Howdy Folks,
Its kind of been a brainstorm week for me for whatever reason. At any rate it just dawned on me... Shouldn't we have a FAQ page for those repetative pesky questions we seem to get on a weekly basis? IE, Public Roads, National Defense, Welfare, Business Cycles, blah blah blah.
Can we use the Wiki page for that? I was browsing through it and didn't find any specific articles on some of the most common statists topics we seem to get. A nice wiki article + links to literature for those common topics would be a great FAQ alternative. Also the Wiki on this site doesn't seem very organic. It's not anything like mediawiki is it? It seems somewhat limited, though I have yet to post a topic....
Statism is a religion.
I was going to work on something like this when I got time. Unfortunately, time is something I never have.
If a few people are into it, we could probably make a project out of it. But folks would have to commit to seeing it through because sometimes people get in, and then disappear when there is stuff to be done.
It doesn't have to be a big commitment, but it is hard for only one or two people to maintain things.
If you find something evil that wobbles, push it. - Gary North
I'd be happy to do it. As you know I started that other thread about suggested reading tree's and another one, a relational chart. Since the relational chart has shown little interest I'd be willing to halt it for now and help with this.
We can talk about it. If we can work out a plan, maybe we can do something together.
I'm planning to cover topics like that on my site (under 'Topics'):
http://www.vforvoluntary.com/
Right now I'm working on an article about morality, and the very important one about private arbitration and security is on schedule too. But after that, the secundary topics are next, like:
- Education
- Roads
- Environment
- Drugs
- IP
- Healthcare
- Science
- Insurance
- Labor laws
- etc
Nielsio,
I think it benefits us most if we can keep the FAQ here at the mises.org site. I think it will be more widely used that way and easier to reference during forum debates. I think many folks have attempted this but fail due to lack of participation on their site. If the FAQ/Wiki is here on the mises.org site we will be subject to a much higher volume of attention.
One thing is for sure though we need to address the WIKI part to this software. I don't know if it can be improved upon or not but it seems very lunky atm.
filc:One thing is for sure though we need to address the WIKI part to this software. I don't know if it can be improved upon or not but it seems very lunky atm.
Assume it cannot. That is because it is part of a much larger software suite that is integrated into the entire site.
Maybe we should start a group to work on this sort of thing. Sound like a plan?
Yup. I'm in and maybe we can get Nielso's help as well. Just point me in a direction!
filc:Nielsio,I think it benefits us most if we can keep the FAQ here at the mises.org site. I think it will be more widely used that way and easier to reference during forum debates. I think many folks have attempted this but fail due to lack of participation on their site. If the FAQ/Wiki is here on the mises.org site we will be subject to a much higher volume of attention.One thing is for sure though we need to address the WIKI part to this software. I don't know if it can be improved upon or not but it seems very lunky atm.
So instead I've decided to start my own website that covers the basic framework of the voluntaryist philosophy, in an accessible way, and that can also be found and referenced easily. For example, what is the free market position on education? You can find a whole lot of things on Mises.org about that topic and about all topics, but there is no easy point where people can go to to get an answer. I'd like to change that.
Also, there is no reason why these two things needs to stay separate in the future.
liberty student: filc:One thing is for sure though we need to address the WIKI part to this software. I don't know if it can be improved upon or not but it seems very lunky atm. Assume it cannot. That is because it is part of a much larger software suite that is integrated into the entire site. Maybe we should start a group to work on this sort of thing. Sound like a plan?
I have a forum on my website and I can create a section for this, and make you guys moderators of it so you have all the possibilities at hand.
Nielsio:I have a forum on my website and I can create a section for this, and make you guys moderators of it so you have all the possibilities at hand.
I understand what you are trying to do, and I approve of it. But I was also going to originally spin something (on my own) into a series of sites. I now realize I don't need to do that, because where ever the info ends up, I can point a domain at it for easy reference.
I have no issue with building information that will be used on your site, but I don't want it to be confined to your site. That is, I want it to be able to be used by anyone, anywhere at any time, including inclusion into the Mises community wiki.
Now that is my own perspective on this, and I don't expect you to agree or acquiese to it. But I think that it makes sense to have information in as many places as possible. Maintaining it might not be easy, but I have some ideas of how we can tie multiple copies of the same data together.
If that is cool with you and filc, then maybe we can proceed. We will still need to hash out exactly what it is we are doing.
liberty student: I have no issue with building information that will be used on your site, but I don't want it to be confined to your site. That is, I want it to be able to be used by anyone, anywhere at any time, including inclusion into the Mises community wiki.
As it happens, I might have something that corresponds to your idea: http://austrianeconomics.wikia.com/wiki/For_and_against_paper_money
It sure needs more work, but then again what doesn't. :)
liberty student: Nielsio:I have a forum on my website and I can create a section for this, and make you guys moderators of it so you have all the possibilities at hand. I understand what you are trying to do, and I approve of it. But I was also going to originally spin something (on my own) into a series of sites. I now realize I don't need to do that, because where ever the info ends up, I can point a domain at it for easy reference. I have no issue with building information that will be used on your site, but I don't want it to be confined to your site. That is, I want it to be able to be used by anyone, anywhere at any time, including inclusion into the Mises community wiki. Now that is my own perspective on this, and I don't expect you to agree or acquiese to it. But I think that it makes sense to have information in as many places as possible. Maintaining it might not be easy, but I have some ideas of how we can tie multiple copies of the same data together. If that is cool with you and filc, then maybe we can proceed. We will still need to hash out exactly what it is we are doing.
The point of my site is to spread ideas. To gather important ideas, make them readable and understandable, and to reach out to people. If the information is hosted elsewhere and it can reach more people, all the better. The reason I'm setting up a separate place and editing my own articles is because there is no other place I can easily refer people to. Or I think I can do it better than places I'm referring people to. But certainly I don't want to restrict the use of the ideas. Not sure why you thought otherwise.
Nielsio:I don't want to restrict the use of the ideas. Not sure why you thought otherwise.
I didn't think otherwise. I was laying out expectations, so we go into this on the same page with compatible goals. I don't want to work on a project for a couple weeks, and then someone says, "This is my stuff, and I want it on such and such site".
Maybe I am over cautious, but I have learned working with people online that it is always good to be explicit to the point of being redundant. Less conflicts down the road.
Nielsio:If the information is hosted elsewhere and it can reach more people, all the better.
I don't think the information only needs to be in one place. It would be great if it was in 1000 places, in dozens of formats. We all have the same goal. To share ideas.
Nielsio:The reason I'm setting up a separate place and editing my own articles is because there is no other place I can easily refer people to.
Nothing wrong with that.
I agree that this should be part of Mises.org and not on another site. Other sites are fine, but Mises.org is a huge entry point for newbies to this. Therefore I think the FAQ/Wiki should be here, possibly in the top navigation.
I volunteer to help. I'm not too informed yet, but it wouldn't be the first time I set up a wiki. Do you guys have a wiki system built into this page? If not, there's always MediaWiki the open source software Wikipedia uses. It's very simple to set up and use.
Yes I am not for limiting this at all and agree with LS that it would be wonderful for it to spread. I think a copy of it should remain here though. It will benefit forum users immensly.
On a side note if we host it somewhere else we can use a more robust wiki platform like mediawiki.
Bleicke: I volunteer to help. I'm not too informed yet, but it wouldn't be the first time I set up a wiki. Do you guys have a wiki system built into this page? If not, there's always MediaWiki the open source software Wikipedia uses. It's very simple to set up and use.
There is a wiki on this site, available here.
Not to honk my own horn, but there is a larger wiki based on the MediaWiki engine, see the above link.
We know about the wiki site here and it's lacking. Hence the reason for this post
I think the Wiki-format is good for editing, but I don't think it's good for presenting. So for Mises.org to link visitors straight to a Wiki seems bad.
Also, the make-up of a Wiki is really more intended to store information, not so much to explain a whole topic.
An alternative way to go about it is to have one person be the final editor of a topic, and for others to criticize and contribute, but that first person makes the changes. This way of doing it would be suitable in a forum with specific moderator privileges, like I suggested earlier.
It seems to me that it would be easy for Mises.org to install the full Wiki application no? I could set it up on my own server too.
Peter what you have is what I would more like to see. I think Wiki's are fine for presenting data and information. I just like them to be clean and not confusing when someone goes to it.
Perhaps we should find a time when LS is available and just have a little chat/discussion.
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