Wiki Wiki What?

Wiki = The Hawaiian word for "quick"

For those of you unfamiliar with Wiki, (<-me) Wiki is an OPEN online board. Think of it as a TRUE board. In that anyone who can approach it, can make changes to it.

But there are some INTERESTING social aspects here I don't want you to miss...

When I say make changes, I mean make any changes. This means that if I want to edit your post I can do so. This means, that if I want to erase the entire board and remove all information from it I can do so.

I'm sure many of you have been members of or read threads on public forums. You know how there's always that one guy who wants to crap on everything??? what are you talking about ONE GUY?! :\ What on earth do you think would happen if you put up a public white board and tied a dry erase marker to it and an eraser? God only knows! Some of you might argue that it depends on the location and the board, and the type of people local to it. My answer to that is kind of loaded, because I must say that the location is the internet* with an asterisk... because, everyone doesn't visit every site a site develops a certain kind of locale (<-certain type of surfer)

If you have a security site with a Wiki board you are probably going to get a lot of mature discussion. Heh... you'd think that wouldn't you... But if you get a... oh, lets say, Xbox Wiki board... it's probably going to have to be moderated SOMEHOW. Lest it be filled with ASCII images of penises... oy...

Now, I SAY that, but I don't know it. Which brings me back to the suprising social aspects...

1. People are respectful.
2. People are careful about what they say when they know anyone can edit it
3. People are genuinely interested in sharing ideas
4. People are just happy to communicate with others
5. People post links. To avoid posting opinion?

This varies DRASTICALLY (sp?) from some popular public forums. Where moderators have to step in and close threads or edit posts, or squelch users. It's interesting to know how people sort of govern themselves. (one of the principals of anarchy) But my more cynical side wants to warn everyone that someone's going to get the bright idea to crap on everyone and delete entire boards for lack of anything else better to do. And when people crap on eachother here, boards get deleted, but when people crap on eachother in anarchy there are usually more body bags...

Keep in mind that repressing your opinion from certain matters is in no way healthy for the discussion, but for things like informational boards or just communicating with people all over the world, this seems like an interesting experiment in communication... Kind of sounds like this would make an interesting college paper...

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I like saying that. It's fun to say.