James Barrow wrote:
> Instead of looking through the archives, locating the post, reading
the
> post, and possibly linking to the desired information, a wiki would
> provide the desired information right up front; harvests the
information
> from the posts, if you will.
Jim:
Let's say a friend asks me whether there's a way to make Frame's
"Find"
function find strings in turned-off conditional text. Are you
suggesting that the wiki will magically provide that information to
my
friend, with no need for me to look through the wiki, locate the
article, read the article, then send my friend a link to it?
> there are many newbies here and the same questions get asked all the
> time.
Perhaps you're thinking of another list. This one is all of 34 days
old; no one here is newer than anyone else by more than a few weeks.
I just looked through the entire list archive -- BOTH pages of it --
and found no question asked more than once.
> If you think of the wiki as a website, the improvements become more
> obvious. If you provide different pages for different topics,
accessing
> information becomes easier.
> ....
> Just look here:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
>
> Use your imagination. The Community Portal could contain posts by
> members who need to hire a technical writer. The Random Article...
> well, that's obvious. There could be links to References,Humor,
> Definitions, Frame Info, WebWorks Info, etc.
You misunderstand me.
I AGREE that wikis are useful tools. I agree that they can be fun.
I agree that a project like Wikipedia couldn't have been done
without
something like a wiki.
Here's my point: While the conversations we enjoy on the list could
maybe be REPLACED by a wiki or some other communication method, I
don't think those conversations would be usefully enhanced by ADDING
a wiki.
If the experiences of other lists is any sort of guide, adding a
wiki
will only fragment the discussion and result in either the list or
the wiki (or both) withering due to loss of focus.
A mailing list is a lot like a cocktail party: It just doesn't work
unless you put everyone in one room.
> > Will people be expected to cross-post everything to both the list
and
> > the wiki? That would seem to make the wiki completely redundant.
>
> No, and I agree with you. .... Take the 'Web Capitalization' thread,
for
> example. As we were all discussing this topic, we could have been
> concurrently adding links, reference material, etc. to the wiki.
So if I want to get the whole story, I'll have to read both the list
AND the wiki? Maybe I'm missing something, but that doesn't seem
easier than having everything in one place.
And... What if I'm taking part in the discussion on the list, and I
want to reference some of the material from the wiki? Do I link to
it, or copy it? Either choice has large problems.
> > Will people post ONLY to the wiki instead of to the list?
>
> No. I think Bonnie and I are talking about a knowledge base
> (repository). For instance, when we talked about style guides, the
> discussion was great. The actual links to different style guides
> numbered ~8. Those links would be included in the wiki.
You say "no," but if that list of links is included in the wiki
without
also being posted to the mailing list, then I think you really mean
"yes"... In which case my previously-described objections apply.
> Switch to decaf.
Believe it or not, you aren't the first to suggest that.
-Andrew
=== Andrew Warren - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
=== Synaptics, Inc - Santa Clara, CA
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