[Wikipedia-l] Offline editing and conflicts (was Re: [Wikipedia-l] Advertisements)

[Brion L. VIBBER]

On ven, 2002-03-01 at 20:50, koyaanisqatsi at nupedia.com wrote:
> Lars Aronsson wrote:
> >I think the hosting of the server should be left to Jimbo to decide.
> >But what I'd really like to see is something like groove.net, where I
> >can keep an offline copy on my own computer, edit articles locally,
> >and sync the changes with the server the next time I'm online.  I'm
> >not on a modem connection, but I'm moving with my laptop and wireless
> >LAN between home, workplaces and cafes.  This of course would be a
> >major software change.  Some two-way synchronization protocol (like
> >unison) would be needed.
> 
> what if someone else edits your article after you last see it?  how
> would the software reconcile different edits from the same point?  i
> rather prefer the current system, where you can go in and choose the
> best bits of each to save.  I don't foresee software being that
> sophisticated within our lifetimes.  maybe you have some ideas about
> it.

Changes that don't conflict with one another could be integrated fairly
easily, as long as the upload indicates which revision of the article
you were working from. (CVS does this with source code, for instance.)

Actual conflicts -- changes that affect the same part of the text in
both revisions -- are more difficult. Probably we would want to handle
this the same way that we do it now within the web interface: throw up
an edit conflict and ask the user to manually reconcile the two
versions.

The edit conflict process needs to be improved in any case; including a
diff with the edit conflict screen has been recommended, which I
heartily endorse, but the diff function is currently quite limited:
removes and adds are not shown in sequence, and small changes in large
paragraphs are very difficult to see.

-- brion vibber (brion @ pobox.com)