MeFiMusic Challenge Idea Wiki is Underway

I've never edited or added to a wiki before but hopefully, this might bear some fruit for us and guarantee that ideas don't get lost in the cracks.

I just added to the existing MeFiMusic wiki a couple of subheadings for Previous or Completed Challeges and Current Challenge Ideas. I haven't fleshed it out with data yet but I will over the next few days.

It looks to me that any MeFi member can login and edit or add to that wiki. Just click "log in" and your user name and password should already be there. You should be able to add new challenge ideas that way under the Current Challenge Ideas heading.

My questions to you: 1. Good idea or no (yea or nay)? 2. Are you comfortable with submitting challenge ideas through the wiki? 3. Too much work? 4. Poor use of MeFi Wiki?

posted by snsranch (4 comments total)

1. Good idea or no (yea or nay)?

2. Are you comfortable with submitting challenge ideas through the wiki?

One thought: The timely, surprise announcement of a Challenge, at the beginning of a month, means everyone is getting the info at the same time, and there it is! It's off to your studios, folks! Let's see what you got! But if the idea has been sitting around gathering dust on the wiki for a few months prior to enactment, I dunno, feels like some of the spontaneity is gonna be lost. Somehow doesn't seem quite as... challenging.

Aside from that, I think having the Previous or Completed Challenges compiled there is a great idea.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:07 PM on March 29, 2011

Hey, totally hearing you flapjax. This isn't just a result of this post. MajorDundee just recently posted an idea that was almost identical to one MeMailed to me by koeselitz. This isn't the first time I've experienced a little overlap. While using the wiki may not be the best idea, it is the most obvious way of making sure that ideas don't get lost in MeMail or various threads.

FWIW, this is an EXPERIMENT! (Which may be shot down by mods or the guy running the wiki.) It's worth a shot though!
posted by snsranch at 6:44 PM on March 29, 2011

I've got no problem with this, it's a totally fine use of the wiki.

Practically speaking, the number of people dispositionally inclined to update the wiki is a lot smaller than the number of people likely to have an off-the-cuff challenge idea now and then. So probably the best way for this to be useful is for one or two people who like the idea of maintaining such a challenge list to try and just keep an eye out and do that little bit of heavy lifting to make sure it gets updated.

Doesn't need to be a thing, doesn't need to be particularly organized, just a little pet hobby or whatever. The same way I poke into the Mefi Timeline page on the wiki now and then to add notes, etc. It's great that anyone can update the wiki, but it's not so likely that everyone will, so if you're the sort who thinks they might, you may as well just hop on it.

I'm not too worried about the even footing thing; I appreciate what you're saying, flapjax, but I figure those what want to not see challenge ideas early can just decline to give that page a visit, and then everybody's happy with their own preferences.
posted by cortex at 1:19 PM on March 30, 2011

Thanks for the input guys, I really appreciate it. I think, though, that the next time I have a "big idea" I'm going to memail you guys first.

cortex, now that you mention it and I've thought about it more, I think you're totally right that very few people will use the wiki as I originally intended as an input device. So that addresses flapjax's concern about losing spontaneity.
posted by snsranch at 4:41 PM on March 30, 2011