Request for a wiki

[didou]

I love the wiki concept on a whole community working on document together that could be used on the long-term. These documents may become the reference and authority on the subject for years to come. I've read for a while and not participate a lot but I think it's time for the community to build something bigger and take the leadership role.

Wiki-list of coins composition and guide on each metal will be easy to print (survival mindset, working without computer if necessary) years of knowledge spread everywhere on the internet and in the forums, not so easy to print and easy to find instead of having to search in a thousand of forums post over many years. Let's build ourself a reference in coins composition, that we could use to sort and buy/sell foreign and even local coins for metal.

I would participate in wiki and help build guide to Canadian nickels and cooper for sure and use it to sort/trade foreign coins.

So ya or na ?

[Thogey]

Voted maybe, because I'm ignorant.

But a reference bank developed by folks here seems like a good thing. Is this a way to organize our knowledge?

Or is it going to screw-up our forum?

[uthminsta]

Keep it focused. No wiki. This site IS a wiki.

[didou]

I don't think they will screw up forums, but that a possibility.

Wiki and forum aren't the same tools and aren't build for the same purpose.

Right now we have only 1 tools and use it for every need we have. I think it's more screw up right now that it will be if we have more tools they are well used.

Forums are for discussion, blog are for short-term news not for making reference documents. Yet a lot of post i have seen on realcent (and others forum/blog) are document-type.

Coins composition list are a great example. All the information on them are out there. But they are a pain to find, organize and print. Some are into blog and contain error or omission and you need to read a few dozen page of comments to grab all the up-to-date data. They are spread over all blog and forums in a way that make it very hard even for the most experience internet searcher to find and very time consuming to organize. Or the blogger/forum have quit and can't update the data.

Worst of all it's a shame that each of us have to put our own list separately making the same work on our own bubble.

Wiki solve all these problem for documents :
- the work has to be done only once for everyone, saving huge amount of time
- the document can be edited by anyone, doesn't matter if the original author is gone, we can still fix/update the document
- if we combine your knowledge, we know everything, wikipedia has been proved more reliable than commercial encyclopedia, document created and fixed over a few month/years will be the most reliable data that there is.
- all the data is in one place easy to find up to date and error are quickly fixed
- the document is printable and portable
- unique and valuable, to my knowledge all metal hoarder work alone and there is no central point that give details about metal coins composition that are reliable and complete over many country and decade.

Wiki also have some downside :
- learning curve, people need to understand the tools, what it's for, what isn't for and how to use it, that's the worst part in my experience with wiki in workplace.
- organization, dozen of people over a single document can quickly create a mess, we need to create a guide on how to structure data and format the page. I find it in experience with wiki in a work group to be only a small challenge, everyone trow what they have at it and quickly the major structure emerge from collective thinking alike. Someone start to using a certain fonts/size for title because they like it and the majority tend to approve and change their own preferred page title to match the others one. It sort of organize by itself, only end up needing a small managing for some grey area.

[uthminsta]

Wiki and forum aren't the same tools and aren't build for the same purpose.

I know. I'm actually a bit smarter than I might seem. My point was just that the whole of the site becomes a place of research for someone who wants it. I think an understanding of, for example, the varieties of the Canadian small cent, comes from a conversation, not a list. I do, however, think that if that resource was compiled, with explanations, images, etc... it would become a useful document.

I will say this. Your most recent post was a much better explanation / argument for the concept than the initial thing. Gotta give you credit for thinking it through. There are a lot of topics that were "stickied" on the old site that are candidates for wiki articles. But what happens to the dozens or even hundreds of wiki articles that someone THINKS should be there, and no one has the desire to complete?

I think this conversation still has a ways to go. But I'm listening. What do you all say?

[didou]

I will say this. Your most recent post was a much better explanation / argument for the concept than the initial thing. Gotta give you credit for thinking it through. There are a lot of topics that were "stickied" on the old site that are candidates for wiki articles

Thanks

But what happens to the dozens or even hundreds of wiki articles that someone THINKS should be there, and no one has the desire to complete?

I think you are right, the learning curve may be hard. Understanding the tools it's strength and weakness, the DO and DON'T, reading about wiki in general and make a guide for realcent user who never used one will be necessary.

We need to prevent people from trying to help each others, thinks or build page for others, that the worst thinking/behavior we can have in a wiki. Be selfish, build a document for yourself and steal the best idea/data structure/way of doing thing that sound right for you will go a long way to make it a success.

Realcent have a great community, large history and post to be used in a wiki. I'm afraid i can't give head up and i will have to make the jump with you and see what happen if administrator decide to go on with that idea.

I think it's worth a try, it can give a lot of value to realcent. Making learning easier and less time consuming for us as well as for new people to the hobby.

[JadeDragon]

Sounds like a great idea. I understand wikipedia and edit there sometimes but I don't know how to set one up here. ThePowersThatBe might know or one of the other more technical team members.

[ThePowersThatBe]

We want to get all of the bugs in the new forum worked out before we take on another project, but once everybody is settled in here, a Wiki might be a useful additional. We'll keep an eye on the poll.

[Rodebaugh]

yeah really not sure of the pros and cons. I agree that realcent is the wiki of many things and much more.

I guess 15 widgets may not cause me to leave.....but 16 may

[didou]

I hope this project will be set up in the future

Thanks for the consideration and the one who comments. I appreciate it.