>Andrew Warren said: >>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. > >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?
No, not magically, but if the wiki contains a search function, you could perform a search and send that link to your friend. >>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. You are correct. I made a mistake. You are forbidden from telling my wife that I just wrote that. >>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. Again? >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. Hmmm...did I say that a wiki could replace this list? I hope not. I'm pushing for this list and a wiki to be maintained concurrently. As for the second part, that argument is the easiest for me. I've seen threads regarding tech writer compensation, the future of tech writing and the like that have gone on for several days. Those threads mostly shaped my opinion, but every third post contained a link to an article or reference that I found interesting. These links (and short articles) could be posted or pasted to the 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. I don't see it like that at all. Look at this way: You and I could probably talk about this for days before Carpal Tunnel set in. Let's say that at the end of this discussion Lisa based her decision on what we had discussed. You and I could then take this entire thread and put together a nice article about the pros and cons of a wiki including what to include, and what not to include. >A mailing list is a lot like a cocktail party: It just doesn't work unless >you put everyone in one room. It's late and I didn't understand this one. >>>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. No, both the wiki and the list would give you the same information. On another list I've been following a thread about behavioral-based interviews. The thread (posts) provide a great deal of personal anecdotes and incidental information. Given approximately eight hours, I could summarize the discussion and write an article that included all of the links and reference materials that I saw in those posts. To me, that's easier than opening and closing archived posts in chronological order. >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. I don't see how. If I start a thread about what industries are hot in certain portions of the U.S., and I mention that I would like to find a site that contains government statistics, you could reply with a link to the wiki (if it contained the information that I needed), or cut and paste a sentence from an article on the wiki. >>>Will people post ONLY to the wiki instead of to the list? >> >>No. I was 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. Ah, now I understand what you meant. Yes, in the example above, the information would be posted to the list and the wiki. >>Switch to decaf. > >Believe it or not, you aren't the first to suggest that. I was just kidding. I do appreciate the time and thought you've put into your questions. - Jim ______________________________________________ Are you a Help Authoring Trainer or Consultant? Let clients find you at www.HAT.Matrix.com, the searchable HAT database based on Char James-Tanny's HAT Comparison Matrix. Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] for details. Interested in Interactive 3D Documentation? 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