User:Mirwin/Reply to gerv
(English) This is an essay. It expresses the opinions and ideas of some Wikimedians but may not have wide support. This is not policy on Meta, but it may be a policy or guideline on other Wikimedia projects. Feel free to update this page as needed, or use the discussion page to propose major changes. |
gerv For background see my previous posts in this dialogue.
If a userwiki automatically has the new reports copied into the database and the links placed into two lists, one for readonly access (Honor system unless somebody feels like programming different, initially post notice at top. Revision control reports changes and
orginal can be recovered if vandals or accidents happen.) and one for direct immediate markup, discussion, derision, amusement expressment, alphabetizing, categorizing, speculating, whatever the evolving community can agree and enforce upon themselves however they choose to organize ..... essence of wiki community ..... Mutual freedom and responsibiltiy. Let's have fun and enjoy this common space, I will be me and you be you and we will figure out new rules or at least discuss the olds with them .... newcomers, strangers, aliens, outsiders, others.
Notice that someone will probably create a priority list for wandering developers with his priorities at the top.
Someone else will write a script to automatically log in after 4 a.m. collective aggregate average time and randomize or reprioritize in preparation for early morning wandering developers. It will be hilarious! Well worth getting up. The hell with Maxwell House, too much caffiene is dangerious with tripping the light fantastic at the murky edges of known mental spaces.
Post a notice of a fix method of the top priority and watch the topsy turvy. Include a humerous warning that it probably has bugs and needs some more work but a journeyer can probably take it from here. I will get back to it next week if I have the time. Keep your committments and manage the expectations well .... some of these users may be working grant proposals or business plans or resumes to take one last shot at improving their local space. Be careful. You want some things from these users after all and they are unlikely to be interested in assisting you if no protocol for civilized behavior can negotiated. From no trust where, how?
It will accelerate the process if you write or point to some summaries of proposed local customs and the local wiki features. Point at a sample healthy site that the users can understand or relate to or get some help. Wikipedia.com is building such a resource as we speak. Drop in and wander around a bit. Check the entry on your favorite rock band. Ever wonder where Murphy's law originated? Run the search at Wikipedia or go though technology, space technology, rocket sled. I found out working on this entry. Murphy is a real person, he worked a few miles down the street from me separated by a decade or two. Amazing.
1. Get a simple wiki space running (hopefully on user/adminstraters dedicated server, find some money to buy and send them one if you really want some results. That what I intend to do in a year or two. First I have to help get Wikipedia on track and get my own next gravy train set up and help train several community subsets and superset access agents and convince them that an approach to tackle several problems we encountered a couple of years ago in our methodology has been discovered and is currently being prototyped.
2. See if you can find somebody to write the script or configuration file or router or whatever the hell you decide to use to get editable
files
loaded automatically into your wiki from your report address so it integrates well with your project. It may be nothing more than echoing
to another mailing address provided by your wikiadmin/owner/founder/autocrat/whatever. It may involve doing the programming yourself. Check back in a few months if you cannot find anyone to program it. I have some buddies that will do this for me when I ask nicely. It is time to call in some favors and start creating grubstakes and tickets. Since I need this myself, if no one else manages/produces/develops/post the necessary script I am going to get it done. I doubt that I will program it but you never know. I have the books, equipment, experience, etc. Just not the specific particulars.
3. Edit your wiki for fun at least one a day. When satisfied that external users can find the FAQ and Fundamentals and draft local etiquette guide and proposed ratifcation/negotiation/public discussion/debate/rules of engagement/whatever, then ....
4. Write a proposed mission statement and post it prominently. See Mission Statement on front page here. This statement probably biased the direction the lcoal community has taken just a bit, so I think anyway. Many people here think it is no longer applicable to the local community and dislike my personal experimentation methods. So what? Raph warned them. I warned them. The owner has not excommunicated me by deleting my accounts. Despite the simulated cert war or Kelly Crusade my buddies stood firm with against the Troll Overlords and now I am contributing, a bit. Maybe this seed will grow, who knows?
5. Accomodate diverse styles, opinions, deficiencies, etc. as collegially and effectively as possible. Be friendly. Chit chat about a subject of interest to the other people if possible. Express appreciation of good ideas. Build on success, ignore failure. Everybody has a bad hair day occasionally .... who should they talk for a morale boost if not their buddies at their local community? Moderation! Too much exposure to depression leads to depression. Share some joy once in while and forget you problem of the moment if possible. A toothache in America is just not as bad as being targeted by an American missile carrier 3 miles above (rise), 4 miles thataway (run), for a scalar value of ... ?? 9+16 = x*x x=5 ? How long to hide if it arrives at mach 2?
You still here? Asking me to solve your problem in the forum of your choice rather than the one I proposed? Have you at least cut and paste there ..... corrected a typo? I will be checking in there today. Yesterday was disappointing. ZERO, nada, zip, no initiative by anybody but tk who also prefers his own methods. Cool! Hehe .... it was correct usage as I applied it in at least one location in this thread. I added my opinion of the dragon book's explanation. Also a reference and colorful description that I saw somewhere before and remembered by checking the picture out on my out of date edition.
6. Thing about how it is appropriate to make money off the site. Resources do not grow on trees, well not in the U.S. anyway. I mean not that we use, they have to be put in plastic and marked 500 percent before suitable for consumption. If you do not need the
resources then be sure to let your administrators know that you have deep pockets. I recommend caution with this approach. Simple math and experience shows that if more comes in than goes out the pile grows, if more out it shrinks. With zero allocation responsibilites or judgment or personal cost ..... Asymptotic? Consumption, not production. Consumers are O.K. (especially with electronic products), active parasites consuming more than they produce are detrimental to the host.
7. Salt the mine. Be prepared to tackle the first few top bug priorities as per the apparent/alleged/instantenous user consensus prioritization. Data management is their mutual collective responsibility but some signs of benefit from applied efforts is neccesary initial investment to build morale if you wish the site to succeed. If you do not wish to the site to succeed then do not waste people's time. Grumpy gray matter is extremely dangerous and we already have plenty around here.
8. Be flexible. If they are taking responsibility and doing the work let them do it their way. Presumably they learn from mistakes or they would be attempting to abandon titanic Microsoft products. Try to keep the lifeboat within swimming distance. We have a diverse passenger list here on planet Earth. The universe is watching!!! 12 Billion known sentient controlled camera systems on this planet disregarding other species, it is not the sinkers in water that are dangerous. It is the ones behind you watching you push them under while cackling "Let them eat cake."
9. I do not know. I have done this before. Only noticed a correlation between a couple of working systems a few weeks ago.
10. Your guess is as good as mine. Shall we do some science and experiment together?
I know what is in it for me.
Can you articulate for yourself and others what is in it for you?
If you prefer the clean version of the above, check the link provided in the previous post in a couple months. Maybe a better version will be there, if it pleases me or my buddies to provide it. We may choose to run off and make or beg for some money instead, or at least find somebody fun to play with while creating the future.
later, mirwin