Who wants to play in my wiki sandpit

[Lawnmower Man]

I've just created a wiki to play around with.  As you may have read I have offered Dave a test wiki.  He's not got back to me yet.  So I really don't know if he's up for  it. However,  I really need to test the software and see what problems it might have for myself as I'm using it on another project.  This may not be the wiki software Dave Chooses.   But it will give you an idea of what a wiki is and how to use it.

So if you want ot find out about or play with a wiki go to http://sandpit.tmdg.co.uk/cgi-bin/wiki.pl.

But be warned if Dave doesn't like it or if it gets Abused I will remove all the stuff thats CA related.

t.

[Andy Zarse]

Tom, I'm probably being daft, but what is the point of a (this?) wiki? In fact,what precisely is a wiki? Why would I use it to post Useful Info when it seems the same thing has been done on here very sucessfully. Plus why do we need it for blogs? The Modern Commer Replacement thread, and several others, are nothing if not blogs and they have sat here on the CA forum quite happily for years.

I might just be a bit of an old luddite but I really can't see what purpose it serves, so any explanations are welcome.

[Robbo SPS]

Dont understand any of it.

Surely i am just dulpicating stuff ?

[DelBoy]

Well said Andy - I've been scratching my aged bonce trying to figure it out.

Appears it is a solution waiting for a problem.

Anyway, I think wiki is an acronym for 'when in knickers, investigate'

Del

[Lawnmower Man]

Hi Andy,

Great questions,  I'm not sure I can give you definative answers but I'll
here is my view.

Forums, Wikis and Blogs are just specialist forms of Web Sites.

Dave is holding a poll at http://www.clubarnage.com/forum/index.php?topic=4430.15 and 66% say they want a Wiki and a Blog added to the site.  Ok thats fine.

The forum of course we all know.  So I won't try to teach you about that. 
But basically anyone and everyone can post to any thread.

The Modern Commer Replacement thread, is a bit like blog,  With a blog only
one person or group of people can add content.  So it would be like the MCR
thread with only your postings.

A wiki is closer to a normal website.  *But* anyone and everyone can add
content. If people follow some basic style rules it can have a good
structure.

A short time ago someone posted about the fact that http://www.clubarnage.com/
still shows 2005.  If it was a wiki then that person could have changed it.
So it has to wait for whoever does the main site content to get around to it.
No I'm not getting at the person or persons that maintain the main site
but many parts of it are quite old. In fact several pages still have the
original background.

The forum is a great place for asking questions and getting a wide range
of answers.  But it's structure is weak.  Hence you often get the same
questions posted by different people.

Now looking in the various posts http://www.clubarnage.com/forum/index.php?topic=4696.0 you can work out who is on what crossing and where they are camping and may be who is in the group.

Now in a wiki you could have a page for CampSites.  On that page you could
link to a page for each CampSite like MasionBlanche.  On each CampSite Page
you can have a link to WhoIsOnThatCampSite. In turn that page would have
links to the Groups on the CampSite.  That would link to the pages
that each group might put up.

Similarly there could be a page for Ferry crossings that has lists of Groups
on that crossing and so on.

So it is structured.

So thats how I see it.  I'm not saying wikis are better than forums.  Nor am
I saying blogs are better.  They all have good points they all have bad
points.  Hopefully my the Sandpit will give you the chance to try it. If it's
not for you fine.  Some people may like it.  You may change your mind later.

It's a bit like what is the best sort of motor.  An Open Top Two Seater, a 4x4,
a People Carrier or a Commer.   They all get you from A to B.

t.

[BrickWC]

Hi

Having looked at Tom's sandpit it can seem a bit confusing, even daunting, but the easiest way to look get to grips with it is to think of as an enyclopedia and information base.

I use a company 'wiki' everyday, they are very useful bits of kit when up and running.

I suggest looking at the following pages to see what a wiki can be.

http://en.wikipedia.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Hours_of_Le_Mans

Steve

[Lorry]

We've used "knowledge" databases at work for years and they don't work.  The useful bits are hidden under piles of gibberish.

Whilst I like the idea of a forum, I suspect that there is a need for some more permanent records of what we've been up to over the years, but it needs to be managed.

Its all very sad really

[Lawnmower Man]

We've used "knowledge" databases at work for years and they don't work.  The useful bits are hidden under piles of gibberish.

None of the plans i.e. wiki or blog are knowledge databases in the true sense of the worrd.

Whilst I like the idea of a forum, I suspect that there is a need for some more permanent records of what we've been up to over the years, but it needs to be managed.

Its all very sad really

IMHO we should not transcribe the Forum to a wiki or a blog.  Thats not to say that some threads may form the basis for wiki pages.  I'm thinking here of threads like the "useful information" thead that is sticky in two areas.    Information on Campsites would be good in a wiki too.    It takes a lot to glean good information from threads on the forum.  See Robo SPS's plea not to post drivel in the T-Shirt and sticker thread.

The forum is a fun place to be.  A wiki is not so much fun as it should be a serious set of informative pages.   I'm really not sure about a blog myself.

The poll showed that most people are ambivelant (sp) since only 33 votes have been cast.
of the 23 that voted for a wiki three or four have made any sort of change to my sandpit.   

We could/should should give consideration to wether we really would use a wiki.    Thereis little or no point in putting the software in place if it's not going to get used.

My idea of offering the sandpit was to allow people to try out a wiki if they have not already done so. 

t.