In a few words, if someone editing a wiki page writes a "Wiki Name" (consisting of an upper-case letter followed by one or more lower-case letters, another upper-case letter, and zero or more lower-case letters), then if a page of that name exists in the wiki, then a link will appear when the edited page is displayed. Otherwise, a question mark will be displayed next to the name; clicking on the question mark will bring up an editor that will allow the user to add content and save it, thereby creating the page.
Wiki Addressing
All WikiNames in the system are automatically linked in the text.
With the aid of the list of external URLs, it is possible to link to pages on other wikis and web sites. Any reference of the form "ExternalSite:Destination" will automatically link to the appropriate page of the external site. Example: Google:search.
Formatting concept
Formatting in wiki follows the principle of WYTIWYG (what you think is what you get), and consists of a pseudovisual markup.
For example, the following:
* test * test1
is displayed as:
test
test1
while
1. test 1. test1
is displayed as
test
test1
Authorship concept
Multiuser Access
Well, what can we say? Double-click anywhere here and start editing this page.
You can even save your changes. So, how does one deal with vandals?
Version control and diff
Version control turns out to be an excellent defense against vandals (and is pretty useful on its own, too). Every version of a page is saved in the database and you can view the difference between any two versions
How can all this be used?
Methods of Use
Collaboration for
documentation (and its presentation format)
texts (books, articles) (and the format of a hyperbook)
what else?
Managing ToDo lists
Creating web sites
Organizing one's thoughts
Learning how to use real hypertext
(see Patterns //[in Russian]//)
FAQ
What does “Wiki” mean?
“Wiki wiki” is a Hawaiian word meaning “quick.”
I still don't understand: What's the point of using a wiki?
The point is this:
you can create an environment for collecting and organizing knowledge
you can use an environment that is convenient to collaborate on documents and todo lists
you get an environment that allows convenient intersection of contexts (see: classical hypertext)
Still, what does a wiki SPECIFICALLY do? What do I get if I set up a wiki and use it for the first time?
You get a wiki site with a minimum set of pages. It won't do anything except serve visitors with that minimum set of pages and give them the ability to edit them and create new pages.
Oh yeah? How does that happen? Everyone can create their own content?
That depends on the settings.
There were no restrictions in the original implementation of the wiki concept: anyone could change anything. This is of limited utility in real life, and wacko provides for flexible management of reading and writing rights.
By default, everyone can create pages.
But you can change the default, either for the entire wiki or on a page-by-page basis.
P.S. You really didn't address the issue of vandals. How do you deal with them?
allow only registered users to make changes to content
restore vandalized pages (the old content is still in the database).
P.P.S. So it turns out that users have complete control over content?
To a great extent, yes, but not entirely. You can always “roll back” content to fix improper changes.
P.P.P.S. OK, so let's assume you're inundated with vandals and hooligans. The wiki will simply be paralyzed.
1. You won't be able to roll back over “improper” changes, because there'll be so many of them.
2. You won't be able to make “proper” changes, because they'll be lost in the flood of “improper” ones and will end up getting thrown out with the latter.
RomanIvanov: In practice, this hasn't happened. If this happens, I know a number of ways to deal with it. For example, limit access to the content being vandalized only to registered users, or perhaps an even narrower group.
AlexLane: The P.P.P.S. assumes long-term coordination and cooperation among the bad guys, which is hard to sustain for any time. Additional information that addresses this issue is set forth in Wiki:WhyWikiWorks. Plus, vandalism isn't the only thing that can bring a site down to its knees... just getting mentioned in Slashdot is enough!
A popular article on wiki, explaining the what and why //[in Russian]//