Sandbox Wiki

It seems to me that we are getting a larger number of people visiting WikiWiki who have a genuine interest in wiki technology, but who did not come to talk about our InformalHistoryOfProgrammingIdeas. I've suggested to a couple of these people/groups to try to set up their own wiki software, but I realize that this can be a bit of a burden for someone who only wants to experiment with wikis or maybe just use one temporarily for a short-term purpose (e.g. ClassWork?). I was thinking it might be beneficial for us to start a SandboxWiki which takes the concept of the WikiWikiSandbox page one step further: The whole wiki is a sandbox (with maybe a few permanent seed pages explaining the basics).

A technical thought occurs to me; you can effect this by redefining those critical pages in the server as read only - in un*x, chmod 444. This prevents the software from changing them. ALL other pages are writable, therefore changeable. Sorry, please continue. -- KirkBailey

Possible uses:

Short term projects (a few weeks at most), such as brainstorming ideas, or discussing class topics.
Learning more about wiki without having to search for an 'appropriate' wiki.
Demonstrating wiki technology to others, such as a course on Web technologies.

Possible benefits:

Reducing sandbox-type traffic on C2's RecentChanges.
Provides a convenient and polite way to encourage experimentation while keeping our own WikiMission, much like DeleteTestAndWelcome.

Possible problems:

Not enough experienced traffic to answer questions or make suggestions.
Newcomers can get 'lost' in the disconnected wiki. This may be avoidable with InterWiki pointing back to C2.
The place goes straight to hell because no one really maintains it. Could be somewhat averted by read-only seed pages and regular deletion (say all pages over 6 months old get deleted).

I would be willing to host a UseModWiki for this purpose if people could help by making suggestions and discussing the issues. I don't really have an appropriate domain name for it though, so if someone else thinks it's a good idea, they might want to host it instead. PleaseComment.

Oh, the other point I should mention is that I don't know a lot about WikiFarms. Would this be a better alternative than a SandboxWiki? What would be a good farm to refer people to? -- RobHarwood

If you create such a thing, I'd surely like to know. Until Yahoo Wiki comes along, it would be helpful for those who need a small wiki work area. -- LouisThomas wonderful

Fabulous!!