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Idea for patron section

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Arjan

NewBee
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Jun 22, 2007
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I have been thinking about an idea to extend the patron section in combination with the upcoming vBulletin.
what about a mediawiki integration?
Alot of valuable information is now scattered arround the site, or references to other sites on the internet.
A wiki would be the perfect tool to "localize" the information.

It also gives the "less experienced" patrons a change to contribute to GotMead in many ways.

the wiki could contain (brewgroup) testresults, techniques, equipment, extensive list of honeys, herbs (even easy tagged by their old name and uses) etc etc etc

This would make the patron section even more valuable, and another reason why people should support GM :)

just my 2cp
Arjan

note: The reason why i would suggest mediawiki over another in combination with vbulletin is that mediawiki is the engine used on wikipedia which almost everyone knows how to use or to find his way around.
Theres also a cheap script (vbwikipro) that bridges the two, making administrating it straight from the Adminpanel of vBulletin even more easy. (also integrates users/userrights/discussion tabs etc etc)
 

pain

GotMead Owner
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Apr 5, 1996
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gotmead.com
A Wiki on Gotmead? What do you think was: idea for the patron section

I've toyed with the idea of a wiki for some time now, and will probably be playing with it in the test site.

Gang, here's a chance to chime in with your ideas for GM: If we implement a wiki, what would be the best use of it, and what would you like to see?

Arjan, thanks for the suggestion. I'll dig around for some good wiki expansions.....
 

Arjan

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 22, 2007
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Re: A Wiki on Gotmead? What do you think was: idea for the patron section

Vicky - GM Founder said:
Gang, here's a chance to chime in with your ideas for GM: If we implement a wiki, what would be the best use of it, and what would you like to see?
The worst part of setting up a wiki is to create templates/helpfiles/boilerplates/rules ie the basic framework.
This probably will take a few months.

After that its "just" filling.

what i would like to see is an ever growing resource for everything mead related. i would like to spend more time on GM then i spend on Google. Whether it is historical references, fermentation process, nutrients/enzymes/yeasts, honey, equipment, perhaps beekeeping etc etc.

Alot of webpages out there are often outdated or just dont cover the whole topic, or have too much info on too little text.

Vicky - GM Founder said:
Arjan, thanks for the suggestion. I'll dig around for some good wiki expansions.....

**cough** mediawiki **cough** ;)

np, i am always up for ideas and improvements.
I have quite some experience with vBulletin and mediawiki bundled together, so i am happy to give advice or help setting it up.

cheers
Arjan
 

pain

GotMead Owner
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Administrator
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Apr 5, 1996
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gotmead.com
Oh, don't worry, if we do a mediawiki, I'll call upon you. My biggest fear is that a mediawiki will grow to become a mishmash of bad info like so many of them are on other subjects, since anyone can add to them. I don't want a nightmare to manage.....the site keeps me busy enough that I have very little time to post/make mead/have a life. An out of control mediawiki is an idea that scares me a little.....unless you know of a way to ensure that it stays accurate?
 

Arjan

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 22, 2007
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Vicky - GM Founder said:
Oh, don't worry, if we do a mediawiki, I'll call upon you. My biggest fear is that a mediawiki will grow to become a mishmash of bad info like so many of them are on other subjects, since anyone can add to them. I don't want a nightmare to manage.....the site keeps me busy enough that I have very little time to post/make mead/have a life. An out of control mediawiki is an idea that scares me a little.....unless you know of a way to ensure that it stays accurate?

yep i know a way, the vbwikipro bridge :)
Due to the vBulletin integration you can enable that only registered users can edit the wiki (same like posting on the forum)
You can apply all rights to usergroups in vBulletin.
ie, registered user can only read (or even hide if you want it to be patron only)
patrons, create, move etc
admin, do admin stuff
my own forum has over 5k members and the wiki over 4k pages, end ZERO vandalism so far

switching to vbulletin/mediawiki saved me countless of hours to administer the site.

i assigned a couple of wikimoderators to do the job for me.
 

pain

GotMead Owner
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Administrator
Moderator
Apr 5, 1996
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North Carolina
gotmead.com
I figured that. My concern is that it is free to register here (and I don't plan to change that), and info posted on the mediawiki can come from any approved user. There are no assurances that a given user has any knowledge of making mead (see some of the newbee forum questions). That is the concern. I really would be worried that someone would post in the mediawiki 'you must boil your honey for at least an hour, then put in acid, pitch your yeast on a piece of toast and stir with a dirty spoon' kind of things. I want folks to know this is a reliable resource. If the kind of stuff I see in other mediawikis in terms of bad info gets in one here, I'd be really concerned. The average newcomer to making mead would have no way to tell good info from entries that were flat wrong.

There is a reason schools make it very clear that wiki-based resources are not to be used for research cites, and given what I've seen around the web on them, I tend to agree. Wikipedia is a great example of *cool* tool, used to disseminate *wildly* incorrect info......
 

Arjan

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 22, 2007
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true, i had the same worries when i started mine.
since everyone has his own imagination and interpretation on RPG or make their own rules etc etc

thats why it takes quite some effort to create a solid framework of rules.

a solution i made is to make use of userpages in the wiki, so if someone want to give his/her own interpretation they can add it as a personal pages, and not claiming it to be the right way of doing things.

i also implemented Page tags to distinct a personal view/method over "official" stuff
example userpage with pagetag

Eventually only a handfull of people will contribute to the wiki since its a "small" specialized one.
especially if you let only patrons edit the wiki you narrow it even more down (and protect certain pages too)
 

Oskaar

Got Mead Partner
Administrator
Dec 26, 2004
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The OC
I think the wiki is a good idea. But, I also think that we have things on our plate that need to be addressed first.

We have to migrate the site, migrate and re-address the main site content into a new template, get our chat software back up and running, write a book, and several other things.

I'm putting this out there because we have a tendancy to run with the idea of the moment while other "core competancy" issues get put on the back burner. We'll have the other things whipped up in short order, but, we need to do them in the order we have them on our punchlist. This is not to marginalize the idea of a wiki, we need one, but we have other things we've been planning for some time now and they're aging like a fine chees. I just want to be up front and honest about the other things that are out there in front of new implementations so the expectations of our clients are being managed toward the realistic.

Thanks,

Oskaar
 

pain

GotMead Owner
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Apr 5, 1996
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38
North Carolina
gotmead.com
Y'know, I really hate it when you drag me back on track......::noting down mediawiki as a possible future implementation *after* the other stuff::

This is what happens when I get too buried......LOL
 
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