Some history of wikis: was: lots

[David T.]

Frank,

I strongly believe that having outdated, unmaintained—and ultimately WRONG—information available to the casual user is the wrong approach to take. 

How an English translation of a German draft of the English Guide got onto the main GnuCash wiki (in English) in the first place is puzzling to me, especially since the Guide has existed since the early 2000s (going by the copyrights). It would seem that such draft language should have been proposed as a change to the documentation through the bug process. If the wiki was being used as a sounding board for these proposed changes, then they should have been removed from the wiki once the discussed changes had either been implemented or dismissed. They should not be a permanent part of the wiki.

I also believe that having the same information in two (or more) places is a recipe for someone having to straighten out later (like now). The information in the draft concept guide on the wiki has been incorporated into the official Tutorial and Concepts Guide for quite a long time now. I’m not even sure why they exist at all. It looks to my uneducated eye as if they are an English translation of a German draft of the English Guide, which was put up on a German Linux wiki back before 2008. 

It’s not entirely clear to me, but it sounds like you’re saying that these outdated, incorrect and ultimately wrong pages need to stay forever in the wiki because the discussion page that asked about them (in 2007) refers to them. Similarly, you want the GnuCash wiki to forever keep these outdated, incorrect and wrong pages because some OTHER outdated, unmaintained (since 2008) wiki pages refer to them. That’s circular reasoning, and makes no sense to me. A wiki isn’t supposed to be a place where pages can only be created or changed, but never removed.

Simply put, it’s time for these pages to go, and the talk page and linuxwik.de <http://linuxwik.de/> can remove the references to them as well. Since I have no connection to linuxwiki.de <http://linuxwiki.de/>, someone with a connection to them should suggest this to them.

David

> On May 19, 2017, at 6:13 AM, Frank H. Ellenberger <frank.h.ellenberger at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> Am 18.05.2017 um 04:45 schrieb David T. via gnucash-user:
>> Robert,
>> 
>> I will note two points about the page to which you refer:
>> 
>> 1) this page is a section of the wiki that contains an old,
>> *non-current* draft of the User Guide which was created in 2007, and,
> 
> No, https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere/Concept_of_Lots
> refers
> https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Talk:GnuCash#Where_does_the_Devel_link_belongs.3F
> 
> It was tansferred from http://linuxwiki.de/GnuCash/DevelTexts which
> again was used before Derek set up wiki.gnucash.org/wiki. That page has
> the following disclaimer:
> "NOTE: This page is probably very out of date. The current english
> GnuCash wiki is on http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki , online since December
> 2005. If you want to contribute to any of the discussions below, please
> move the content from here to http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki and continue
> the discussion there."
> 
> 
>> 2) the section that you quote is, I believe, intended as as proposal
>> to improve the lots features (although it’s difficult to tell because
>> of the fractured English used throughout the page).
>> 
>> I would strongly recommend that you consult the current Concept Guide
>> and Tutorial at http://www.gnucash.org/viewdoc.phtml?doc=guide
>> <http://www.gnucash.org/viewdoc.phtml?doc=guide>
> 
> Note: This link returns the incomplete german translation "GnuCash Kurs
> und Konzepte" for me. Better use
> http://www.gnucash.org/viewdoc.phtml?rev=2.6&lang=C&doc=guide (frame) or
> https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v2.6/C/gnucash-guide/ (direct)
> or
> 
>> David
>> 
>> P.S. -> To the Wiki gurus: I have suggested in the past that having
>> these “Draft Guide” pages on the Wiki can be problematic and cause
>> troubles, but was told that they are not linked directly in the main
>> Wiki. Apparently some people can still find them and get the wrong
>> impression about GnuCash funtionality. I reiterate my recommendation
>> for the removal of these pages from the wiki.
> 
> IMHO We should not break the deep links of http://linuxwiki.de/GnuCash
> but feel free to redirect them to somewhere else
> 
>>> On May 17, 2017, at 11:09 PM, Robert Hoogendoorn
>>> <robertmbh at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Thanks David for your quick reply,
>>> 
>>> 1. I read about the marking of lots on this site,
>>> http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Concept_of_Lots
> ...
> I cc the devel list as discussion about the wiki belongs there.
> Geert already started the thread
> http://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-devel/2017-May/040650.html
> 
> Regards
> Frank