[wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

Hi all,

I began editing FIRSTWiki a few days ago (probably a week ago now) as I was referencing it so much to find information on my own stuff, I thought I might as well contribute while I'm working on referencing it.

Though, there are so issues with some articles and I don't really know what to do. I've looked at some of the community portal pages, but all indications kinda lead to me that the wiki is "dead" - having not had much community interaction on it for a while. Even the pages I've edited have been a few years out of date. From what the recent pages show, I'm the only one who's done a lot of editing on general pages in the last 30 days.

So, is there still a administration running the show or has it kinda fallen apart? I really don't want to see such a good resource just topple over...

-Tanner

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

No response? Or what?

Anyone know of anything? Kinda want to have something before I start doing down the list of sysops asking questions...

-Tanner

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

Yeah. It's pretty dead.

The problem is that we never got a large enough base for it to be self-sustaining. And I don't think any of the sysops are actually students anymore.

Just talk to someone if you have specific suggestions.

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

That's kind of saddening. So what's become of it? Just the obvious - a wiki collecting dust and showing its age?

Someone? I'm not even sure who to talk to.

I just think its sad to see something go down without having a plan for the future. Pretty much right now, it seems I could do anything and there wouldn't be anyone to object.

-Tanner

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

It still gets edited once in a while. But the bottom line is that it needs fresh blood and better scope.

Documenting every team and every robot is daunting. We already have a source for white papers. Nobody feels like reposting all the technical information.

Ideally, it would be a one-stop-shop of FIRST information; the Hitchhikers Guide to FIRST, if you will. But we only ever had a relatively small number of people working on articles. And when they graduated and drifted away from FIRST (I personally only volunteer at competitions anymore), no one replaced them.

Technically, it's in need of repairs. MediaWiki needs updates. More extensions are needed. And nobody is around to stop spammers.

You could talk to me. I came up with a lot of the templates and organization used.

>.>

More true than I should ever publicly admit.

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

*raises hand for fresh blood*

Document teams/robots doesn't seem important for FIRSTWiki as far as I see it. You'd probably get more accurate information by contacting someone on a team than relying on source that tries to do the same for ~3000 odd teams. White papers are good, but there are most likely several different papers on how to do the same thing, which having one compiled article on the wiki could accomplish.

The scope right now may be too big. If you try to do 1,000 things at once, you'll probably only get 250 of them done with the 750 rest being undeveloped. It's all about focus. If a certain section needs to be updated, then it should be a goal to update that section only for the month or something.

I think it could be, though the exact goal needs to be redefined. If it's going to be FIRST, write stuff specifically on FIRST. Don't focus on team/robot data.

Most of that sounds like a job for the original admin (Max I think it is?).

Might contact you later, got a few ideas or two.

-Tanner

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

I started doing some editing before the season started but noticed no other activity and stopped, thinking it was dead.

I'm willing to be 'fresh blood' and drive it with some other people.

EDIT: Might as well add that I have experience php/css/java script and the what nots of the world of web development.

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

So there's two. Not much, but more than there was before.

I really just think there needs to be a plan rather than "hey - add what you find is missing." In retrospect, it works great when its done, but not very well when you're trying to get it done with small groups.

-Tanner

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

I graduated from HS, but I'm far from leaving FIRST.

I'd love to help out in my free time, specifically during the off-season.

I know some PHP/HTML/CSS, and while I haven't messed with MediaWiki much, I'm well-versed in vB, IPB, WP, Joomla, and MyBB, so I think I can learn quickly enough to help be a SysOp.

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

Cool, that'd be three.

As far as a MediaWiki sysop/admin, there's not much other than managing the articles (which requires some HTML/CSS in advanced cases). Most of the stuff is able to be changed via the browser, and the only stuff I can think of that needs to be managed via direct access (FTP) is extensions and MediaWiki updates.

-Tanner

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

I'm sure there's plenty of people who'd like to add stuff about their teams. If anyone involved with the Wiki could develop some guidelines and hints for how people could help contribute, I think that would go a long way towards keeping it alive/updated. For instance, I could contribute to my team's page, and I'm sure that there's plenty of other willing volunteers that would say the same thing. Just some guidance and direction for what to do would harness the power of the community.

However, talking about FTP and PHP and technical jargon is a good way to scare off contributors. Making the wiki able to be contributed easily and making sure people know as much would be a good step to better community contributions.

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

Jack, anyone can contribute, even now. There's nothing stopping them.

But if we're talking about keeping the software updated and adding extensions (which I think was mentioned in this thread), then FTP and PHP are bound to appear.

This is not to say that this thread is only about that, but I figured since I know about that stuff, that I would offer my assistance in that area.

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

I agree that we have to have focus, and that team information isn't the priority. How about we start doing the fundamentals. 1) Updating the backend 2) creating articles about last and this year information(ie. breakaway article). 3) Update new user pages.

I'll add these things to the to-do page(link) so we can start getting things moving over there.

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

Updating the backend should definitely be the priority. It's very old (1.6.5 vs 1.15.1).

I've never done any work on a wiki (outside my a personal one), but I think it might be easier to start going through articles and tagging them with what needs to be done (update, new formatting, formatting broken). Then the article could be tagged that is has been looked over for the "Great 2010 Revival". 'Course I've never been involved in anything like this, but that's how I think it would be easier to go over articles. 'Course it might be better to add what we can of what's missing from last years.

Update new user pages? I'm not sure what you mean by that, ergo I don't see how that is important.

Edit:
I currently don't feel "ok" just going off and changing things by myself without having a set plan and making sure it's all ok. I kinda think that there is a lot of unused team stuff. It might be helpful eventually separate team articles and FIRST/science/other related articles. It's just kind of scary to see that 1,208 (out of the 1,443 that exist) are mostly non-existant team articles and/or have only one link (the one team article). Just too much to change. Ahh!

Cheers
-Tanner

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

A lot of it is templates. We use them to great advantage.

Also, are you volunteering? ;)

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

Always.

-Tanner

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

Not sure whether I should post here or at the wiki as I'm not sure where ya'll/anyone will be notified.

What's the status on getting the backend up to date? I don't know what to do with myself when Special:Specialpages isn't sorted. Ah..

On a serious note, I bet there are a few bugs crushed by the new version. Among some other things. Somewhere...

-Tanner

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

We need FTP access.

Where is this hosted, and who would have the access/permission for us to get this updated?

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

Yep.

As far as I know, Max is the only one who has access to it. Although since it has been said it is hosted by the same guy who hosts CD (I don't know who this is - picking the administration out here is so hard), it might be possible to ask him.

I did send Max a PM 10 days ago (before I posted this post) asking if the wiki was still alive and he has not replied. 'Course the last time he logged in was last year.

[looks into emailing Max].

-Tanner

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

Brandon Martus. He's the CD admin. I remember they mentioned moving it to the server.

See if we can get an FTP sub-account or something.

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

Max said Astronouth7303 has FTP access as well so I'll see if he can do it if able.

-Tanner

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

Would be good too see some updates come to the Wiki, I am one of the Sysops and for a while I was very active in keeping things up to date, but with all the bugs in the code, needed updates, and total lack of activity (there were maybe 3 people that regularly edited the wiki back when I worked on it a lot), I put working on it on the backburner.

My only real problem with the wiki was the lack of active people with administrative access to fix things and lack of people with knowledge of FIRST topics editing it. One can only ward off spam and formatting errors for so long on a dead wiki before they ask "What's the point?"


I'd be happy to still help out, I just hope this "revival see's more people getting involved and editing it (perhaps a CD portal announcement to help draw attention?) :rolleyes:

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

In case you didn't notice, I'm updating MediaWiki tonight. If you want live updates or have questions, you should join me in IRC.

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

Never used IRC, but good to hear the Wiki is getting a well needed update! Any other changes besides just a version upgrade (Plugins, extentions, tools, anti-bot registration software)? :rolleyes:

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

One thing at a time. My current plans are to backup all data and files and to upgrade existing software. If things go horribly awry, I'll wipe it and restore it.

[EDIT]You can use the online version in my signature.[/EDIT]

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

Sweet - updates.

I woke up and noticed it was still updating? The ten hour upgrade? Anything go wrong?

-Tanner

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

Yeah. It takes a long time to move 4GB of data over the Internet.

Also, the installed versions of PHP and libxml2 have issues. I've let Brandon know.

For now, I've restored the old files.

Re: [wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?
 

If anyone here is still involved with FIRST and interested in contributing, I've resurrected FIRSTwiki as a set of github pages sites. I believe this implementation addresses a number of problems:

• No server software to go out of date
• Github takes care of spam for us
• If admins decide to abandon the project, it's trivially simple for someone to fork their own version

See my thread here: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=147329