Introducing BesslerWiki

[scott]

Hi All,

Just wanted to let everyone know that I have been working on a new feature that is ready for prime time.

http://www.besslerwheel.com/wiki

The forum is great for discussion, but over the years a lot of good information gets buried, and often the same subject comes up again and again.

There has been a long-standing need for something like an FAQ, but I just don't have the time to implement and manage it. I think the new wiki will serve the purpose well, with the added advantage that it will be dynamic and editable by any member at any time.

Here are some relevant links:

What is a wiki?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

Why wiki works
http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl?WhyWikiWorks


The new BesslerWiki runs on MediaWiki, the most powerful and full-featured wiki software available today. It is the same software that runs Wikipedia.

As far as Bessler websites go, this community has made the forum the best on the net. I believe it can do the same for the new wiki.

Let me know what you think.

-Scott


P.S. For now there are separate accounts for the wiki and forum, sorry about that. It will take a lot of work to implement single sign-on, but I didn't want to hold up the announcement any longer. For now, if you'd like to start editing the wiki (you are welcome to do so!), please just sign up using the same username, password and email that you use for the forum. Thanks.

P.P.S. Anyone can browse the wiki. For now only registered members who sign up and validate their email can edit.

[gavin]

This looks excellent, very useful.

[Tinhead]

>> HIGH FIVE <<

I love it, good idea :)

Finally a place where we can keep all the important information together, hated it to search through all the message threads when I was looking for something.

Now all we have to do is to fill it up *sigh* ... sounds like work. So lets get going ;)

Cheers,
Rainer

[LustInBlack]

I'm not too familiar with wiki, I'll try inserting some idea later, but I'm not sure how I can navigate thru the wiki yet..

Anyways, I'll figure it out when there are some content!

Good idea btw!! .. Better than the MechLibrary.. 8]

[ovyyus]

Excellent, Scott.

[Wheeler]

Scott
Like Wow!

You continue to advance the forum with technology and useful research tools.

[jim_mich]

This wiki board looks interesting. I'll need to learn how to post on it.

What type of info do we want on the wiki? Do we start with some definitions? Do we want wheel ideas? Do we want technical formulas and such?

This looks like a great way to present ideas and concepts without the chit chat that usually follows. The idea or concept can be revised and edited until it becomes clear and understandable.

[Tinhead]

I think we should just go along. Nice thing about a Wiki ... if the others don't like it, they just delete it :)

Ok, can also be a bad thing ... will we rediscover the 4th law of motion ???

*chuckles*

Have fun,

Rainer

Ufffff, needs some time to get used too. Scott, I stole the wheel pictures from Besslerwheel.com ... just for testing purposes ;)

[rlortie]

Well my luck with computer skills will never change! Inadvertenly miss typed my e-mail address. Went back and updated to correct one.

Tried to confirm e-mail address. Tried number of times, all I get is:

"Could not send confirmation mail. Check address for invalid characters.

Retrieved from "http://www.besslerwheel.com/wiki/index. ... nfirmemail"

Help!

Ralph

[rlortie]

Scott,

kept getting the "could not send info message. I logged out and opened my e-mail box and found four letters of confermation.

All is well now, I am in!

Ralph

[Wheeler]

Ralph
Did you create a new account?
You must do this first.
Use your same id and password.

[scott]

Thanks for the support everybody. I'm pretty excited about it too.

Ralph, sorry about that! There is something causing that error message to show up even though the email was sent successfully, but I'm not sure what the problem is yet. Sorry for the trouble.

I see Rainer has already made a contribution. Thanks Rainer! Everyone else, feel free to follow his lead.

Just off the top of my head, here are some ideas for categories and/or articles:

MT (check with Bill first if info comes from his site, don't post his MT images here)
Wheel statistics (same as above)
Simulations / WM2D (tips, tricks, tutorials)
Misconceptions (e.g. Frank Edwards "weights across the zenith", etc.)
Bessler life, facts, timeline, etc? (be sure and reference John Collins where appropriate)
others...? (of course, the sky's the limit)

If you're not ready to post on the wiki yourself yet, just add your ideas here in this thread for now.

-Scott

[Wheeler]

Hi Scott
Before I post I want to know more, but I was wondering about if this could possibly be a category.
Basic accepted physics of a wheel that may apply to the search for Bessler clues and facts.
Something like showing the basics of the cog and offset weight etc.
Can things of this nature become categories?

[scott]

Good idea btw! Better than the MechLibrary.. 8]

Well thanks, but it's not better, just bigger. :-) The MechLibrary could find a nice home in new the wiki.
-Scott

[scott]

Before I post I want to know more, but I was wondering about if this could possibly be a category.
"Basic accepted physics of a wheel that may apply to the search for Bessler clues and facts."

Hi Wheeler, thanks for the idea. At this point we are brainstorming, so all ideas are good ones. But if you were to create a new category called "Basic accepted physics of a wheel that may apply to the search for Bessler clues and facts," my guess is that it would not last very long on the new wiki. It's just too darned long to be a category. :-) But something like that could definitely find a home there.

That's exactly what I hope the wiki will do for us: help focus our collaborative effort toward presenting Bessler information in a clear, coherent, and informative way. As some might say, to leverage the "wisdom of crowds."

I know I'm getting all metaphysical now, but I have become a believer. I was mostly on the wiki skeptic side until a good friend of mine turned me on to it recently. Now I am sure that a wiki is *exactly* what this website needs, and that it's the perfect complement to the forum. But I am still a newbie to wikis in general. E.g. I don't know much about wiki markup at all.

Thanks again all, good luck, and "be bold" on the new wiki!

-Scott