Wiki Science/How to start a Wiki

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Wiki Science
Introduction
Starting a wiki -

Budding effect - Article evolution - Self healing
Vibrant user base -

How to maintain - Source code
Future - Wikiresearch -

Semantic prosthetic

Contents

[edit] How to start a Wiki

In this chapter you will learn everything you need to know to start and run a wiki.

Before deciding to start your own wiki, if you plan to write about something that may be of general public interest, there is a good possibility that there is already something similar online. Remember, a bigger wiki (with more participants) is often more fun. If, or rather, when you get hit by spammers and vandals, having a big community and others willing to help out can be invaluable. Perform extensive research using search engines to make sure that a suitable wiki does not already exist. A Google search for 'wiki' currently returns about 419,000,000 results; duplicating efforts is very unhelpful - it only means some helpless soul will end up confusing the two wikis at some point in the future.

Some good places to find out if a wiki already exists include:

If you still want to run your own wiki, you will either need to run your own web server or have someone else manage a server for you.

  • "from scratch": you install whatever wiki engine you choose. You control everything. (Either on your own hardware, or on any suitable web host).
  • "hosted wiki": most technical decisions and support issues are handled by someone else, and you handle the social aspects of growing the wiki.

If you already have a web server, but your web host does not specifically say they host Wikis (for free or a fee) just see if they support the scripting language that the Wiki software you want to run requires. Many wikis require just PHP, Perl, or some other common server-side scripting language that most web hosts provide. Other wikis require a database (e.g. MySQL database) and/or have other requirements.

[edit] Choosing the right software

There are more than 100 wiki-engines available, so which one you choose depends on what you want. Some good starting points is to read Comparison of wiki software, Top Ten Wiki engines, WikiMatrix comparison table.

[edit] Wiki serving "from scratch"

For more power and flexibility or for business applications, many people will want to serve their own wikis. This requires considerably more knowledge about how wikis work and especially about wiki software.

[edit] Business Environments

Especially in business environments, administrators may be interested in Wiki security. Many people believe that nobody who is granted read access should be denied write access or wikis lose their power, but there are times when administrators will want to restrict which users are allowed to access a wiki.

Another consideration in business environments and other large organizations is whether or not the wiki software can interface with other logins. E.g. Twiki can get the username from Windows NT, allowing users username level access without a login. Such schemes allow the benefits of usernames without discouraging users from participating by making them log in.

Businesses may choose to outsource the hosting of the wiki environment. For intranet installations, companies such as SocialText offer a hardware-based "appliance" solution. For customization, design or production of wiki projects, companies such as Wiki Studios offer professional wiki services to business, non-profit organizations and branches of government.

[edit] Customizing software

One of the benefits of hosting a wiki oneself is the ability to recode the wiki software. For an example of this, see Sensei's Library. The administrators of Sensei's added Go markup functionality to their software for easy illustration of Go boards and pieces.

[edit] "Hosted wiki" and Wiki hosts

There are companies that host Wikis for free or for a price. This means that you do not have to deal with complex programs like Ruby, PHP, MySQL, or Apache. The wiki host will do this for you.

Beware! Some hosts delete wikis without notice. Make sure you are saving your own backup copy of the data in your wiki. Some hosts make it easy to download everything you would need to run your wiki somewhere else, by using an open source wiki engine and providing backup dumps with full edit histories. Other hosts lock you in more, e.g. with proprietary wiki markup languages, proprietary wiki engines, or limited backups.

[edit] Free wiki hosting

Comparisons of wikifarms can be found here on Wikipedia, and here at editthis.info, and below.

@Wiki(Atwiki)
Includes a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) and Wiki-mode editor. Users receive a sub-domain and personal wiki upon signup. Unlimited pages and users.English documentation is minimal and it is unclear how to backup pages. Now allows MediaWiki-like monobook.
ClearWiki
Extremely easy to use. Includes WYSIWYG editing, raw HTML editing, blogs, RSS feeds, to-do lists, meta-tagging, bookmarks, comments/discussions, member directory, access control lists, document management, full-text search inside content and common files (eg MSOffice), version history of content and files. Free wikis, advert supported wikis, and subscription wikis available.
Cospire
Includes a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor, category tree, annotations, article ratings, member profiles/reputations, and options on article and member permissions. Although current advertising is limited, ads might be added sidebars to cover hosting expenses.
Frihost
Free webhosting that supports most wikis. Manual installation of a wiki is required. No ads and users receive their own subdomain. Users need to be active at the forum to keep their wiki.
infogami.com
Hosting based on a custom Python-based engine. Fast setup. No banner ads. New wiki receive their own subdomain. Features: customizable templates; Fine-grained permissions; activity graphs; built-in weblog.
MemeBot
Hosting based on Oddmuse. FTP and CGI access allows expert users to customize their configuration. Users receive their own sub-domain.
Netcipia
Free public and private wikis, with blog feature. 2GB per wiki created, no time limit, no # users limit, myNetcipia to manage the list of wikis created. Right management, wysiwyg editor, spaces, RSS, comments, attachments, code. Not showing Unicode characters properly in the source yet due to the limitation of XWiki. Non-Western users may have to wait for this issue to be solved.
OddWiki
Hosts wikis up to a certain size with no advertising. Based on the MotherWiki concept. Simple support for backup and migration to your own Oddmuse wiki.
PeanutButterWiki (PBwiki)
Public or private ad-supported wikis. Offers quick setup, SSL logins, RSS 2.0 & Atom 1.0 feeds, .ZIP backups, subdomains, 3 free "skins", and 10 Mb of file upload space. No limits on number of pages, number of wikis, or page size. Paid wikis remove ads, get 1000MB-5000MB of storage, offer full-encrypted sessions, and CSS customization. Wikis use a simple shared edit password to prevent spam; paid users can set different passwords for reading, editing, deleting, and admin.
ScribbleWiki
Hosting by MediaWiki engine. Instant Setup!
SeedWiki
Has hosted free and paid wikis since 2001 using open source software. Supports WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editing, bare-bone editing, backup capabilities, subdomains, and CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) support. Some of the locking/membership/DNS features are only available for paid accounts. The code base can only run on a proprietary Bluedragon CFML J2EE server or a proprietary Coldfusion MX J2EE server (although it's currently being ported to some other more open platforms).
ServerSideWiki
Collect notes, todos, personal information, you name it. Based on TiddlyWiki. Hosts free and paid wikis.
TiddlySpot
Public or private access to wikis based on TiddlyWiki yet fully compatible with MonkeyPirateTW, MonkeyGTD and d3 plugins. Brilliant for notes, todos, follow-ups. Easy for download, edit off-line and keep the online version up-to-date, or even easier to edit on-line (password protected). Hosts free wikis.
WetPaint
True WYSIWYG Editing, Custom Page Heirarchies, Comment and Reply Forums with Comment Ratings, Access Control, Keyword Search, Tags, Tag Filtering, Skins, RSS, Page Locking, Profiles, Site Activity Report, Page and Comment Watching, Uploading YouTube Videos.
Wikia
Community support and development through advertising-supported wiki hosting. Uses the MediaWiki engine with a number of extensions. Wikia are selected for hosting that are likely to be successful and will appeal to a wide community. Wikis are community owned, not owned by the person "founding" the wiki. All content is freely licensed under the GFDL to make it compatible with the Wikimedia projects. See Start a new Wikia. Offers free database backups, full CSS customization, spam blacklisting, and various access control levels.
Wikidot
Offers free Wiki sites in the wikidot.com subdomain and 1 free custom domain mapping. Uses the modified Text_Wiki engine to produce valid XHTML. Growing number of extensions. Several available licenses (Creative Commons, GFDL and others), customizable themes, AJAX interface, no size/traffic limits, full-text search, RSS import and export (for page changes, forum discussions, favorite items, account notifications etc.) and many more features.
Wikihost
Hosting using the GeboGebo engine with all its features (as AutoLink, RSS-Feeds, file and image uploads, etc...). Supported by Google text ads. Offers a scriptable export function for backups.
WikiLot
Offers free wiki hosting with MediaWiki software. Offers over 70 languages. All content is licensed under the GFDL. Supported by Google advertising. Visit WikiLot to create your own wiki.
Wiki-site.com
MediaWiki with WYSIWYG farm with unlimited pages and users, wiki spam protection user rights control. Interface in 150 languages. Fast setup. A free *.wiki-site.com domain is offered. Google text-ads added to the right sidebar.
Wikispaces
Public (free), protected (paid for), and private (paid for) wikis. Includes WYSIWYG and plain wikitext editing and a personalized sub-domain. Supported by text ads; no limitations on number of pages, members, or space usage. Includes integrated discussion areas and RSS feeds for page changes and messages. Backups of current content available through the site in zip or tgz form. Backups of historical information available by request. Run by Tanigent LLC using proprietary wiki software.
Wikispot
Public wikis (free) intended for a community, be it a city, common interest, field of study, or project with several participants. (No private or commercial wikis, please.) Hosted by a nonprofit organization supported by donations, you can host your wiki in an established wiki community that can help you out with your project. No advertising, user accounts work on all wikis, use bookmarks and track changes across multiple wikis. Customizable CSS by wiki and user CSS. Simple, intuitive syntax. No limits on pages/disk space. RSS feeds available on all pages. Easy to create a wiki and configure settings. Run on Sycamore, creative commons licensing.
XWiki
Hosting based on the XWiki engine. Features include quick group editing, version control of documents, attached files, searching, wiki syntax, and rights management). Pages can be exported to PDF. Full MySQL exports can be provided by the host admin and installed using the open source XWiki engine.

[edit] Paid wiki hosting

While most hosts have everything you need to host your wiki, the following specialize in wikis.

  • BrainKeeper Hosted wiki software geared toward corporations.
  • Canities Hosting Services MoinMoinWiki hosting for study/work groups, companies and individuals
  • CDO Provides MediaWiki hosting with every account.
  • Central Desktop business team collaboration and lightweight project management (hosted Wiki).
  • CourseForum/ProjectForum, this software is available for a modest monthly or annual fee and suits small-scale wikis for clubs, societies, small companies, etc.
  • EditMe offers full-featured wiki hosting from $4.95/mo. Doesn't support wiki markups.
  • Hostingplex offers auto-install of PHPWiki, TikiWiki & support for MediaWiki.
  • MyOO.de provides MediaWiki based hosting (the software which runs Wikipedia). Run by Erik Möller.
  • Netcipia beside its free public and private wikis, Netcipia offers also dedicated servers to build your own dedicated wiki farm for your intranet/extranet, with an LDAP directory manager. $149/month.
  • PeanutButterWiki provides enhanced features over their free hosting for a fee. Run by David Weekly.
  • ProjectLocker provides secure business-oriented Wiki hosting.
  • SeedWiki provides enhanced features over their free hosting for a fee.
  • Site Ground offers hosting for MediaWiki, TikiWiki, DokuWiki. The company offers free installation of the wiki software and a free domain name. Here you can check SiteGround MediaWiki Tutorial (You have to do the installation yourself following their guide).
  • Micfo.com offer affordable hosting solution starting from $9.95/month.
  • Socialtext hosts wikis for non-profit and for commercial use.
  • wikidev.net provides MediaWiki-hosting on dedicated servers. Run by Gabriel Wicke.
  • Wikispaces offers private and advertising free hosted wikis for $5 a month or $50 a year along with free public hosted wikis.
  • Vistapages offers installation of TikiWiki, PhpWiki & required modules for MediaWiki to run.

[edit] Pick a license

According to some interpretations of the law, it may be illegal to ever change the copyright license of a wiki without getting explicit, written consent from everyone who has ever posted on the wiki (unless the copyright license itself has explicit provisions for changing the license).

Therefore many people recommend starting with a public domain license. Put something like "By hitting Save Changes you put your changes into the public domain." on the edit page of your wiki, right from the start.

(The public domain license is the only license that lets you change the license later. If you or your users later decide they want some license other than public domain, you might want to check out the license comparisons at CommunityWiki:CopyleftLicenseIncompatibilities ).

[edit] Publicize your wiki

To have a successful wiki, you must find like minded people to work on the wiki with you. You can post your wiki in Craigslist.

[edit] Related Wikibooks

[edit] External links

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