[WikiEN-l] Support needed for Wikipedia QnA website to open

[Charles Matthews]

On 24/01/2011 18:47, Tom Jenkins wrote:

<snip>
> StackExchange<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StackExchange>, a free
> Question and Answer network of websites would start a website dedicated
> to Wikipedia and Wiki questions if the community only supports the
> project by voting for it.
I'm familiar with the StackExchange version at http://mathoverflow.net/, 
and that has proved very successful. Points from my experience there:

(1) You really need a good and tight spec of what the site is for and 
not (MathOverflow manages that); even so, you will get people making 
off-topic posts because people never read instructions. These can be 
"closed" but not apparently "deleted". A deletionist attitude to Q&A 
seems to make the end product (mature site) much more attractive.
(2) You really also need wikignome-type people. There the technology 
seems not to work quite so smoothly.

On (1) it is inevitable that you would get a lot of trolling, 
particularly from "the usual suspects" (guys, you know who you are), who 
are vociferous in any forum where they can discuss WP. So moderation 
would not be trivial.

That said, a good forum on WP would be well worth having.

One more point. How do you propose to stop people using "Wiki" as the 
abbreviation of "Wikipedia", though, leading to massive confusion, if 
this is about all wikis as well as Wiki[wild card] sites? This is just 
the sort of thing to which (2) applies: questions need to be edited as 
they are posted to clarify.

<snip>

> I'm writing here to call for the support of Wikipedians around the
> world, simply for our own benefit. If we can vote for this site and
> visit it regularly to answer questions then Wikipedia could grow so much
> faster since newcomers would have an intelligent and easy-to-use
> platform for their questions and troubles.
>
>     1. Please start on this proposal page
>        <http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/13716/wikipedia-and-wikis>.
>     2. You'll need to login (link on the top)
>     3. Then you have to click the "Follow" button (or "Commit", if available)
>     4. When the site begins you will get a link to it on the same page.
OK, less confusing than it sounds (maybe).

Charles