[R] Wikibooks

[hadley wickham]

> If entering a new page is really the way to ask a question, then you
> should write this on the front page, and as a possible way to contribute
> on the getting-started page.  It would also be a good idea to tell
> people like me how to find those questions. ("Recent Edits" seems a
> little too broad, with too little in the way of subject matter in the
> comments, but maybe that's just because nobody's asking questions yet.)

I don't think it's a good idea to use the wiki as a way to ask
questions.  We already have a great forum to ask questions - this
mailing list.  Creating a new place to ask questions potentially
fragments the community of people available to answer questions.

I think the wiki would be more appropriate as a way to record
collective best practices, but this relies on it being easy to find
them again.

> And it would be a good idea to seed the wiki with a lot of questions,
> just to get some activity going.

That's good for people who want to ask questions, but people who want
their questions answered are presented with many blank pages
(http://www.wikipatterns.com/display/wikipatterns/Empty+Pages), and
will be discouraged.

> And maybe set up a page for pointers to questions that are languishing
> unanswered?  I think the key is to make it easy to ask a question and
> easy to answer one, so don't put too much bureaucracy into the process.

I think it's useful to consider more the purpose of the wiki - what
makes it different to the mailing list? to the website? to the
existing documentation?  How can the strengths of the wiki form be
used to our advantage?

Hadley