usefulness of open wiki's (was: Re: wikihow.com/Category:Linux)

[Joshua Zeidner]

  very funny + SFW : http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1830262

  -jmz

On Sun, Oct 19, 2008 at 7:27 PM, Mike Schwartz <schwartz at acm.org> wrote:
>> "written, edited, and maintained [...] by volunteers."
>
> True, there is almost no limit to how bogus a given
> article might be (become), at least temporarily.
> The damage might be due to someone well-meaning but
> inept or misguided, or someone who was actually malicious.
>
> On the other hand, supposedly there are enough eyes
> gazing over the "recently changed" logs, that if someone
> does post some "mis" info., then theoretically it should
> be "on the air" only for a short time, before some altruistic
> helping hand comes along and pitches in to correct it.
>
> It is similar to wikipedia -- which, it seems to me, can
> sometimes be a good source of explanations, which
> (maybe even after you already have the facts),
> may help to suggest (better) ways to "understand"
> something, that is, an attitude, (a point of view);
> how to see it, how to think about it, that might even
> help to remember the facts, or to see how/why the
> facts make sense.
>
> Also, at en.wikipedia.org at least, they have links
> to [supposedly] authoritative "sources" -- which can
> be very useful.  Those (typically on other web sites),
> each have their own level of "reputation" or credibility;
> but given the range of such levels, some of them are
> probably pretty "authoritative".
> --
> Mike Schwartz
> Glendale  AZ
> schwartz at acm.org
>
> On Sun, Oct 19, 2008 at 6:21 PM, Rob Goelz <robgoelz at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Mike,
>>
>>   Thanks for posting this -- it seems to have a lot of excellent information
>> (especially for a relative Linux n00b like me).
>>
>>   Wiki sites are great for information sharing but I inherently distrust
>> them due to the ability of anyone to edit the page. From the main page:
>> "written, edited, and maintained primarily by volunteers."
>>
>>   I suppose that the same is true of most forums in that someone could take
>> bad advice and damage their system, but at least on most forums, people have
>> to register and can be held accountable. On wikis, unless you choose to
>> register, the only thing tracked is your IP address. So far the stuff that
>> I've read seems to check out though. :)
>>
>>   What does everyone else think?
>>
>> -rob
>>
>> On Sun, Oct 19, 2008 at 2:45 PM, Mike Schwartz <schwartz at acm.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> Maybe it's just me,
>>> (having been in a cave, lo these umpteen years),
>>> but when I came across this:
>>>    http://www.wikihow.com/Category:Linux
>>> recently,
>>> it was news to me.
>>> --
>>> Mike Schwartz
>>> [...]
>>> ---------------------------------------------------
>>> PLUG-discuss mailing list - [...]
> ---------------------------------------------------
> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>