Testing the CHCC Wiki
What do you think?
Testing the CHCC Wiki
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» Testing the CHCC Wiki
It's generally a good idea, but I would be concerned with pouring much community effort into creating something that can disappear at the whim of some private entity, in this case whoever owns the wikidot service.
Hello:
I had (and have) that concern with Columbia Citizens. Michal Frackowiak runs the wikidot show from Poland, spinning off new improvements at every turn. The business model makes no sense to me.
But there's an insurance policy. Should we need it, it's possible to move the wiki software onto our own server and run wikis independently. I don't yet know how to do it, but so far it's been pretty straightforward to find my way around wikidot — and I'm a non-techie.
If it helps, feel free to lift anything from Columbia Citizens.
S.
I didn't realize that Wikidot, the software that is used to run the wikidot.com service, was GPLd. That makes a big difference. As long as there is a means to import and export data with Wikidot, should the service disappear, one could presumably run the software elsewhere and import the wiki that was created on wikidot.com.
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ability to run Wikidot elsewhere, move a wiki from wikidot.com by 
Phil_Mocek, 08 Mar 2008 17:28
It's a good point, Phil — but why trust Yahoo more thank Wikidot? From what I've learned, the standards by which the service is built make it possible to move the data to another hosting solution, as Scott notes.
Key element, I think, is to arrange for a custom domain. There's a cost but it gives us continuity even if we have to move to another hosting solution.
Phil, what do you think about using capitolhillcommunitycouncil.org for this?
//Your very own custom domain
Each Wiki Site obtains a web address in a dedicated wikidot.com subdomain. It is however possible to use an external domain for this Site.
If you enable this feature this Site will be available via both domains, i.e. chcc.wikidot.com and the new domain.//
Why trust Yahoo more than wikidot.com? Two answers: 1. Yahoo is a multi-billion-dollar company that has been in existence for years. They are far less likely to disappear than is a fledgling software project and service like Wikidot and wikidot.com. 2. You're comparing apples to oranges. We're just using Yahoo for a mailing list. It's already archived in many people's e-mail accounts, and the archives can quite easily be dumped into a new list if need be. Losing list archives would be much less tragic than losing a wiki full of community contributions.
There's no comparison between Yahoo Groups and Wikidot. As you say, they are two completely different environments. So, do you have another suggestion for a Wiki-type solution?
There are other wiki environments out there. For instance, I think wetpaint is based in Seattle.
Trouble is, I don't think any of those free services are also ad-free. I think that makes a big difference to the feel of a community wiki.
S.
[Strangely, there's no link shown for adding replies to Jseattle's post, so I'm replying to Scott's reply instead. Also, I don't see any way to quote text to which you're replying in order to provide context.]
There are at least 100 wiki engines in existence today. You can compare any number of them, feature-by-feature, at WikiMatrix. For interactive assistance with narrowing down the selections (if, for instance, you want to compare only those that are available as a hosted service), use their wiki choice wizard.
The wiki-admin can extend the depth of nesting in the forum settings. That would allow you further reply to replies, instead of tagging onto the end of the second nested thread. The default is 2.
Thanks for the wizard link. I'll take a look. Columbia Citizens is pretty settled on Wikidot — so this is a good thing to figure out at the outset.
Also, I don't see any way to quote text to which you're replying in order to provide context.
Just insert a ">" and a space before the block quote.
I registered capitolhillcommunitycouncil.org specifically to hold onto it in case it would be of use to the Community Council some day. I'll gladly transfer it to the Council to be used as the Council sees fit. The cost of registration is generally $10 - 15 per year depending on what registrar is used.
I'm not personally sold on the idea of using wikidot.com to run the entire Community Council web site, but I do feel that it is a compelling option that deserves consideration.
It's also possible to assign the wiki to a subdomain.
wiki.capitolhillcommunitycouncil.org — or any other subdomain that you create through the DNS control panel.
Graham Hill Elementary has its more public website assigned to its main domain, and its wiki is assigned to a subdomain.
S.
It's also possible to assign the wiki to a subdomain.
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page revision: 19, last edited: 24 Jun 2009 04:32
