Is it time for the Grenadier wiki?

[chrsbe]

There is so much qualified and useful information on this forum. But sometimes very hard to find. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have it all more structured? The ultimate information database? The resources section is great and helped me a lot of times. Also the "missing Manual" is wonderful. But as the amount of information grows it is harder and harder to find what you are looking for. I wonder if it is time for a wiki built in to this forum? What do you think? I don't know much about setting up a wiki but i would definitely be willing to contribute content wise. We should build this database!

 

[ANNML]

It’s a great idea and if done right could be really useful.

Also, I bet a subreddit was created 10 minutes before Jim even thought of his idea. Sometimes Reddit is a goldmine of random information sharing. Might be worth looking at for info-mining.

 

[TheDocAUS]

There is so much qualified and useful information on this forum. But sometimes very hard to find. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have it all more structured? The ultimate information database? The resources section is great and helped me a lot of times. Also the "missing Manual" is wonderful. But as the amount of information grows it is harder and harder to find what you are looking for. I wonder if it is time for a wiki built in to this forum? What do you think? I don't know much about setting up a wiki but i would definitely be willing to contribute content wise. We should build this database!

The Rok Dr Guide satisfies many of our needs and we can print it out and put it in our cars.

@Rok_Dr

 

[Rok_Dr]

There is so much qualified and useful information on this forum. But sometimes very hard to find. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have it all more structured? The ultimate information database? The resources section is great and helped me a lot of times. Also the "missing Manual" is wonderful. But as the amount of information grows it is harder and harder to find what you are looking for. I wonder if it is time for a wiki built in to this forum? What do you think? I don't know much about setting up a wiki but i would definitely be willing to contribute content wise. We should build this database!

Yes as forums grow it does become difficult to find specific information on them, no matter how well they are organised or the ability of the underlying platform's search engine.

To this end a Wiki is a good idea.... but it would require a bit of effort to set-up and an ongoing commitment to maintain. I also have the usual worries about incorrect information creeping and polluting the Wiki over time, so whoever was involved would have to have a good technical knowledge as well as being IT savvy.

As some of us travel to remote areas with no internet, having it available off line would be most useful if it was possible. It's for this reason, coupled with my IT capabilities, that I set up a traditional document in Word for my manual. I can also vet what content goes into it as well. Hearsay and opinions generally don't get a look in unless I can verify them independently.

Probably something that Ineos could consider though as a knowledge base/FAQ in their website.

Cheers
Steve

 

[emax]

First of all, it is my experience that wikis often seem to grow and thrive quickly, but behind the scenes there is no reasonable way to keep them up to date - except through the discipline of the authors.

This discipline often quickly wanes once you have gotten rid of your knowledge and incorporated it into the wiki. It seems to be in good hands there.

But after a short time, in particular technical topics will become outdated, and so the distance between the wiki and reality grows steadily. And there is no guarantee that the authors will take care of their outdated content. That is precisely the moment when no wiki is better than an incorrect wiki.

What works on Wikipedia often does not work on small wikis, because small wikis do not have the number of tens of thousands of authors who, through mutual exchange, almost automatically keep the content up to date, because there are usually far more than just one user behind a particular piece of content.

Unless there are wikis that have an expiration period for each article, after which the author has to reconfirm the content every time the period has expired.

Otherwise, the article should automatically be flagged as "possibly outdated".

Just my 2 cents.

 

[ANNML]

The Rok Dr Guide satisfies many of our needs and we can print it out and put it in our cars.

@Rok_Dr

Okay wow — didn’t know this existed! Amazing!

 

[Rok_Dr]

First of all, it is my experience that wikis often seem to grow and thrive quickly, but behind the scenes there is no reasonable way to keep them up to date - except through the discipline of the authors.

This discipline often quickly wanes once you have gotten rid of your knowledge and incorporated it into the wiki. It seems to be in good hands there.

But after a short time, in particular technical topics will become outdated, and so the distance between the wiki and reality grows steadily. And there is no guarantee that the authors will take care of their outdated content. That is precisely the moment when no wiki is better than an incorrect wiki.

What works on Wikipedia often does not work on small wikis, because small wikis do not have the number of tens of thousands of authors who, through mutual exchange, almost automatically keep the content up to date, because there are usually far more than just one user behind a particular piece of content.

Unless there are wikis that have an expiration period for each article, after which the author has to reconfirm the content every time the period has expired.

Otherwise, the article should automatically be flagged as "possibly outdated".

Just my 2 cents.

All good points @emax and dare I say, some also relevant to a traditional pdf/paper manual.

Cheers
Steve