[s-cars] Knowledgebase list set up - come join us!

[Brett Dikeman]

To help foster participation in the knowledgebase 
(http://www.audifans.com/twiki/bin/view/Audi/WebHome), I've set up a 
mailing list for people to join and get help, coordinate efforts, and 
so on.  Mark Chang, who has achieved the remarkable (getting a 
knowledgebase to last more than a year when previous efforts lasted a 
month or so) is already on, as am I.  I'm hoping we'll shortly see a 
few of the people who have contributed a LOT of articles- Kent, Huw, 
Scott D, etc (sorry for any names I forgot, those were just the 2-3 
that popped to mind right away).

If you've got a hot tip on some good info for the KB, you can also 
email it along.  I've set the list to not bounce an email to you if 
it holds your post, and I'll try to approve non-member posts as soon 
as I see them.  Might want to hold off on submissions for a few days 
until we get a bunch of folks on the list settled in.

Couple of things for discussion already:

-20v.org has agreed to 'donate' ALL their repair and model 
information to the Audifans knowledgebase.  As they say, sometimes 
all you gotta do is ask, and they said "sure!".  Thanks, gents!  Now 
we have to get the text, charts, etc over to the Wiki...

-I've been evaluating some new software to replace Twiki (which isn't 
the most friendly system in the world).  The software I've been 
looking at is called MediaWiki, and it's in use by the wikipedia 
foundation (wikipedia.org). With 400,000+ articles and tens of 
thousands of volunteers, its interface, look&feel and documentation 
for contributors have been well-polished.  I think it's a step in the 
right direction and Mark seems to as well, but an outside opinion or 
two never hurt.

-(related) minor problem- the content from the old 'wiki' has to be 
moved over to the new one.  This one shouldn't be tough.

-I'd like to see the KB feature more model information; how many 
times have we heard someone ask a question like "what's the curb 
weight of an '85 4000 Quattro?", or gear ratios, or spline counts on 
the output shaft, etc :).  I'd also especially like to see more 
motorsport information- both current and historical.  Ie drivers, 
cars, teams, races, etc.  I know we have some people who could recite 
a lot of that stuff from memory- join up and help put that info down 
for the rest of us to soak up! :-)

-I've been writing some stuff for information about the site and 
common problems/topics I get asked about a lot as an admin, but I 
don't have the same perspective as a new-to-the-site person or just a 
regular subscriber, since i've been an admin for what seems like ages 
now.  I'd really like to hear what we can do a better job of for 
newcomers, and what things people would like to see better documented.

There's lots of room for help.  Fact 
checkers/categorizers/'editors'/etc.  Folks to help import pages into 
the new software.  People who post pages when they see some useful 
info pop up on the mailing list. Other roles we haven't even thought 
of.  Contribute whenever you have the time; any little bit helps, and 
it's pretty easy; heck, there are even keyboard shortcuts for things 
like saving your changes, editing a page, etc.

The list page is here:
http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/knowledgebase

Look forward to seeing you folks there!

Brett
-- 
"They that give up essential liberty to obtain temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin
http://www.users.cloud9.net/~brett/