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Quicksand
New Forum Feature: WikiPost
I just added a new feature to the forum called "WikiPost" which is a handy tool to allow any member to edit the first post of a thread designated as a WikiPost. I've been trying to implement this for a minute and I think I finally have it working.
WTF is a WikiPost?
Glad you asked. This is a way to allow multiple members to contribute to the valuable information that can be found in the first post of certain threads. You know, the ones like: Common acronyms for those who may be lost!, 3rd Gen Tips and Tricks, Leaf Spring Comparison: All-Pro, Allcan, Icon, Dobinsons, Deavers, Archive, Dakars (looking at you for this one, @ARCHIVE
), Tacoma3G's YouTuber Directory || Have a YouTube? Share it here!, etc.
While threads like this are meant to be useful and up-to-date, the original author can't always keep up with the newest information that might be relevant to their thread. WikiPost allows other members to add, edit, or remove info from these threads as necessary.
This is totally a volunteer based system. No one is expected to update any thread but if you have useful info and are willing to, good on you!
How Does it Work?
It's pretty simple once you understand it. You basically just click the 'Edit' button on the WikiPost and you can edit it as you would any of your own posts. But here's a longer explanation:
This screenshot shows the WikiPost related stuff. Starting from the top left, you'll see:
And here are a few demonstration videos:
This video shows how you can enable WikiPost on your thread if you want to.
View attachment 33227
This video shows how you can edit a WikiPost.
View attachment 33228
This video shows how you can suggest a thread become a WikiPost if you think it has valuable or outdated info that more people could be contributing to.
View attachment 33229
Frequently Asked Questions (that have never been asked)
Are all threads like this now? No. This will only work on threads that have WikiPost enabled. You can enable it on your own thread if you feel it is applicable. You can also suggest any thread have it enabled as seen in the video above. Suggesting a thread will alert me of the suggestion and I will look to see if it makes sense to enable it.
What threads make sense to have WikiPost enabled? This is meant for threads whose sole purpose is to archive valuable information in its first post. I linked to some examples earlier. It will probably be uncommon that a thread needs WikiPost enabled. Most of the threads that can benefit from this are the stickied threads.
Can't someone edit a WikiPost with nonsense or even delete the contents of it? Yes. Just like Wikipedia, there's a bit of an honor/integrity system here. The T3G community is cool though, so I'm not worried. However, if someone did make troll edits, those edits could be easily reverted as the history of each edit is kept in the post. And if it's really necessary, individual members can be restricted from editing.
Sounds cool, can I test it? Yes, you can test it in this test thread I created: Wow, look at the information in this thread!. Just edit my first post with whatever you want.
That's all. Over the next few weeks I'll try to look through the forum for some of the worthy WikiPost threads and enable the system on them. Then I'll make a list of all of those threads and you/we can edit them if you/we have something worth adding/changing.
I just added a new feature to the forum called "WikiPost" which is a handy tool to allow any member to edit the first post of a thread designated as a WikiPost. I've been trying to implement this for a minute and I think I finally have it working.
WTF is a WikiPost?
Glad you asked. This is a way to allow multiple members to contribute to the valuable information that can be found in the first post of certain threads. You know, the ones like: Common acronyms for those who may be lost!, 3rd Gen Tips and Tricks, Leaf Spring Comparison: All-Pro, Allcan, Icon, Dobinsons, Deavers, Archive, Dakars (looking at you for this one, @ARCHIVE
), Tacoma3G's YouTuber Directory || Have a YouTube? Share it here!, etc.While threads like this are meant to be useful and up-to-date, the original author can't always keep up with the newest information that might be relevant to their thread. WikiPost allows other members to add, edit, or remove info from these threads as necessary.
This is totally a volunteer based system. No one is expected to update any thread but if you have useful info and are willing to, good on you!
How Does it Work?
It's pretty simple once you understand it. You basically just click the 'Edit' button on the WikiPost and you can edit it as you would any of your own posts. But here's a longer explanation:
This screenshot shows the WikiPost related stuff. Starting from the top left, you'll see:
- A notice to let you know the thread you're looking is WikiPost enabled
- A WikiTools menu that will allow you to do some basic things such as choosing to receive an alert anytime the WikiPost is edited
- The avatars of the members that have contributed to the WikiPost
- The 'Edit' button
- The WikiPost history which allows you to see what the post looked like before each edit
And here are a few demonstration videos:
This video shows how you can enable WikiPost on your thread if you want to.
View attachment 33227
This video shows how you can edit a WikiPost.
View attachment 33228
This video shows how you can suggest a thread become a WikiPost if you think it has valuable or outdated info that more people could be contributing to.
View attachment 33229
Frequently Asked Questions (that have never been asked)
Are all threads like this now? No. This will only work on threads that have WikiPost enabled. You can enable it on your own thread if you feel it is applicable. You can also suggest any thread have it enabled as seen in the video above. Suggesting a thread will alert me of the suggestion and I will look to see if it makes sense to enable it.
What threads make sense to have WikiPost enabled? This is meant for threads whose sole purpose is to archive valuable information in its first post. I linked to some examples earlier. It will probably be uncommon that a thread needs WikiPost enabled. Most of the threads that can benefit from this are the stickied threads.
Can't someone edit a WikiPost with nonsense or even delete the contents of it? Yes. Just like Wikipedia, there's a bit of an honor/integrity system here. The T3G community is cool though, so I'm not worried. However, if someone did make troll edits, those edits could be easily reverted as the history of each edit is kept in the post. And if it's really necessary, individual members can be restricted from editing.
Sounds cool, can I test it? Yes, you can test it in this test thread I created: Wow, look at the information in this thread!. Just edit my first post with whatever you want.
That's all. Over the next few weeks I'll try to look through the forum for some of the worthy WikiPost threads and enable the system on them. Then I'll make a list of all of those threads and you/we can edit them if you/we have something worth adding/changing.
