blueman2 Posted November 2, 2015 Posted November 2, 2015 I have noticed several forums enabling the ability to create Wiki Posts for threads. These Posts are displayed at the top of each thread and maintained by the community members. Anyone can add/change/update the Wiki Post. For example, the flyertalk.com forum has been using this feature with great success for the past year. I think this format is great in that it allows users to decide which topics/threads need a Wiki post, and how to keep that wiki updated over time. Does the software for this forum allow Wiki posts for threads?
Teken Posted November 2, 2015 Posted November 2, 2015 I have noticed several forums enabling the ability to create Wiki Posts for threads. These Posts are displayed at the top of each thread and maintained by the community members. Anyone can add/change/update the Wiki Post. For example, the flyertalk.com forum has been using this feature with great success for the past year. I think this format is great in that it allows users to decide which topics/threads need a Wiki post, and how to keep that wiki updated over time. Does the software for this forum allow Wiki posts for threads? Could you provide some more insight as to the distinction of the forum Wiki vs the UDI Wiki? I am trying to get a better idea and perhaps a bigger picture of your ask.
blueman2 Posted November 2, 2015 Author Posted November 2, 2015 Thread based Wiki Posts are more fluid and more inviting of updating in real time by users, and are fully integrated into the forums. It is a way to summarize key learnings within a thread without forcing people to read through the entire thread. Sometimes, this is accomplished by the OP by continually updating the first post with the latest info. But that works only rarely. The Wiki Post function allows anyone at any time to summarize key points and learnings from a thread and add them to the top of the topic. Again, this is an option built into SOME forum software, which may or may not be available for this forum's software. A good use case would be the "Amazon Echo and ISY" thread in the "How are you using ISY" subforum. There are so many posts about different tools people are using which are spread across 38 pages of posts. I would like to be able to summarize at the top of the thread which tools to use, what versions, key tips for installing and configuring different tools, etc. One could argue that I should create a formal WIKI for this, and that might be so. But in other cases, the topic is very fluid and changes almost daily. In these cases, it is best to allow a less formal wiki process that any user can update as they read through the thread. Not sure I am explaining this well, but I find the FlyerTalk forum's Wiki Posts to be very inviting and lots of people therefore use them. They invite and allow lots of users to participate in creating WIKIs for many different topics. It is a huge benefit to the forum I think.
Teken Posted November 2, 2015 Posted November 2, 2015 Thread based Wiki Posts are more fluid and more inviting of updating in real time by users, and are fully integrated into the forums. It is a way to summarize key learnings within a thread without forcing people to read through the entire thread. Sometimes, this is accomplished by the OP by continually updating the first post with the latest info. But that works only rarely. The Wiki Post function allows anyone at any time to summarize key points and learnings from a thread and add them to the top of the topic. Again, this is an option built into SOME forum software, which may or may not be available for this forum's software. A good use case would be the "Amazon Echo and ISY" thread in the "How are you using ISY" subforum. There are so many posts about different tools people are using which are spread across 38 pages of posts. I would like to be able to summarize at the top of the thread which tools to use, what versions, key tips for installing and configuring different tools, etc. One could argue that I should create a formal WIKI for this, and that might be so. But in other cases, the topic is very fluid and changes almost daily. In these cases, it is best to allow a less formal wiki process that any user can update as they read through the thread. Not sure I am explaining this well, but I find the FlyerTalk forum's Wiki Posts to be very inviting and lots of people therefore use them. They invite and allow lots of users to participate in creating WIKIs for many different topics. It is a huge benefit to the forum I think. I'm sold! So it is written, so shall it be done . . . Ha . . .
tobias-tobin Posted November 3, 2015 Posted November 3, 2015 I've always thought this was a good idea. Since often forums are question and answer, to take the large discussion and turn it into a consolidated information source seems like a way for a Wiki to be self sustaining. I don't necessarily think there should be two Wikis though. It seems like the wiki doc should be available through a forum link and in the sites wiki. I've always wanted something like this at work. I work in IT and I think it would be great for all of us to talk about new problems appearing and solutions or have a distilled repository of documentation that would have never been created had it not been for the forum. I find it difficult to motivate our staff to document. Even though I try to emphasize how much time it can save down the road if they just scribble down the problem and solution and throw it into our sharepoint site. Anyway, cool idea. And yes, the ISY and Echo thread is a place where I wonder 'is the info I'm looking for somewhere in the middle? at the end?'. It would be nice to have the final say easy to find.
Michel Kohanim Posted November 3, 2015 Posted November 3, 2015 Hi blueman2, Fantastic idea. I'll ask our Forum guru and get back to you. With kind regards, Michel
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