I'm thinking of starting up a new Google group, something like MediaWiki-Community. It would be for anyone who works with MediaWiki, or even with other wiki soft- wares. My own interest is in community- based wikis (wiki cities) as I run the Baltimore Collective: a community re- collection of things uniquely Baltimore / MediaWiki cultural archive project. I also help run a couple Google groups. (Baltimore, MD, is north of Washington, DC, and south of Philadelphia, PA).
Do you think this is a good idea? It would be good if we could start up with 25 or so initial members.
You can give me negative feedback if you think the idea sounds redundant or has other problems. As for non-English language postings, that sounds ok to me.
Please pass this along to anyone who might be interested. You can email me from our contact page ...
Thank you, Richard The Baltimore Collective
2008/3/26, Richard zzz333mmm@baltoco.org:
I'm thinking of starting up a new Google group, something like MediaWiki-Community.
I prefer self-hosted Mailing list (for example Mailman[0]) over Google Groups. Its alway the same with online communities; "the winner takes all". I personally don't subscribe to mailing lists with low traffic and member numbers.
[0] http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/index.html
cheers Simon
Richard wrote:
I'm thinking of starting up a new Google group, something like MediaWiki-Community.
Simon wrote:
I prefer self-hosted Mailing list (for example Mailman) over Google Groups. Its alway the same with online communities; "the winner takes all". I personally don't subscribe to mailing lists with low traffic and member numbers.
http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/index.html
cheers Simon
Hi Simon,
Thanks for replying. There are a number of issues here, the most important one being about diversity (which can be read as MediaWiki out- reach). Folks here may not like Google groups, but others are equally intimidated by MediaWiki-L (I'm assuming). In my life, I have run many e- mailing lists, through Majordomo and Gnu Mailman. Most of those lists have no archival existence today. Large hosts like Google make for more reliable archiving (sustainability), if it matters. They are often more intuitive for non-techies -- again, if it matters.
We should expect the MediaWiki community to double or triple in coming years, out into increasingly diverse cultural realms. More discussion modalities may become necessary.
Richard
2008/3/26, Richard zzz333mmm@baltoco.org:
Hi Simon,
Hi Richard
In my life, I have run many e- mailing lists, through Majordomo and Gnu Mailman. Most of those lists have no archival existence today. Large hosts like Google make for more reliable archiving (sustainability), if it matters. They are often more intuitive for non-techies -- again, if it matters.
Please have a look at Gmane.org[0] - they and many, many others archive mailing lists. Mailman also comes with a built-in archiving solution. Open Source software like hypermail helps you building web sites from Mbox-files.
[0] http://gmane.org/import.php
cheers Simon
Please have a look at Gmane.org[0] - they and many, many others archive mailing lists. Mailman also comes with a built-in archiving solution. Open Source software like hypermail helps you building web sites from Mbox-files.
cheers Simon
Ok, Simon,
You are making a really smart point here. But I still think my question is a valid one: Should we start up a Google group, named something like MediaWiki-Community?
The fact that you or others don't need it doesn't really answer the question. Does somebody need it?
For those not familiar with Google groups, they are similar to Yahoo groups, only less commercial (looking) and with other friendly advantages. My arts community in Baltimore likes Google groups.
Richard http://BaltoCo.org/contact
It's indeed the question whether or not people "need" it. In this Mediawiki-list, the knowledge is concentrated with the best people answering questions from easy to extreme difficult, with the same patience. If you have the same knowledge in the google-group it could work. I think the list we are using now works well, at least I'm happy with it. I don't think there would be a need for a google group. Nevertheless it's a good initiative! :-)
Gr
The fact that you or others don't need it doesn't really answer the question. Does somebody need it?
For those not familiar with Google groups, they are similar to Yahoo groups, only less commercial (looking) and with other friendly advantages. My arts community in Baltimore likes Google groups.
Richard http://BaltoCo.org/contact
mediawiki-l@lists.wikimedia.org