[p2p-research] My last two cents on the Wiki Showdown

[Matt]

I have been reluctant to opine on this battle because it is my nature to
fully look at both sides and actually try to personally play the role of
each side either in my head or in process. Michael, as the founder of all
this, you certainly have the final word and my support. If it were not for
you, I would not have stumbled upon this foundation over three years ago. On
the other hand, as a 'techie' type, I can see where Alex wants to go. I've
never wrote on the Wiki until a few days ago. I signed up and attempted to
create an article trying to use a simple workflow of a 'non-techie'. It was
not a pleasant experience. I then tried the WYSIWYG rich text editor. While
solving some problems (stripping articles of all tags), it was horrible for
putting in an article that did have hyperlinks. I tried my personal workflow
on the Wiki and did not like it any better. I tried to find a conversion
tool that would keep my precious hyperlinks and tagged diagrams and it just
looked like a mess. Now Michael, I'm going to assume you are much better at
inputting code into the Wiki than I. If not, well I see the problems. Here
is an example:
On the 8th of August I sent you and the list an article on Josiah Warren.
The list got a sloppy version because Yahoo Groups cannot translate it.
Michael got a really nice article with pictures and a wealth of links to
explore if you wished. 

Here are my concluding thoughts: Alex and Michael need a break from each
other. Alex needs better social skills to enunciate his goals on the Wiki. I
do not think of Alex as an evil Sith Lord attempting to overthrow Michael
'Wan Kenobi'. I do think Alex is having a hard time being human to  Michaels
through his 'Darth Vader' get up though, and needs to realize that if
Michael wants to write straight text articles without the benefit of
tagging, let him. Content is king. Michael, the code is important. It allows
your work to gain a power of magnitude you may not realize. It is not the
dark side and can be your friend. As a graphic example anyone can
understand; Remember the talk about that software PersonalBrain ?. Well, I
looked at it and it does have a steep learning curve. But, if you look at
the examples of skilled users, you can see the obvious benefits it has. The
P2P Wiki, can be brain like as well with all that (invisible) code making it
easy for the masses who will never appreciate what's 'under the hood' but
sure will love the convenience of it omg ! invite all their friends to check
it out kinda thing. 

Matt

PS I hope Alex does not get banned from the group like that 'other IPhone
app' guy a year or two ago (he brought in some good discussions before going
ballistic). I hope Alex just backs down in silence and let Michael do his
work in the way he likes. And, some day, the foundation will be able to hire
Alex or someone like him to plop all that code in full time, transparent to
Michael.