There are quite often the usual topics popping up, gybes, water-starts, board sizes for beginners etc that may be good for a seabreeze Wiki?

It could be the windsurf/kitesurf/sailing Wiki on the internet.

I was thinking this the other day. There seem to be lots of knowledgeable people around that would write up a good instructional thingy.

hell yes.

That'd be really helpful! It'd be useful having all the info you need in one place.

Yes evl, I was also thinkin same. Here is Wikipedias stuff
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsurfing

Brief but some stuff is up to date. The requirement is off-course for us to author and update the info, and perhaps validate if we want the info to be reasonably up to date. There are some free wiki systems that could probably be put on Seabreeze if Laurie and co would support, these have the really cool features that wikis do have, to make authoring and searching really easy. Hardie started this subject I think over 12 months ago, I sort of volunteered to collate some content but never got round to it. I dont think have the time at the mo.

Is this wot you were thinkin or something simpler ?

Isn't that what the article section is meant to be for?

The kiters have a few articles like this - 'How do I start Kitesurfing' etc (the answer of course is that you shouldn't)

I've considered writing something up on a couple of the common themes, but there are a few people who on the forum who disagree with my way of rigging/sailing/thinking so I'm more than a bit hesitant to put something permanent up.

We could do it by committee? Put forward a draft article, have it critiqued by others and then publish whatever the consensus was (if we can ever agree!). The articles can still be updated, but only by the person who published them - which stops clowns messing up your wiki entry.

Laurie is always trying to encourage more articles..

Select to expand quote

Haggar said...

Yes evl, I was also thinkin same. Here is Wikipedias stuff
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsurfing

Brief but some stuff is up to date. The requirement is off-course for us to author and update the info, and perhaps validate if we want the info to be reasonably up to date. There are some free wiki systems that could probably be put on Seabreeze if Laurie and co would support, these have the really cool features that wikis do have, to make authoring and searching really easy. Hardie started this subject I think over 12 months ago, I sort of volunteered to collate some content but never got round to it. I dont think have the time at the mo.

Is this wot you were thinkin or something simpler ?

Something like that, yes.

I guess to keep trolls/spammers out simply require that you need, say, 200+ posts to edit an article.

You'll probably find that as a little content gets added it grows exponentially. I guess it can then only go so far.

Perhaps we could just use wikipedia?

Sounds like a great idea, and there is a solution.

If you visit here:
www.seabreeze.com.au/Members/Content/Contribute.aspx you'll find how easy it is to add an article.

Whoever creates the article retains "editing" control over it; it's not an "anybody can edit" situation.

If enough interest was shown, then this system could be enhanced to allow a group of editors.

So .. someone can create the "how to gybe" article, and is the official "maintainer". Refinements are easy to discuss in the forums, and the editor makes the changes accordingly?

?

Select to expand quote

laurie said...
Whoever creates the article retains "editing" control over it; it's not an "anybody can edit" situation.

Only for a while though it seems?

I published an article on making your own vacuum pump ages ago, but now can't edit it.. Not that I want to, but if we're aiming to keep the proposed articles current then it'll need to be editable forever.

Yeah, but who wants to be "the" maintainer of the how to gybe article?

The collaborative approach through a Wiki would be much better.

Plus, with the amount of time people spend on the forums, spam would get noticed pretty quickly and removed.

Also, if you make it that only signed up users can contribute, it makes it just as easy to weed spam out of the wiki as it is to weed it out of the forums. User spams once, ban the user. Simple.

Worth a trial I reckon!

Evl, I agree! This is a great opportunity. Lauire, the contribute idea is OK but will never have the same level of participation as a wiki. With the level of knowledge that I see floating about these forums (e.g. some of the physics behind the fin discussions makes my noggin boggle) a wiki could be the source as evl said.