Genii Weblog

Introducing the Notes/Domino WikiFAQ

Thu 17 Nov 2005, 12:30 PM



by Ben Langhinrichs
I answer a lot of questions on a few different forums, and a frequent refrain from those of us who answer questions is "Please search the forum.  This question has been asked, and answered, many times.", or words to that effect.

So, as you may recall, back on November 4th, I suggested a Notes/Domino Wikipedia.  Collaboration being what it is, it didn't take long for Bruce Elgort to chime in with an offer to host the Wiki on OpenNTF.  We have added a few topics, but intentionally just a few, to seed the Wiki, and today I introduced it on the Notes 4 & 5 forum and the Notes 6 & 7 forum and on the Business Partner forum.  It is now called the Notes/Domino WikiFAQ!  Come on over and check it out.

So, now it is up to us.  This could be useful, or it could be a dud.   But if it is a dud, and nobody bothers to add topics, I don't want to hear any more griping by the aforementioned question-answerers.  You will have only yourselves to blame.

Copyright © 2005 Genii Software Ltd.

What has been said:


394.1. Alan Lepofsky
(11/17/2005 11:06 AM)

My only concern is that it is "yet another source of information". There are the marketing pages for each product, developerWorks articles and forums, Lotus Support, the product Help DBs, Ken Yee's FAQ, the Agent FAQ, the pricing and licensing FAQ, a dozen blogs and web sites with specific areas of expertice, etc. That said, of course I will try and contribute where I can.


394.2. Ben Langhinrichs
(11/17/2005 11:16 AM)

It is an excellent point, and one I have talked about with a few people. I guess my hope is less that this will duplicate all those as perhaps that it can point to them and provide a clearing house for searching. There are too many places to search, so I'll add another one, but at least it is collaborative, which many of those you mention are not.

If there is a developerWorks article that answers a question, I would create a Q&A that re-asked the question but pointed to that article. I am already preparing a few that point at my Rich Text 101 articles or other tips. Maybe it is redundant, but I like the idea of a shared repository, since so many of those are not.


394.3. Debbie
(11/17/2005 01:24 PM)

Alan, I know what you mean, there are a lot of sources, but the problem I run into is [b]which[/b] source to look through and the exact [i]phrasing[/i] to find answers on the forums. I always try and search, but when you're returned 250 results all asking the same question with little or no answers to be found, it would be nice to have a reply saying "Look here for the answer" which is how I understood this was to be used.

And Ben, I [b]still[/b] can't get the silly page to open! IE gives the standard "page cannnot be displayed and firefox gives me "The connection was refused when attempting to contact wikifaq.openntf.org:81" :( Stupid browsers!


394.4. Bruce Elgort
(11/17/2005 01:39 PM)

@Deb,

I will fix that for you. It's the :81 thing. :-) Standby.......


394.5. Bruce Elgort
(11/17/2005 01:45 PM)

I'm back...try it now Deb!

Bruce


394.6. Debbie
(11/17/2005 01:54 PM)

:D Thanks Bruce!!