Advice and guidance for new users

[grepper]

If by "having the forum software support the wiki" you mean it would be very cool if Tormek would run/host the wiki software on their computers, then yup!  That would be very cool indeed.

[Herman Trivilino]

If by "having the forum software support the wiki" you mean it would be very cool if Tormek would run/host the wiki software on their computers, then yup!  That would be very cool indeed.

Well, yeah, you have a point.  If the forum software supports wikis and if Tormek would agree to let us use it, then that would be the way to go.

[Rob]

Fabulous explanation guys. Now I totally understand. So unless we plan to go it alone essentially, we need Jeff to inform us if the current forum software is capable of providing collaborative edit permissions. More importantly, Jeff needs to be on board with the idea.

Jeff....are you out there old sport....we could use some of your input on this please

Many thanks

R

[grepper]

So, I read the administrators manual, well, a tiny portion thereof, for the SMF (Simple Machines Forums), which is the forum software that Tormek is running to provide us with these forums.  Thanks Tormek for providing us with this!

On the surface, it seems to have a fairly extensive group/board user permission scheme.

Ferreting around in the permission documentation, I found this juicy configuration tidbit:
-------
Posts

Modify posts - Determines whether or not people in this membergroup can modify their own posts, all posts, or no posts at all.
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I have not, and do not plan on spending the time necessary to fully comprehend the permission options for this forum.  But, on the surface of it, with very little investigation on my part, it looks like it may be possible to set up groups of users with permission to edit all posts within a particular board.

I did not spend the time to understand the boards, groups, permission group and subsets, so I don't know...

But maybe, just maybe, these forums, with the appropriate configuration, allows for groups of users to have, limited to specific boards, collaborative editing privileges.  I did not look into exactly what a "board" is.  Hopefully it would be the top level categories such as General Questions, Wood Turning, etc. But I don't know.  I'm tired of looking at documentation.

I suspect that is as close as we will come to having this forum software support "wiki like" collaborative editing, if it is even possible.

Mark

[grepper]

Rob, Yup.  That about sums it up.

And, it would require Jeff to donate even more of his time and effort to set it up.  Oddly, I think that's what it somehow distilled down to.  I rather think that we all here probably owe him a huge thanks for what he already does!

I still wonder, if maybe it might be at least worth an email to Tormek to inquire as to if they might get excited about hosting a wiki.  After all, they are already hosting these forums.

[Rob]

Wow Mark

Outstanding job of research there....BIG thank you.
Just out of curiosity you don't work in software do you?

But the bottom line is clear then....we need Jeff's input to explore any further right?  Now either he's on vacation or his computers up the Khyber Pass again!

Jeff....where are you.....speak to us.....oh Jeeeeffff :-)

[grepper]

Rob, Yes.   And I don't think that anyone who wasn't would find themselves to be at all motivated to spend any portion of their Friday night scrounging around in permissions documentation.  It has the ability make your brain hurt!

[grepper]

I guess one thing should be noted here. 

All of this stuff about a wiki, and if the forums support wiki kind of stuff, and the idea of Tormek hosting anything, is just bouncing ideas around.  I don't mean to imply commitment from anyone to do anything at all or anything like that!  Just fun theoretical ideas.

And, anything like that would be totally and completely up to Jeff.  This is his forum, to which he graciously dedicates his time and wisdom.

For me, it's just fun ideas to kick around.

Mark

[Rob]

Cool Mark....Im sure we all feel the same way.

I was diving through ancient posts of the svh-320 planar jig earlier and if ever there was a case for summarising the collected wisdom its demonstrated in that series of threads.

The jigs brillaint...but tricky due the nature of the process, nothing to do with the Tormek....if that could be boiled down to 2 pages....new users would be considerably helped.  Youtube would also be a significant helper.  One already exists, but again, it skips over all the really important details that seem to make the difference.  Its not bad and the bloke that did it is a good presenter....but....theres so much room for better quality, more distinctions that remove margin for error.

[Herman Trivilino]

The jigs brillaint...but tricky due the nature of the process, nothing to do with the Tormek....if that could be boiled down to 2 pages....new users would be considerably helped.  Youtube would also be a significant helper.  One already exists, but again, it skips over all the really important details that seem to make the difference.  Its not bad and the bloke that did it is a good presenter....but....theres so much room for better quality, more distinctions that remove margin for error.

That's exactly why a wiki would work so well.  Different users could insert their own tips and tricks.  Each wiki page also has a discussion page where editors can debate the pros and cons of different techniques.

[Rob]

Im totally in agreement Herman - wiki is the right vehicle for capturing the collaboration and then with joint edit rights, prune any verbosity to make the content succinct.

[Herman Trivilino]

Plus the act of participating hones the knowledge.

[Rob]

Hey congrats on Senior member Herman...I just noticed your avatar :-)

[Herman Trivilino]

Same to you, Rob.