pcplantdb

[Richard Morris <webmaster@pfaf.org>]

Richard Archer wrote:
> Personally I can't see that a wiki adds any value whatsoever to
> the PIW project. In fact, the two are completely incompatible.
>
> The goal of PIW is to create an extremely rigidly structured dataset
> so that it can be analysed in a variety of ways. With this goal in
> mind, free-form data is a wasted resource since it can't easily be
> searched or analysed.
>
> The goal of a wiki is to allow people to enter and edit free-form
> text and the only searching/analysis which is feasible is a full
> text search.
> Flame snipped.

This I beleive is a tough call. There is a trade off
between the amount of work someone needs to do and the
quantity of info received.

Is it easier to write an email or fill in a very complicated
form?

Ideally I'd like to try to keep user interface (UI) as simple
as possible. But do stuff to encourage best practice.
Have a look at useit.com for some very dramitic facts
on how small changes to user interface can result in big changes.
A small example of my own, I wanted to encourage people to add links to 
other pages about specific plants. People could do this before
hand as the comment area allowed <a href...> tags (html for a link).
Adding a specific link box, encouraged people to add links.

Plants do lead to highly structured data and I beleive
that this is good to keep that structure. Other stuff
does not have so clear a structure.

Whats going through my mind is having a wiki page
with
        Topic name
        Keywords - a number of keywords describing the topic
        Intro   - short paragraph intoducing topic
                        (can use this in search results)
        Main text - rest of text
        Links  - place to add links
        References - place to add references
        Names of plants - add plant names here so can cross ref
                with main db.

> flame, flame flame

Fucking hell, can't say I'm suprised L's pissed off with you.
But does not justify the action!

Likewise in response to some of L's recient posts
Fucking hell, relax breath.

If anyone else say someone is not working for good of the project
I'm out of here.

Before we do anything else we much have ground rule.

Think of the reactions of your posts before you send them.

We have a tough decision to make. Lets just acknowledge that
first.

        Rich
--
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