A Wetpaint Site | TV Fandex 100

Share best practices

eglagowski	Latest page update: made by eglagowski , Dec 12 2007, 12:51 PM EST (about this update About This Update Edited by eglagowski 49 words added view changes - complete history)
	Keyword tags: best practices businesses case studies More Info: links to this page

Threads for this page

TimTrent

User interface

Dec 20 2007, 11:31 AM EST by ARW

Thread started: Nov 22 2007, 3:26 PM EST Watch

I have a question (apart form how to format things in this thread, that is!).

Start with the de facto standard, the technically peculiar Mediawiki software that runs ''the'' (attempt at formatting - that's meant to be italic), that runs Wikipedia. it has (now, not in a minute) There are 5,868,458 registered user accounts, of which 1,415 have administrative tools.

No-one will say it has a perfect user interface. No-one who has implemented one will say that it is a simple technical exercise, either. But it has the one user interface that folk are used to, with true implementation of hypertext (please ignore http: - I mean hypertext, not the http protocol)

How can one start a wiki with a different user interface and expect a serious and quick uptake?

2 out of 2 found this valuable. Do you?

Keyword tags:

Post reply

Show Last Reply

TimTrent

Community

Nov 22 2007, 5:17 PM EST by TimTrent

Thread started: Nov 22 2007, 3:17 PM EST Watch

Since anyone and everyone can create, edit, vandalise and destroy entries, starting a community is vital. But a community can take substantial investment of personal time. And communities require rules.

Wikipedia solves this with heavy bureaucracy, created by its users, enforced by its users, some of whom the community elects as administrators.

At my own experiment at http://train.spottingworld.com we have an embryo community aimed at rail enthusiasts, and it is starting its own rules at present, having been running since St Valentine's Day this year

How does, how should a business community develop and drive itself?

1 to 1 has, of course, given this one a kick start, both by adopting a wiki on an established wiki site (is that cheating? You tell me!), and squirting an introductory email to all its readers saying "Hey, guys, this isnt real (yet?) but it's open for business

Hmm, as a best practice, this posting box is far too small. I want to see and preview what I'm about to post

2 out of 3 found this valuable. Do you?

Keyword tags:

Post reply

Show Last Reply

Last Reply:
RE: Community
By: TimTrent, Nov 22 2007, 5:17 PM EST

"Tim-

I'm glad to see you've joined our wiki. I'll answer a few of your questions, and leave the rest to the other people who join in. This wiki was created using 3rd party software from WetPaint, which is one of the providers of wiki technology (PBWiki is another I encountered working on my story).

As you know most businesses require a number of meetings and discussions before venturing out into a new technology. To cut through the red tape, I created this wiki solely as an example for people who read the story next month in XFactor about wikis, so they can get a hands on experience. I'm sure if 1to1 created a wiki for our entire readership (magazine, e-newsletters, and website users), we wouldn't use a free software (this wiki is the un-upgraded version of WetPaint) and we'd run a beta test before making it live.

I agree with your comment about the size of the posting box, as I'm writing this comment I have the same frustration. I'll make a note to look into that, and any other suggestions people have as we go along."

Actually I would advise most strongly that you do (how the heck to I embolden that word) use, well, not free, but freely licensed zero fee based software on which to base a business wiki. And my rationale is the ready acceptance of the user interface.

So far This (I want italics now) wiki is more like a forum or messageboard than a "real" wiki.though it does have wikifeatures if I can only find them. I fear I am "very" wikisperienced, having edited actively on Wikipedia and having now deployed two of my own, so, while not uniquely qualified, I am fairly well qualified to say:

I hate, hate, hate mediawiki software. (Hiow Wikipedia stays online technically is beyond me!0

I love their user interface

Better yet, it has extensions that allow threading (like this is)

And that comes back to best practice. Identify the user interface most likely to allow your community to start and commit to it. The business challenge is to work out what should develop. A business is not a hibby, nor is it an encyclopaedia. So what pages (absolutely not forums, other software is far better for forums) will be hoped for?

Do you find this valuable?

TimTrent

Editability

Nov 22 2007, 3:19 PM EST by TimTrent

Thread started: Nov 22 2007, 3:19 PM EST Watch

I posted a new thread starter on Community. Having posted it (no preview, which is a huge lack) I wanted to edit a few elements of it. I cannto see how to do so.

A major best practice is to trust your community to edit anything and everything, and posts in threads are a major one

2 out of 4 found this valuable. Do you?

Keyword tags:

Post reply

Post a new thread

Showing 3 of 3 threads for this page

Share best practices

What are Wiki Best Practices?

Threads for this page

Related Content