[Adam]

Hi guys,

The Internet evolving much faster than our site- and it looks like a few of our systems, such as the current article repository, have been lagging behind in terms of usability.

Current articles can only be edited by the original poster, and all subsequent information, even if highly relevant or missing in the article, can only be added as replies. Therefore, we've come up with a bold task: creating the first Pentax-dedicated wiki, allowing users to create and improve Pentax-related articles as well as easily find content.

This idea was suggested to me last week, and I think it's brilliant. The possibilities with such a user-edited system are nearly endless!

The wiki has been fully installed at the above URL; now we just need to populate the homepage and help pages. Users can already start adding pages if they'd like! I thought I'd go ahead and just jump in with this and see what the community thinks about it. I believe that if even a small fraction of our forum users contributes to the wiki, we'll build a resource almost as valuable as the forum itself!

The wiki uses the same login system as the forum, meaning that if you're logged in on the forum, you'll also be logged in on the wiki. Furthermore, moderator permissions on the wiki are granted to all Site Supporters.

Enjoy! Ideally, we'll be able to get a significant number of articles up on the wiki within the coming weeks, allowing us to close the article section and replace it with links to the wiki. We'll also be linking to the wiki from the homepage.

Adam
PentaxForums.com Webmaster (Site Usage Guide | Site Help | My Photography)



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[johnmflores]

Great idea! I just hope nobody starts a "FF vs. APS-C" article!

[kbrede]

Good plan.

[GregK8]

Two thoughts come from my initial reaction, well three if you count that I love the idea.

One, should we call it the PentaxForum Wiki instead of the Pentax Wiki. I'm not sure about branding/association, etc.

Two, can all the existing articles be moved over there to give a starting point. On second thought, maybe we need the original author to give permission to do that. I dunno, just a thought.

[Adam]

I'm pretty sure it qualifies as fair use; if not I'm sure Michelle will give us permission.

Not sure about copying the articles directly- but it would probably be better to re-write them using better formatting and flow. There shouldn't be any problems with that as long as you reference the original thread. Once the wiki enters regular use, the article section will be closed, but the threads will be moved elsewhere rather than being full deleted, for reference purposes.

[TOUGEFC]

Great idea Adam! This wiki will be a very handy asset, once the ball gets rolling.

[bkpix]

Can someone draft an outline of needed topics? Or does that even make sense on a wiki?

[GregK8]

Can someone draft an outline of needed topics? Or does that even make sense on a wiki?

The point of the wiki is that you can do an outline, and then i can add to it, someone else can reorder it to make it better.

There is nothing stopping you from getting the ball rolling.

[patrickw]

I started entries for the K-7 and K-5 (along with some links that you will see in there.) Really, as soon as you start adding stuff, like a tree the topics that need to be filled in present themselves to you.

K-5 - The Pentax Wiki at PentaxForums.com

K-7 - The Pentax Wiki at PentaxForums.com

(Note that I redirected "K5" and "K7" to the above pages... following what seems to be Pentax's official spelling of the model numbers).

Anyway, great idea, looking forward to contributing a bit to its growth over time.

[patrickw]

BTW I see that Adam has already added some nice stuff to my K-5 entries... teamwork at its finest...

[patrickw]

When you see a link in the Wiki in red, that means the entry hasn't been created yet. (In other words, it is possible to create a link for which no entry has been created yet.) This would be a great way to contribute, if you see a red link on a topic you are knowledgeable enough about to write a brief "stub" entry to get it started. Just click on the red link and it will ask you if you want to create that page.

The other thing to do at this early stage is to do one's best not to create multiple entries for the same item (i.e. separate "K5" and "K-5" entries, and so on.) So, it might be good idea to do a search of the topic before creating a new entry (even if there is a red link, which might be phrased or spelled differently than an article already in existence and thus not link to it).

It would be a good idea to standardize how lenses will be entered, since this seems a prime (pun intended) way that we would end up with multiple entries of the same item.

For now I used this format for a lens page:

DA 21mm f/3.2 Limited Silver

To redirect an alternate spelling/phrasing to an already existing page, create an entry that reads in its entirety:

#REDIRECT [[name of the target page]]

In other words, the entry for "K7" currently reads:

#REDIRECT [[K-7]]

[Adam]

Looks like a great start! Also looks like you know a lot more about wikis than I do, Patrick! I'm looking forward to seeing this grow, and with the large number of moderators (all site supporters & staff), it should be a breeze to keep tidy.

To do know how to make the main page more attractive, to look more like wikipedias?

[patrickw]

Actually, Adam, I have to admit, I've never done this before. I just read the help document to get started and you know, took a few baby steps.

[Adam]

Looks like the wiki supports templates - does anyone know how to add them? If so, feel free to add some for lens entries.

[Arpe]

For now I used this format for a lens page:

DA 21mm f/3.2 Limited Silver

And yet, after some discussion I seem to recall, PF itself uses the official name in its lens review articles. The official name is "SMC Pentax-DA 21mm F3.2 Limited". Shouldn't the wiki and PF be consistent at least?