Chris's Wiki :: blog/web/OpenWikiDoom Commentshttps://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/web/OpenWikiDoom?atomcommentsDWiki2007-02-27T16:39:06ZRecent comments in Chris's Wiki :: blog/web/OpenWikiDoom.By Chris Siebenmann on /blog/web/OpenWikiDoomtag:CSpace:blog/web/OpenWikiDoom:98a0ba8bdb6cb71f7734806f05f4ba17b60fa3a0Chris Siebenmann<div class="wikitext"><blockquote><p>Open wikis are not doomed. People just need to understand how to look
after a wiki before they launch one.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I don't see how understanding (or tools) can help. I don't think that
people are lacking knowledge; I think that they are lacking time.</p>
<p>I don't believe that automation can defeat wiki spammers without
making it significantly harder for new users to contribute content.
Given this, I believe that automated wiki spam is going to require
more time to clean up than most (small) wiki communities can sustain.
Perhaps I am being pessimistic about anti-wiki-spam tools, but I
note that automation has yet to defeat any other sort of spam over
the long run.</p>
<p>(I think that most wikis are going to be small, because there are
relatively few large communities in general and a wiki's community
is a subset of the subject's general community. Again, the Linux
iSCSI wiki makes a great example of this.)</p>
<p>The Wikia approach to this problem is an interesting one that I
hadn't thought of before. (It has the downside that it requires
concentrating a lot of wiki activity in one spot in order to get
a big enough aggregate community.)</p>
</div>2007-02-27T16:39:06ZFrom 88.108.186.183 on /blog/web/OpenWikiDoomtag:CSpace:blog/web/OpenWikiDoom:059c7fb77d2c84918e7916e26befbbac65df212fFrom 88.108.186.183<div class="wikitext"><p>Open wikis are not doomed. People just need to understand how to look after a wiki before they launch one. There is no reason for a wiki to end up full of spam, but the anti-spam tools that any good wiki software has do need to be installed and used. One thing that my company Wikia provides is community support to help with fighting the spam, vandalism, and other problems, until a community is large enough to look after itself. </p>
<p>I'd be very happy to host the iSCSI wiki and keep it spam-free if you want to put me in touch with the right person.</p>
<p>--<a href="http://www.wikia.com/wiki/User:Angela">Angela</a></p>
</div>2007-02-27T05:39:24Z