NTR Chief Clerk Notes 1/25/2011

The following information is part of Wikidelphia history:

January 25, 2011

NTR Chief Clerk Paul Sank's Notes

Stan (Pokras):

Steve (Hollingsworth) and I have been doing most of the writing, so Steve will give a lesson in how to run Wikidelphia's editor.

If you like to make lists, please add to the lists Wikidelphia now has.

Anybody have any issues they'd like to bring up?

Saul (Broudy):

We're doing a lot at once. We don't need to do everything in a week or two.

Stan:

Somebody mentioned a mission statement. We'll let that evolve. And we don't want to lose momentum.

Steve:

Ben has put up a skeleton for us. Technology has gotten to where content can start to take over. If Wikidelphia is like an airplane, it's time for everyone to take a test flight.

Ben (Greenberg):

It's not ready to go public. We want to add a calendar. There are extensions that can be added to Talk pages. Just because this is up doesn't mean this is what it is. It's a prototype. If we stopped meeting today, it could still develop on its own. It hasn't been promoted, but already some spammers have found it.

Steve:

There's a wikidelphia.wikia.com

Ben:

Should we take Wikidelphia off of Google?

Stan:

No, not unless we're constantly being attacked.

What do we want to do to encourage people to participate?

Lou (Z):

When could KYW do a story about it?

Stan:

Anytime, provided they take into account what stage it's in.

Let's get more people on the e-mail list.

So if people find it via Google, great.

Ben:

We don't want news stories yet.

Stan:

We want a sensible process of putting things into it. Steve can help you, e.g. when you put {{help me}} at the top of the page you need help with.

Let's keep letting people know we're doing this and want help.

Steve:

We have a plane that flies and should be test-flying it.

Ben:

Autobiographies and stories are very cool, but it's strange to have it on a Wiki. Other people could edit your bio.

Steve:

Those articles would be protected.

Ben and Steve:

[Further discussion of protection. Others join.]

Steve:

What would you like Wikipedia to do?

Pete (Stevens):

Some things should be editable, some not. News items shouldn't be readily changed, e.g. event announcements.

Stan:

Have a way of locking pages.

Ben:

Then why have a Wiki? There are other formats. This is an issue worth hashing out.

Pete:

Dual passwords?

Ben:

If I'm promoting an event, why Wikidelphia if I have to jump through hoops?

Steve:

Include your webpage.

Stan:

Wikidelphia isn't mainly for primary info. Wikipedia doesn't have personal stories. Wikidelphia is more for making lists. I think there'll be relatively few pages locked. If somebody posts an event, they should post a link.

Ben:

If autobiographies can't be locked in Wikimedia, we could look at other software.

Stan:

We could have an associated blog for stories.

Ben:

Policy decisions could solve the problem.

[Further discussion on this topic.]

[STEVE'S EDITING LESSON]

Stan:

We have six machines ready for you to practice on. ...

Pete:

People already listed in Wikipedia, we don't need to have them.

Steve:

Wikipedia's list of Philadelphians leaves out people not born here.

If you want something on Wikidelphia, you can send it to me and I'll put it up.

Stan:

I'd rather talk about what *should* be in Wikidelphia than what should *not*.

Steve:

Here's a business. [Puts up Djunaverse page on the big screen and says something about it being controversial.]

Stan:

It's not controversial.

Ben:

It is, because it reads like an ad.

Stan:

So? Let's have a section for local businesses.

If we have an advertising space, it should be lockable.

Ben:

Let's not lock pages unless there's a strong reason to.

Stan:

Parties to a controversy should use the discussion page. If there's a fight over a page, then we lock it and consider how to adequately include opposing points of view.

Steve:

I could put a temporary lock.

Stan:

I have a book about my neighborhood. I can't just go in and fix the author's mistakes.

Steve:

[Puts up on the big screen a page, Wings of Steel.] This is an example of the sort of thing Stan envisioned.

Stan:

If a writer wants to write a lot more in their story, they could have a blog we'd be happy to link to.

Steve:

When does promotion take over?

Stan:

The email list has been useful for discussion.

Steve:

Shall we put up a temporary logo?

Stan:

Logos suggested so far have had their pros and cons. The logo discussion isn't done yet.

Steve:

Is there anything anybody wants to put up that we haven't demonstrated?

Stan:

Let's see more blogs on the blog list. ... On the Main Page ... search ...

[BREAK]

Stan:

Each of us, let's learn to edit, find an aspect of the city you're interested in, and post something. We need content. Content will draw more content. Eventually it'll draw publicity, and more people will know about it. ...

Thank you everybody for coming.

[END OF MEETING]