Let me start by saying that MediaWiki is great wiki software and I have enjoyed writing many extensions and plugins for it. The requirements of Wikipedia have demanded features that are hard to come by in other wiki software, especially in the areas of caching and optimization. However, this is a double-edged sword, as development decisions in MediaWiki are often filtered through the question of whether they are desired for Wikipedia. If this litmus test is not met, features are abandoned and never see the light of day. If so, they are implemented to the delight of Wikipedians. I don't mean to criticize this methodology and I certainly don't wish to bad-mouth MediaWiki (after all, someone was kind enough to make the product open source and kind enough to make it generic that anyone could use), but I have a few questions that have been on my mind.

My questions to the MediaWiki developers are as follows:

Will features perhaps never desirable for Wikipedia ever be considered for MediaWiki? For example, wiki spaces (much like XWiki or Confluence) that either exist as self-contained wikis or as areas that are more stand-alone (e.g. attaching documents to individual pages). Another desirable feature is a fine-grained permission system, although I argue this goes hand-in-hand with the aforementioned concept of wiki spaces.

Will MediaWiki development ever take a significant step away from Wikipedia so drastic overhauls to the core can be made? Right now, MediaWiki development is mainly implementing features on a production site and spewing them back out in the form of a new version release. Will this model ever change?

I see MediaWiki as much more than the software that powers Wikipedia. One only has to look at the hundreds of independent wikis in existence that are powered by MediaWiki. However, there is much ground that can be won. I argue that because of Wikipedia's popularity, the MediaWiki wiki syntax is the most recognized of any wiki syntax in existence. Combined with its proved track record, MediaWiki is immediately a front-runner for anyone wishing to deploy a wiki. However, we all know MediaWiki isn't ideal for some situations. Well, basically it is ideal for only one simple use case: a wiki focusing on one subject matter with blanket access control to all content therein. Any other use is a stretch. In other words, there is a considerable market share in which MediaWiki can't even compete.

MediaWiki is great software and will continue to be great software. In order to take it to the next level, a slight departure from the Wikipedia-centric development cycle will be required.

I kindly ask that the MediaWiki core developers lend their thoughts on this matter.

Gregory Szorc gregory.szorc@case.edu