Wikis

Do I need to jump on the bandwagon?

[jdancing]

I have been hearing a lot about how great Wikis are and am wondering if anyone has had experience adding and running a Wiki on their website. My experience is pretty much limited to Wikipedia and I have not really run across many sites using Wikis in my day-to-day web surfing. So I have a few questions:

** Are Wikis hard to set up on an existing website? (Meaning lots of server-side work to get them up and running)

** Are busy Wikis a nightmare to keep up with? Since anyone can pretty much edit on site documents, it seems there would be a lot of comments and edits that would need to be reversed, research for validity, or corrected on a daily basis.

** What are the best uses for a Wiki?

** Does Wiki content have the same SEO benefit as adding a blog or forum to a website?

** What Wiki software offers the best ease of use, performance and largest active user base? (pay or free – does not matter – I would want the best)

Thanks,

JD

[a1call]

Hi jdancing,

Thank you for starting this thread as I too find wikis interesting. The software that powers wikipedia is media wiki. I downloaded it earlier today and tried to open it in winzip but I got the message:
Error reading header...

[oddsod]

wiki software is not limited to one or two programs: wiki engines [c2.com]

[robotsdobetter]

Are Wikis hard to set up on an existing website? (Meaning lots of server-side work to get them up and running)

No, very easy, provided that you know the basics of PHP.

Are busy Wikis a nightmare to keep up with? Since anyone can pretty much edit on site documents, it seems there would be a lot of comments and edits that would need to be reversed, research for validity, or corrected on a daily basis.

This depends on whether you a few members that will help you out, but if you don't you can bet it will be a nightmare. You could require membership before people could edit, this would at least cut it down a bit.

What are the best uses for a Wiki?

MediaWiki seems to be the best, but haven't used them all, so maybe someone else can help you here?

[jdancing]

Besides the Wikipedia type websites that use them like big dictionaries, where can I find websites that are using Wikis in a variety of different/innovative ways?

I'd like to get a better feel for the utility of having a Wiki on a website and perhaps spark some ideas how to best implement on site with a closed membership base I am developing.

[Quinn]

What are the best uses for a Wiki?

Just about anything. Intranet wikis can replace a good deal of management overhead IMO.

Are busy Wikis a nightmare to keep up with? Since anyone can pretty much edit on site documents, it seems there would be a lot of comments and edits that would need to be reversed, research for validity, or corrected on a daily basis.

I'd require membership but again...all depends on your intended use.

What Wiki software offers the best ease of use, performance and largest active user base? (pay or free – does not matter – I would want the best)

I'd also go with MediaWiki..

[bill]

I use wikis for my personal homepage and use it as a scratchpad throughout my day. You can quickly and easily add information to a wiki and build your own knowledge-base.

I'm partial to DokuWiki lately.