Journal shadowbearer's Journal: Random thoughts about forums, blogs and wikis 5
Slashdot sucks.
I hear that a lot.
I used to agree with it.
Now I'm realizing that it's not that slashdot sucks, it's that we have, and must, move on.
Slashdot is simply changing. Like everything else it evolves - in this case, at the speed of the web (measured in LOC/sec I believe
As it does, so do we. So, as often happens in life, we drift apart.
My point is that "slashdot sucks" posts/journals are a waste of time. Try to change the collective will of tens of thousands of people (and some odd thousands of slashbots, and etc, but you get my point)?
Not gonna happen. In the old days, there weren't so many other options. Now there are.
It's funny how perceptions change.
Can I save this as a draft?
You know where I think the future of blogging and forums is going to coalesce? Wikis.
Yeah, those things.
I'm serious. The concept of the wiki, as I see it, is still in it's infancy as a web phenomenon. But as a knowledge database with a very, very easy to use and very easy to contribute to interface - even the easiest to use html online tools don't have quite the same friendliness as "Edit Text of This Page" and type text, and "save".
Sure, the signal to noise ratio of the internet will go down because of it. But it's going to go down anyway due to new technologies, and perhaps if easier ways for people to discourse were found they could express their thoughts more clearly, and perhaps learn.
Ok, I'm being an optimist
But seriously;
I do think that wiki style "blogging" or whatever you want to call it (it is rather a broad spectrum idea, is it not?) is going to be extremely valuable for collaborating ideas and projects over the internet. Like an uber whiteboard in a sense, maybe - ?
I'm running an experiment with a few friends right now in a "wiki whiteboard". It's in it's infancy, too. Here the goal is to find something easier to share thoughts with than email and portable (access from anywhere with a web browser)
In a lot of ways I'm very much a wiki moron, so any ideas and experiences would be appreciated
Just the spewing off the top of my brain tonite...
SB
Well, it IS what you make of it ... (Score:2)
Seriously, the wikiblog (notice how it rolls off the tongue so well?) is intriguing. (Must NOT type "I for one welcome our wikiblog overlords! Agggh! :-)
Wikification (Score:2)
Also, I'll be transitioning a Civilization 2 site I run into full Wiki mode soon -- openness and all. We have a very active forum community, and I think the site would benefit from not having a single-point-of-failure.:)
Re:Wikification (Score:2)
I've been using a lan wiki for personal notes, etc, and I've found it astoundingly effective compared to just about everything but a pocket sized notebook. It's just there, open the browser and add/edit/delete, viewable from anywhere.
Is the registration and dsiabling of that a MediaWiki feature? (I'll have to go look into that; I'm on UseModWiki right now, but only because it was really easy to set up)
Cheers at a run as always
SB
Re:Wikification (Score:2)
In MediaWiki, you have to add or change these lines in your LocalSettings.php:
# Specify who can edit: true means only logged in users may edit pages
$wgWhitelistEdit = true;
# Specify who may create new accounts: 0 means no, 1 means yes
$wgWhitelistAccount = array ( 'user' => 1, 'sysop' => 1, 'developer' => 1 );
Re:Wikification (Score:2)
I looked into MWiki briefly tonite, and I'm interested, but I'm a fledgling at PHP and MySQL. Well, never a better time to learn than the present
I sense another reduction in my sunset observation time. Sigh
Cheers & thx
SB
(PS any more tips would be useful... tho MWiki does seem to be nicely documented at first glance