[WikiEN-l] version control

Minty mintywalker at gmail.com
Tue Sep 14 00:10:29 UTC 2004


Been reading the threads about a stable 1.0 etc, and they are
interesting.  Here is my 2 pageclicks worth.  I apologise up front if
this has been bashed out before, in which case, ignore me :)

Wiki's are about letting anyone contribute, in anyway they want. 
Anyone should be able to review - same way anyone can create, add,
amend, edit, categorize, summarise or convert between british and
american spellings ;)

It is *your* opinion of the reviewer's reputation that seems to matter
more.  I might be happy with the most recent edit, my mum may want
some approval from a well known (commercial?) brand she can trust.  My
friend in research would only accept articles that have been peer
reviewed by at least two other subject aware academics.  Having said
I'd be happy with the most recent edits, I might actually want
something more authoritative in some cases.

For instance, if I put my personal mark of approval on these two articles.  

  http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=The_A-Team&oldid=5836501
  http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view&oldid=5748514

... these (as far as I can tell) will never change [1].  You probably
don't care - you don't know me from adam.  Still, my mum might use my
list.

I need a way to list articles I have reviewed (and which versions).  A
watchlist with added version numbers?  A Reviewlist?  Only I can amend
my watchlist, so this isn't a big leap forward.

You need a way to read (but not edit) my reviewlist.  A list of all
the pages I have reviewed would be a start.  Going further, and
assuming I had reviewed enough, have the software only show links to
articles on the reviewlist of your reviewer of choice.  Or the
reviewers of your choosing.

There is a limit to how much one person can review, but *you* can
choose to trust many people.  Once you've seen articles reviewed by
your own list of reviewers, add the second degree reviewers.  Friends
of friends.

m.

ps. reputation systems.  basis for trust, eg amazon, ebay, etc.
reviews.  There is a connection here me thinks.  Why do people buy
from complete strangers on ebay who they've never met?  If I've sold a
lot of stuff, and 99% of people where happy, are you any more likely
to trust me as a seller?  What if seller becomes reviewer, and buyer
is the reader and we are trading in words?

[1] The only minor issue being I cannot find a way to get this style
of perma-link for the most recent version.



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