Mustang Wiki Discussion

[bswor 76]

The below is from the announcement post. I figured i'd make a post that can actually be replied to.........

 

 

"You asked for a Mustang Wiki and I listened. Its just waiting for us to add to it.

 

http://www.yourmustang.com/

 

I'd like to say thanks for the great idea! I'm using the same software package as Wikipedia.org.

 

If we have any willing photoshop or paint guru's the wiki still needs a proper logo. (not my specialty)

 

I think the wiki could be HUGE. A centralized place for all mustang information. Now we just have to spread the word I guess."

 

 

Reply here with any suggestions or anything else about the wiki.

[Legion 10]

I'll see if I can come up with some logo ideas. Maybe a few people can throw some logo's out and we can vote on the one that best identifies the site. I'll try and have something next week...busy dismantling the car :scared:

[unfrozen1969 11]

Wow,

 

I didn't expect you to respond to my suggestion so fast. As a newbie in the art of Mustang restoration, I am one of the users who will benefit most from the creation of a wiki and why I thought that 1969Mustang.com would be the place for its creation.

 

I look forward to everyones input.

 

Bill from Ottawa Canada

[bswor 76]

Well i want the wiki to cover all year mustangs not just ours. Feel free to contribute ANY mustang information to it.

 

You first search for what it is your looking for and if it can't find it you can create an article on it. I'll start contributing some of the information we already have on this site.

[Pakrat 1,043]

OK, all Mustangs all years, so I guess first thing to do would be to start posting a link to the wiki on all Mustang forums??????

 

Is this part of the actuall wiki or is it all on it's own? Like when I do a search does it find info already in "the" wiki or just ours?

 

How does the info get organized? Do we have to worry about plagiary? Who will verify the info entered?

 

I think a cool logo would be a simple morphing gif type file, like if we can get together either a representation of all model years at the same angle and then morph from one to the next. If anyone has one of those Mustang posters that has a profile of all the years that they could scan I could give it a try.

[bswor 76]

Its a wiki all on its own. It is not connected to wikipedia's wiki. What do you mean by organized?

 

Plagiary = I dont know.

Who will verify = henry ford? aka i dont know.

 

Glad i could help out.... lol

 

And yes spam all forums now! Although it should not be a big deal because it will help the mustang community as a whole. What i mean is some forums have rules against such things so do so at your own risk. :)

[Pakrat 1,043]

Its a wiki all on its own. It is not connected to wikipedia's wiki. What do you mean by organized?

 

Plagiary = I dont know.

Who will verify = henry ford? aka i dont know.

 

Glad i could help out.... lol

 

And yes spam all forums now! Although it should not be a big deal because it will help the mustang community as a whole. What i mean is some forums have rules against such things so do so at your own risk. :)

 

Thanks Ben, big help!:whistling:

 

Well for organized, a normal wiki is a one long page deal about a topic, multiple mustangs requires multiple topics doesn't it? I mean the first paragraph isn't going to show up as how to ID a 9" and then the next is removing the sound dampner off your SN95 air box followed by I6 to V8 swap and then installing a chip in your 05. Or is it? Or is each model year a page all on it's own? If so then how does that get organized? Like first paragraph is brief history, then production figures then tech? Does tech that applies ot more than one model year get included in all then or is their also a general page? Things like that.

 

I have never participated in a wicki but I use it all the time and some pages are obviously more thought out than others while some just have the same info in different sections all over the page.

[unfrozen1969 11]

Hey guys,

 

A wiki can be quite a large item if it grows to extremes. I would be cautious about your approach, starting off small with say just 1969-70 Mustangs and see how it goes. You can break it up into categories just like the Mustang catelogues do, such as exterior, interior, mechanics, etc.

 

The reality is, that the wiki will develop a life of its own. I would put in some checks and balances, and have a logo for who has reviewed and endorsed what has been written, so that errors are corrected and someone does not act on some wrong information.

 

Just my thoughts.

 

Bill from Ottawa

[Pakrat 1,043]

That might be a good idea before we start spamming. Once we get the 69/70 stuff sorted how we want it would be an easier template for others to follow with input.

[bswor 76]

I can assign "Sysops" that can help govern what is posted and once a page has all the necessary info and is agreed upon as complete it can be "protected" where it can no longer be edited by users.

 

Well what usually happens is there will be a topic for every individual item. For example you might say:

 

1969 Mustang

 

The 1969 mustang had these engines blah blah blah (So on the 1969 mustang page you would have straight facts etc)

 

And then have a link further down the page saying "how to change the brake booster on a 1969 mustang" But you would not place the entire article on how to change the brake booster within the page just a link to the article. Or simply have an article named: 1969 Ford Mustang How-to's which would have links to how to do this, that, and everything.

[Pakrat 1,043]

I can assign "Sysops" that can help govern what is posted and once a page has all the necessary info and is agreed upon as complete it can be "protected" where it can no longer be edited by users.

 

Well what usually happens is there will be a topic for every individual item. For example you might say:

 

1969 Mustang

 

The 1969 mustang had these engines blah blah blah (So on the 1969 mustang page you would have straight facts etc)

 

And then have a link further down the page saying "how to change the brake booster on a 1969 mustang" But you would not place the entire article on how to change the brake booster within the page just a link to the article. Or simply have an article named: 1969 Ford Mustang How-to's which would have links to how to do this, that, and everything.

 

OK, I got it I think, so we would have to link to an exisiting how to article online somewhere then in your example and not make it part of the page? If it is a new articel that someone wrote here would we link to the thread then or would you find a place to store it?

 

Do you agree we should start with our own world first then and see how it goes before opening the doors to all?

 

I can put together the general info on 69-70 by early next week if you want. Should I paste it here first or right into the wiki?

[bswor 76]

Put it directly into the wiki. And you would generally not link to how to's that are outside of the wiki. Each how to would have its own post or "article" in the wiki that you would link to.

 

I did make a post on the VMF forums which has had little fan fare. So you may be right that we should start with our own information and get it down to an exact science.

[bswor 76]

Ok i think this sums up how to get started creating pages in the wiki:

 

http://www.yourmustang.com/wiki/index.php5?title=Creating_a_wiki_entry

[Aw4g63 0]

This is a brilliant idea. Honestly.

 

I'm a rather decent designer. I can see what I can come up with. Maybe I'll put a few logos up for vote.

[Aw4g63 0]

Thinking about this more, what are you goals for it? I mean obviously beyond "creating the ultimate Mustang resource".

 

Do you plan on running banner ad's?

 

Maybe look into this:

 

Create "partnerships" with other sites. Maybe split banner runs with them. Run a artical race for primary advertising. You'll still own the site, it will be getting filled with information and at the same time it will cost you nothing more than some banners. That will get other admins behind their members to start filling it.

 

Create a field in the user registration boxes that will declare what site the user calls their home. Maybe have a drop down with sites that will "partner" with it.

 

I have another suggestion about the name. It should be something with wiki or pedia in the title like the other large wiki sites.

 

Lostpedia, Wookiepdia, etc...

 

Maybe something like wiki.Stangpedia.org?

 

I don't know, those are just my suggestions.

[Aw4g63 0]

Here's this for now. I'll work on more later.

[Aw4g63 0]

I can give it to you as a GIF or a PSD if you want it that way. That ones just a two second throw together. I'll get something nice when I have more time.

[bswor 76]

It needs to have wiki in the logo as well i think.

 

I can make it wiki.yourmustang.com

 

The banner idea is a good one but since the wiki has no user base right now they(other site admins) will be unwilling to do so.

[cramer 12]

Hello,

 

Just a few suggestions from checking it out...

 

Possibly auto create the user login to correlate to those that have an account here so you do not have to recreate a login?

 

Change the navigation to make it friendlier/easier to find stuff...

had to go to recent changes to see if stuff had been added and then also do a search just to see what was there....most of the time I personally don't know what I am looking for/want to read until I find a link that looks interesting. In the current setup kind of hard to browse since you have to know what to search for. Make sense?

 

Marc Cramer

[bswor 76]

Hello,

 

Just a few suggestions from checking it out...

 

Possibly auto create the user login to correlate to those that have an account here so you do not have to recreate a login?

 

Change the navigation to make it friendlier/easier to find stuff...

had to go to recent changes to see if stuff had been added and then also do a search just to see what was there....most of the time I personally don't know what I am looking for/want to read until I find a link that looks interesting. In the current setup kind of hard to browse since you have to know what to search for. Make sense?

 

Marc Cramer

 

Cramer I WISH i knew how to auto create the user login but i'm not that skilled apparently plus Vbulletin (this forum) and the wiki software probably dont speak to each other in the sense of same coding etc.

 

I'm not sure if i can change the navigation? You can always hit random page and get something, not that there is much there right now.

[bswor 76]

Oh wow it looks like my post over at the VMF was deleted. I guess Bob took offense but did not mention anything in his two reply's to it......

 

He did say something like this: "what happens when i make one for the vmf for our stuff..."

 

I guess it came off as me spamming his forum? Oh well i'm sure some of the newer school sites won't have a problem with something that can benefit the mustang community as a whole.

[cramer 12]

Cramer I WISH i knew how to auto create the user login but i'm not that skilled apparently plus Vbulletin (this forum) and the wiki software probably dont speak to each other in the sense of same coding etc.

 

I'm not sure if i can change the navigation? You can always hit random page and get something, not that there is much there right now.

 

For the navigation I am guessing it is probably just an include that would need to be changed or some information in a database table or possibly just a hard coded set of links somewhere in the main page.

 

For the user accounts it should just be a matter of pulling the needed info from whatever storage (file, database etc) that this site uses, massage the data as needed and import into whatever storage type that the wiki is using...

 

Depending on how you feel about it I would be more then willing to take a look and let you know what would need to be done or depending on the interaction allowed/wanted just do it.

 

For what its worth this is the kind of stuff I actually do, and have been doing for the last 12 years or so, for a living. So if your interested let me know.

 

Marc Cramer

[Aw4g63 0]

Oh wow it looks like my post over at the VMF was deleted. I guess Bob took offense but did not mention anything in his two reply's to it......

 

He did say something like this: "what happens when i make one for the vmf for our stuff..."

 

I guess it came off as me spamming his forum? Oh well i'm sure some of the newer school sites won't have a problem with something that can benefit the mustang community as a whole.

 

 

That was the point of my post. Offering them a "partnership" on advertising would give them a reason to want to build it. Otherwise they can start their own.

 

Selling them the chance for basically free advertising on a great resource is much nicer then them look at it as 100% competition. Why not just start their own if that's the case?

[Aw4g63 0]

OOOOOOR, I like this idea.

 

Partner up and offer different sites different generations of coverage? Tell VMF to cover early years, we cover 69-70, Stangnet gets fox bodies, etc...? Just a thought.

 

Then make different sections.

[unfrozen1969 11]

I would suggets that you focus on one thing, and be the best at it. This site is called 1969stang.com for a reason. I would focus on the 69-70 model years only, as your user base is interested in those model years. If you decide to go outside of the 69-70 model years, I would think that it may just "muddy the waters", and lose focus real quick.

 

Further with all of the other model years and body styles, I have not seen any other website as focused or dedicated as this one, so I would be cautious about losing your distinctiveness. There are a great number of users to draw upon for this wiki, I am unsure if other model years have the same coordination.

 

Just my two Canadian cents, eh...

 

Bill from Ottawa