Hello,
I have realised a lot of the ArchWiki discussions are very empty, and have not been used for years for some of the pages. At first I thought this was because the pages were just not edited very often, but now I have realised that even the most popular pages do not have many discussions.
Is there a mailing list for the ArchWiki, or do ArchWiki memebers use an alternative form of discussion to discuss wiki related subjects?
Thank you, Polarian
I have realised a lot of the ArchWiki discussions are very empty, and […] Is there a mailing list for the ArchWiki, or do ArchWiki memebers use an alternative form of discussion to discuss wiki related subjects?
Hello,
No, there is no mailing lists for wiki. Discussions take place in the related Talk pages in the wiki itself. There is #archlinux-wiki channel on Libera, but it’s not very active.
On 12/14/22 13:50, Polarian wrote:
Hello,
I have realised a lot of the ArchWiki discussions are very empty, and have not been used for years for some of the pages. At first I thought this was because the pages were just not edited very often, but now I have realised that even the most popular pages do not have many discussions.
Is there a mailing list for the ArchWiki, or do ArchWiki memebers use an alternative form of discussion to discuss wiki related subjects?
Thank you, Polarian
The crux of the matter is we used to have a very active wiki that welcomed user contributions. Some 5-7 years ago (hell maybe 10 by now), most, if not all user contributions were summarily removed or poorly rewritten. It literally became pointless to contribute to the wiki as whatever you researched and added would simply be removed.
In many ways the wiki, while still the best among distros, now suffers and has become stale in areas.
It's not a right or wrong issue, it's just the direction Arch decided to take regarding control of the wiki. What we have now is the natural consequence of that decision.
There is #archlinux-wiki channel on Libera, but it’s not very active.
I do not know, how to express that, but it has been brought to my attention that the above statement may be wrong in the “not very active” part. For clarity and for transparency, here is the full explanation:
The statement was based on my subjective experience of the #archlinux-wiki channel and expressed my perception of activity level relative to what happens in the wiki itself.
I do not come to the channel often: only if I actually need to talk to people there, interactively. Each time I do my business and, due to low activity, idle a bit to wait for interaction. During each my stay in #archlinux-wiki there was no or almost no activity other than the one initiated by me.
While I believe the “not very active” mention is not of grave importance to the message I wanted to convey, when read in the context of the question being asked, if any misunderstanding could arise from the situation: please visit #archlinux-wiki on Libera yourself to make your own opinion.
David C. Rankin
Some 5-7 years ago (hell maybe 10 by now), most, if not all user contributions were summarily removed or poorly rewritten. It literally became pointless to contribute to the wiki as whatever you researched and added would simply be removed.
Are there any specific pages that suffered such removal/poor rewrite?
In a decade of reading arch wiki here and there there were changes, e.g. [Installation guide] and Beginners page which was huge and contained a lot of great info, which is now gone and separated to e.g. General recommendations - https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/General_recommendations.
But in any other specific pages, AMD, specific Laptop stuff, etc, I didn't see valuable info being removed.
I only have a positive experience, figuring something out, making quick notes on the discussion page, and then discussing it on #archlinux-wiki and together choosing different wording or place.
On Tue, Dec 20, 2022 at 4:28 PM mpan archml-y1vf3axu@mpan.pl wrote:
There is #archlinux-wiki channel on Libera, but it’s not very active.
I do not know, how to express that, but it has been brought to my attention that the above statement may be wrong in the “not very active” part. For clarity and for transparency, here is the full explanation:
The statement was based on my subjective experience of the #archlinux-wiki channel and expressed my perception of activity level relative to what happens in the wiki itself.
I do not come to the channel often: only if I actually need to talk to people there, interactively. Each time I do my business and, due to low activity, idle a bit to wait for interaction. During each my stay in #archlinux-wiki there was no or almost no activity other than the one initiated by me.
While I believe the “not very active” mention is not of grave importance to the message I wanted to convey, when read in the context of the question being asked, if any misunderstanding could arise from the situation: please visit #archlinux-wiki on Libera yourself to make your own opinion.
On 12/20/22 13:07, Tomáš M. wrote:
David C. Rankin
Some 5-7 years ago (hell maybe 10 by now), most, if not all user contributions were summarily removed or poorly rewritten. It literally became pointless to contribute to the wiki as whatever you researched and added would simply be removed.
Are there any specific pages that suffered such removal/poor rewrite?
In a decade of reading arch wiki here and there there were changes, e.g. [Installation guide] and Beginners page which was huge and contained a lot of great info, which is now gone and separated to e.g. General recommendations - https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/General_recommendations https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/General_recommendations.
But in any other specific pages, AMD, specific Laptop stuff, etc, I didn't see valuable info being removed.
I only have a positive experience, figuring something out, making quick notes on the discussion page, and then discussing it on #archlinux-wiki and together choosing different wording or place.
Many example, RAID, FakeRAID, Networking, ....
My e-mail become full of notifications from the wiki that my contributions were removed. A quick search of the arch-general archive including "drankinatty wiki" will disclose a lengthy history.
Hello,
Personally I think it is important that the Arch Wiki has better forms of communication. Yes the discussion channel on each wiki page is useful, but it would be very useful to have more community input.
Currently moderators decide what should or shouldn't be added or deleted, Arch Linux has a community, a mailing list would allow people to share their ideas on removal of specific pages and the future of the Arch Wiki, most people don't even read discussions in the discussions channels which is annoying because you ask a question and nobody ends up replying.
Just my point of view, it would help prevent Arch Wiki pages which the community still wants from being removed by moderators without any community input.
Thanks, Polarian
On 28/12/22 at 01:22am, Polarian wrote:
Personally I think it is important that the Arch Wiki has better forms of communication. Yes the discussion channel on each wiki page is useful, but it would be very useful to have more community input.
Like a reddit where people could upvote and downvote proposals without having any actual skin in the game? Pretty sure /r/bikeshed already exists, though…
Currently moderators decide what should or shouldn't be added or deleted, Arch Linux has a community, a mailing list would allow people to share their ideas on removal of specific pages and the future of the Arch Wiki, most people don't even read discussions in the discussions channels which is annoying because you ask a question and nobody ends up replying.
Talk pages are where discussions happen. If people don't engage on the Talk page then they have no right to complain when the proposal is enacted.
Just my point of view, it would help prevent Arch Wiki pages which the community still wants from being removed by moderators without any community input.
Moderators *are* part of the community. All of the wiki staff have privileges precisely because they have been so active. Like the entire Arch project, the "community"--ie., contributors--end up with responsibility.
On Tue, 27 Dec 2022 19:17:44 -0600 "David C. Rankin" drankinatty@gmail.com wrote:
Many example, RAID, FakeRAID, Networking, ....
My e-mail become full of notifications from the wiki that my contributions were removed. A quick search of the arch-general archive including "drankinatty wiki" will disclose a lengthy history.
You mean the RAID issue where you were just looking at the wrong page? https://lists.archlinux.org/archives/list/arch-general@lists.archlinux.org/m...
Or when you couldn't figure out how to fill in the edit summary? https://lists.archlinux.org/archives/list/arch-general@lists.archlinux.org/t...
Or when you just added vague, unsubstantiated info? https://lists.archlinux.org/archives/list/arch-general@lists.archlinux.org/t...
Or maybe when someone DARED to clarify your edit? https://lists.archlinux.org/archives/list/arch-general@lists.archlinux.org/t...
So sure, go ahead, keep making vague references to issues, the mailing list shows the truth.
Doug
On 22/12/27 09:09pm, Doug Newgard wrote:
You mean the RAID issue where you were just looking at the wrong page? https://lists.archlinux.org/archives/list/arch-general@lists.archlinux.org/m...
Or when you couldn't figure out how to fill in the edit summary? https://lists.archlinux.org/archives/list/arch-general@lists.archlinux.org/t...
Or when you just added vague, unsubstantiated info? https://lists.archlinux.org/archives/list/arch-general@lists.archlinux.org/t...
Or maybe when someone DARED to clarify your edit? https://lists.archlinux.org/archives/list/arch-general@lists.archlinux.org/t...
So sure, go ahead, keep making vague references to issues, the mailing list shows the truth.
Doug
ouch lol
There were some helpful posts for creating a multi-OS install disc that was taken down a few years back. Mainly how to build a custom USB device that allows one to install Windows, as well as other Linux OSes. It was not Arch centric; but, it greatly simplified system administration, and Arch bloat for maintaining such a disc.
On Wed, Dec 28, 2022 at 12:04 PM Jamie Griffin jaypgriff@gmail.com wrote:
On 22/12/27 09:09pm, Doug Newgard wrote:
You mean the RAID issue where you were just looking at the wrong page?
https://lists.archlinux.org/archives/list/arch-general@lists.archlinux.org/m...
Or when you couldn't figure out how to fill in the edit summary?
https://lists.archlinux.org/archives/list/arch-general@lists.archlinux.org/t...
Or when you just added vague, unsubstantiated info?
https://lists.archlinux.org/archives/list/arch-general@lists.archlinux.org/t...
Or maybe when someone DARED to clarify your edit?
https://lists.archlinux.org/archives/list/arch-general@lists.archlinux.org/t...
So sure, go ahead, keep making vague references to issues, the mailing
list
shows the truth.
Doug
ouch lol
Hello,
Going back on topic (and bumping this thread back up again), does anyone else think a mailing list for the ArchWiki would be a good idea?
Personally I have not been contributing to the ArchWiki very long, it would be useful for somewhere people can ask questions to the other ArchWiki maintainers, and also discuss issues which might not be related to a specific ArchWiki page.
Thanks, Polarian
On Saturday, 7 January 2023 20:47:44 EET Polarian wrote:
Hello,
Going back on topic (and bumping this thread back up again), does anyone else think a mailing list for the ArchWiki would be a good idea?
Personally I have not been contributing to the ArchWiki very long, it would be useful for somewhere people can ask questions to the other ArchWiki maintainers, and also discuss issues which might not be related to a specific ArchWiki page.
I don't see any need for such a mailing list. Discussions about the wiki should happen on the wiki. That's how it's always been.
If you do not know where to discuss a particular topic, refer to https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/ArchWiki:Maintenance_Team#Who,_when_and_how...
nl6720
participants (9)
-
David C. Rankin
-
Doug Newgard
-
Jamie Griffin
-
Jason Ryan
-
mike lojkovic
-
mpan
-
nl6720
-
Polarian
-
Tomáš M.