native wiki

dvsDave

Well-known member
The biggest blank spot in both VB and IPB is their lack of a native wiki product.

I want a wiki product with multiple namespaces and autolinking of terms from the the forums to the wiki entry. I also want to be able to see a list of terms in the wiki displayed like the memberlist on vb. (characters listed in a row across the top)

You provide that and an import from vbulletin and I'll move in a heartbeat.
 
Upvote 43
I have mediawiki on my site with a plugin that seamlessly integrates login, skin.
Just provide a proper SSO and people can get bridge to all other packages.

The biggest thing for me is that the wiki entries be autolinked in the posts. IPB had a third party addon that did this with mediawiki.

I just want to make sure that this feature be 1st party instead of 3rd party. I had nuwiki with vbulletin and the developer, almost literally, fell off the face of the earth. I don't want to have to migrate to another package and go thru that nightmere because another 3rd party developer disappears. Having this integration done by the same people who do the forum itself would go a long way towards alleviating that concern.
 
Mediawiki is a very different animal than a forum. The average forum user is not tech savvy enough to use mediawiki. I have used mediawiki and only a small part of my users was able to cope with the codes. When I later switched to NuWiki, which uses vbulletins editor to post content, my wiki took off, because all my forum users could participate. And forum integration is a biggie.
Developing Wiki functions will become problematic sooner or later if you make it part of the forum. Its basically a different content type and like reviews, directories or other content types, would belong in a CMS.
IMHO forum also belongs in a CMS, but thats another matter completely.
 
I'll agree with Alfa1. I used nuwiki too and I went from 3-4 entries a month to over 2000 in less than 6 months.

Being able to have a wiki product that is part of the forum software, that looks and operates like the interface that the user is already used to is paramount.

Whether the wiki be part of the CMS or the forum software is a matter for some debate, as long as it's seamless with the existing user experience. I think we can all agree on that.
 
I have never been a fan of wikis'. I think they are very confusing to anyone who is not super familiar with them. I believe a solid integration with an existing wiki package would be better than expecting a native wiki product.

I'll agree with Alfa1. I used nuwiki too and I went from 3-4 entries a month to over 2000 in less than 6 months.

Being able to have a wiki product that is part of the forum software, that looks and operates like the interface that the user is already used to is paramount.

Whether the wiki be part of the CMS or the forum software is a matter for some debate, as long as it's seamless with the existing user experience. I think we can all agree on that.

I've never been a big fan of wiki's either. I don't want a bridge with an existing wiki product as they are generally really hard for non web savvy folks to deal with. IF there's going to be any wiki, it's something that really needs to be heavily integrated with the forums. Using the same tools, highly intuitive ways of creating content and autolinked. To do it right it really needs to be a major product and it needs to be totally, deeply integrated, and dead simple to add content to otherwise don't bother.

If it was done with the panache and intuitiveness that XF has shown us so far, it could be really good though! And I'd certainly buy a copy if it met the criteria above. Not as High Pri as a deeply integrated Gallery/File system IMO though. :)
 
I'd like to add that forum websites often have a mass of information buried deep within threads. Wiki provides a place to compile that information and to showcase the wealth of information your site has present. This is why maximum integration between forum software and wiki software is so important.
 
I'd like to add that forum websites often have a mass of information buried deep within threads. Wiki provides a place to compile that information and to showcase the wealth of information your site has present. This is why maximum integration between forum software and wiki software is so important.

+00
 
If they come out with an official wiki add-on for XenForo that can do most of the things that MediaWiki can do and they make it so it can use simple BBCode instead of annoying and complex wiki code then I'd almost certainly convert my forum from IPB to XF.

I've been trying to find a way to integrate a wiki with my forum for years now, first I was planning on using vBwiki Pro but then it died, then I converted to IPB and planned to use IPBwiki and now it looks like that's dead too.

And IPS seems to have this belief that IP.Content can be used as an actual wiki (which it can't) and as a result they pretty much refuse to even consider the idea of releasing an IP.Wiki add-on. The best thing that I feel I can hope for from them is a MediaWiki IP.Converge module, and then of course there'd be the issue that most forum members wouldn't understand wiki code enough to be able to actually contribute, and the fact that MediaWiki is extremely bloated and slow.
 
I think we've made the wishlist rather clear. An integrated wiki using the XenForo UI conventions and native editing interface. It needs to be simple enough for the average user, but flexible enough on the backend to be setup and used in a variety of scenarios.
 
+1 for a well integrated wiki. Having a mechanism for the community to support topical living documents to cover our sites theme would be well received.
 
Ok....really stupid question. What is the benefit if a wiki in a forum.

I am not saying it is a bad idea, I just don't understand. What does it bring to the table?
 
Ok....really stupid question. What is the benefit if a wiki in a forum.
I am not saying it is a bad idea, I just don't understand. What does it bring to the table?

Think in terms of a topical forum with a lot of frequently covered topics. The usual approach by the community newbies is to ask the base level of the topic which, due to its redundancy or lack of effort with the approach, has no interest with the member base. Having a lot of the frequent topics covered would educate them to the point where they could approach with some more specific, interesting questions. Pulling that all together can be a daunting task for the admin but with a community driven wiki it can grow on it's own after a bit of seeding by the admin.
 
an average person does not understand a wiki.
But he most probably will understand how a Forum works.

XF should not be everytjhing for everyone, but rather focus on their core-competence, which they surely will do.
If you want a wiki, then better use MediaWiki. If you want a Blog, use WP.
 
an average person does not understand a wiki.
But he most probably will understand how a Forum works.

XF should not be everytjhing for everyone, but rather focus on their core-competence, which they surely will do.
If you want a wiki, then better use MediaWiki. If you want a Blog, use WP.

There's nothing wrong with asking for a native options though, and it's not like these things are being asked for right now. Native options often work much better than a simple bridge, or two independent products.

If there isn't an official add-on made, people will make one, but there's no harm in asking and letting Mike and Kier know that there's interest for in-house products so perhaps in the future they can expand to it.
 
There's nothing wrong with asking for a native options though, and it's not like these things are being asked for right now. Native options often work much better than a simple bridge, or two independent products.

If there isn't an official add-on made, people will make one, but there's no harm in asking and letting Mike and Kier know that there's interest for in-house products so perhaps in the future they can expand to it.

The problem with forum developers tackling other products is they never seem to do it very well, no offense intended to our resident gurus of course. There's no comparison between WordPress and the IPS Blog software for example, one is leading edge the other is an add on to a forum product that irritates theme developers.

I guess the question becomes how many people would utilise a wiki as opposed to those who might trial it then dump it and what I would imagine would be the vast majority of members who wouldn't be in the least bit interested. No doubt third party developers will provide "bridges" in due course to major products.

Another comparison would be to an arcade module, Invision has a beauty that I believe was ported to vB. I use it at a couple of sites but know a lot of sites that don't use it. Would you see our industrious xF developers also doing a module of this type? Memo to self: talk to the ibarcade folk about a port to xF, will really need that one for a site I'm in discussion about re-establishing on xF, oh yes there will be talking and much name calling ;)

Exactly where would xF draw the line on module development (besides a nifty gallery, thinking what our sites use here)?

Kotonoha I wondered what happened to that project, hadn't seen the guy around for ages.
 
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