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@bazbt3
Last active January 26, 2016 06:32
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Refining the App.net Wiki: Ideas

Triaging:

What, why:

There are a lot of effectively obsolete pages at the App.net Wiki - http://appdotnetwiki.net/ - some in need of explicit instructions for new viewers, others requiring edits to bring them up-to-date.

How:

I'm never ever in favour of deletions, hate broken links; we should simply work around them. But that's only my opinion.

Some time ago I put together a style guide, attempting to create a uniform look for the Wiki. It's here: http://appdotnetwiki.net/w/index.php?title=Help:Editing.

It has 2 sections I think may be appropriate in a make-over…

Categories *and* Banners:

Categories should be added to pages to indicate status: either 'obsolete' or 'in need of enhancement.' The listings will be brought together on two temporary pages, ready for action.

I think we can use Banners to alert viewers that pages are obsolete, even perhaps in need of work - the latter hopefully a temporary situation.

Add banners at the top of pages, for example looking like:

  • "| ! | Obsoleted |" or
  • "| ? | Needs work |"

Simple.

The Felix page is a special example of a banner-ed page: http://appdotnetwiki.net/w/index.php?title=Felix.

Obsoleting:

How to choose?

Slash & burn?

It's a trivial thing to display all the Wiki's pages: http://appdotnetwiki.net/w/index.php?title=Special:AllPages.

What's not trivial; deciding what to do, which pages aren't current.

The list, though quite large, should be able to have a quick and productive early run-through; App and Patter rooms' pages account for a good proportion of the total.

The great thing about Wikis; the number of tools available to classify pages means nothing gets left behind - even orphaned pages are listable.

Adding banners and defining categories to obsolete content then removing links on calling pages seems the easiest way to hide stuff.

What should be removed?

Main page:

  • Remove ADNmeetup & Featured activities - unfortunately stale,
  • Remove Glossary, History, Threading, Timeline, Vernacular - as having scant or trivial content.

What should be reworked?

Linked from the main page:

  • Resources for new users - e.g. its first link is dead.

To be continued…

[End]

@33mhz
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33mhz commented Jan 24, 2016

Legit. Very much in favor of the banners. I'll think about if I have any actually productive feedback for this over the week. ;)

@bazbt3
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bazbt3 commented Jan 25, 2016

@33mhz It would have been better if I'd starred this gist, to see your encouraging comment earlier. Thanks!

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