Casting Knowledge Wiki

[syh]

With all the great masses of knowledge and info here, has anyone considered making a cast boolits wiki?

For those who don't know, a wiki is another method of organizing information (like forums and blogs) that's great for serving as a reference (as opposed to conversations or news). Any member could edit each page, and you can link between pages and group pages.

Despite all the brilliant minds here and info being passed around, it's sometimes difficult to find info just through the search function, and the stickies are too . . . many . . . to be able to just browse through.

I think it would be a great way to take the info we have here and be able to organize it.

Any thoughts?

[sheepdog]

Sounds like a good, thanks for volunteering. ;)

[briang]

Great idea, let us know when you get it done :)

[waksupi]

Great idea! Best of luck, I look forward to reading it!

[crabo]

You can start by reading all the stickies on this site.

[wallenba]

Ditto, what they all said.

[snaggdit]

If you build it, they will come:-D I would be interested in adding to it once you have it going...

[jdgabbard]

The big problem with Wiki type pages, is all data is user submitted. So many times when certain data has been proven incorrect it is still alive and kicking in Wiki form.

[sqlbullet]

The big benefit to wiki type pages is you can do something about bad information. A modern print encyclopedia is basically out of date before it is off the press.

However, the suggestion of a wiki here is very apropos. All of the content here is subject to the same issues of accuracy cited above.

Here is a problem a Wiki would solve. I am sure many have this problem.

I come here often. I have learned a lot of 'general' knowledge thanks to this site, and various links found here to scholarly works.

Today, I have a specific question. Should I start casting for my Remington 700 PSS in 300 Win Mag? What are the pro/cons? What bullets weights? Paper Patch? What Lube and what loads?

I know people here have the answers I need. Some have good info, others bad. I know all that info has probably been posted before.

I have two choices:

I can invest a significant amount of my time being intimate with search. Just for '300 Win Mag' there are 173 hits. I will glean a bunch of information that may or may not be referenced. I can then invest even more time in tracking down references and eventually have what I need.

Or

I can post a generic "So I wanna shoot lead in my 300 Win Mag" post and hope I get the info I need before I get flamed for not investing a bunch in time in search. If I am lucky, then I will have skipped the search pain, but still have to reference all the info I get. And the one guy who really knows may or may not see my post or be in the mood to respond to the jerk who didn't search to find the other 100 times he posted 'The Answer'.

If we were to add a Wiki, and all of us chip in with what we know, I could just go to the 300 Win Mag page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.300_Winchester_Magnum), and learn most of that info, and have the references right there. Anything not referenced, I find the truth, then update the wiki with the reference.

I suppose we could all start editing wikipedia.org pages. But we may not be well received there, and we are here anyway.

I think what the OP is really asking is this: "Who do we need to convince to get the mediaWiki (http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Installation) software installed on the servers?" I imagine the OP, like me, has a server somewhere they can use to play, but do not have adequate bandwidth to host of for the entire forum.

The installation is relatively straightforward. Just installed it on my laptop (Apache/MySQL) in about 10 minutes. Branding may take a day.

So, admins? Is there a boolits wiki in our future?

[sheepdog]

Wikis are great for a community like this. Its just going to take someone getting it started and it will start rolling on its own.

[Bret4207]

I've found so much garbage on Wikipedia that I automatically question anything found there. As far as correcting it, why was it posted in the first place if it was wrong? Because the goon in his basement running the show doesn't care. And therein lies my distrust of Wikipedia.

[Maven]

Well, we already have member articles on the CASTPICS site (bottom of your screen), this site, the CBA Forum and the CBA's publication, "The Fouling Shot," and Joe Brennan's "Cast Bullets for Beginner and Expert, 1st & 2nd. Eds." Do we need more?

[Wayne Smith]

I've found so much garbage on Wikipedia that I automatically question anything found there. As far as correcting it, why was it posted in the first place if it was wrong? Because the goon in his basement running the show doesn't care. And therein lies my distrust of Wikipedia.

Ah, but the references at the bottom of the page are an incredible value. I tell all of my adolescent clients to start there, ignore the writing but use the references.

[snaggdit]

If we were to add a Wiki, and all of us chip in with what we know, I could just go to the 300 Win Mag page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.300_Winchester_Magnum), and learn most of that info, and have the references right there. Anything not referenced, I find the truth, then update the wiki with the reference.

I agree. Doubtful info could be proven with links and edited. If I understand the main Wiki site, changes need to be approved before they become permanent. We would just need someone (or several someones) willing to agree to verify sources to approve content. Sort of like a Wiki moderator.

[Bret4207]

Ah, but the references at the bottom of the page are an incredible value. I tell all of my adolescent clients to start there, ignore the writing but use the references.

Sounds like good advice Wayne. As Maven said, all the info is readily available now at sites whose veracity isn't questionable. If someone feels a need to do this, more power to you, but I'll stick with the tried and true thanks.

[45 2.1]

If someone feels a need to do this, more power to you, but I'll stick with the tried and true thanks.

Granted, but little of what is here goes past a high school diploma level. The really interesting stuff isn't understood. Take for example the 6.5 Swede.

[Bret4207]

Yes Bob, we all are aware you are smarter than the rest of us and speak in cryptic tongues unknown to us, the heathen. Take pity and let us live in our dream world, okay?

[Edubya]

Resistance to change is a fact of life and I'm just a natural resister too. If someone is willing to put forth the effort and has the knowledge of running and maintaining a WIKI, I'm not necessarily against it, but I'll continue using a simple method of searching the site for information that I want. For one; it introduces me to many varied information. Yes, some of the information isn't necessarily true, but it might get me thinking about my perspective and it will give me a clue that I was not looking for.
Did you know that you can use a simple search? "site:castboolits.gunloads.com ________" (do not need the " marks)

(Where _______ is your search terms.) I just highlight and copy the site's main address "castboolits.gunloads.com", type in the "site:" then paste the main address and follow it up with what I'm looking for in the Google search space. This searches in the specific site only. It's worked pretty good for me on the several forums that I attend.

EW

[southpaw]

The big benefit to wiki type pages is you can do something about bad information. A modern print encyclopedia is basically out of date before it is off the press.

However, the suggestion of a wiki here is very apropos. All of the content here is subject to the same issues of accuracy cited above.

Here is a problem a Wiki would solve. I am sure many have this problem.

I come here often. I have learned a lot of 'general' knowledge thanks to this site, and various links found here to scholarly works.

Today, I have a specific question. Should I start casting for my Remington 700 PSS in 300 Win Mag? What are the pro/cons? What bullets weights? Paper Patch? What Lube and what loads?

I know people here have the answers I need. Some have good info, others bad. I know all that info has probably been posted before.

I have two choices:

I can invest a significant amount of my time being intimate with search. Just for '300 Win Mag' there are 173 hits. I will glean a bunch of information that may or may not be referenced. I can then invest even more time in tracking down references and eventually have what I need.

Or

I can post a generic "So I wanna shoot lead in my 300 Win Mag" post and hope I get the info I need before I get flamed for not investing a bunch in time in search. If I am lucky, then I will have skipped the search pain, but still have to reference all the info I get. And the one guy who really knows may or may not see my post or be in the mood to respond to the jerk who didn't search to find the other 100 times he posted 'The Answer'.

If we were to add a Wiki, and all of us chip in with what we know, I could just go to the 300 Win Mag page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.300_Winchester_Magnum), and learn most of that info, and have the references right there. Anything not referenced, I find the truth, then update the wiki with the reference.

I suppose we could all start editing wikipedia.org pages. But we may not be well received there, and we are here anyway.

I think what the OP is really asking is this: "Who do we need to convince to get the mediaWiki (http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Installation) software installed on the servers?" I imagine the OP, like me, has a server somewhere they can use to play, but do not have adequate bandwidth to host of for the entire forum.

The installation is relatively straightforward. Just installed it on my laptop (Apache/MySQL) in about 10 minutes. Branding may take a day.

So, admins? Is there a boolits wiki in our future?

I agree. I have tried the search function and it works.... but you get way more hits than what you are looking for ( I end up getting side tracked and forget what I was looking for to begin with). Any posts that has the word or words that you searched for in it will be in the results. There are so many posts that mention different things that you end up with many that are not what you are looking for.

I am a big fan of keeping it simple. I am not very computer literate. That may be why this sounds so good to me. It would be nice to go in an area like Wheelguns, Pistols and Handcannons click on 500 s&w or 454 or whatever you are looking for and have all the info there.

I really enjoy it here and am gradually increasing my knowledge of boolits day by day. Maybe some day I will have it all figure out, I doubt it tho, but until then I will keep reading and posting if necessary.

Thanks for a really great site and great ppl too!!!:drinks:


Jerry Jr.:castmine:

[45 2.1]

Yes Bob, we all are aware you are smarter than the rest of us and speak in cryptic tongues unknown to us, the heathen. Take pity and let us live in our dream world, okay?

Your not a moderator anymore, so can it. I get very tired of you and others living in your dream world saying if I can't do it, it's not possible for you to do either. There is life beyond what you see.

[Bret4207]

Mod or not doesn't matter. I never said you can't do it and I have no doubt you CAN do what you say. But belittling the rest of us with your " this is only high school" remarks and implying that only YOU understand the true secrets is insulting and inflammatory. I've asked you many times to get the chip off your shoulder and out and out explain your procedures. You'll give bits and pieces, but you never seem willing to provide all your thoughts. It would make a wonderful sticky if you'd pass that knowledge along. But you don;t seem willing and your ego does the rest.

So can it yourself Bob. Instead of being the permanent curmudgeon, why not share with us? I'm sure we'd all benefit and I know I for one would enjoy getting the full picture on your methods.

[45 2.1]

Mod or not doesn't matter. I never said you can't do it and I have no doubt you CAN do what you say. But belittling the rest of us with your " this is only high school" remarks Simply a statement of fact. It's taken over two years on this forum to get some of the simpler facts into general usage. and implying that only YOU understand the true secrets These so called "secrets" have been in print from various authors for a very long time, but it doesn't seem to have helped but a very few people during that 100 or so years. is insulting and inflammatory.Some people don't see it that way. I've asked you many times to get the chip off your shoulder and out and out explain your procedures. I have, you don't understand! One on one works pretty well. It doesn't work your way though, since i've tried that several times and it begets confusion. When you go to school to upgrade your education, you do it the professors way, not yours (unless the inmates are running the asylum). You'll give bits and pieces, but you never seem willing to provide all your thoughts. I have outlined my procedure several times, all I get is silence which means they don't get it. One fellow actually read all my posts, then contacted me asking how do you do that and went thru over six months of "class". Now he can do about the same thing hisself. It would make a wonderful sticky if you'd pass that knowledge along. I've done this with a few people, it takes several months to get the crinks out of their particular way of doing things because everyone attacks this differently and they do different things incorrectly (just "works for me" doesn't cut it when you want bugholes). A lot of "works for me" goes on in many places today unfortunatly. I've taught many people how to survey, usually two years of work for me (before they know enough to not make a very costly misstake) when they don't know much when they start. Sometimes what you know gets in the way of learning more, as is the case here. Little bits are chewable and can be digested, but you can't eat the whole beef at once, can you. But you don;t seem willing and your ego does the rest. What you think and your analysis doesn't concern me in the least. I try to find people who really want to learn and there are precious few of them.

So can it yourself Bob. Talk is cheap, you can't learn anything when your talking. Try listening! There is no substitute for trying something yourself and working at it until you get it right. Instead of being the permanent curmudgeon, why not share with us? Your not going to get it your way, if you want to learn what I know, you'll get it the way I teach it because most of the big talkers here get lost when trying to follow directions (thats why you get pieces so I know you understand that part before going forward). You have an idea who a couple people are who i've helped as they have said as much, contact them and see if i'm telling the truth. I'm sure we'd all benefit and I know I for one would enjoy getting the full picture on your methods.

[SciFiJim]

Can you guys take the flaming to the PMs please. The topic of discussion in this thread is a new way of indexing current knowledge to make finding specific knowledge easier.

[45 2.1]

Can you guys take the flaming to the PMs please. The topic of discussion in this thread is a new way of indexing current knowledge to make finding specific knowledge easier.

This isn't flaming, you want to see flaming you should read some of the PMs to me and Joe. :mrgreen: BTW, what we are talking about is current knowledge (just not widely distributed) and how it's presented.

[SciFiJim]

Ouch, Sorry then.
As a newbie here it sounds like two of the old guys having a playground spat.

One of my teachers in the 70s told me something prophetic. This was before home computers. He said that library science would make or break the future. The ability to retrieve information would be most important because it would enable people to avoid duplicating others research. That certainly applies in this field of knowledge as well.

I don't have the know how to get a wiki up and running, but would love to see one happen. Perhaps the link could be placed in the "Classics & Stickies" area. I would use it to gain knowledge and contribute what little information I have learned that I haven't seen here (not much because I am learning from you guys with years of experience). Someone lamented in another thread about losing the gun shops where guys gathered on Saturdays and swapped stories and information and the younger people learned from the discussions. This is where the Saturday gun shop crowd is now, and its not just on Saturdays.:p

Being ignorant is not bad, staying ignorant on purpose is!

[C A Plater]

Back on the subject.

Wikis are not especially hard to set up or run. I work two sites now so I have a little experience with them. The most active of the two is at work supporting our development team and only available on the company's network. On that one I share duties with a tech writer. I take care of the installation and maintenance tasks and the writer deals with content issues. The other is the public tcbunch.com (http://tcbunch.com) web site and I'm pretty much it there. That web site is mostly to support the mailing list but I use mediawiki to manage content.

I looked over the castpic.net pages and think that it would be a very straight forward task to migrate that content to a wiki along with stickies would make great content.

I would be happy to work with Cast Boolits or Cast Pics site owners on setting one up and getting it running. If either wish to discuss this PM me and I will exchange phone numbers and set up a time to confer. Too many details to thrash out for the forum.

Courtney Plater

[SciFiJim]

C A Plater, I will profess my ignorance and my unwillingness to remain so. I learn best by doing. If this turns into a GO, I am willing to help. If it's only rekeying in information I want to help. I am Word & Excel certified, have a working knowledge of the other Office products, have only taken one course on HTML and can copy and paste with the best of them. Let me know how and when I can help.
Jim

[dromia]

Bret and Bob can we desist from this OT debate please.

You both have your views and each to his own, you are unlikely to reconcile these views here so can we keep this discussion around Wiki's in relation to cast boolits.

Thanks.

I've been following this thread and still don't get this Wiki thing, any one care to point me at a working Wiki other than Wikipedia which is an extremely questionable source of information.

It's an obvious product of the internet very dodgy, lacking in authority and you need to be very circumspect is assigning any value to the Wikipedia information from my experience.

[Bret4207]

Can you guys take the flaming to the PMs please. The topic of discussion in this thread is a new way of indexing current knowledge to make finding specific knowledge easier.

I agree with Bob, this isn't flaming at all. This is just two people hashing something out. Bob is wonderful boolit designer and has some very good knowledge he could pass along. I just disagree with his assessment that the rest of us are unable to digest his methods because were either too dumb or thick headed. He and I have never gotten along, nothing new there.

[Bret4207]

Mod or not doesn't matter. I never said you can't do it and I have no doubt you CAN do what you say. But belittling the rest of us with your " this is only high school" remarks Simply a statement of fact. It's taken over two years on this forum to get some of the simpler facts into general usage. and implying that only YOU understand the true secrets These so called "secrets" have been in print from various authors for a very long time, but it doesn't seem to have helped but a very few people during that 100 or so years. is insulting and inflammatory.Some people don't see it that way. I've asked you many times to get the chip off your shoulder and out and out explain your procedures. I have, you don't understand! One on one works pretty well. It doesn't work your way though, since i've tried that several times and it begets confusion. When you go to school to upgrade your education, you do it the professors way, not yours (unless the inmates are running the asylum). You'll give bits and pieces, but you never seem willing to provide all your thoughts. I have outlined my procedure several times, all I get is silence which means they don't get it. One fellow actually read all my posts, then contacted me asking how do you do that and went thru over six months of "class". Now he can do about the same thing hisself. It would make a wonderful sticky if you'd pass that knowledge along. I've done this with a few people, it takes several months to get the crinks out of their particular way of doing things because everyone attacks this differently and they do different things incorrectly (just "works for me" doesn't cut it when you want bugholes). A lot of "works for me" goes on in many places today unfortunatly. I've taught many people how to survey, usually two years of work for me (before they know enough to not make a very costly misstake) when they don't know much when they start. Sometimes what you know gets in the way of learning more, as is the case here. Little bits are chewable and can be digested, but you can't eat the whole beef at once, can you. But you don;t seem willing and your ego does the rest. What you think and your analysis doesn't concern me in the least. I try to find people who really want to learn and there are precious few of them.

So can it yourself Bob. Talk is cheap, you can't learn anything when your talking. Try listening! There is no substitute for trying something yourself and working at it until you get it right. Instead of being the permanent curmudgeon, why not share with us? Your not going to get it your way, if you want to learn what I know, you'll get it the way I teach it because most of the big talkers here get lost when trying to follow directions (thats why you get pieces so I know you understand that part before going forward). You have an idea who a couple people are who i've helped as they have said as much, contact them and see if i'm telling the truth. I'm sure we'd all benefit and I know I for one would enjoy getting the full picture on your methods.

That's great. So it's your way or the highway? Nothing changed, that's for sure. It's a shame you're aren't willing to try and pass this along.

BTW- When I was a mod I had to be nice or it would give Ken fits. I'll be the same opinionated bonehead now that I was then, only without the manners.:mrgreen:

[C A Plater]

I've been following this thread and still don't get this Wiki thing, any one care to point me at a working Wiki other than Wikipedia which is an extremely questionable source of information.

It's an obvious product of the internet very dodgy, lacking in authority and you need to be very circumspect is assigning any value to the Wikipedia information from my experience.

I guess we need to separate the Wiki from Wikipedia and explain the concept a little.

Starting with the original Wiki there is this definition from www.wiki.org:


Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslinks between internal pages on the fly.

Wiki is unusual among group communication mechanisms in that it allows the organization of contributions to be edited in addition to the content itself.


There are lots of different kinds of Wiki software but all do basically the same things. Some are more popular than other, some use less resources, others because the creators thought they had a better way. Wikipedia uses one named MediaWiki which is probably the most popular version. I use it on the Wiki at work and at TCBunch.com because it is well supported with ongoing development and lots of add on features that give it lots of flexibility. It also has "skins" so the look can be changed and if you went to the tbunch web site you'd see it doesn't look anything like Wikipedia even though they use basically the same software. Wikis are very popular with open source software products as they allow users to exchange how to information and usage tips. Just enter "wiki" in any search engine and you will see thousands of wikis beyond Wikipedia.

Hope this helps some.

[Bret4207]

I was unaware of this. So wouldnt this just be a version of Cast Boolits minus the forum? IOW- take the material from here and condense it to another site?

Not sure I like that idea at all.

[SciFiJim]

It would be part of CastBoolits, like the Classics & Stickies sub forum. It would make searching for information easier, but the conversation here would continue.

[snaggdit]

I taught computers for 8 years. I have a lot of experience with web sites and servers. I would be willing to help transfer content as well. I guess what we need is some input from the site owner allowing someone to add the mediawiki software to get started.

[dromia]

In principle Willy reckons he could set something like that up for you.

However what it would need is a committed volunteer with time and knowledge to run the thing and be responsible for it.

Any one want to step up to the mark?

[Bret4207]

Here's the issue in my mind- Unless the owners of this site are completely willing to do this there are problems. We already have guys data mining here and publishing books with that information. That really bothers some of us. What you're proposing sounds similar. Although I'm just a member and not an owner, I would feel much more comfortable if the Cast Boolits "brand name" remained with any information transferred.

[dromia]

If there ever is a Cast Boolits Wiki then it would be an adjunct to this site not floated off, that I'm sure of.

[C A Plater]

As the first to offer help in setting a Wiki up let me clarify things. This offer was for setting up on gunloads.com domain ( includes castboolits ) and castpics.net. It was my assumption that it would be hosted on those domains. Doing an independent web site and "importing" content without permission is completely unethical and certainly would run afoul of the copyright laws. The first reason is more than enough that I will not help anyone in doing such a things. If such a things were my desire, I have the wherewithal to have already done it. Now if somebody want to do a wiki on another subject such as left hand under hammer muzzle loader how to and has their own content, I'd certainly be will to guide but for cast boolits content, it's here or nowhere.

[sqlbullet]

I am very much in favor, and willing to offer what help I can. It's the 'I can' limitation that I want to be clear on. I am the father of six children between the ages of 13 and 2. I work full time in IT doing R&D as well as managing a small software engineering team. I am also very involved at my church. A cast boolits WIKI would come after all those in priority for me.

That said, it is just the type of place I need to share the knowledge (valid and invalid) about isotope lead, 10mm casting, etc. I am sure I would find lots of time to edit pages.

And, a Wiki would make the information more accessible to the lay person. This would be both good and bad for people ripping off knowledge here to publish elsewhere. Good, because the knowledge would be better organized, but bad because ultimately what the market is paying them to do is better organize the information.

CA Plater, if this gets off the ground, PM me and I will pitch in where I can.

[Bret4207]

I am very much in favor, and willing to offer what help I can. It's the 'I can' limitation that I want to be clear on. I am the father of six children between the ages of 13 and 2. I work full time in IT doing R&D as well as managing a small software engineering team. I am also very involved at my church. A cast boolits WIKI would come after all those in priority for me.

That said, it is just the type of place I need to share the knowledge (valid and invalid) about isotope lead, 10mm casting, etc. I am sure I would find lots of time to edit pages.

And, a Wiki would make the information more accessible to the lay person. This would be both good and bad for people ripping off knowledge here to publish elsewhere. Good, because the knowledge would be better organized, but bad because ultimately what the market is paying them to do is better organize the information.

CA Plater, if this gets off the ground, PM me and I will pitch in where I can.

5 here, 5-24 plus the grandkid in the house! Time???? WHAT TIME!!!!!!:D

[snaggdit]

My job allows me to work from home and if my cell rings I have to go. Lately, I haven't been doing much. That can change quick, but lately I have been filling my time fishing with my 2 kids (13 and 15), fixing up the yard, putting in the garden and other misc chores (and of course casting, loading and shooting). I would have time to help, as I said.

[syh]

So. . . is there anyone involved with the site admin that would be able to get this rolling? Obviously, I'd love to help also, especially out of slight frustration (I tried to find the "how-to" on slugging, and found 20 posts that said "you should slug your barrel, use the search to find out how")

[waksupi]

So. . . is there anyone involved with the site admin that would be able to get this rolling? Obviously, I'd love to help also, especially out of slight frustration (I tried to find the "how-to" on slugging, and found 20 posts that said "you should slug your barrel, use the search to find out how")

Syh, I believe it would most likely be some one outside of the staff that would have to take this project on. Believe it or not, we have a lot to do behind the scenes, that doesn't appear on the board. I'm sure if you can get the info on how to operate the Wiki thing and put the info together, Willy or Ken can link it into the board.

[dromia]

OK, so we've got syh, snaggdit, sqlbullet and c_a_platter all expressing an interest in developing this idea.

One of you needs to take lead on this to start the discussion with Willy and Ken on how this would be done.

We need someone who knows what they are on about to do this, its no good going through staff like me 'cos I haven't a clue what you are talking about really.

So! Whose iot going to be?

[snaggdit]

I nominate c_a_platter! LOL. Seriously though, I have experience with web pages but have never done anything with Wiki software. I would be more than willing to be an indian, but would prefer not to be the chief.

[sqlbullet]

I am not sure the usernames of Willy and Ken to PM them. Once i have those, I can PM a quick primer on what I had to do to get a dev wiki installed on my laptop.

Once the wiki software is up, I think c_a_platter did say he can jump in and start skinning and configuring it.

[45nut]

This idea is gaining traction, I for one am interested but realize, it cannot happen overnite and will take concerted effort to bring it to fruition.
That said, most of what is valuable does take effort and dedication and such things get done often.

This site is but one example.

It looks very likely it will proceed folks.

[SciFiJim]

It looks very likely it will proceed folks.
[smilie=w:


I would be more than willing to be an indian
+1 to this. If someone will point me in the direction to help, I am all there.:D

[geargnasher]

I guess I'm still stuck in the 19th century at heart. If I want to know something I go to my library (personal or public) and research. Or ask someone I think may know. That's what I do here, poke around for answers or just ask if I need answers, or just browse the site, see what's up. The folks here have been really fantastic at helping me along with good info if I asked for it.

I distrust any user-info sites, the only reason I put any faith into advice/info I find here is because it is for the most part posted by people who have proven they are not full of sh8t, and any user can do a little background research or pm a person if they have questions about facts or procedures.

I fear a Wiki-style cast boolits compendium would be hot ground for those who disagree on methods or even facts. I think many would try to beat each other up on who's right rather than get the best knowledge out there for posterity.

I did have an idea, though, a while back. What if a small group of volunteers were to make a CastBoolits Guide, a small book containing all the real world essentials and particular observations (like some from a recent castboolits thread on casting secrets) that noobs and old goats alike could benifit from, and then desktop publish it and sell hard copies for, say $20 plus shipping to help support the site? It could be a small-run and be updated with a new addition coming out every year or so.

Has anyone considered the legal implications of a Wiki? It would really suck if someone were to hurt themselves with information and then sue.

Just my hairbrained brainstorming.

Gear

[snaggdit]

That's what I do here, poke around for answers or just ask if I need answers, or just browse the site, see what's up. The folks here have been really fantastic at helping me along with good info if I asked for it.
And I would hope the Wiki would not change this one bit
I distrust any user-info sites, the only reason I put any faith into advice/info I find here is because it is for the most part posted by people who have proven they are not full of sh8t, and any user can do a little background research or pm a person if they have questions about facts or procedures.
I agree somewhat with this. I believe the Wiki software could leave footnotes on posters/editors (just hoping). That way for long term users who have developed friendship/trust relationships could identify info they would tend to believe in as spoken.
I fear a Wiki-style cast boolits compendium would be hot ground for those who disagree on methods or even facts. I think many would try to beat each other up on who's right rather than get the best knowledge out there for posterity.
Thats what a moderator/editor would need to weed out or possibly mesh into an update before allowing to be seen. Consecutive edit/suggestions could tweak the info as it grows
I did have an idea, though, a while back. What if a small group of volunteers were to make a CastBoolits Guide, a small book containing all the real world essentials and particular observations (like some from a recent castboolits thread on casting secrets) that noobs and old goats alike could benifit from, and then desktop publish it and sell hard copies for, say $20 plus shipping to help support the site? It could be a small-run and be updated with a new addition coming out every year or so.
GREAT idea, and you know what? You could print the Wiki yearly as it grows and adapts. All the info you want to share could be gotten directly from the Wiki since to begin we few volunteers would have to become intimate with the search function and read hours of posts to come up with "out of the gate" entries that encompass the general consensus of all posts that can be found on a subject. Then bring on the edit suggestions that could tweak the findings into refined gold (lead?)

Has anyone considered the legal implications of a Wiki? It would really suck if someone were to hurt themselves with information and then sue.
Any more than the info in a post? Mix this with that big boom and they do it? All forum sites have to have a disclaimer of liability anyway. I'm sure there is one here, somewhere.

Just my hairbrained brainstorming.

Gear

Glad to have your input! Good thoughts. I like the book idea. Proceeds to Ken to support the site hosting. Who would collect and edit the book, though? Why not let the Wiki do the work for you?

[syh]

Great replies Snaggdit!

Think of it like exactly what we have in the forums, but without the "fluff" posts saying "great post" and agreeing with the original poster, and instead of hitting search and getting a million posts, and finding which one applies, you can search and find THE article that you're looking for.

The current forums we have are EXCELLENT, and it would be even better to harness all the info here into a format that's a little easier for newer folks to access.

Another feature of wikis is that each page has a "discussion" page associated with it, so you can track all the changes to the page, by user, and debate the merits of different parts of it. This is a great way to dispel myths and arrive at a more factual set of information. But generally, not a place to have debates or personality wars.

We would just need someone who runs the site to set us up with the software on the server to run it, and also of course, some leg work to get the major framework of it set up.

[geargnasher]

Glad to have your input! Good thoughts. I like the book idea. Proceeds to Ken to support the site hosting. Who would collect and edit the book, though? Why not let the Wiki do the work for you?

Ok, you're right, I understand better how this Wiki thing would work. I [I]would[I] like to have a sort of quick reference here, heck, we're all "specialists" at something and could contribute good info. Keep it rolling!

I volunteer to cheerlead[smilie=w:

Gear

[syh]

I'm going to raise this from the dead again to see if we can't get it rolling or started up at least. What would be the best way to get this into motion?

Is there some webspace that we can use on the gunloads server for the wiki? Or would it be best to run it out of wikia or another similar site (wiki hosting).

If possible, it would be best to have it on the cb site, and not link / advertise it until the basics are set up and there's something there to look at.

45guy, would this be possible?

[C A Plater]

It's not dead just kinda like a submarine, there is progress but you can't see it from the surface. Right now the big issue to be solved is web space. The gunloads.com domain where castboolits resides there are bandwidth concerns. Bandwidth cost money and the wiki may push it over the limit so I'm checking with the owner of CastPics on that possibility. There is a fall back position should that not work out on another site but I'd rather work within the Cast Boolits ecosphere if possible.

It is not a problem to restrict access to logged in users and initial plan to do so until things are presentable at least. Speaking of presentable, I do have a skin picked out for the default and while it does need some customizing work it has a nice clean look to it. A picture of the tcbunch.com site using the proposed skin (http://tcbunch.com/kiosk/screenshot.png).

There is more going on and once the site issue is solved more information will be forthcoming.

Courtney Plater