We've all heard the criticism that wikis don't work because potentially
just anyone can add anything to the articles. Could be vandalism, could be
nonsense, could be Nobel prize winning research. There are obviously some
controls that can be put on that (close vigilance, moderation, posting
limits, etc.), but the basic problem still exists.
One fix my users suggested was to be able to always track who contributed
what. Actually, what happened was complaints about how successive editors
can alter the work of previous editors. In most cases I feel this is a
good thing, since the article *should* evolve into a better article
overall. But, some felt strongly that the credibility of the article
depends on who is providing the information. Thus a semi-anonymous article
isn't useful, because you can't easily tell who wrote what.
So what I'd like is a variation on the MediaWiki functionality. Rather
than have a single article that anyone can edit, how about articles that
become the primary responsibility of a single editor. Other users can add
to it, but it would be in the form of extended footnotes on the
page. Those new users would be responsible for the notes they wrote. Any
corrections (such as typos or wikifying) would be suggested to the primary
(and any moderators) but not automatically included in the article or
footnote until they concur.
The end result would be articles that look more like old style footnoted or
annotated scholarly treatises. A reader coming to the article could
immediately see who wrote what, but also see how the whole thing ties
together. It would be harder to absorb at a glance, but each contribution
would be readily identifiable. This might not work well for monstrously
large articles, but for smaller focused ones it should.
For example:
Preamble - by A Adams
We the people, in order to form a more perfect union[1], establish justice,
ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense[2], and secure
the blessings of liberty, for ourselves and our posterity[3], do ordain and
establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
[1] by B Bobbins - This union was tested severely in the US Civil War
[2] by C Carter - Defense concepts have changed over the years
[3] by D Dworkin - There have been 30 generation of Americans since 1776
and so on. Each person can change what they wrote, and add a reference
into other people's work, but that is all. Moderators/sysops could take
over abandoned articles, or reassign them to someone else.
How would this be implemented, or would it take a complete rewrite of
MediaWiki?
Bill Taylor