Chaserpedia, a wiki just for chasers!

[KendraReed]

Great idea Shawn...I look forward to seeing your iteration!

 

[Tim Vasquez]

This is Darren Addy's StormWiki (2005-2006) right before it folded
http://web.archive.org/web/20060820093310/stormwiki.unk.edu/index.php/Main_Page

It might be worthwhile to see if Darren might be ok with some of that content being merged in. I hate to see such a good vein of information vanish into thin air. However Archive.org is a real trainwreck when it comes to archiving all pages of a website, so I have no idea how much of it is recoverable.

Tim

 

[Bill Tabor]

I recommend you create a 'steering committee' for determining structure and content of the site. You will likely need moderators, and content advisors - some type of content approval procedure if you want it to be structured, accurate, detailed and not duplicate. You may wish to allow anyone to submit contributions for addition but have all additions reviewed and approved before updating the public web view of the wiki.

 

[czenzel]

I recommend you create a 'steering committee' for determining structure and content of the site. You will likely need moderators, and content advisors - some type of content approval procedure if you want it to be structured, accurate, detailed and not duplicate. You may wish to allow anyone to submit contributions for addition but have all additions reviewed and approved before updating the public web view of the wiki.

I agree, but I think we are targeting the wiki to be similar to Wikipedia. We can have an advisory board of content advisors; however, with a wiki and the wiki software you can't approve everything that is posted to the wiki unless pages are locked. I don't think we want to lock and protect every page except for those pages that need to be watched such as those for users and spotter groups.

I like the idea. Maybe we can include something in the guidelines that if you are unsure of something you are going to post we recommend discussing it first in the "Discuss" page under any given wiki page. Advisors can guide users then to the right direction in helping in finding the research, guide the user to providing/citing sources, and then rewriting the articles in a certain format that is understandable by the wiki users (or the target audience).

 

[czenzel]

This is Darren Addy's StormWiki (2005-2006) right before it folded
http://web.archive.org/web/20060820093310/stormwiki.unk.edu/index.php/Main_Page

It might be worthwhile to see if Darren might be ok with some of that content being merged in. I hate to see such a good vein of information vanish into thin air. However Archive.org is a real trainwreck when it comes to archiving all pages of a website, so I have no idea how much of it is recoverable.

Tim

Thanks Tim! That is exactly what I was looking for. I think there was also another one called StormWiki when this project died, but it also died too with no content left behind. It might have been stormwiki [.org ?]. I don't remember, but it was started shortly after I joined Stormtrack.

Thanks for the link to the archive site. I am sure it will provide useful materials for us and the new wiki.

 

[James Hammett]

I recommend you create a 'steering committee' for determining structure and content of the site. You will likely need moderators, and content advisors - some type of content approval procedure if you want it to be structured, accurate, detailed and not duplicate. You may wish to allow anyone to submit contributions for addition but have all additions reviewed and approved before updating the public web view of the wiki.

A wiki without the public's ability to edit and add content without review really is no longer a wiki in the typical sense. Any content can be reviewed and discussed after the fact of course but if it's too difficult to contribute approved content then no one will. Pages that are prone to getting defaced can be locked or semi-locked like on Wikipedia. Of course not every wiki has to be run like Wikipedia...it can be as open or restricted as the operator wishes though I'd recommend starting out with it open and go from there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki#Characteristics

 

[James Hammett]

One concern I would have about investing time in content contributions is that this wiki might also disappear at some point. I'd be interested in setting up a read-only mirror if this thing really gets going.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I recommend you create a 'steering committee' for determining structure and content of the site. You will likely need moderators, and content advisors - some type of content approval procedure if you want it to be structured, accurate, detailed and not duplicate. You may wish to allow anyone to submit contributions for addition but have all additions reviewed and approved before updating the public web view of the wiki.

So far I have one admin helper. If anyone else is interested in helping out and making this thing work. Please let me know. Its volunteer of course, keep that in mind but you can work at your own pace and whenever you want. I'll give you an @chaserpedia.com email address for free too if you want one.

If interested in admin, let me know!

 

[Darren Addy]

I had high hopes for StormWiki, but there were at least two problems that I had...

The KILLER was spam, which the MediaWiki software seemed to be especially vulnerable to. The other problem was a lack of knowlegeable contributors. It seemed that a lot of people joined to contribute, but then didn't take the time to learn how to write "wiki" or add articles and make it better. It is sad, because I do think that at Wiki, with it's ability to link unfamiliar words/phrases with another wiki page that explains it, makes it a format particularly suited to learning quickly.

I'm no longer with the university, and do not think that i have a backup of the database anywhere. I think that by the very nature of the wiki, that any info there could certainly be repurposed elsewhere, but not as certain about images (I don't remember the terms of use for StormWiki, but I do not believe that images posted there were required to be put into the Public Domain.)

I haven't kept up with the lastest wiki software, so hopefully the environment or controls have changed to make such a project more likely to be a long term success today.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

Also, if anyone is interested in putting their "chase cases" up or their experiences on various chases, close encounters and etc. I think it could be fun, entertaining and educational all in its own. Just be sure to add your own credits and plug your site if you want to.

On spam, I am going to do my best to keep it out. I am going to install various automated program to help with the fight on spam as well.

 

[MatthewCarman]

There is some other weather wiki's but they are all dead. I will contribute to your wiki if it takes off. Wiki's are great learning tools and I use wikipedia all the time.

 

[MatthewCarman]

A member named Brian started a weather Wiki but only me and one other person joined that site and it dissapeared.

I think a mirror site is a good idea.

 

[czenzel]

I'd like to take a moment and thank everyone who has contributed so far. Shawn has done a great job starting this project, and I have seen a lot of good contributions from members such as Matthew and others. We look forward to the weather almanac, which Matt is currently working on, and also the contributions from other users. This looks like a great start to a wiki and I am sure we won't have any problems with spam or other things that might happen. If things do happen that you believe are incorrect, please let me or Shawn know. You can always PM me here at stormtrack and I'll send you my chaserpedia e-mail address and we can talk about Chaserpedia content, violations, spam, or other things that relate to the wiki. Just let me or Shawn know how we can help. Everybody has done great so far and has made great contributions!

Thanks everyone for making Chaserpedia happen!

 

[James Hammett]

Looks like there's already spam on Talk:Main Page...

 

[Shawn Gossman]

There was.... until I deleted it