Forum Moderators: rogerd
There will be destination pages which the users should be able to comment on or add supplementary information.
I am more in favor of a wiki, as it seems more accessible, but would like to know if there are pros and cons I didn't consider. Thanks! W.
If you have a web-savvy audience, that may be less true.
Ultimately, though, I'd use the one that makes most sense for structuring the content. If a wiki would do that better, use a wiki and be sure you have obvious links to edit along with instructions. One thing new wiki users may have to get over is that they can change the page they are viewing - that's not intuitive for many.
I don't have many users yet, so I want to keep the herd together. But if wikis turn users off - and my users probably won't be familiar with the idea of a wiki, a forum might be the way to go.
Can I use phpBB to create a forum that doesn't require a registration?
Here's a thought - start off with a free-flowing forum. As you start to get some good content, edit it into a wiki, and encourage forum members to edit or add to the wiki.
Fundamentally, forums and wikis serve different purposes. Wikis are good for creating a relatively compact knowledgebase, but aren't great for building a community. Forums are much better for allowing members to interact with each other, but the knowledge tends to be dispersed and somewhat lower in density.
I don't think anyone would be interested to edit your Wiki unless your site is Wikipedia or they have something to benefit out of it e.g. adding link to their sites.
But why should people be more willing to contribute to a forum? And, is there anything like a critical mass of users that you need to have so that you can expect some content development?
why should people be more willing to contribute to a forum?
People come to a forum to communicate, exchange thoughts, etc. In forum, you can just type "OK" and it is considered as one post or article. To post in Wiki you need to write an article which takes away a lot of your time.
I regret that I started late in having a forum at my site. If only I started earlier I could have a few hundred thousand posts at my forum. :S
I think I fill start with the forum and will either try to supplement it with a static library or a wiki lateron.
I thought wikis would receive more input, since you don't need to register and such.
You can set your forum to no registration required too. But be prepared to receive a lot of spams.
:D
