forums

[Randy Kramer]

Karsten M. Self wrote:
> Another alternative would be to utilize a format that tends toward
> self-organizing content:  Wiki or Everything2.  Neither, however, is a
> good choice for issues in which an archive of discussion is desired, as
> both tools are designed with a strong mind to refactoring discussion.
> 
> The problem space (one I've spent more than a small time thinking about)
> is characterized by two conflicting desires:
> 
>   - Maintain a record of all discussion (or other relevant data).
>   - Summarize, filter, and associate the most relevant data.

I think a TWiki would be worth considering.  It is a wiki that preserves
all history in RCS so they are available to everyone as diffs or the
ability to call up any past revision.  Refactoring is the wiki way to
"Summarize, filter, and associate the most relevant data".

Try going to:

 http://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Codev/ReadmeFirst

Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on one diffs, an old version
(r1.nn), or a ">" in this "toolbar", or more to see the older revisions:

Topic ReadmeFirst . { Edit | Attach | Ref-By | Printable | Diffs | r1.17
| > | r1.16 | > | r1.15 | More } 

Click on the index in this line (at the top of the page) to see a list
of other pages in that particular Web:

Codev . { Readme | Changes | Index | Search | Go 

Try viewing one of those other pages.  Clearly the subject matter is a
little different than open source licenses, but I think the approach is
very applicable.

There are several webs at twiki.org, and we could probably get Peter
Thoeny to create a new web for our use, at least on a trial basis.  I
have installed TWiki on my home LAN.  It was a little difficult because
it was my first foray into Linux.  Having done it successfully (except
for mail notifications) it wouldn't be too hard to do another
installation of the particular version I used (the 20010315 "beta" which
is suitable for production use).  There is a new release, but I haven't
installed it yet.  There are some major changes to do to my templates
and so forth, so I will be taking my time.

Randy Kramer
--
license-discuss archive is at http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3