FIRST wiki: Status check?

[aaeamdar]

Dear FIRST/CD Community,

Most of you have probably heard of Wikipedia. For those who don't know, wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org) is an online encyclopedia that allows users to easily edit its content, or to easily change it back after a bad edit.

Comparatively fewer of you, I'd be willing to bet, have heard of FIRSTwiki. FIRSTwiki (www.firstwiki.org) is a "wiki" devoted to all things FIRST, just as Wikipedia is devoted to... well... all things, real and unreal.

When I went to FIRSTwiki to create a page for my team, 1719, I found amazing gaps in the site. There was no JFLL page (If you don't know what JFLL is, see the new JFLL page). The page titled "FIRST" had not been updated for three years. It's now updated, but feel free to update it more.

But seriously, for a program with just over seven hundred teams with several thousand students involved, it's funny that JFLL didn't get a wiki page.

But wait... actually, it's not. This is not atypical of the gaping holes in the site where knowledge should exist. When I started editing, there basically was no page for the 2007 Game.

So I'll make this short. Here's my request: go do these things, and in a couple seasons we will have an extremely useful repository of knowledge for our programs. Go as far down on this list as you can.

1. Go to the site. It's at www.firstwiki.org . There. You know about it now.
2. Create a log-in and password. You don't even have to provide your real name, much less where you live.
3. Check to see if your team has a page, and if they have one, check to see whether it's updated or not. If your team does not have a page, create one. Creating a page is easier than getting out of your chair. Just follow the links and type in a couple sentences about your team. If you're feeling fancy, copy-paste the format and upload pictures and a logo.
4. Browse around. See what's missing. Create pages. Go crazy. If you want, check out the site's list of needed pages.

I'm hoping that this message can get some publicity for FIRSTwiki. As it is, the site is dying. However, the format makes it completely easy to edit; therefore, in the words of that bear... only YOU can prevent forest fires - err, edit FIRSTwiki pages.

Thank you for your time.
Paul Dennis