Announcing: X1/9 Wiki

[dcioccarelli]

Questions / answers

• Who pays?

Well, I do for now, but it isn't much.

• Who admins when Dom isn't around?

I'm more than happy to cede control to anyone who wants to participate in admin activities. I would really appreciate any assistance in this area actually.

• How stable/reliable is the host?

I have used them in the past and they seem ok. I'm currently on a limited hosting plan, although this can be extended as required. The major point here is that the DNS address for the domain (x19.uidl.net) can be re-pointed at any hosting provider. The Wiki implementation (dokuwiki) is PHP based and the data is stored in files rather than a DB. This makes migrating to other providers (and backing up) a piece of cake. If we do need to (or want to) change providers, this will be completely transparent to the user base as I just need to repoint the DNS listing.

• Whose efforts will keep this wiki alive five years from now? Fifteen?

I would expect it to be our combined efforts. As I mentioned, we can share admin responsibility, any admin can create a backup of the entire content and we can change providers at a whim. Therefore I would expect that we have little chance of ever loosing any content or control.

• Running something like this is a BIG job. Are we in it for the long haul?

Agreed, but if we share the effort even big jobs can be made manageable.

I'd say we should just run with what Dom has set up.

I'd tend to agree :wink2:. There are 100 ways to set this up, but given my experience this current configuration should be suitable for even our long term needs. I would underline that where we host is really flexible. I can even move the existing site to a server / provider that everyone agrees on. The only pre-requisite is that it supports PHP (which nearly all providers do). The existing URL doesn't need to change as I / we can update the DNS listing as required. I'm happy to add other people as domain admins as well for uidl.net.

Cheers,
Dom.

 

[dcioccarelli]

At the particular moment there is only one thing I spotted that gave me a ?

It says docuwiki does not use a database

In our proposed future implementation of mediawiki it most definitely would be using a database

There seem to be quite a few very large wiki sites using both dokuwiki and other file based wikis. The clearest answer comes from the dokuwiki page below:

http://www.dokuwiki.org/faq:database

Cheers,
Dom.

 

[seattlex19]

well guys

It is up to you guys what software you would prefer to run on for this but I can only say that having a db makes life easier in the long run than not, imo. Systems that use files are (again imo) typically fine for smaller sites so if the intended wiki is never going to get too "large" I would say then I guess it is an either-or, but the thing that is causing me to hesitate is, the future. If it is enough a success that it grows beyond a certain point (I assume it would), or if the thing gets built up full of all our data and we then later decide we need the system to provide some feature it does not have, etc etc, hypothetically ever need to migrate platforms, my experience has been that doing so from a db system vs a file system is far preferable... I openly admit I'm no guru but thats been my experience...

Doing Xweb care/feed has taught me one thing (if nothing else), be VERY PARANOID UP FRONT about DATA! It is so much easier to wring the hands before spending months or years loading gigs of data into something than it is to do so after... I advocate you guys discuss seriously ALL platform options before you come to the decision to proceed loading data in any of them with permanency as a goal, regardless whichever route you guys end up choosing... then I will sit back and shut my yap about paranoia and will happily support whatever form it takes

 

[seattlex19]

ps

please pardon my somewhat dyslexic thought process, I hope (with numerous edits) I (eventually) was able to articulate myself somewhat coherently.. this whole "be succinct" concept is still a new thing for me (*adopted by popular demand ), I still struggle with it often...

 

[Holgi]

German Wiki is using Mediawiki: http://x19.hobala.de/wiki

We could also think of a common wiki adding language switching capabilities (is Mediawiki aware of this?).

For example see the brake reservoir hose replacement section: http://x19.hobala.de/wiki/index.php/Reparaturanleitung/Bremsen

 

[seattlex19]

interesting idea

Multilingual joint effort would be a fascinating proposition, not sure the technical side of that element but the idea seems interesting...

I was mainly just thinking mediawiki as a two-pronged function of:

1: it is the '800lb gorilla' of wiki platforms nowadays, and while I used to have boundless enthusiasm for site maintenance tasks, anymore I just want it to be viable on its own with just light maintenance, so the people on the backend (whoever may be) can get offline and go work on our X1/9s instead of constantly working on the site (lol)

and 2: of all the possible platforms of which I am presently aware, (even one out there specifically coded to be an extension of vb) mediawiki seemed the one best positioned for 3rd party backend integration with the forum software we are currently running, if we ever did decide to pursue that, now or later...

But again I'm just throwing my own individual opinions out here, I encourage you each to decide for yourselves whatever your wiki preferences may be...

PS to Dom, check your email