[W126 Coupe] Member Pics: Wiki?

[Dawid Loubser]

Hi Paul,

Your statements are correct yes... first off, a wiki is much easier to
modify than a website, since most wikis use a simpler syntax than HTML.

It could be set up so that a.) either anybody can register themselves,
and start adding and editing pages, or b.) that only an administrator
creates user accounts and sends the people their details.

I'd prefer an 'open' situation where people could register  
themselves, the
more difficult you make it, the less people will want to contribute.

As people edit pages, they are automatically version-controlled (all  
changes
are stored, as well as who made them, and this is visible to  
everybody) so that the
page can be rolled back to an earlier stage, if somebody messes  
somebody up, or
if e.g. vandalism occurs.

Furthermore, and administrator can lock / unlock pages, ban users, etc.

Each user gets his own 'user page' which he can post pictures to, and  
generally
populate, to his heart's content.

Most wikis also contain a decent categorization system, so that pages  
can be catalogued
correctly, making it easy (in our case) to find all pages that deal  
with electrical repairs,
wheels and tyres, etc.

I think a wiki is the perfect solution to this list's needs - if  
enough are interested, I am
happy to set up a prototype which we can play with, and see if you  
like it. At some stage
we'll have to move it to another server though, here in South Africa  
we have pathetic
bandwidth!

A wiki like this means that the mailing list is no longer the  
definitive collective storage
area for information about the SECs, but rather just that - a  
discussion facility.

Then everybody continues to work at refining this one, collective  
pool of information.

If it worked for http://en.wikipedia.org/ , it can work for us!

D.

On 14 Nov 2007, at 5:09 nm., PAULS at sbcglobal.net wrote:


> Interesting.  You say that Administrators can have more robust

> authority, so that would mean at least two levels of "membership"

> I guess.

>

> How would that be different from, say, Satish giving the website

> password to some number of folks as Administrators and having

> them help update the site?

>

> It sounds like a wiki means everyone can edit and an assigned few

> can override the edits, while a standard set-up with several

> "administrators" has only those few sharing editing duties.  Do I

> have that right?

>

> Paul

>

>

> --- Original Message ---

> From: Dawid Loubser <dawidl at solms.co.za>

> To: Mercedes Coupes Mailing Lists <mbcoupes at mbcoupes.com>

> Subject: Re: [W126 Coupe] Member Pics: Wiki?

>

>> Hi Satish,

>>

>> A wiki is simply a site (like Wikipedia) which allows any

> registered

>> user to edit

>> any page, upload images, etc. Effectively, it allows the

> community to

>> directly

>> drive and create the site. It *does* involve losing a bit of

> control,

>> but, on the other

>> hand, having an 'organic' site that grows with time, without one

> person

>> having to maintain it.

>>

>> It requires installation of wiki software on the server (of which

>> there are

>> many, many freely available) but most systems support it. I would

>> imagine we could

>> directly install it on wherever mbcoupes.com is currently hosted.

>>

>> The best software is probably MediaWiki (the actual engine on

> which

>> wikipedia

>> runs) as it's mature, stable, and open-source.

>>

>> So I guess it boils down to: do you want to retain full control

> over

>> the site, or let the

>> community drive it? Administrators could of course retain utmost

>> control, revert changes,

>> lock pages, ban users, etc.

>>

>>

>> On 13 Nov 2007, at 1:20 nm., Satish Tummala, M.D. wrote:

>>

>>> Elaborate about wiki, etc.  Or perhaps a script allowing the

> member

>>> to upload the image onto the site directly.  Perhaps that

> would be

>>> the best solution.

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> Satish

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> From: mbcoupes-bounces at mbcoupes.com [mailto:mbcoupes-

>>> bounces at mbcoupes.com] On Behalf Of Dawid Loubser

>>> Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 2:18 AM

>>> To: Mercedes Coupes Mailing Lists

>>> Subject: Re: [W126 Coupe] Member Pics: Wiki?

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> Of course - nobody could be expected to manually maintain such a

>>> page! Satish: Why don't we set up

>>>

>>> a wiki or some other form of collaborative software (I'm happy

> to

>>> help / do that for you) so that members

>>>

>>> can maintain their own car info and photographs.

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> If have, for a while, been thinking that something like a wiki

>>> could be a good way to approach this

>>>

>>> mailing list - since we are founded on community knowledge, the

>>> community can also build the site.

>>>

>>> Community-driven articles and knowledge, all in one place. With

>>> good categorization and searching

>>>

>>> features. All of this can be had for free with little effort.

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> Dawid

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> On 09 Nov 2007, at 11:18 nm., Paul Samarin wrote:

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> No, you are certainly not unwelcome to join.  This is a great

> group

>>> and everyone's welcome.  The pics are just not a high priority

> for

>>> Satish, I think.  A couple other guys have sites where you can

> post

>>> your pics.  They'll chime in soon, probably.

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> Paul

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> On Nov 9, 2007, at 1:10 PM, Doc wrote:

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> It has been 2 years now and I have been trying to get my car up

>>> along side all of yours.  I soke to Sattish via email at one

> point

>>> about a 18 months ago and his photshop was down or something.

>  Am I

>>> unwelcome here to join you or?

>>>

>>> Has anyone got a clue what I should do?

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> I want to show my 560 off with the lot of you....

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> Rick Montgomery

>>>

>>> 1990 560SEC

>>>

>>> Diamond Bar, CA

>>>

>>> The MB Coupes Website!

>>>

>>> W126 SEC Mailing List

>>>

>>> Postings remain property of MB Coupes, L.L.C.

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> Paul Samarin

>>>

>>> pauls at sbcglobal.net

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> The MB Coupes Website!

>>>

>>> W126 SEC Mailing List

>>>

>>> Postings remain property of MB Coupes, L.L.C.

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> The MB Coupes Website!

>>> W126 SEC Mailing List

>>> Postings remain property of MB Coupes, L.L.C.

>>

>

>

> The MB Coupes Website!

> W126 SEC Mailing List

> Postings remain property of MB Coupes, L.L.C.