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Site suggestion ...

Posted: April 20th, 2014, 8:49 am
by DaveyB
OK, this would mean a complete change around on the site, but it might be just what's needed to bring traffic back to the site!

Turn the site into a wiki, taking your existing articles and turn those into wiki articles. That way, as new suggestions and ideas come in, they can be edited directly into the article by any of the trusted editors, either directly if the editors themselves have the information on the changes, or by taking information from the forums.

This would have a lot of benefits, the first being that maintenance of the articles is no longer directly on your shoulders! It also means that additional information received on any particular part of any particular article would then be reflected in the article itself, which would mean a reduction in posts asking the same question over and over again (inability to use the search function is a human trait).

A wiki has several levels of users, with yourself at the top as administrator. Under that there are moderators, who have the power to revert edits that aren't relevant or appropriate, then trusted editors whose edits go straight into publication, untrusted editors whose edits have to be approved by a trusted editor or moderator before they are visible, registered users who haven't made an edit yet, and unregistered users who are unable to make any edits without registering first (and get to see all the adverts you want to throw their way - don't want ads? Simple, register!)

The down side is that your own writing style would be hidden behind the edits of multiple editors. I did notice, when reading the articles, that certain phrases were repeated over and over in each article, which shows that you have an understanding of how people think, and also have the same affliction as myself: CDO!! (OK, everyone else calls it OCD, but I prefer it in alphabetical order! :geek: ). The point is that these phrases could be set up as a sub-article, and simply "included" into the main article. Saves typing and it also provides uniformity across the site. Another benefit is the use of templates, which would help ensure that all the information is presented in the same way on each page.

Another boon to this would be that the site could expand its boundaries as more people add articles: Firewall administration, subnets and masking, computer builds, repairing an AC unit, unplugging the kitchen sink, rewiring the whole house to name just a few! Look at the name of the site, it's just begging for the content :D

Get it up and running, and it will start to become more popular. Then you can turn on ads for unregistered users, and make a little income to offset the site costs! Just something for you to think about ...

Re: Site suggestion ...

Posted: April 20th, 2014, 7:14 pm
by Ian
Hi Davey,

Your post made me chuckle (and brought back memories!) When I first thought about setting up the site I did plan on it becoming a "know-how" site for all sorts of things (hence the site name). "How to build a media server" was meant to be the first of many such guides. But then that one guide sort of took over all my spare time and the other great ideas I had took a back seat (and I've long since forgotten what they even were! :lol: ).

In terms of turning it into a wiki I'd be taking on the likes of "ehow". I've landed on that site a gazillion times via google searches and not once have I found any of the guides helpful. So I guess I'd have something of a headstart on them! :twisted:

I'll have a read up on how to set up and operate the required wiki software. Maybe in the short-term I can take some of the guides that have been made on these forums and add them as guides onto the main site (if the authors are ok with that of course). I did that with this guide. I "met" the chap via the netgear forums and he put together a cracking guide.

The majority of the visitors to this site are newbies looking for help rather than linux gurus (you are one of the exceptions it seems) so I'd probably still end up writing most of the content myself. :crazy:

But food for thought nevertheless, so thank you. :clap:

Ian.