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Why wiki works

<Brennen> This page is very old and reflects my thinking before I had used wiki much. It is here as an archival object. That said, I still agree with most of the intent.

Wiki works because most of its attributes support each other. Wiki works because it is simple. Wiki works because it's imperfect.

Wiki works when you realize two things: NothingIsSacred and EverythingIsSacred. You can create anything here, and you can destroy anything here. Go ahead. (Except: Preserve discussions between users. We want those.) That's the point. It's supposed to be messy. Just remember the corollary: It's all worth something.

This wiki (see WalaCode for software info) is sort of a special case, since I'm using it both as comment software for my weblog and as a general tracking system for ideas and objects. (See KnowItExists.)

Some recommended practices:

what to do

Delete or condense useless text. Do not, however, destructively rewrite/condense discussions between users. Wala is intended for IRC Mode conversation.
Add content to any page.
Add new pages. This wala is meant to run on the principal of KnowItExists - the idea that an entry for any given idea or object is useful, because just knowing something is out there is half the battle.
Use existing pages like LinkDump and IdeaLogging for interesting fragments.
Store relevant URLs here.
Correct typos, grammar errors, etc.
Remove spam when you find it.
It helps if you log in before editing or commenting on a page.

what NOT to do

Do not disagree by deleting, in which you delete text simply because you disagree with it. Even if that text is strongly-worded, at most you should refactor it to be more fair. If the text is explicitly part of a discussion between other users, generally you should leave it alone, though moving it to a more appropriate location is probably fine. The Management promises to be fairly reasonable about these sorts of things while reserving the right to do whatever the hell it feels like.

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last edited November 13, 2011