[Wolves] Wiki

[Matthew Revell]

Hey up,

On Wed, 2003-05-28 at 12:36, Jono Bacon wrote:

> I don't know if I have got the wrong end of the stick
> with this discussion, but my comments regarding Wiki's
> are not political comments, but merely practical
> comments.

Yeah, but where do the practical restrictions come from? I understand
that wikis have been created for a specific purpose and that they do
that job very well. However, in reading various wiki project sites I
came across the idea that restricting who could alter the wiki content
was against the wiki philosophy. Now, I reckon open wikis are great but
I also think that the idea of a restricted wiki has a lot of merit for
some uses. I know it might seem that I'm trying to do the equivalent of
adding a great big bucket to a Mazda MX-5 and hoping it'll be good as a
digger but I see it more as adding a supercharger option that drivers
can either take or leave.

> As far as I am concerned, I think Wiki's are great. I
> support the open concept, 

Me too - I support the open concept to the point where wiki owners
should be able to have control. It should be open to users to either
make their wiki free or controlled. I know that's not quite what you
mean by "open" but to me, freedom of how a piece of software is
fundamental to keeping things open.


> The point I was making was that you need to be aware
> of these risks in assessing if a Wiki is the right
> choice for a content creation system as their may be
> practical risks as opposed to political risks.

Cool, but to me the practical risks sometimes come from a political
unwillingness to add to the functionality of a software project. It
doesn't destract from people who want to use the system in an open way,
it just gives another way of doing things, which I reckon is what we're
all about.

As Fizzy says, I could fork a project or create my own from scratch ...
assuming my coding is up to it. That's not so much my point tho'. I just
think it's a shame - maybe dangerous even - that perfectly good
functionality can be rejected from a project because it doesn't match
someone's politics. Okay, for something like a wiki - where there's
plenty of choice - it doesn't really matter. But if spread to something
a little more important, like the kernel, it could be disastrous.

Anyway, this all off the top of my 'ead, with an empty stomach, so I may
not make sense and may change my mind later :)

> I find this whole practical and political argument for
> Wiki's really interesting; it brings up a load of
> issues and it would be cool to chew the fat on it
> tonight. :)

Yeah man.