[Wikipedia-l] GUI? WYSIWYG?

[Stephen Gilbert]

--- Daniel Mayer <maveric149 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Saturday 10 August 2002 10:15 am, Hr. Daniel
> Mikkelsen wrote:
> > When someone makes a GUI frontend to 
> > Wikipedia, those features will become more
> > sophisticated (wysiwyg).
> 
> Blasphemy! GUI? WYSIWYG? Now that would be unwiki. 
> 
> Seriously; one of the reasons why we are successful
> is because there is a bit 
> of a learning curve to being a contributor (small,
> but it is there). I hate 
> to say it, but this small learning curve acts as a
> kind of filter against 
> those that have nothing but incoherent and random
> nonsense to "contribute".

Ward Cunningham, the founder of Wiki, says on
WhyWikiWorks (http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WhyWikiWorks)
"Wiki is not WYSIWYG (WhatYouSeeIsWhatYouGet). It's an
intelligence test of sorts to be able to edit a wiki
page. It's not rocket science, but it doesn't appeal
to the VideoAddicts. If it doesn't appeal, they don't
participate, which leaves those of us who read and
write to get on with rational discourse."

I think he's probably right. We should remember that
one of the reasons why Wikipedia has been successful
while other encyclopedia projects have not is the wiki
way of contributing.

Stephen G.

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