Thinking about starting a land rover wiki...

Hi all,

I started thinking about how there should really be a wiki somewhere, with a lot of the great information from sites such as this organized with common questions answered, basic information, part #'s, how-to guides (or links to them). I figured it would exist, but after a quick google search didn't come across any.

If the consensus is that this is a good idea, I hereby volunteer to start one as I have the skills needed to set up and maintain a wiki and want to give back to the community. Of course, I know next to nothing about land rovers compared to most of you guys, but everything has to start somewhere and hopefully some experts would contribute over time.

So... good idea? Already exists somewhere? Not worth it?

- Andrew

PS. I originally posted this in the website section, but didn't get any response.... I think that wasn't the right place for it as it's not about this site.

LandyZone - Land Rover Forum

best wiki i have found for landys get help, busters how to and a bit craic anorl

Sounds like a good idea to me.

bobbler said:

LandyZone - Land Rover Forum

best wiki i have found for landys get help, busters how to and a bit craic anorl

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Good sense from bobbler you will not find better.Thanx bobbler wasnt a great day yesterday

bobbler said:

LandyZone - Land Rover Forum

best wiki i have found for landys get help, busters how to and a bit craic anorl

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Forums are great for discussion and sharing opinions, but don't make great technical reference sources. A wiki is distinctly different in this respect. Instead of pretty much a free-for-all in posting, they oblige the contributor to plan and think about the article in greater depth. Stickies and "how to" forum sections go part way to addressing some of the weaknesses though.

Buster's stuff is good though. It would be nice if the wiki does take off, that he'd (and other prominent contributors here) would allow their articles/posts to be copied over. (It would save an awful lot of taking your own car apart and putting it back together again).

A wiki could be a lot more intuitive for new people if you can post a link to a wiki page instead of "do a search ffs". Of course though it lives or dies on the quality of articles and people leaving out opinion or hearsay in favour of cast iron facts.

Wunt a wiki defeat the object of a forum?

oh dear i posted MO on the other thread

nathan5346 said:

Wunt a wiki defeat the object of a forum?

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Nah, you come to a forum to get advice, especially when it goes wrong, the Haynes manual tells you the 'text book' approach - but certain things work differently for different people and especially when you have a unknown problem, a Wiki isn't going to help like a forum

And more importantly, a Wiki doesn't take the **** out of you for being a retard

nathan5346 said:

Wunt a wiki defeat the object of a forum?

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No, it wouldn't be my intention to replace a forum... besides, you can't really be a "community" with a wiki. And there will always be lots of unusual problems, or places you need to ask a non-standard question.... or just shoot the sh*t.

Landyzone has been a great resource of me, I'm not wanting to replace it.

- Andrew

I think a dedicated wiki would be a great idea.

It could be like a free online Haynes manual and have all the kind of information about history and identifying different years/models etc all in one.

I mean, the Wikipedia articles are good, but I'd imagine there is quite a lot of knowledge in the heads of people using this forum that isn't written down anywhere.

Got a server it might be able to be run on. Although would be nice if it could be integrated with LandyZone's members database...

ed.poore said:

Got a server it might be able to be run on. Although would be nice if it could be integrated with LandyZone's members database...

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I would be very willing to have it a part of landyzone, but not even sure who I would talk to about that. I'll admit I assumed that the LandyZone admin wouldn't be interested.

I've done a test wiki on a private site that I'm already paying for. It would serve to start up for sure, and should be OK unless it got really popular.

- Andrew

Go for it, we move with the times so to speak. Wiki's work really well for information and are one of the most monitored and respected source of information, everyone can contribute and become part of it.

You'll not replace a forum and that's not what Andrew is trying to do, so i say go for it, get those in the know part of the information and spread the word