Wiki Sig

This proposal is a proposal only, not standard practice on this site. See discussion below. -- WardCunningham

Please consider this to be a 'frozen' page. Anyone that wishes to discuss any of these ideas or their implications should do so in the appropriate segment of CrazyThingsThatMightSaveWiki. -- HansWobbe.

A SIG is a Special Interest Group. (People familiar with the ACM will know the history of such groups and how they are beneficial.) Since Wiki is often used to imply many obviously different aspects, I will define my use of the term within the context of this page to be a short form for WardsWiki. Specifically, this site's blend of its software capabilities and all of the community members that use the software to participate in a set of group activities that focus on PeopleProjectsAndPatterns + ...

Then, I can make a couple of WikiSig assumptions:

The individuals that are members of WardsWiki all have many other interests and experiences and these have much value. Many of the pages in WardsWiki recognize this; a fact that is obvious in our standard greeting placed on a new home page that requests people to tell us a bit about themselves. (Note, for future consideration, that the knowledge we gain in this way also helps us start to build a level of understanding that may mature into trusted relationships within this community.)
Education and training are quite different. One general way I believe they are distinguished is that education is learning that is very broad in nature and is designed to help one appreciate how to best be a part of a greater community or society. (Job) training, on the other hand, is a way of enhancing the specialized skills that are needed to improve the ability to earn money (for a better life).

These two assumptions are the foundation for my opinion that a WikiSig should allow us to be become better educated, by recognizing that certain individuals who are members of WardsWiki obviously are respected members of other groups and have much specific knowledge that I, at least, would greatly appreciate sharing. In fact, I would feel honoured to be able to participate in any 'seminar', led by many of the individual members of this community. (Conversely, I would feel embarrassed and repelled if someone's contributions to such an OffTopic post were deleted, in much the same way as I am repelled by the historical book burnings that have marred past communities and societies.)

Now, in an effort to "lighten up", when I defended the AmericasCup? page, all I was trying to do was state my belief that the AmericasCup? is a topic that has a very large following that is generally superbly technically competent (all be it, not necessarily within the strictest definitions of wiki software use). I also hoped that there would be some sailors here who would help me learn more about this and several other technical items I think may be related. I certainly did not know that the deletion of the page and its subsequent restoration would challenge me to explain why I thought AmericasCup? is OnTopic. While considering various ways I might try to meet the challenge, I generated some ideas that I will integrate as time allows. However, much more importantly, reading the posts about sailors, etc, made me realize that I really feel strongly that we need to tolerate more pages that some will consider OffTopic. We also must appreciate and respect the individual members of this community more and encourage them to contribute with their other (non-programming, non-pattern, etc.) strengths.

I think it's time we give wiki a new coat of attitude 'paint'. If we do, then it should be much easier to contribute our experience and to be educated by those of others. If we don't, ... (Well, that's the reason I am referring to this page from CrazyThingsThatMightSaveWiki.)

Finally, over time, I'm going to contribute to work on SailingSig?, because I still want to learn more about sailing and because I really do think that having a category of WikiSig Pages will be good for wiki. It's up to you as a member of the community, though.

-- HansWobbe

SailingSig would be a simpler name for the page. Agreed! And that may lead to CategorySig?.

I think that CategorySailing? would be the appropiate way to go. As Ward said, it's not a good idea to try to divide the wiki population; instead, we can set some order on the pages. But I think that Sailing is a pretty limited category, you could come up with CategoryNavigation (but I think that could lead to some confusion), or something. --JuanPabloNunnezRojas

A wiki is first of all a creative work. A wiki solicits community to participate in that creation, but it does not exist to create community. Dividing the community into interest groups cannot improve the quality or integrity of the work. Sailors should certainly have a wiki, but this is not it. -- WardCunningham

Thank you for stating your opinion. I will certainly respect it. -- HansWobbe

This site has always been tolerant of diverse interests, especially as those interests inform our primary purpose of capturing programming experience. Should your interest in sailing influence your experience programming, we'd love to know how. -- Ward

Thank you (even more) for taking the time to comment further. I really do appreciate what you initiated and what this community has accomplished. And I am very aware of its tolerance, given that I strive to review its RecentChanges and build a personal index of any and all pages that I find beneficial since it is usually impossible for me to do more than keep up with the wealth of information that this site contains.

(Since I gather you have a bit of interest in metrics, I am adding about 1,000 pages to my index in each of the past six months, about 90% of which are c2: pages, although that number is declining as I spend more time trying to contribute to those pages that I feel I can best improve by rasing the Signal To Noise ratio.)

Finally (for the record) I am not a sailor and know very little about that subject. As an Engineer, the AmericasCup? captivated me as a statement of how extreme the commitment of its participants is to exploiting technological advantages (note the contestants are generally 'billionaires' and consortiums and need to be if they wish to contend). I'm not strong on Object Oriented Programming pardigms and Patterns are new to me since starting here, but I already believe the motivational patterns could be of interest, especially given the need for User input that does not seem to have changed in the last 37 years I've been a developer who continues to stuggle with this single facet of the technology gem.

Appreciatively and respectfully yours, -- Hans

Understood. Let me add that the AmericasCup? boats are awesome technical achievements often funded with wealth from our very own industry. -- Ward