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class="vector-pinned-container"> <div id="vector-toc" class="vector-toc vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-toc-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-pinned" data-feature-name="toc-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-toc" > <h2 class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Contents</h2> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-toc.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-toc.unpin">hide</button> </div> <ul class="vector-toc-contents" id="mw-panel-toc-list"> <li id="toc-mw-content-text" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a href="#" class="vector-toc-link"> <div class="vector-toc-text">Beginning</div> </a> </li> <li id="toc-Advantages_and_disadvantages_of_wikis" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Advantages_and_disadvantages_of_wikis"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1</span> <span>Advantages and disadvantages of wikis</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Advantages_and_disadvantages_of_wikis-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Advantages and disadvantages of wikis subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Advantages_and_disadvantages_of_wikis-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Advantages_of_wikis" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Advantages_of_wikis"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.1</span> <span>Advantages of wikis</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Advantages_of_wikis-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Disadvantages_of_wikis" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Disadvantages_of_wikis"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.2</span> <span>Disadvantages of wikis</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Disadvantages_of_wikis-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Ways_in_which_wikis_are_similar_to_other_sites" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Ways_in_which_wikis_are_similar_to_other_sites"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2</span> <span>Ways in which wikis are similar to other sites</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Ways_in_which_wikis_are_similar_to_other_sites-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-See_also" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#See_also"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3</span> <span>See also</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-See_also-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-References" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#References"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4</span> <span>References</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-External_links" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#External_links"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5</span> <span>External links</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-External_links-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-titlebar-toc vector-button-flush-left" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Toggle the table of contents" > <label id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-label" for="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-listBullet mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-listBullet"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Toggle the table of contents</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading mw-first-heading"><span class="mw-page-title-namespace">Manual</span><span class="mw-page-title-separator">:</span><span class="mw-page-title-main">Deciding whether to use a wiki as your website type</span></h1> <div class="mw-indicators"> </div> </header> <div class="vector-page-toolbar"> <div class="vector-page-toolbar-container"> <div id="left-navigation"> <nav aria-label="Namespaces"> <div id="p-associated-pages" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-associated-pages" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-nstab-manual" class="selected vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type" title="View the subject page [c]" accesskey="c"><span>Manual</span></a></li><li id="ca-talk" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Manual_talk:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type" rel="discussion" title="Discussion about the content page [t]" accesskey="t"><span>Discussion</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="vector-variants-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown emptyPortlet" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-variants-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-variants-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Change language variant" > <label id="vector-variants-dropdown-label" for="vector-variants-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">English</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="p-variants" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-variants emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> <div id="right-navigation" class="vector-collapsible"> <nav aria-label="Views"> <div id="p-views" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-views" > <div 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You can view its source [e]" accesskey="e"><span>View source</span></a></li><li id="ca-history" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type&action=history" title="Past revisions of this page [h]" accesskey="h"><span>View history</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-tools-dropdown" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-tools-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-tools-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Tools" > <label id="vector-page-tools-dropdown-label" for="vector-page-tools-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Tools</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-tools-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> <div id="vector-page-tools" class="vector-page-tools vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-page-tools-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-unpinned" data-feature-name="page-tools-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-page-tools" data-pinned-container-id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-page-tools-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Tools</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-page-tools.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-page-tools.unpin">hide</button> </div> <div id="p-cactions" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-cactions emptyPortlet vector-has-collapsible-items" title="More options" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Actions </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-more-view" class="selected vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type"><span>Read</span></a></li><li id="ca-more-viewsource" class="vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type&action=edit"><span>View source</span></a></li><li id="ca-more-history" class="vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type&action=history"><span>View history</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-tb" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-tb" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> General </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="t-whatlinkshere" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type" title="A list of all wiki pages that link here [j]" accesskey="j"><span>What links here</span></a></li><li id="t-recentchangeslinked" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type" rel="nofollow" title="Recent changes in pages linked from this page [k]" accesskey="k"><span>Related changes</span></a></li><li id="t-upload" class="mw-list-item"><a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:UploadWizard" title="Upload files [u]" accesskey="u"><span>Upload file</span></a></li><li id="t-specialpages" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:SpecialPages" title="A list of all special pages [q]" accesskey="q"><span>Special pages</span></a></li><li id="t-permalink" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type&oldid=6819195" title="Permanent link to this revision of this page"><span>Permanent link</span></a></li><li id="t-info" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type&action=info" title="More information about this page"><span>Page information</span></a></li><li id="t-cite" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CiteThisPage&page=Manual%3ADeciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type&id=6819195&wpFormIdentifier=titleform" title="Information on how to cite this page"><span>Cite this page</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UrlShortener&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediawiki.org%2Fwiki%2FManual%3ADeciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type"><span>Get shortened URL</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener-qrcode" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:QrCode&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediawiki.org%2Fwiki%2FManual%3ADeciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type"><span>Download QR code</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-coll-print_export" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-coll-print_export" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Print/export </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="coll-create_a_book" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:Book&bookcmd=book_creator&referer=Manual%3ADeciding+whether+to+use+a+wiki+as+your+website+type"><span>Create a book</span></a></li><li id="coll-download-as-rl" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:DownloadAsPdf&page=Manual%3ADeciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type&action=show-download-screen"><span>Download as PDF</span></a></li><li id="t-print" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type&printable=yes" title="Printable version of this page [p]" accesskey="p"><span>Printable version</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-wikibase-otherprojects" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-wikibase-otherprojects emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> In other projects </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-column-end"> <div class="vector-sticky-pinned-container"> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-appearance-landmark" aria-label="Appearance"> <div id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> <div id="vector-appearance" class="vector-appearance vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-appearance-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-pinned" data-feature-name="appearance-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-appearance" data-pinned-container-id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-appearance-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Appearance</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.unpin">hide</button> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div id="bodyContent" class="vector-body" aria-labelledby="firstHeading" data-mw-ve-target-container> <div class="vector-body-before-content"> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From mediawiki.org</div> </div> <div id="contentSub"><div id="mw-content-subtitle"></div></div> <div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content"><div class="mw-pt-translate-header noprint nomobile" dir="ltr" lang="en"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:Translate&group=page-Manual%3ADeciding+whether+to+use+a+wiki+as+your+website+type&action=page&filter=&action_source=translate_page" title="Special:Translate">Translate this page</a></div><div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en" dir="ltr"><div class="mw-pt-languages noprint navigation-not-searchable" lang="en" dir="ltr"><div class="mw-pt-languages-label">Languages:</div><ul class="mw-pt-languages-list"><li><a href="/wiki/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type/de" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="Handbuch:Entscheiden, ob ein Wiki für deine Website in Frage kommt. (100% translated)" lang="de" dir="ltr">Deutsch</a></li> <li><span class="mw-pt-languages-ui mw-pt-languages-selected mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" lang="en" dir="ltr">English</span></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type/nl" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="Handleiding:Beslissen of een wiki geschikt is als type voor uw website (100% translated)" lang="nl" dir="ltr">Nederlands</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type/simple" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--low" title="Manual:Deciding whether to use a wiki as your website type/simple (0% translated)" lang="en" dir="ltr">Simple English</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type/vi" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="Manual:Quyết định có nên sử dụng wiki làm loại trang web của bạn hay không (27% translated)" lang="vi" dir="ltr">Tiếng Việt</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type/tr" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="Manual:Web sitenizin türü olarak bir viki kullanıp kullanmayacağınıza karar vermek (100% translated)" lang="tr" dir="ltr">Türkçe</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type/es" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--high" title="Manual:Decidiendo si usar una wiki como tu tipo de sitio (98% translated)" lang="es" dir="ltr">español</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type/fr" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="Manuel:Déterminer si c'est un wiki qu’il vous faut pour serveur web (100% translated)" lang="fr" dir="ltr">français</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type/it" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="Manuale: Decidere se utilizzare wiki come modello di sito internet (100% translated)" lang="it" dir="ltr">italiano</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type/hu" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--high" title="Kézikönyv:A wiki weblaptípusként való használatának eldöntése (93% translated)" lang="hu" dir="ltr">magyar</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type/pl" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="Wskazówka:Zdecydowanie, czy użyć wiki jako typu strony internetowej (100% translated)" lang="pl" dir="ltr">polski</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type/pt-br" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="Manual:Decidindo se usar ou não uma wiki como seu tipo de site (25% translated)" lang="pt-BR" dir="ltr">português do Brasil</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type/fi" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--low" title="Manual:Deciding whether to use a wiki as your website type/fi (7% translated)" lang="fi" dir="ltr">suomi</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type/cs" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="Příručka:Rozhodnutí, zda jako typ webové stránky použít wiki (100% translated)" lang="cs" dir="ltr">čeština</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type/ru" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="Инструкция:Стоит ли использовать вики как вид вашего сайта (100% translated)" lang="ru" dir="ltr">русский</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type/he" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--med" title="מדריך:בדוק האם להשתמש בתוכנת וויקי לאתר שלך (47% translated)" lang="he" dir="rtl">עברית</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type/fa" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--low" title="Manual:تصمیم‌گیری برای اینکه یک ویکی را به نوع وبگاه خودتان استفاده کنید (9% translated)" lang="fa" dir="rtl">فارسی</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type/glk" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--low" title="Manual:تصمیم‌گیری برای اینکه یک ویکی را به نوع وبگاه خودتان استفاده کنید (2% translated)" lang="glk" dir="rtl">گیلکی</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type/hi" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="Manual:तय करना कि क्या आपके वेबसाइट का प्रकार विकि होगा (100% translated)" lang="hi" dir="ltr">हिन्दी</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type/th" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--low" title="คู่มือ:ตัดสินใจว่าจะใช้วิกิเป็นประเภทเว็บไซต์ของคุณหรือไม่ (2% translated)" lang="th" dir="ltr">ไทย</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type/zh" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="手册:决定是否使用维基作为自己的网站类型 (100% translated)" lang="zh" dir="ltr">中文</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type/ja" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="Manual:ウェブサイトの種類としてウィキを使用するかどうかの決定 (100% translated)" lang="ja" dir="ltr">日本語</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type/ko" class="mw-pt-progress mw-pt-progress--complete" title="매뉴얼: 웹사이트 타입에 따라 위키를 쓸지 말지 결정하기 (100% translated)" lang="ko" dir="ltr">한국어</a></li></ul></div> <p>If you're considering creating a website, your first decision, even before <a href="/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Deciding_which_wiki_software_to_use" title="Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Deciding which wiki software to use">deciding which wiki software to use</a>, is deciding whether to use a wiki at all. For the most part, it comes down to a decision of whether one believes in <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/the_wiki_way" class="extiw" title="m:Special:MyLanguage/the wiki way">the wiki way</a>, which is to make bad changes easy to fix rather than hard to make. </p><p>A wiki is useful any time you want to have decentralized collaboration in a central place. This is in contrast to sites such as <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nytimes.com/">nytimes.com</a> or <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.britannica.com/">britannica.com</a>, which are large central repositories of content that are centrally controlled by editors and webmasters who report to their respective corporate entities; or the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/blogosphere" class="extiw" title="w:blogosphere">blogosphere</a>, which consists of decentralized content production that results in the work being posted to many different sites, each of which is under the authority of, and is the responsibility of, the individual blogger. </p><p>In some cases, it may be expedient to have a wiki be one component of one's website, and to have the rest be non-wiki. Even the <a href="/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Differences_between_Wikipedia,_Wikimedia,_MediaWiki,_and_wiki" title="Special:MyLanguage/Differences between Wikipedia, Wikimedia, MediaWiki, and wiki">Wikimedia Foundation</a> uses a non-wiki front page for its portal to the wikis listed at <a class="external text" href="https://www.wikimedia.org/">wikimedia.org</a>. Other sites, have the wiki as one tab along a ribbon that includes blogs, online stores, etc. and allow the search bar to include results from the wiki in the search results for the whole site. </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Advantages_and_disadvantages_of_wikis">Advantages and disadvantages of wikis</h2></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r6713801">.mw-parser-output .tpl-contentgrid{margin:1em 0;display:grid;grid-template-columns:repeat(auto-fit,minmax(300px,1fr));gap:2em;grid-auto-rows:minmax(100px,auto)}.mw-parser-output .tpl-contentgrid .mw-tpl-colorbox{margin:0}</style> <div class="tpl-contentgrid" style=""><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r6706488">.mw-parser-output .wiki-template-infocard{border:1px solid #ccc;box-shadow:0 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.15);border-radius:2px;padding:1em;display:flex;flex-direction:column;justify-content:space-between;align-content:stretch}.mw-parser-output .wiki-template-infocard-title{padding:0 0 0.5625em 0;margin:0}.mw-parser-output .wiki-template-infocard-content{clear:both;flex:1 1 auto}.mw-parser-output .wiki-template-infocard-footer{padding-top:1.5em}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .wiki-template-infocard-title img{filter:invert(1)}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .wiki-template-infocard-title img{filter:invert(1)}}</style> <div class="wiki-template-infocard"> <h3 id="Advantages_of_wikis" class="wiki-template-infocard-title">Advantages of wikis</h3> <div class="wiki-template-infocard-content"> <ul><li><b>Fewer impediments to division of labor:</b> Allows collaboration in which each person contributes one's knowledge and effort to improving <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:MAINSPACE" class="extiw" title="w:WP:MAINSPACE">mainspace</a> pages, as opposed to each person posting one's own content that cannot be modified by others.</li> <li><b>Fast action on ideas community members come up with:</b> Wikis allow decentralized action, in which people can make decisions that are reviewed afterward, rather than seeking permission first from a central decision-maker, who can be a bottleneck. A psychological component may be involved: users may be more likely to fix a problem if they get the relatively immediate gratification of seeing the results of their edit, than if they have to go through a process of reporting the problem to a central authority who may not act in a timely manner.</li> <li><b>Collaborative quality control:</b> If an editor makes a mistake on a wiki, someone else can correct it so that it does not continue being shown to readers and reflecting badly on the organization. If the administrator of a non-wiki website makes a mistake, then it may go uncorrected and reflect badly on the organization.</li> <li><b>Searchable content:</b> Allows easy retrieval of archived information (as opposed to, say, Facebook, which buries old posts and threads in non-searchable archives).</li> <li><b>Charming quirkiness:</b> Some readers enjoy the slightly chaotic nature of wikis, in which the decentralized nature of the production process is sometimes exposed to view. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_Gardner" class="extiw" title="w:Sue Gardner">Sue Gardner</a> viewed it as a feature rather than a bug that "Wikipedia has always been kind of a homely, awkward, handcrafted-looking site."<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li></ul></div></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r6706488"> <div class="wiki-template-infocard"> <h3 id="Disadvantages_of_wikis" class="wiki-template-infocard-title">Disadvantages of wikis</h3> <div class="wiki-template-infocard-content"> <ul><li><b>Spam, vandalism, etc.:</b> Open editing (if that is what you use) renders the site vulnerable to spam, vandalism, and other unhelpful edits. This makes it necessary for someone to review the recent changes regularly and undo bad edits. See <a href="/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Combating_spam" title="Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Combating spam">Manual:Combating spam</a><span style="display:none"><a href="/wiki/Manual:Combating_spam" title="Manual:Combating spam"> </a></span>.</li> <li><b>Bad edits may be at least briefly visible:</b> Even with people reviewing recent changes, there will be a lag between when bad edits are made and when they are reversed.</li> <li><b>Organizational reputation may suffer from users' actions:</b> The wiki content may be deemed to reflect on the organization as a whole rather than on the editors who made the changes. This is different from the state of affairs that exists when, say, each user owns and administers a personal website which has one owner who is responsible for all content.</li> <li><b>New content may be presented in hard-to-read formats:</b> Readers looking for the newest content have the options of going to (1) a recent changes page, which may not present the new content in a format that is easy for them to quickly peruse and grasp the meaning of (since it's presented as diffs); (2) a list of new pages, some of which may not be high-quality because they are still under construction and/or haven't been reviewed yet; or (3) a list of pages that have been reviewed for quality (such as Wikipedia's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Did_you_know" class="extiw" title="w:Wikipedia:Did you know">did you know</a>), whose curation may require extra labor.</li> <li><b>Diffusion of responsibility:</b> A wiki may remain empty or unattended as everyone is expecting others to make the necessary changes.</li> <li><b>Software that is relatively difficult to administer:</b> There are many blog installations and comparatively few wiki installations. Therefore, a higher priority has been placed on making it easy to administer blogging software than has been the case with wiki software.</li> <li><b>Wikis primarily focus on text and media.</b> For managing data in a wiki, several approaches exist via extensions. See <a href="/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Managing_data_in_MediaWiki" title="Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Managing data in MediaWiki">Manual:Managing data in MediaWiki</a><span style="display:none"><a href="/wiki/Manual:Managing_data_in_MediaWiki" title="Manual:Managing data in MediaWiki"> </a></span>.</li></ul></div></div></div> <p><br /> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Ways_in_which_wikis_are_similar_to_other_sites">Ways in which wikis are similar to other sites</h2></div> <ul><li><b>The buck must stop somewhere:</b> Someone will have to be the ultimate authority on what content is to be allowed to remain on the site.</li> <li><b>The site is only as good as the contributors make it:</b> If there isn't enough interest in adding high-quality content, then the site won't have it.</li> <li><b>The site can be run like a regular blog:</b> It is possible to use either <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/blogging_software" class="extiw" title="w:blogging software">blogging software</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/wiki_software" class="extiw" title="w:wiki software">wiki software</a> as a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/content_management_system" class="extiw" title="w:content management system">content management system</a> by adjusting the settings to limit open collaboration. (See, e.g., <a href="/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Using_MediaWiki_as_a_content_management_system" title="Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Using MediaWiki as a content management system">Manual:Using MediaWiki as a content management system</a><span style="display:none"><a href="/wiki/Manual:Using_MediaWiki_as_a_content_management_system" title="Manual:Using MediaWiki as a content management system"> </a></span>.)</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2></div> <ul><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki" class="extiw" title="w:MediaWiki">w:MediaWiki</a> - Wikipedia article about MediaWiki</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div> <div class="reflist" style="list-style-type: decimal;"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-1">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Garber, Megan (12 July 2012). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/07/on-the-ugliness-of-wikipedia/259747/">On the Ugliness of Wikipedia</a>. <i>The Atlantic</i>.</span> </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2></div> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.cms2cms.com/blog/wordpress-or-mediawiki-choose-your-shooting-mark/">WordPress or MediaWiki: Choose Your Shooting Mark</a>, cms2cms (see especially <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.cms2cms.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/2013-09-16_1522.png">this chart</a>)</li> <li><a href="https://wikiindex.org/Differences_between_wikis_and_other_kinds_of_websites" class="extiw" title="wikiindex:Differences between wikis and other kinds of websites">Differences between wikis and other kinds of websites</a> — at WikiIndex.org</li></ul>    </div><noscript><img src="https://login.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?type=1x1" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; position: absolute;"></noscript> <div class="printfooter" data-nosnippet="">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type&oldid=6819195">https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Manual:Deciding_whether_to_use_a_wiki_as_your_website_type&oldid=6819195</a>"</div></div> <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" data-mw="interface"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="/wiki/Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories">Category</a>: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Essays" title="Category:Essays">Essays</a></li></ul></div></div> </div> </main> </div> <div class="mw-footer-container"> <footer id="footer" class="mw-footer" > <ul id="footer-info"> <li id="footer-info-lastmod"> This page was last edited on 29 October 2024, at 18:13.</li> <li id="footer-info-copyright">Text is available under the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License</a>; additional terms may apply. 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