In the ForthLanguage every printable character {excluding whitespace} can be used in names for identifiers: e.g. >R , R>  { read as 'to r', 'from r' }
{ public mail to, public mail from }

This convention, adapted to Wiki software, could help compactify WikiName{s}

-- FridemarPache
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The one disadvantage I can see to expanding the rules of WikiNames is that I can easilly guess what a page name might be given the strict rules at present.

With that gone, page duplication might become a greater problem.

-- EricHerman

See also WikiNameAdvantages.

The true power of wiki comes from its choice of very few, simple features that interlock to create a powerful open system. Extending and cloning wiki is easy. The problem with extensions is that they tend to reduce the overall "functionality to code complexity ratio". It's so easy to add functionality, and it's so rewarding in the short term that its difficult to avoid ending up with a BigBallOfMud.

Some things tried and abandoned:

* ''WikiName extension''
** I tried extending the WikiName convention in Perl. It wasn't long before I decided to restore things to their minimalist state. Add enough complexity here, and soon you'll need yacc... ;-)

* ''Arbitrary markup''
** Try using a wiki that allows arbitrary html markup for a while. I found I didn't have the patience to fiddle with all the markup. 

* ''Non-flat name spaces''
** ... Now where did I create that page? ... The links between pages change over time. Non-flat namespaces can become more trouble that they're worth. (Do you really want to create functionality for organising "folders"?)

The WikiNature is somewhat WabiSabi. Adding features can easily take away its essential nature.

If you want to include a usenet post, just indent each line with a space and drop it in to a normal wiki page. What would wiki do to an email that you can't do with the email you've already got? If you want a huge general purpose web app framework, that's fine, but it's not the point.

Perhaps a better question would be ''What features/details can we remove from wiki and leave it working?'' (A matter of WikiEssence distillation...)

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For a special purpose Forth Wiki Web, the ForthishWikiName{s} would be helpful, in the same way as this Wiki Web is helpful for analyzing Perl scripts as done in http://c2.com/cgi/wikibase?SampleScriptForHypermartToDebug.

In this script I've slightly generalized the names by ($linkWord = "[A-Z][a-z0-9]*[\_\.\-]?";) for obvious reasons.

BTW, this solves the problem of a contributor in this Wiki, how to insert his middle initials in a Wiki Name. Moreover IBM, BTW, E.T., Data-Music, BullsBoogie.Mp3 are becoming prompts for descriptive pages. 

Visit me at http://server2.hypermart.net/fridemar/cgi-bin/wikibase.pl to see it in action.

-- FridemarPache