienced a Wiki Wiki Web, but the fact that anyone can go
and edit things is a little frightening, when you're trying to establish a
knowledge base.

Although nobody gave me a penny for my thoughts, here's my two cents, and
you can keep the change.

Since Php and MySQL were mentioned, there's a way to create a forum using
these, with all the proposed features, and more.  (Quick "turn-key"
implementation with Knowledge Bases, mailing list, a web site and a chat
group.)  Check out http://www.phpbb.com/features.php, and if anyone decides
to create something, make sure to speak up so we don't get duplicates out
there.  Unfortunately, I don't have the time myself.

For an example of a forum that uses this software, check out
http://evick.com/forum/index.php, and see what's developed since just
February.  Granted, this is one that I belong to (I'm "Beefcake"), involving
a rock-and-roll band here in the Washington DC area, and there's a lot of
off-topic, non music related conversations, but that's because the
Administrator has kind of encouraged and allowed it, due to the social
aspect of it.

Eric DeVries, SSgt, USAF


-----Original Message-----
From: B. Thoen [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2004 12:57 AM
To: MapInfo-L
Subject: RE: MI-L Wiki MapInfo-L


On Mon, 10 May 2004, David Reid wrote:

> At first I thought it would be a great idea... But then I got to thinking
> that if this followed the concept of a traditional Wikiwikieb, when an
> author/contributor submits a topic of discussion, and the context,
> completeness or accuracy of that topic get's FUBAB'ed, is the original
> author gonna continue maintenance on the page/topic/thread/doc?

And of course, this gets right to the crux of the biscuit. 

A wiki web site (for those who have already asked me off-list) is one
where all pages can be edited by anyone at any time. The term 'wiki' is
supposedly Hawaiian meaning 'quick', and a wiki web site makes creating
content very easy and quick. Anyone can add a page or a link, or change
existing text. However... pages are archived and users can see all the
changes too. Unpopular changes can be changed back -- by anyone. But the
neat thing is that a community can build a body of information organized
and cross-referenced in whatever way the participants think is important.

The original wiki web is at http://c2.com/cgi-bin/wiki?WikiWikiWeb if you
want to get a taste. However, I like the PhpWiki version at
http://phpwiki.sourceforge.net/phpwiki/ (simpler syntax, more expressive,
and I already have Php and MySQL set up.)

But back to the biscuit and its crux. I think authors in a wiki
environment would just have embrace the fact that they're writing in sand
on a virtual beach... below the high tide line. Grok the aesthetics of
wabi-sabi. But from what I've seen of the active wiki sites, they seem to
be strangely stable and flourishing even though they seem so exposed to
abuse. I would like to believe that good backups and an active community
who keep the place tidy and interesting would be all that's needed. But
read the WhyWikiWorks and WhyWikiWorksNot links on any wiki site and 
decide for yourself.

What could we do with it? For starters, we could build a pretty good
knowledge base... for MapInfo, MapBasic, .NET, MapInfo bugs and
work-arounds, or like you see in the wiki SandBox links, we could just
screw around. Basically, I see it as something somewhere (think spatially
now) inside the triangle of a mailing list, a web site and a chat group. I 
think this group could do something with a wiki site.

Wink, wink, nudge, nudge... anyone want to set one up?

- Bill Thoen



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