quattro list library?

[Max Baker]

Hi Brett,

Brett Dikeman wrote:
> Yes- Dan was pretty hesitant about edit rights, given The Twiki Incident.
>
> A few weeks ago, I found a Mediawiki extension that enables us to 
> automatically vet new edits in a queue (and set a lot of people to 
> approve edits), and after a certain number of approved edits, said 
> person is auto-promoted to not require approval anymore.  Seemed like 
> the perfect solution.
>
> I should be able to find time in the next few days to get MW updated 
> to the current version, and to get the approval extension on.  I can 
> then flip on account creation for the 'general public'.

I can only imagine what "The Twiki Incident" was :)

I have had great success beating the spammers using this extension : 
http://recaptcha.net/plugins/mediawiki/.   We had the same spammer 
problem on a few wikis I host.  I can help you install it or help update 
to the newest version. I think the only things needed to make this new 
Knowledge Base a success are :

1. Give out edit access to anyone who's not a spammer.  The above 
plugin, or the one you suggest would solve problems with this item.

2. Add some navigation -- Put pages into categories and subcategories.   
We could borrow some ideas from http://www.gti-vr6.net/wiki .
(I think it would be cool to be able to tag entries with what chassis it 
applies to (type44, 80/90, b3, b4), but I'm not sure what it takes to 
add that to mediawiki.)

3. Encourage people on the list to look for answers and add answers to 
the wiki.  This has worked real well on the gti-vr6 list.

Huw,  the above is what I meant about "launched"... I think those are 
necessary for the wiki to achieve its purpose.
> Others have already mentioned the existing AF wiki, but I wanted to 
> comment on this- a year or two back, I asked for and received 
> permission from the 20v.org people to import their articles into the 
> Audifans wiki.  If you'd like to contribute, this would be an 
> excellent way to do so.
>

I'll be happy to tackle this one.

> We also have a number of old articles from the original wiki that are 
> in serious need of editing (and 'librarian' type work.)  I think we 
> managed to convert and improve half or more...I'd have to look at the 
> directories and do a count.

What if you brought them in in their current condition and the 
improvements could happen as people use the pages?  Then if it's a page 
that no one ever uses, you don't waste your effort fixing it.  I've seen 
this work well on the VIM tips wiki 
(http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page) where they ported over web-page 
based tips and people fix them one by one.  Some of them never get 
fixed, but they're also tips that aren't very useful.

-m