It seems to me that we are getting a larger number of people visiting WikiWiki who have a genuine interest in wiki technology, but who did not come to talk about our InformalHistoryOfProgrammingIdeas. I've suggested to a couple of these people/groups to try to set up their own wiki software, but I realize that this can be a bit of a burden for someone who only wants to experiment with wikis or maybe just use one temporarily for a short-term purpose (e.g. ClassWork). I was thinking it might be beneficial for us to start a SandboxWiki which takes the concept of the WikiWikiSandbox page one step further: The whole wiki is a sandbox (with maybe a few permanent seed pages explaining the basics). ''A technical thought occurs to me; you can effect this by redefining those critical pages in the server as read only - in un*x, chmod 444. This prevents the software from changing them. ALL other pages are writable, therefore changeable. Sorry, please continue. -- KirkBailey'' Possible uses: * Short term projects (a few weeks at most), such as brainstorming ideas, or discussing class topics. * Learning more about wiki without having to search for an 'appropriate' wiki. * Demonstrating wiki technology to others, such as a course on Web technologies. Possible benefits: * Reducing sandbox-type traffic on C2's RecentChanges. * Provides a convenient and polite way to encourage experimentation while keeping our own WikiMission, much like Delete''''''Test''''''And''''''Welcome. Possible problems: * Not enough experienced traffic to answer questions or make suggestions. * Newcomers can get 'lost' in the disconnected wiki. This may be avoidable with InterWiki pointing back to C2. * The place goes straight to hell because no one really maintains it. Could be somewhat averted by read-only seed pages and regular deletion (say all pages over 6 months old get deleted). I would be willing to host a UseModWiki for this purpose if people could help by making suggestions and discussing the issues. I don't really have an appropriate domain name for it though, so if someone else thinks it's a good idea, they might want to host it instead. PleaseComment. Oh, the other point I should mention is that I don't know a lot about WikiFarms. Would this be a better alternative than a SandboxWiki? What would be a good farm to refer people to? -- RobHarwood ---- If you create such a thing, I'd surely like to know. Until Yahoo Wiki comes along, it would be helpful for those who need a small wiki work area. -- LouisThomas wonderful ---- Fabulous!! -----