[Wikipedia-l] Re: No new wikis

Sat Jul 19 02:50:58 UTC 2003

Erik Moeller said...
> I am a bit concerned about the pace at which new Wikipedia spinoff  
> projects are created.

<snip>
I share Erik's concerns. I think we may be suffering what some people 
call WikiAddiction: we love wikis, and so we want to use them for every 
good idea that comes up as fast as possible.

> I propose that
> 1) we do not start any new Wiki spin-off projects until our current  
> resources have been substantially expanded;

Agreed. Many of Wikipedia's useful functions are still unavailable. Our 
computing resources and volunteer programming staff are already stretched 
too thin trying to support the projects we already have.

> 2) we formalize a process for starting such projects, e.g. a planning  
> period of at least 3 months on Meta with exact specifications as to what  
> is to be placed there. After this period, users on the Meta wiki should  
> vote on whether the new wiki should be set up or not. 3 months may seem  
> long, but if interest can't be kept up that long, the idea may not be so  
> great after all.

Or something like that. One of the important things to consider is that 
perhaps a wiki is not the best tool to use for the project you have in 
mind. I haven't seen the discussions (and so my opinion should be taken 
with a grain of salt), but using a wiki to create an image respository is 
like using a claw hammer and a dull screwdriver to do fine woodworking.

Stephen G.