Re: [Bug-gnupedia] Design proposal

[Imran Ghory]

On 23 Jan 2001, at 3:32, Bryce Harrington wrote:

> On Tue, 23 Jan 2001, Bob Dodd wrote:
> > I know what you mean, but it's not usable for an encyclopedia in its
> > present form. For one thing, not only is there no editorial control,
> > there is now way of *really* knowing *who* has modified articles
> > (although you can tell that they have been). Being able to add your
> > own entries/subjects is fine, but you should not be able to modify
> > other articles without the author's permission e.g. I've added
> > "[xxx]" to your article, just to make the point (you're welcome to
> > remove it).
> > 
> > There are also big problems in terms of organisation of information
> > in this sort of Wiki (e.g. properly handling synonyms). I'm not
> > saying these sort of tools don't provide a good reference model in
> > many ways, but they aren't even 20&% of what we need.
> > 
> 
> Switching to an appropriately configured TWiki would take care of two
> thirds of those needs.  Regarding the synonym organization thingee,
> you need to explain why that is an issue?  It strikes me as fairly
> minor and something that can be worked out as an implementational
> detail.
> 
> Also, this does not exist in a vacuum - do not forget that in parallel
> with this there is the more tightly editorially controlled Nupedia. 
> It appears to me to be an excellent way to balance freedom and ease of
> expression, with the vigor of having editors.

We don't want to compromise our goal, we shouldn't be 
sidetracked into something which is as likely to put people off the 
idea of contributing as it is to encourge them.

During the development content does exist Nupedia exists, when 
the early versions of the software get released that maybe the time 
to start getting authors for Gnupedia. But I think for now we should 
concentrate on the software.

Imran Ghory