[cgiapp] Future of the wiki (was: Re: CGI::Application wiki page Examples)

[Mark Stosberg]

> The idea was that the 315 subscribers to this mailing list are the only 
> people in the world with the slightest motivation to delete spam from 
> the wiki and, since its not a terribly thriving, active wiki, even we 
> members of the cgiapp community don't visit it all that much.
> 
> So my hope was that by having these messages come to the list would 
> remind people that the Wiki exists, "ping" them that people contribute 
> to it, and maybe spark enough curiosity that someone checks to see what 
> was edited, and in the process, is able to find and fix spam.

In my case, this has been working, and I have been visiting more. I
don't really mind the notices right now, but I can also understand that
the mailing list could feel like a drag if the quality of discourse was
lowered to primarily being terse automated messages about wiki updates.

It seems like a nice option to be enabled per-user, but then I'm not
sure I want to see all the automated updates in my personal inbox...

> It's my last attempt to save the Wiki.  If it continues to be used more 
> by spammers than the community, then it is not really worth the time and 
> trouble involved in continuing to operate it.  If, as I hope, these 
> messages help spur the community to step up and contribute and help 
> maintain and police the thing, then we'll be able to continue to have a 
> Wiki for the foreseeable future!

Since I do some website admin work myself, I also appreciate this
sentiment.

Perhaps the wiki would be more interesting to use if we used a different
wiki engine. Kwiki is written in Perl, but certainly never took off and
seems to lack some features that seem standard in wikis now. For
example, it seems like a large flaw that it offers no way to enter a
short message explaining *why* a change would made.

Other alternatives I'm familiar with include MediaWiki (PHP...), Trac
(Python...) or and gitit (Haskell...). There was some interest in
building a wiki based on CGI::Application, but that hasn't materialized. 
I'm sad to say that there's not a Perl-based wiki that I'm aware of as
becoming prosperous and popular. For me, open-source vs. closed-source
is ultimately a greater concern, and I could put aside language
preferences and use another open source option.

But back to the fundamental question: If the wiki was overhauled, would
you use it and maintain it more?

    Mark

-- 
http://mark.stosberg.com/