How can we make an XS650 Wiki Knowledge Base?

kent_in_kc

kent_in_kc

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Travis and I (and a few others too) got to talking about this in another thread. Trav's been working on this for a while and invited input.

The issue is, how can we capture the collective wisdom and experience of the group in such a way that its easily accessible for newbies and oldsters alike. I mentioned how it was done by the VStar 1100 group here: http://www.sloneservices.com/SilverBack/VStar1100-FAQ.htm and noted that one other forum (I can't remember which one) used Wikipedia. Trav rightly noted that it would take an shit ton (1.5 ass tons) of work to set it all up.

So anyway, here's the thread in its proper place. What do you guys think? Any volunteers to help set something up? Ideas? Examples?
 
Here's how this all got started in the B38 Carb tuning thread:

TeeCat said:
Hey, Travis...

In fairness to Ken and other new arrivals, how difficult would it be to code up (or maybe something exists?) a little pop-up or "flag" - even a "Welcome, (kentco)!" greeting that would shunt newly registered folks to the Tech FAQs when they log in for the first time or validate their registration? Might be a handy feature. For myself, when I first came here, even as an "emigre" from 650rider.com, I might have easily overlooked a lot of the features here.

Just a thought! :)

TC
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Travis said:
TeeCat, I was just discussing that with another member yesterday. Soon a message will be displayed to new members telling them to check out the Tech section before posting basic technical questions. It will also explain the different ways to search the forum. There is already a welcome message in place so it will just be enhanced. :thumbsup:
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kent_in_kc said:
Well, to continue this hijack, what would be really cool is a Knowledge Base like the one V-Star 1100 one here: http://www.sloneservices.com/SilverBack/VStar1100-FAQ.htm

Look at the way it captures tips, tricks and how-to for all repairs, mods and equipment categorically. I saw another forum that captures the corporate wisdom in a Wikipedia folder.

The Carb Guide is great but as it evolves and changes, it has to be edited and re-posted. Meanwhile anyone that downloaded the original is now out of date. A Knowledge Base (KB) solves that problem.

The guy that built the 1100 one said he'd be happy to show someone how to do it, not hard he says. If you're interested, Travis, Dave Slone's email addr is at the bottom of the KB.
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Travis said:
Kent, something like that would be great! It's not hard, but is a shit ton of work to get it organized and to maintain it in that format. How much is a shit ton you ask? about 1.5 times an ass ton. Or is an ass ton 1.5 times a shit ton? I can never remember. :shrug:

Seriously though, I've been looking into ways to incorporate a wiki into the site were we could take the Tech section one step further and have a user created and edited wiki. That way several members could contribute and help maintain it. The only problem is finding a wiki that will seamlessly integrate into the site and not break when it is updated. I wouldn't want everyone to put that much work into something that doesn't have long term sustainability. So kent, I guess the answer is, I'm sort of working on it. As well as creating a better classifieds and gallery.

We should probably get this thread back on topic! Sorry about the hijack kenco!

Kent or anyone else, if you want to continue the discussion, start a new thread in The Lounge and I'll move these posts to it.

Now, lets get this back on topic :cheers:
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Moving those posts here didn't really work out because they would have been out of order with the first post of this thread. :shrug: Anyway, all further discussion should be in this thread so kenco can get his thread back.
 
It takes a lot of commitment time and effort to set up a library system. so whoever gets involved will have to realize that it is a long term thing and they need to be committed for the long haul
Yamaman, Weekendrider and I set up the 650Rider Vault. It had been in operation for 6 months and it was at the time to reformat the system and make it more condensed and efficient, the site closed before that could be done.

The idea for this was to direct/get the newbie’s to look there for a start to familirise them selves and get them to read and hopefully to learn to research and maybe eliminate the first up repetitive questions ………….”What’s wrong with my bike”……………….and to have the info that is needed for the new XS owners easy to find instead of searching through a lot of back threads

The vault was locked off to the members for posting but the members were encouraged to bring to our attention any information or posts that they thought would be relevant or found fault with our info or links.

The information stored was either linked to the thread that was still evolving or copied and pasted to eliminate the unnecessary posts and to utilize the important post., Eg 5Twins has posted some good info in some threads that is informative and worth keeping but it will be buried in the threads

Here is a rough diagram with a set up for a liberary type system. The first line is the categories, When opened up then you will get into threads or links

INTRO ------How to
---Guide to buying

ID -----------Engine/frame no’s
----Manuals (links)
----Road tests


ENGINE ------Top end ---------Head –Valves-Porting
---Pistons Barrels
-----Bottem end

It keeps things easy to find if the initial set up can be keep to one page

As you can see no one wants to get involved just like what happened at the rider but once it was set up it was well appreciated and used
 

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Skull, What you described above is basically what we have for the Tech section now, only with a few more subcategories. The vault at 650rider and the Tech section here are basically just links to other threads. Like you said though, the vault included some content of it's own. I was thinking of something that had no links at all and just edited content.

To expand on the idea of the vault and the tech section, we would need something that once written could be improved upon, edited, and reorganized as needed. That is why I think a wiki (like Wikipedia) that is fully incorporated into the site would be the way to go. It would basically be one big encyclopedia of everything related to the xs650 in an easy to read format without all of the discussion in the middle. We could determine who could create, edit, and organize articles (anywhere from several members to all members).

In general though, having an outline to categorize topics seems like the way to go.

If anyone knows of other motorcycle sites that have good examples of a knowledge base, a technical wiki, or something similar, please post it. It seems like looking at what other established motorcycle forums have setup would be the first place to start.
 
Putting in links is very easy and quick retrieving and cutting and pasting took a lot of time as often i would research on some of the info to (hopefully) be accurate

you seem to have a basic idea of what you want, why not set it up and improve it along the way. As you know every system can be improved and as often as not you don't know until things run for a while
 
Yeah... like I said to kent above, I've been looking into solutions. The main goals are long-term sustainability, easy of use, seamless integration, and something that doesn't break every time the site is updated.

It's a lot of work to ingrate a full on system like that, but I'd rather put a lot of work into it once and have something decent to start than to build it up slowly and redesign it 3 or 4 times in one year.

Based on the amount of feedback we're receiving here, it doesn't seem like people care much whether we have something like this or not. I guess what I'm saying is, do people want a knowledge base / wiki, and would they contribute what they could? If so, speak up. :thumbsup:
 
Well, weekendrider, I sure didn't know about that wiki. It looks good to me.

Trav, guys, maybe we should set up a permalink and add all our historic content to it. Looks like someone else has done the hard part.

We could email herbs (mediawiki -at- 650wiki.org) and ask if they have any objection.

Woo hoo?
 
kent_in_kc said:
...
Looks like someone else has done the hard part.
...
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I've known about that site for quite some time. The problem with it is that there really isn't much content there (other than the outline), and creating the content is the hard part in my opinion. Another problem is that it's not incorporated into anything so people aren't inclined to register and post things to it. It seems like that wiki site was launched over 5 years ago and never really went anywhere. It really hasn't been updated much in the last 3 years, and the software installed on the site hasn't been updated in well over 4 years, even though media wiki has been continually improving. I think creating it was probably a good idea but it just never really took off because it's a stand alone site.

Creating a media wiki really wouldn't be all that hard and is one of the options I was looking at. If one were incorporated into this site, it could be 'skinned' to have a similar look as the rest of the site and could have a single sign-on so you didn't have to have two user names and passwords. Another option is VaultWiki. It's designed for vBulletin forums and is much more integrated. It even uses similar controls to create links, add images, etc., so users of the this site would already be somewhat familiar with how to use it. It uses the same admin control panel and database to keep things easier to administer.

I think the biggest reason I'm pushing for our own wiki or knowledge base, is that if it were integrated into a community like this one, it would be more likely to succeed and be used, as well as having long term sustainability.

Of course, my opinions about the whole issue are a little bias since I'm always trying to promote XS650.com :)
 
Dammit, Travis. Would you stop trying to do the right thing? Please. And stop promoting xs650.com, too! What are you thinking? :)

Go for it, compadre! Put on a pot of Joe or fire up a joint or whatever you do, and get it goin on!

Wiki-wiki!
 
Sounds like a good idea. I like the idea of editable, non-thread knowledge base. It's easy to get sidetracked in a thread.

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