The transition to a WYSIWYG editor might even cause a great influx in vandalism and other unproductive edits.&nbsp; While apparent vandalism can be dealt with quickly, however, the increase in the amount of subtle vandalism would be palpable.<br>
<br>A not-so-easy wiki syntax acts as an deterrent against generally non-productive editors, who by far outnumber the productive ones.&nbsp; However, an advanced user of the internet who is concerned about the quality and the authenticity of the content would make an effort towards trying to understand the syntax in order to contribute to it.&nbsp; It&#39;s not rocket-science, for god&#39;s sake. ;-)<br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Mar 11, 2008 at 11:12 PM, Shiju Alex &lt;<a href="mailto:shijualexonline@gmail.com">shijualexonline@gmail.com</a>&gt; wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div>My experience is exactly opposite. I know so many school students (not post-doc) who are contributing to wikipedia in a very big way. I have given demo to some school children and they have grasped the syntaxes very easily. </div>


<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>It is not the education, but the willingness to contribute and share knowledge matters in Wikipedia type of projects.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Personally I feel Media wiki use simple wiki syntaxes (I am not talking about the comples templates) and anyone who has genuine interest can easily learn it.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div><font color="#888888">
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Shiju Alex</div>
<div><br><br>&nbsp;</div>
</font><div><div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c"><span class="gmail_quote">On 3/11/08, <b class="gmail_sendername">Ravi shankar</b> &lt;<a href="mailto:ravidreams_03@yahoo.com" target="_blank">ravidreams_03@yahoo.com</a>&gt; wrote:</span>
</div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c">
<div>
<div style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Leaving aside the wikiquette and formailities, the mediawiki software itself makes it tough for newcomers. Even one Post-Doc friend of mine could not figure out the simplest wiki syntax! People are more comfortable with WYSWYG editors. I had been watching wikipedia for last 3 years. MediaWiki has hardly shown any improvement in usability and interface. It&#39;s time more developers put in more effort in improving ease of using media wiki. Other free software around the same time frame have improved dramatically.<br>

<br>Thanks<br><span><br>Ravi<br></span></div><span><br>
<hr size="1">
Looking for last minute shopping deals? <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=51734/*http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping" target="_blank">Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.</a></span></div>

<br></div></div><div class="Ih2E3d">_______________________________________________<br>Wikimediaindia-l mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org" target="_blank">Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org</a><br>

<a href="https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l" target="_blank">https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l</a><br><br></div></blockquote>
</div><br>
<br>_______________________________________________<br>
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org">Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org</a><br>
<a href="https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l" target="_blank">https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l</a><br>
<br></blockquote></div><br>