Folks, here is my proposal to the WordPress developers:
Assign a great number of editors to some specific pages
Right now, if you are an editor in WordPress, you can edit any posts and pages. Hence, the administrator of a big group blog would not have many editors —because the blog posters would not like the idea that their colleagues can edit their posts.
But it would be great to be able to have a great number of editors for some specific pages. That way, any group blog powered by WordPress would be able to tap in the “wisdom of crowds” (see James Surowiecki book by the same name) —the same way Wikipedia does. For more on Wikipedia, see these two posts.
Collective intelligence (a.k.a. wisdom of crowds) is a mechanism at the heart of Google PageRank, Wikipedia, open-source software, prediction markets, etc. It is very powerful. WordPress could tap into that very easily, by allowing a page-by-page editing role.
The WP admin would set who are the editor(s) of a particular page —one registered person, two, a bunch of blog authors… or any internet citizens like in Wikipedia.
Thanks a lot for your attention. Contact me for more info, or leave a comment below.
NEXT: WordPress is a bit like WikiMedia (the software powering Wikipedia), now.
If they don’t fix it, you could just make a wiki at wiki.midasoracle.org or something.
Byrner, indeed. I could use MediaWiki at wiki.midasoracle.org, if they don’t incorporate the wiki capabilities into WordPress..
http://mediawiki.org/
A third possibility would be that I search for a Wiki plugin for WordPress… or that I develop one.
Wordpress was developed for a single blogger in mind. The idea of having wordpress with multiple users came a bit after, with the boom of blogs. You can always find a wiki plugin to compensate though.
Agreed, it’s an interesting concept that would definitely get the cycle of creativity flowing. My concern is that it would also get the spam wheels turning with little ability to jam a stick in the spokes, if you know what I mean.
Overall definitely something for discussion though. Is this something Wordpress have acknowledged?
Good point.
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Well, I know that Matt Mullenweg has read this post. That’s all I can say.
That would be a great idea. There are many platforms out there currently that are comprised of many, many authors/editors and they are powerhouses. They are extremely authoritative and offer the reader/consumer a never ending supply of different topics, ideas, perceptions. etc. I think it would be a great idea. Nice post.
Really good idea. Might not be good for all things, but there are certain things which WP users from all over can collectively contribute to and we all can learn and share from each other’s experiences. Even in a simple matter like plugins each has a different and personal favorite and if we could put all the plugins used collectively in a single place then how easy it would be to pick and choose new plugins that one has not heard of before.
@flower – There are many sites that are setup this way and have little to no spam because they are moderated along with using anti-spam software. It takes some effort but it cold be done. It would not be just a free for all in terms of authors.
hmm… it’d be tricky to make it safe against spammers without using up all the appilcations as anti-smamware and still make it run quickly and efficiently… then again, wiki seems to be doing just fine!
@google serp: Yes, and thus, many plugins had to be re-written… or are still incompatible with the new WP…
Thats a great concept!
IF you do develop a plugin, let me know, ill even buy it off you =D
Not a bad idea, the quality would certainly improve.
Good idea, but the editors must be their responsibility proven, and not delay posts for weeks.
/Zaga Bjælkehuse – Denmark
With the surge of Web 2.0 these days, many website have been integrating their functions with Wikipedia!Wordpress + Wikipedia brings the biggest 2 W’s into the game
Good idea (i do the same in my forum)
I think you could certainly get around the issue of spam – like someone else said, Wikipedia seems to be doing just fine – and I do think this could really benefit in some cases. I know I would have liked to have had a few more editors for some of my blogs in the past.
IMHO with WordPress you can build little “Wiki-like” project. Big projects needs special engine.
A Wordpress Wiki would make a great addition to a WP blog as well allowing visitors to contribute as well.
Hi There
I think that wordpress is deliberately designed to leave this out by default. It is designed in the first instance for a single blogger. You can use a wiki plug-in to add this feature if you so choose, but I think the idea of wordpress default configurations is “blogging for beginners”.
Think about your great Uncle Bill who wants to try out this blogging thing he’s heard about. He goes to wordpress and starts up a blog. Then come the Spammers, requesting access to edit his site. Bill, not knowing what these requests really mean & just clicking allows them access. Then all the inappropriate sites start filling up his blog… page after page. Your Uncle Bill not knowing how to stop them now gives up on this “silly blogging idea” and “knew he shouldn’t bothered with this modern mumbo jumbo to begin with.”
Wordpress now have one less satisfied customer who is running around telling all of his friends that this blogging stuff is garbage.
Just MHO.
I’m not so sure I agree with this. Wordpress has become the leader at what they do and one reason is that they haven’t lost focus. They do blogging and do it very well. There are already fine wiki engines available. Keep the focus Wordpress.
Interesting that this thread is running for half a year. Here are some platforms that apparently combine blogs and wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bliki
Comments, anyone?
Twiki looks very solid but, perhaps, a bit too solid – enterprise class with enterprise-level hosting and consultants.
Spam is a non-issue. A wiki is a data structure, not a permission preset. You can have a wiki with no visitor write rights. It would still be a great way to manage teams. It seems that Twiki shines in this respect; I’m less sure how good it is with pure blog features.
@Baba: “Interesting that this thread is running for half a year.”
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Many WordPress bloggers have linked to this page, see.
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Thanks for your comment.