Chinese-Forums Wiki?

[gato]

Roddy,

How about doing a Chinese-forums Wiki? Would be a good repository for answers to questions like comparisons of different schools, ways of finding apartments in Beijing (or Jiamusi), or a good grammar book.

Here is some info about a DIY approach to integrating vBulletin with Wiki:

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/VBulletin/Users_Integration

Here's a commercial package for doing the same:

http://www.nuhit.com/vbwiki-pro/features.html

Here is an example of a Wiki on the Chinese language, but it's not quite fully developed.

http://home.unilang.org/wiki3/index.php/Chinese

What do you think?

[flameproof]

A wiki would be great! We have already some start up information here:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/8195-best-of-chinese-study-tools-studying-chinese-online-and-off

Other then that, there are 1000s of useful tips here which are hard to find otherwise....

[roddy]

Not averse to the idea, but I'd need to see a few people committing to regular adding / updating of content. I'd also prefer to look at ways of doing this within the existing forums structure rather than as an add-on.

[gato]

You mean as stickies? Aside from the problem of finding the information, the forum structure also only allows the person who writes a post to edit it (plus the admin). The good thing about a wiki (and sometimes the bad) is that anybody can edit. I think a forum is best for discussion, whereas a wiki is better for a "linear" presentation of information.

[roddy]

In all honesty I'm not convinced about having something that anyone can edit. What I was thinking of was a specific forum for 'wiki' threads which I could then give anyone interested in moderator status for, allowing them to edit anything within it. The advantage of that is that it doesn't divide the site up into two parts and everything will be searchable from one place. Disadvantage is that you won't have any log of changes I suppose.

To be honest I think more or less the same effect could be achieved within the forums, with anyone motivated enough putting something together and then editing in suggested changes - seemed to work well with the Best of Chinese Study Tools resource.

[gato]

I suppose a Wiki would be dynamic than a sticky. The pool of editors for a wiki would probably be larger. The original posters of a few stickies -- for example, All "Simple," yet confusing grammar and Definitive Guide to Studying in Beijing [uPDATED 6/20/2005] -- are no longer active on the board, and as a result, these posts haven't been updated in a year or two. Allowing more people to edit these pages would allow for more content and more frequent updates. You don't have to allow everyone to have the ability to edit -- just as some newcomers are not given the permission to PM now. It could be, for example, by application, through which you would allow a pool of trusted people to be editors.

The topics posted for a wiki page would be potentially more dynamic and varied than what's possible with stickies. There's a limit to how many stickies there can be before they clutter up the board. Wiki pages don't have that limit.

To sum up, the benefits of a wiki would be

- more frequent updates

- more content

- easier to locate.

[flameproof]

The good thing about a wiki (and sometimes the bad) is that anybody can edit.

Only members should be able to add or edit data. Certainly not outsides. A short while ago I looked up "Tyra Banks", on her Wiki her birth date was 1958 - I think it's 1978...

I have checked wiki once for myself. With the original Wiki software (it's free) you need some special server hardware. It would be too expensive to add that. Beside insatlling you own Wiki you can consider a "wiki farm" service. Some are free, some are paid....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_wiki_farms

[roddy]

Can anybody who thinks they'd regularly add or update information on this wiki please put their hand up . . .

[flameproof]

Can anybody who thinks they'd regularly add or update information on this wiki please put their hand up . . .

I would add till I run out of knowledge.... And maybe check some added stuff from other people that is close (HK border opening hours, Visa in HK and stuff....)

[Shadowdh]

I would be interested but not sure how much knowledge I could contribute...

[simonlaing]

I would contribute to the wiki, My translator job doesn't let me check my email only Chinese forums.

Plus I have first hand info on Nanjing an Jiangsu,

There was a chinese guy who wanted to do some learn chinese stuff we should private message him.

Sounds like fun.

[gato]

What do you think, admins?

[gougou]

Personally, I would expect a wiki to meet the same fate as the Links section we once had - sounds like a great idea, but in the end, people prefer to answer questions rather than to post information in the hope that somebody will come along and read it. So far, including you, gato, I count four people that are willing to participate, two of which already limited their commitment. Do you think that's enough to get it running?

[gato]

If registration to become a contributor is straightforward and semi-easy, it has a chance of working. People may not want to pre-commit to contributing, but once it become available, people might do it on a spur of the moment if there is a proper framework provided.

For example, if Simon take the initiative to start a wiki page on Nanjing. Others who come along with some info on Nanjing might just be willing to add whatever they know to it. Right now people generally only provide info when a question is asked. The info end up scattered across many threads. Once threads become old, they are harder to find, especially for newbies.

[simonlaing]

I agree with Gato that we should start it and as it gets popular people will join.

Starting it about Nanjing and Beijing would cool. We could put some travel stuff in as well .

I also agree and think some of the pages can link to discussions in CHinese forums, link good links and the cost of housing that was up earlier.

I think there are lot's of things that are interesting about living in china and learning Chinese that you don't think to ask when you're a newbie but would help as well.

I have sponsorship think with my tutor website so could add another account if Roddy thinks I should.

But I could put a lot of time into it the next 6 months plus.

have fun,

Simon:)

[adrianlondon]

Many questions on here get asked over and over again because the answers keep changing!, so I'm not sure that a links section or a wiki is that useful.

As soon as the content is tidied up and published it'll be obsolete in many cases.

[gato]

so I'm not sure that a links section or a wiki is that useful.

The links section wasn't that useful partly because it contained too many links, not in a very organized fashion. A newbie would have a hard time with hundreds of links. However, the most popular thread on this board is the one on the "best of study tools," which is essentially a links section in another form. This kind of information, I think, is an example of something can be very usefully summarized or listed in a wiki format.

As soon as the content is tidied up and published it'll be obsolete in many cases.

Can you give an example of something that changes that quickly? Most things I can think of can remain useful at least six months out, if not longer.

[gougou]

I agree with gato (and others) that a wiki, once finished, would be very useful. What I am dubious about is whether it ever would get there... Wikipedia wasn't built in a day!

[roddy]

Go head and write up the articles on whatever topics you would want to. If there's a steady stream of decent stuff I can quite easily create a wiki category with subcategories and move the articles to the appropriate subcategory. If there isn't, they can just sit on the main part of the board and won't go to waste. I'm not going to add any extra functionality to the board at the moment.

[gougou]

gato, what do you think of roddy's earlier suggestion to set up a subforum, in which everybody willing to participate gets moderator status (so everybody can edit all posts)? I think that will cover all the wiki functionality you need, won't it?