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S3V3NTiNiN3
February 25th, 2012, 06:10 AM
Greetings,

I am making an attempt at creating a Linux-related website, which currently includes plans for a forum and wiki. Regarding the wiki, how on earth do I end up with a essential base of articles? Topics like Linux, Linus Torvalds, as well as articles on various distributions (Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, etc.) - you know the idea. Would I need to write the v0.1's all myself, or should I notify other, knowledgeable Linux users of the URL of the wiki and wait for them to contribute articles?

Thank you,

S3V3NTiNiN3

cwklinuxguy
February 25th, 2012, 06:17 AM
Isn't most of this already taken care of by Wikipedia?

S3V3NTiNiN3
February 25th, 2012, 06:41 AM
Yes, but I thought it would be very interesting to have a non-Wikipedia source for information. By Linux users, for Linux users. And such.

Paqman
February 25th, 2012, 08:15 AM
By Linux users, for Linux users.

I'd say that's mostly who's editing the Linux-related articles on Wikipedia.

It's good that you want to get stuck in and do something productive, but I'd suggest having another think about how you can best apply your energies and enthusiasm. There's nothing wrong with contributing your time to an established project you admire, and you can achieve a lot more if you try to work with others than if you go it alone. If you do decide to start your own project, try hard to find something that:

Serves an actual need (even if it's just your own!)
Nobody else is already doing


The problem with creating another Linux wiki/forum is that there's an awful lot of them already. Make sure you aren't wasting your time reinventing the wheel!

S3V3NTiNiN3
February 25th, 2012, 08:59 AM
So should I ditch this project and develop something else instead?

edit: I just posted this on Linux Internationals in response to the question - "Just what the heck *is* linux.puremath.ch supposed to be about?"

Oh, I don't know. Linux, I guess. I'm starting to have my doubts about the project. The plan was to create a central hub for Linux users, with a wiki, forum, maybe some kind of news-blog system... but someone pointed out it's all been done before. So now I'm stuck with the question, do I continue on and build something that's not unique, or do I shut down now before I lose much face?

Paqman
February 25th, 2012, 09:10 AM
So should I ditch this project and develop something else instead?

Maybe. Writing a useful wiki on a topic as massive as Linux would take thousands of man-hours of work, and require input from a lot of people.

Have a bit of a think, write a list of 10 or so ideas of other things you could do. If none of them are any better than your original idea, then just crack on with that.

haqking
February 25th, 2012, 09:55 AM
spend your time contributing to the already well established wikis/forums on the subject out there.

I know the Ubuntu wiki/docs need alot of updating, work on that ;-)

Peace

whatthefunk
February 25th, 2012, 10:18 AM
There are already a good deal of wikis out there.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/
http://wiki.debian.org/
My personal favorite:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Main_Page

For general articles on Linux, wikipedia serves its purpose well.

Lucradia
February 25th, 2012, 04:10 PM
There are already a good deal of wikis out there.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/
http://wiki.debian.org/
My personal favorite:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Main_Page

For general articles on Linux, wikipedia serves its purpose well.

This ad infinitum.

S3V3NTiNiN3
February 26th, 2012, 09:16 PM
From a post on Linux Internationals:


Thank you, everyone, for your help and guidance in this matter.

I have thought hard about this, and decided it is a project too big for me to take on. Therefore, linux.puremath.ch is shutting down effective immediately. I may take on another similar project at some point in the future, but for now I have other things I need to focus on.

If anyone is interested, the (sub) domain is now available (no longer registered) on freedns.afraid.org - if you wish to register it, though, the system will only let you through if you spell Linux with a capital letter L.

Thanks again for your help.

~ Lawrence ~