Why Wiki The Gee

From G503Wiki

Over the past five years or so, we have watched as a seemingly endless amount of information has made its way through the G503 Message Board Systems. As it's System Administrator, I have had to upgrade messaging systems to keep up with messaging demands, and it has become apparent that these systems, while convenient for quick and easy interaction and exchange of information, are less than ideal for long term storage. As time goes by, the messages take up more and more space and gradually start to slow down normal functions, particularly searches.

Wouldn't it be nice, I thought, if we could filter out the permanent facts and advice related to our subject matter from the transient personal information that occupies much of the content on the boards and store it in a convenient, searchable and permanent system? I thought it would.

Information would need to be copied from the boards into some sort of workspace and edited into a more objective, organized form.

This is not a difficult task, technologically speaking, for a few, or even one person. Yet it is a colossal task in terms of practicality. The amount of time involved would make it nearly impossible, which is why it has not yet been done :)

However, instead of a few people spending large amounts of time to accomplish this task, why not instead have a large amount of people each spend a small amount of time to do the same thing? Participation is a resource of which we have an abundance :)

Enter The Wiki: The mechanism by which the temporary becomes permanent.

Hopefully, it will go something like this: A user browsing the boards will find some important information that he or she is looking for, or finds significant in terms of jeep information. They copy that information (lest it fall victim to the pruning process and become lost) and paste it in an appropriate place in the wiki. Over time, this information is refined by means of pier review within the wiki itself. Soon, the wiki becomes a valuable repository of data, knowledge and experience available to anyone with the interest, whose information may be freely disseminated and stored in a permanent, searchable database system for eternity. Before long, all remaining g503 jeeps are restored and saved from destruction :)

Simple, no?

That is why we think The Gee needs a wiki :)

_Ken Creason
System Administrator
G503.com
August 8, 2003