On 02/10/2018 07:45 AM, Noel Chiappa via cctalk wrote:
Right, but my question is 'why are you writing them?' Is it just because
you enjoy writing, or do you do it in an attempt to convey information
to others? (Or perhaps some motivation I haven't guessed?)
Because I want to?
Because I want to document something that I've done or learned.
Because I want to share said documentation.
Because I want to (hopefully) help others.
Because I want others to be able to learn from my toil.
Because if it's the latter, my point is that people are more likely
to find it, when they're looking for info on a topic, if it's part of
something like the CHWiki, than they are on individual Web sites.
I hear what you're saying. However I question the validity of it.
For starters, I can't say as I've knowingly been to the CHWiki as I've
been researching things over the years. Maybe I have and would
recognize it when I see it.
So, I spent some time searching the thread for the CHWiki's address.
And I've not found what I would think to be it yet. Further, searching
Google for CHWiki came up with things that I think were name collisions.
As you pointed out and commented about the links you provided, they are
online somewhere other than the CHWiki.
So what compels me to put content on someone else's site and not my site?
Maybe it's silly, but I view my site as somewhat of it's own brand (as
minimal ~> non-existent as it may be) and I use it as my own reference.
One of my main reasons for putting things on my site (other than it
being somewhere that I control) is that I can search my site and use it
as my own notes. - Notes that just happen to be public for others to
learn from.
Not only can it be included in an organized way (so that one can start
with the home page, and hopefully click on a few links to get to the topic
one's interested in), but Google et al (the _only_ way people are likely
to find a writeup in a personal Web-site)
I'm going to have to disagree with you.
I think that I find the vast majority of interesting content via social
networks, when people publish links to their articles on their own sites.
I've probably amassed over 200 different sites ~> authors that I keep
periodic tabs on via RSS feeds. Ultimately I can argue that I'm finding
/more/ valuable content this way than I would if I were to only find
things in a centralized location.
I also see a number of interesting links float through mailing lists and
newsgroups. Point in case, I'll likely be going through your website (I
believe again) based on the links you provided below.
Since I'm playing the part of the Devils Advocate, I'd be more likely to
publish things on (what I consider to be) an even bigger and more well
known Wiki, namely Wikipedia.
I'm sorry, but you haven't provided any compelling reason for /me/ to
publish things somewhere else before I publish it on my own site.
I'd like to restate that I have zero qualms with people taking what they
learn from my site and using it to grow ideas and develop their own
articles. - I simply ask that they give me credit or cite me / my site
as a source.
To this end, I've had a few people contact me and ask for permission to
publish derived works. I've responded to all of such requests with
humility that they asked, appreciation for the consideration, and my
blessing to go forward and create something better.
I have walked on the shoulders of giants that came before me, and I'm
happy to have others walk on my shoulders (not that I'm a giant).
I'm not sure how their display selection algorithm works (and I gather
they are always tweaking it, both in attempt to make the results more
useful, but also to prevent people from gaming it), but it does seem to
like sites that have a mass of content.
I think we've had different experiences.
The number of links to a site does help, but I believe it's a ratio to
the number of pages on the site. At least that's my impression.
So if you're going to put all that work into writing something up, _and_
the goal is for people to use it...
I believe that people can find things on my site, as small as it is.
I agree it's better to have stuff online in a private site, than not at
all. I have done this quite a bit myself, e.g.:
http://www.chiappa.net/~jnc/tech/V6Unix.html
http://www.chiappa.net/~jnc/tech/multics/MulticsPanels.html
http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/tech/DECIndicatorPanels.html
so I do understand going that way. (The last two could easily be moved
to the CHWiki, if I had the time/energy...)
So, I glibly observe, that it seems as if you are asking us to do
something different than you yourself are currently doing, for much the
same reasoning that I outlined.
But speaking of the time to write things, that's another advantage of
using the CHWiki - if you want to mention some technical term/concept,
on the CHWiki you can just link to it with '[[xxx']]', and if some novice
reading the article needs to know more about that topic, they just click
on the link; no need to write explanatory text yourself.
Or I can put an <abbr> or <a> tag (pairs) around content and create new
pages on my site, thus growing my site's value to myself and others.
E.g. my 'Bringing up V6 Unix on the Ersatz-11 PDP-11 Emulator' page would
probably have benefitted from that, and been a bit less long-winded as
a result...
I don't see a reason that you can't link from your site to CHWiki, or
anywhere else for that matter, for additional content.
I guess that I can be selfish and say that my site is first and foremost
for me. If others happen to be able to learn from or benefit from it,
GREAT! But I'm going to do things for me, where I want (on my site)
first and foremost.
--
Grant. . . .
unix || die
