Josiah et al, as I already mentioned, I think TWederation is the only realistic complimentary alternative to the google groups. Some of the discussion above has implied why it is not realistic to expect some other "established solution" to replace this; loss of current history and overall just not enough incentive to do so. After all, google groups does have its merits in spite of its clear drawbacks (btw, it is absolutely incredible that the search features are so poor; it's frickin' *Google* we're talking about!)
So, why would TWederation be the only realistic complimentary alternative? First of all we have to look at what the google group does solve or, more correctly, what it *should* solve. IMO the main thing is to provide help for how to understand and build things in TW. I think a pure discussion format is NOT optimal for this. TWederation would probably allow us to build a gradually *accumulating expert knowledge base*, more akin to Stack Overflow but with all the power of TW filtering. "Top answers" could be assembled from tiddlers that really fit into several contexts. Eventually, this would be a good enough knowledge base diminishing the need to go to the Google groups. Just like the docs on tiddlywiki.com often are enough. Instead of "archives", good posts are integrated into any topic where they fit. The issue raised in this thread is of course an old one. So, a few years ago I started outlining a concept <http://tiddlynodes.tiddlyspace.com/> for this. I was in contact with someone who was interested in helping out with key parts, but it didn't happen so I had to abandon it. For TWederation, I envision something similar. It would allow to slice, dice and fetch among the globally available tiddlers to build up TWs that turn to *particular* particupants and readers. What is incredibly exciting about TWederation is that discussion can then move from "general TW issues" into niche issues (and the issues don't even have to be about TW at all!) The, say, "chemistry researchers" among us, or "the authors" or "the teachers" can in their peer group collectively build up e.g special editions or knowledge bases for their own guild. And I think what is build can be much more advanced and specific for their needs because they are encouraged when they know there is a peer group supporting it and that understand the needs for the creations. Currently we're understandably trapped in *the general* for the discussions on the boards and what is publicly endorsed on tiddlywiki.com. The perfect "organic chemistry TW" can, understandably, at most be presented on tiddlywiki.com as an exotic example of what is possible with TW and it would not be desirable in the public arenas to feature 10 fantastic "organic chemistry TWs" or "bible studies" or what be it. TWederation will allow* content centered TW development*, very different from today. I think we're heading for a really cool TW future! <:-) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TiddlyWiki" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/tiddlywiki. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tiddlywiki/cd76dc7c-0311-401e-b118-cb77f38411ac%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
