Good Entry Point

WardsWiki consists of many thousands of pages, each almost equally important. Even the FrontPage isn't that special. As a result people stumble into this site at some random point, presumably something relevant to a Web search. These visitors don't initially have the context provided by the page's neighbors.

Turning this on its head, it becomes a problem for those wishing to create a ValuablePage for a broad section of the reading population.

The often-quoted WardCunningham said on WikiIsNotaDictionary,

: [...] Ask yourself: if the page you cite were to be created, would it serve Wiki well as a point of entry in this web of knowledge?

Perhaps it is easier to describe the nature of a GoodEntryPoint than it is to prescribe WhenToCreatePages?

a useful set of BackLinks or FanOut? of WikiWords is probably the best way to get a visitor started.
a one-liner probably isn't so useful.
...

Please see:

and tell me why this page is needed.

The aim was to describe the usefulness of making any and all of the pages here into GoodEntryPoints to the Wiki, rather than having a couple of specially designated StartingPoints [see also: WikiFrontDoor] and letting the rest be incomprehensible to the new visitor.

The important distinction, I think, is that each page should be a good entry point to that particular group of pages, i.e. the content. Whether the page is a good entry point to a wiki in general is another question, and this is discussed on various pages.

Then again, maybe we're better off just using the Wiki instead of talking about it so much. -- MatthewAstley

CategoryWiki