[wiki]: FIRSTWiki Active?

[Tanner]

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 Even the pages I've edited have been a few years out of date.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

[Tanner]

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

[Astronouth7303]

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.

[Tanner]

Originally Posted by Astronouth7303

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.

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

Originally Posted by Astronouth7303

Just talk to someone if you have specific suggestions.

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

[Astronouth7303]

Originally Posted by Tanner

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

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.

Originally Posted by Tanner

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

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

Originally Posted by Tanner

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.

>.>

More true than I should ever publicly admit.

[Tanner]

Originally Posted by Astronouth7303

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

*raises hand for fresh blood*

Originally Posted by Astronouth7303

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

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.

Originally Posted by Astronouth7303

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.

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.

Originally Posted by Astronouth7303

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

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

Originally Posted by Astronouth7303

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

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

-Tanner

[Boydean]

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.

[Tanner]

Originally Posted by Boydean

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.

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

[synth3tk]

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.

[Tanner]

Originally Posted by synth3tk

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.

Cool, that'd be three.

Originally Posted by synth3tk

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.

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

[JackG]

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.

[synth3tk]

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.

[Boydean]

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.

[Tanner]

Originally Posted by Boydean

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.

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

[Astronouth7303]

Originally Posted by Tanner

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!

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

Also, are you volunteering?