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Hmmm...like a wiki style article so we can all post info on books, and tools and ad-infinitum. Seems like someone posted that suggested some time ago in this very forum! 
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We've (internally) been talking about wiki-style articles for a long, long time. The problem that we are trying to get past is pretty much summed up by visiting this section[^]. Some unedited contributions are awesome, some are just plain terrible.
How do you police this? How do you ensure that an entry created by one person isn't savaged (both in content and format) by someone else? Do you only allow those who have a track record of good posts to edit/append a current article? Who gets credit for an entry? What if someone comes along and adds one word to each entry in order to get their name on it? If we have no credit given to entries then will that remove motivation? Our ability to reward authors?
cheers,
Chris Maunder
CodeProject.com : C++ MVP
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Well there is a model out there that has worked for some time, perhaps we can come up with something even better. Database storage is cheap these days, I can see keeping a snapshot of every version when it's edited and a log of who did each edit. Such that a person can click on each log and see the state it was in when that person made the changes.
Even better just keep a snapshot of the diff.
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I definitely feel the wiki model needs improving. Snapshots and rolling back are easy to implement but what if they aren't used? What if we have one member who wants to just cause havoc and continually deface a page (the forums some days are bad enough).
We need something that:
- allows new members to contribute. Many members have been reading for years without submitting and they can have absolute gems of wisdom. Rank-based submission restrictions shouldn't apply
- recognises who has made contributions and potentially allows those contributions to be rated and awarded
- allows community policing of content and of modifications to content
- discourages or makes difficult the the defacing of material
cheers,
Chris Maunder
CodeProject.com : C++ MVP
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Sounds like a bit of a challenge, however I would venture to guess that there would be less vandalism on article wiki's than on the forums.
Maybe a model where contributors can grant the right to edit to people who ask:
First person starts a wiki. Another person comes along and want's to contribute, they click on a link and tell the first person that they want to contribute, first person allows it. Now the first two people can grant the right to anyone who asks etc etc down the line.
That way not just anyone can jump in and mess it up, only contributors can allow other contributors so there is a vested interest in vetting them. Because any contributor can grant rights to another member to contribute there is no danger of losing the ability for anyone to contribute if whoever started the page drifts off.
Also there is a log showing who allowed what and finally there should be a snapshot system to reverse damage inadvertant or deliberate, but maybe only the last three edits or something so as not to eat up too much storage.
Any prior contributor can restore from latest snapshot or maybe the person who last edited can restore to their point or something.
Ideally it would be good to make an object model with a lot of security built in but start with it as open as possible at first, see what transpires, then if necessary you can tighten it up with the pre-planned and coded security one level at a time, saving a hasty change later on down the road.
As far as recognizing who has made contributions and the rating and award for this I'm not sure how you could accomplish that. Ideally you don't want to have to track every keystroke and you don't want to go to a stack system with new items added to the top or bottom of the "stack", or maybe you do, but that's not a wiki anymore.
Overall security:
I think the fundamental solution to a lot of vandalism woes is a simple system of giving more trust to longer term members. What you really need in place is an automatic profiling system, it's pretty easy to determine which accounts are more of a risk, lot's of factors like age of account, how active it is, how many of their posts were flagged as spam or abusive, have they created an article that is rated above a 1 and is not in the "doghouse" etc etc.
I would create a profiling system so that you can build a trust profile for users and if they score low on the trust profile then they may have to get permission from someone to do stuff, if they score high then they should be able to do more.
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Sounds a lot like raising kids.
Chris Meech
I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar]
I agree with you that my argument is useless. [Red Stateler]
Hey, I am part of a special bread, we are called smart people [Captain See Sharp]
The zen of the soapbox is hard to attain...[Jörgen Sigvardsson]
I wish I could remember what it was like to only have a short term memory.[David Kentley]
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John Cardinal wrote: Also there is a log showing who allowed what and finally there should be a snapshot system to reverse damage inadvertant or deliberate, but maybe only the last three edits or something so as not to eat up too much storage.
You're doomed in the face of deliberate damage if you go that way. All the wrecker needs to do is make enough resubmits after his initial attack that the good version is pushed out of the buffer.
--
Rules of thumb should not be taken for the whole hand.
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Just wondering -
Like VC++ discussion board, do we need - "How to get an answer to your question" in ATL and COM discussion board?
Most recent post I saw was a request for VBScript code placed in ATL discussion board!
These posts simply push down other relevant threads on these disussion boards.
"Why am I concerned about these discussion boards?"
- because I have replied to such posts couple of times with indications about wrong forum
- I always visit these discussion boards besides lounge
Now, I hope I am posting this message in correct forum 
-- modified --
Poor communication on my part. What I meant was "How to get an answer to your question" is missing in ATL COM discussion board. I was seeking your opinion about having "How to get an answer to your question" in ATL and COM discussion boards as well because there are many irrelevant posts or cross posts in these forums as well.
S o h a i l K a d i w a l a
To Err Is Human; to Debug, Divine
modified 21-Apr-21 21:01pm.
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It's there to help people understand the rules. That doesn't necessarily mean that everyone reads it or follows it, but some do. I'm sure it probably greatly reduces cross-posting, shouting and etc.
Trinity: Neo... nobody has ever done this before.
Neo: That's why it's going to work.
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Yes, it helps the people who are new to the site and willing to "behave good" to not do accidental mistakes.
Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Velopers, Develprs, Developers!
We are a big screwed up dysfunctional psychotic happy family - some more screwed up, others more happy, but everybody's psychotic joint venture definition of CP
Linkify!|Fold With Us!
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Following on from the Empty Messages post (below), would it be possible to ensure that users have to have unique, none-empty, user names?
the last thing I want to see is some pasty-faced geek with skin so pale that it's almost translucent trying to bump parts with a partner - John Simmons / outlaw programmer
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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I think they are using a single non-printable character.
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J4amieC wrote: single non-printable character.
Looking at the source of a post for user 3313989[^] it's empty.
I'd love to help, but unfortunatley I have prior commitments monitoring the length of my grass. :Andrew Bleakley:
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They don't need a username to sign up, but do need a username to post.
Clearly my code isn't listening to what I'm telling it to do. 
cheers,
Chris Maunder
CodeProject.com : C++ MVP
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Chris Maunder wrote: Clearly my code isn't listening to what I'm telling it to do
"that's wierd" says the programmer 
rotfl. here is a new example of anonymous user[^]
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You and I must have been taught by the same teacher. Someday I'll rip his head off.
Chris Meech
I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar]
I agree with you that my argument is useless. [Red Stateler]
Hey, I am part of a special bread, we are called smart people [Captain See Sharp]
The zen of the soapbox is hard to attain...[Jörgen Sigvardsson]
I wish I could remember what it was like to only have a short term memory.[David Kentley]
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Hi Chris, Hi All,
As we already encountered sometimes, some people create - voluntarily or not - messages with empty messages. This implies the post to be "unclickable", and quite unreadable. also, there's still the way of editing the page' source and get the link to get it openend again, but we shouln't have to do that.
to counter this, couldn't we (couldn't you Chris) add the icon placed before the subject into to <a></a> link tag ?
thanks 
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I agree with you, he may also put something like [Untitled] if it's got no title.
------------------------------
"The Soapbox has been so ..."
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The system shouldn't allow empty titles but obviously we've got a bug or an exploit or both.
To save me time hunting can you please send me a link to an offending message?
cheers,
Chris Maunder
CodeProject.com : C++ MVP
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hum, i had one, but i asked the OP to modify his message and set a title, which is what he did...
BTW, here is the post[^]
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Messages without subject like here[^]
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It sucks when I was no where near to that post before.
-Prakash
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