[Mediawiki-l] Do I need a fresh clean install? Advice and Help needed! - Thanks

[monkey]

Hi everyone,

I searched the archive for a while and couldn't find any advice on this
subject, nor on Mediawiki really.

Right now I have the "feeling", the wiki has so many problems, it would be
good to have a clean install and start "from scratch" - without loosing all
the content obviously... details and questions below:

My (wiki's) situation:
* MW 1.16, hosted on dreamhost, approx. 150 users, can only be read and
edited by approved members.
* active since 3,5 years
* hosted on dreamhost, one-click advanced install, in the past I preferred
to use their automatic updates, not to have too much hassle about it.
Problems:
* in the past all these extensions worked, but I can't get them to work
anymore: ConfirmAccount, Collection.
* SVGs don't show anymore properly
* some minor problems ...

So, now I'm thinking, a fresh install will help.
* make it all new, maybe use subversion this time to install MW
* install all extensions I need, be more specific this time - I learned a
lot in those 3 years, about what I need etc ...
* somehow transfer the data, files and the users from the "old wiki"...
* invite the other 500 people that wait for access ...

About me and my level of proficiency:
I'm not a professional but ended up doing it all by myself, spending many
hours searching subversion manuals etc ....

My questions:
* is a fresh install advisable?
* the way I outlined it above, could this work?
* do you have experiences on this?
* or any other recommendations?

Thanks a lot, sorry for the very long email ;-)
Flo