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WhatIsaWikiWhatIsaWiki
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Initial text from http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?WhatIsaWiki
A Wiki is a collaboratively-edited website which many people also view as an anarchistic publishing tool. The distinguishing feature of wikis is that they typically allow really all users to edit any page, with full freedom to edit, change and delete the work of previous authors. Other typical wiki features include:
- A simple set of TextFormattingRules which allow access to a subset of HTML.
- Easy creation of links to wiki pages, either by joining capitalized words or surrounding them with special characters (like [[Free Links]] which becomes [Free Links]?Create).
- Easy creation of new wiki pages. On many wikis a link to an undefined page is displayed with a question mark (like SampleUndefinedPage?Create). Click on the "?" link to create the new page. (Note that "SampleUndefinedPage?Create" is a special demo page--you can't create it.)
- A RecentChanges page, which lists pages that have been edited recently.
The oldest public wiki (the [Wiki:WelcomeVisitors?Create Portland Pattern Repository]) was created in 1995, and remains active as of early 2003. [Wiki:BoLeuf?Create Bo Leuf] and [Wiki:WardCunningham?Create Ward Cunningham] wrote a book that tries to explain it all: The Wiki Way, ISBN 0-201-71499-X .
Reply: Almost all wikis use revision control to prevent abuse and track changes, so if someone decides to erase one or more pages it is easy to "revert" back to previous good version of the "erased page". If someone repeatedly attempts to abuse the system, their IP address can simply be blocked. See WikiErase?Create for more about this issue. Besides, wiki is used when you trust what the other people are doing to the site. And people who access wiki pages usually aren't likely to do a big, massive destruction. If you don't trust it, it's not for you.
Question: What does 'wiki' stand for?
Answer: It comes from the Hawaiian word wiki wiki, which means quick.
Question: How do you pronounce 'wiki'?
Answer: My take on this is the Whi in Whip with the key - "whi-key" - others? In the Hawaiian language, it is pronounced "wee-kee".
Question: If I would like to start a WIKI page about the IRS how do I do it?
Answer: Step 1 - Find a wiki that is appropriate for it. (see http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?PublicWikiForums) Step 2 - Search the wiki to see if a similar page already exists. Step 3 - If not, then study the text formatting rules for that wiki. Note the way to link to a new page. Step 4 - Find a page you want people to browse from. Create a link there. Step 5 - Follow the link and start the page by editing it. (Also see WorldWideWiki :OneBigWiki?Create for available wikis)
This page written by Garnet
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