[Retros] Building a complete and friendly retro library

[raosorio at fibertel.com.ar]

Hi Otto and all,

1. I think we should assume we want to start the project.

2. I propose to start with only retro as scope in order to be effective; a too pretentious
starting is a risk to fall into paralysis since too many things should be considered.
The scope could be extended later.

2a.  An active participation is necessary here; personally, I would need to see the
wiki functioning  to fully understand the point (I assume that Informal Tourneys and
their Awards will be included in Retro Tourneys).

As to the point that Tom remarked, I agree with Otto that "records" and "best of" are
totally different. Records are well defined within parameters to be optimyzed (and
they have in general nothing to do with the artistic approach) while "best" is a risky
word. 

Let's clearly establish that the retro-wiki initiative is just to build a useful tool where
all the retro antecedents were easily available; it's not to define positions or opinions
pretending to represent the retrocommunity.

Best,
Roberto






Otto's message
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi ALL 

Proposal for a way forward: 

1. We shold first come to a decision whether we really want to start this 
project or not. The Project can only be successful if many of you are 
willing to participate an provide content to the Wiki. 

2. We should decide on the scope of the Wiki: Problem chess in general or 
Retro only (which may grow to problem chess in general later) 

2a. We should have a rough idea what information should be put into the 
Wiki. I already started this on the main page of the Wiki. It's an unordered 
list - please feel free to add items to this list or to restructure this 
list. Please do it directly in the Wiki (by means of the [edit] button). 

2b. After 2a is completed, we can setup an initial structure. However, this 
would be a structure "by convention", and additional content can be added 
freely. 

3. For common types of information (e.g. glossary entries, magazine 
information, tournament information) we should setup an example page. As 
soon as we are satisfied with these example pages, we can use it as template 
and start adding additional content. 

After we agreed on 1., I will create a help page "Wiki editing primer" for 
all of us who are not familiar with the MediaWiki software. This primer will 
only cover the basics: 
- How to make paragraphs, 
- how to make lists, 
- how to make titles and subtitles, 
- how to make monospaced text, 
- how to make small tables, 
- how to integrate images, 
- how to integrate diagrams. 

We also have to agree on several organisazial issus: 

- Who is allowed to edit? (all or only registered users) 
- What about Copyright? (currently: Creative Commons 
Attribution-NonCommercial- 
ShareAlike 2.5 License statement - is this ok for us?) 
- We need at least two additional admins for the Wiki - any volunteers?) 
- More to come 

Best Regards, 

- Otto Janko [mailto:otto at janko.at] [http://www.janko.at] 
-- Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security, 
- will not have, nor do they deserve, either one. [Benjamin Franklin] 





> -----Original Message----- 



> From: retros-bounces at janko.at 



> [mailto:retros-bounces at janko.at] On Behalf Of raosorio at fibertel.com.ar 



> Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2008 3:05 PM 



> To: retros at janko.at 



> Subject: [Retros] Building a complete and friendly retro library 



> 



> 



> Hi friends, 



> 



> We were discussing with Nicolas Dupont about the necessity of 



> having an ordered, 



> complete and friendly source to easily get the PGs state of 



> the art in every respect. 



> 



> We were focussed on PGs but after some interaction with Otto 



> Janko this concept 



> was extended to all the retroanalysis specialties. 



> 



> Otto informed us that he started some time ago a retro-wiki 



> targeted to build such a 



> source but this initiative had no too much success in the RML. 



> 



> It's perhaps a matter of communication, so I propose to start 



> it again. We agreed with 



> Otto that the best way would be to participate the retro 



> community via this RML 



> in order to structure the wiki (which is as far as I 



> understand a very flexible tool) altogether. 



> 



> I would like to remark what I have in mind: there are many 



> problems, articles, Awards, 



> comments, definitions, etc, published all over the world; an 



> endless ocean to be 



> navigated lonely. When one is trying to go deeper with 



> something it's a must to start 



> from its state of the art, but how to get it? 



> 



> Magazines are the original source for most problems, 



> articles, etc, but places like the 



> Retrocorner are the natural (and indispensable) secondary 



> source; other way, how to 



> put the pieces altogether? 



> 



> This should be started by an Otto's message indicating what 



> we should define first in 



> order to build the wiki structure. The wiki is a tool and 



> this initiative will make sense if 



> the retroexperts collaborate filling it with contents; other 



> way, it would be an empty vessel. 



> 



> (http://retrowiki.janko.at/. is already fully functional; 



> nevertheless we should wait 



> to edit it until some agreement about the desired structure 



> is reached on the RML). 



> 



> Some messages from the retro community supporting this 



> initiative would be very appreciated. 



> 



> Best, 



> Roberto Osorio 



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