Wiki the help files

[pdwyer]

I just figured that since we have a community that's good at participating, if the web version of the help file could be made into a wiki then people here could update them and add code snippets or perf comments to them or help with a few lines of text to help noobs avoid pitfalls. PB would still be able to administor them but it could save them some effort in bulking up their docs.

For more control perhaps they might not let everyone do it but but just people they know who aren't likely to make a mess.

We'd be able to participate more in PB without getting in the way of the building of the core product.

The docs would be more of a living doc that becomes more up to date all the time if bugs are discovered.

Anyway, can't hurt to suggest it.

[netmaestro]

Fabulous idea, I think it's absolutely super.

[PB]

There was a PureWiki page already set up, but nobody really used it. The link
is found at PureArea: http://www.purearea.net/pb/english/index.htm

Sadly, the link is no longer working, but maybe it can be restored, along with
what little contributions were there originally?

[pdwyer]

There's a "Manual" link on that page but its just a link, not wiki'd.

I suppose that if Fred & Co don't have time we could try and set it up ourselves but it'd be nice with their moderation and support.

Depends if they see any value to it I suppose

[PB]

> There's a "Manual" link on that page but its just a link, not wiki'd

No, under that "Manual" link is a link called "PureWiki", which leads to:
http://www.purearea.net/pb/english/purewiki/index.php

But it's down. Here's what it used to look like when working:

http://web.archive.org/web/200611300437 ... /Main_Page

As you can see, it was a true working Wiki, with editable pages and so on.

[pdwyer]

Looks pretty cool.

If PB did a major version upgrade though I guess a lot of this would become out of date overnight. That would be very de motivating if you'd made a big effort.

I suppose if PB then took the wiki and built their doc from it and then used that doc to propulate a new helpfile wiki for the new version it might work but it's starting to become a big ask for them.

I can't help but think the forum would be a good resource for them in improving their docs. (wiki or no).

[freak]

The problem with a wiki is that we cannot ensure the correctness of the information
anymore. Thats why it is not suited for the official documentation.

[pdwyer]

I'm not a wiki expoert but I think there's ways that keep track of changes so if you:

- Start with the base docs
- Limit access
- just watch the changes going in.

You would have control and docs would expand.

I'm not sure that it would work for the forum people to embark on their own set of docs by themselves.

Anyway, it was just an idea. Perhaps someone else has another idea that makes this (or something like it) more feasable.

[ts-soft]

PureWiki is repaired, some problems with a table
http://www.purearea.net/pb/english/purewiki/index.php

[pdwyer]

That actually looks pretty good!

I'm going to have a longer look at it.