Authors List

A function that keeps track of who wrote what on a wiki. Every time you post on any page, you are prompted for your name. If you don't type anything, a default is used (for example, "Anonymous Coward"). When you click on the "Authors" link on a page, a list of all pages is displayed, sorted by author.

EgolessWiki fans will truly hate this, but egotistic people will love it.

The function in action on InstikiWiki: http://www.instiki.org/authors/

WhyClublet also shows a list of pages edited by an author when you click the page icon next to an editors name, and a list of authors who edited a page when you click the page icon next to the page name.

Very useful function for serious collective writing. I wonder if WikiPedia has something similar.

Sort of, but not as neatly implemented. WikiPedia tends to be very schizophrenic on questions of authorship.

It would also be useful the other way around: by generating a sort of computerized list of who contributed to each page. InstikiWiki could do it easily... Actually our C2 wiki, Usemod, WikkiTikkiTavi (and presumably a few others) do it also but the authors' list disappears after a few days. You mean RecentChanges, I guess.

This function would not scale at all well on a large wiki. What would be more useful would be an index of contributors, each of which being a hyperlink to that author's listing. One great big list on a page is a bad idea.

Scaling may be a concern when considering a wiki's size, but when considering pages, scaling does not apply. It is not desirable to have bigger and bigger pages, but to have meaningful connectivity between a reasonable number of related pages and to/from related content elsewhere. It is considered a GoodThing by some wikizens that pages be composed in a space of less than 10k. A list of contributors to such pages would normally take no more than a line, or at most two lines (30 to 120 characters). and if added at the bottom of the page, would not detract from what is said in the page. (As noted below, the composition of the list would follow the voluntary convention of signing contributions, and not be forced upon all by an input prompt followed by an entry, as indicated above.)

In InstikiWiki, if you wish to remain anonymous, you can just sign as a wikizen. -- WikiZen

Could this not just be implemented in a manner similar to the Category pages? Perhaps with a WikiBadge such as AddedBy.

Please, no. GentlyReduceWikiBadges.

Implemented already by a voluntary line on may pages:

Contributors: (followed by a list of all who wish to be known as having contributed in some way to the page genesis, growth and content)

related to this: RecentPosts describes a useful script here on C2 Wiki.