Would it be possible to install a Leaf Labs wiki? This would be helpful so we can build web pages that accumulate knowledge, like:
Arduino has a great wiki called Playground: http://www.arduino.cc/playground/
I have found it quite helpful to the community, in addition to forums and website docs.
What do you think?
It would be great to have a single documentation source, but the current docs are on the Leaf Labs website. And there are a lot of uses for a wiki other than docs - like what the Arduino Playground wiki does.
I just want to do something simple that enables collaboration and building a body of user-generated knowledge. If that later happens to be a great place to put the "official" Maple docs, that would be great too... but I would be happy just to have a wiki with nothing in it right now that we could use put how-tos and notes and things like that.
i personally don't see the need for a "staff only" documentation section.
monome.org has had all of their docs in a public wiki for at least a few years now. anyone can sign up to edit or change things. it's also revision controlled, so if someone defaces the page, it's easy to put the correct info back up. but, in the years i've been a part of the community over there, i haven't seen the wiki hit by spam or malicious activity. instead, i've seen users helping users, and veteran users taking some of the support load off of the people running the company.
gbulmer
Moderator
Adam - I agree their is value to be had from a wiki beyond the scope of the current docs.
soundcyst - I agree with you 100%, except :-)
1. some documentation pages may be autogenerated from e.g. code, and it migt be a PITA to try to incorporate user content. I'd prefer not to create extra work for LeafLabs. If they decide it's no problem, strike this,
2. Having revision control doesn't remove the need to check for accuaracy, and that is work. I'd prefer not to create extra work for LeafLabs. If they decide it's no problem, strike this too,
3. there may be liability issues which LeafLabs have to take responsibiity for. A customer who says "I bought this because the documentation said ...", has rights in Europe which can not be answered with a "oh, yes, someone changed that page, and you bought before we had got to correct it", and
4. LeafLabs staff may want some time to get accustomed to the changes, and see how it works out. LeafLabs may want the ability to 'protect' pages.
I am not an expert, but the monome.org stuff I've seen says it is exclusively for non-commercial use. That restriction may remove some of the issues, and so LeafLabs and monome may not be an "apples for apples" comparison.
StephenFromNYC
Moderator
Hello,
I agree that wikis for user generated content are helpful.
Is there any objection to an unofficial wiki?
Are there any web sites which offer free server space for wikis?
If the LeafLabs organizers are too busy to moderate a wiki on the leaflabs.com domain they can still create a link from the leaflabs documentation to the appropriate unofficial wiki.
Thanks!
Stephen from NYC
What sort of open source company would we be if we objected to distribution of user-generated content? However, for the same reasons that an unofficial wiki is unofficial, we probably wouldn't be able to link to it from our docs. Eventually, we would like to run our own MediaWiki. But 'eventually' has no specific date attached to it. If and when we make an official wiki, I think we would be silly not involve contributors to independent wikis in it's initial development and administration.
hanna,
Cool, thanks for the info. I look forward to when you do install a wiki!
In the meantime, I made a Leaf Labs Maple page on the Open Circuits wiki here:
http://www.opencircuits.com/Leaf_Labs_Maple
This is a MediaWiki that is devoted to Open Source hardware. I think it's a good place for us to put our user generated Maple content in the meanwhile. When Leaf Labs gets its own wiki, we can port the content over pretty easily. We can put sub-pages off this page when we write docs or other info.
gbulmer,
re: MediaWiki being PHP, yeah, I don't relish PHP either, but I've run MediaWiki before - it works great and I've found doesn't really need any hacking. And I like that I already know the syntax since it is what Wikipedia uses.
hanna,
Thank you for the clarification! I moved the page to LeafLabs and created a redirect. :-)
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