Some time ago on SWET-L, the subject of whether it would be useful to have a wiki on the SWET site came up. The issue was left unresolved at the time, but the issue has become more practical now that a wiki module is available that can be easily plugged in to our existing site. The only issue that remains now is whether there is enough interest in contributing to such a project to justify setting it up, hence this poll.

Please feel free to add comments or suggestions below.

The problem with this type of open access is that it can be spammed, messed up and deleted by stupid pests so easily.

Moderated sites are safer as regards the quality of their information

Thank you for your comment, Patrika.

Patrika Salmon - 11 June 2006 08:25 PM

The problem with this type of open access is that it can be spammed, messed up and deleted by stupid pests so easily.

Moderated sites are safer as regards the quality of their information

Well, no, not in this case. Although wikis tend to be designed to let anyone contribute, this one was developed with better access control, so only groups that we designate can post or edit content. We could, for example, limit posting to only SWET members, if that was desired (though we have not yet discussed anything like that). In any case, anonymous posting is not possible. Even at its most open, the system still requires that the user have an account at swet.jp, so we can prohibit posting by specific users if necessary.

In that sense, the proposed wiki would be moderated.

Depends on the type of wiki you want, Roger.

If it is one of giving out information in the form of facts then how do you monitor the quality of the knowledge. Wikipedia, the online reference resource, is riddled with errors.

Why do you want a wiki? What do you want to do with it? Maybe a Speaker’s Corner is better.